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EASTER MASS AT THE VATICAN! HAPPY EASTER!
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HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
CHRIST IS RISEN! ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA!
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URBI ET ORBI 2016 (For the City and for the world)
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Conversion Story: Why I’m Becoming a Catholic At Easter
No HONEST and SERIOUS truth-seeker could deny the FACT that the Catholic Church "PUT THE BIBLE TOGETHER". -CD2000
"I began to read about Catholicism from authors who were actual Catholics, instead of reading about what Protestant authors thought, or thought they knew, about Catholicism. I found out in a hurry that much of what I knew about Catholicism (from the Protestant sources I’ve read, and from the few Catholics I’d met) was inaccurate, to say the least."
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| Photo Credit: Richard |
March 23, 2016 by K. Albert Little
Source: Patheos
After a radical conversion to Christ at the age of fifteen I lived as a genuinely devout Protestant, earnestly seeking after Christ in my life as best I could.Sometimes, of course, doing a miserable job.This Easter, after a long journey, I’ll become a Catholic.My journey began when a Protestant pastor—himself on a journey towards a more ancient faith—asked me the question, “What’s more important the Bible or tradition?”My answer was typically Protestant, “The Bible, of course.”“But who put the Bible together?”That was the tradition of the Church, of course—the thought came as a bit of a revelation.I was subsequently set on a journey that lasted nearly a decade. A journey which introduced me to a podcasting priest, some Catholic friends, and even saw me attending Mass a couple of times. But Catholicism held no great appeal to me, at least not until I began to read.I began to read about Catholicism from authors who were actual Catholics, instead of reading about what Protestant authors thought, or thought they knew, about Catholicism. I found out in a hurry that much of what I knew about Catholicism (from the Protestant sources I’ve read, and from the few Catholics I’d met) was inaccurate, to say the least.If I’d known what Catholics really believed, I would’ve become Catholic a lot sooner.I first read my way into the Church through authors like Louis Bouyer, Pope Benedict XVI, Scott Hahn, Stephen Ray, and G.K. Chesterton.First, it was an intellectual conversion. I was a Catholic, theologically, there became no doubt.But then I began to live like a Catholic by going to Mass and praying the Rosary and the Liturgy of the Hours.And that’s when I really became Catholic. Spiritually.If I were to distill my journey into only a few words I would say this: I’ve become a Catholic because I’ve found the Catholic faith to be historically, intellectually, spiritually, and aesthetically satisfying.Although, satisfying is hardly the right word, I’ve struggled to find a better one.It’ll have to do for now.
The Catholic Church is Historically SatisfyingI don’t say this to be facetious but I have a hard time understanding a reading of the Early Church Fathers that doesn’t result in the conclusion that the Catholic Church must’ve been what Jesus had in mind.I say this because, I believe, the Catholic Church makes the most historical sense.The Catholic Church traces its origins to Jesus Christ himself.When Jesus gave Peter and the apostles the authority to bind and loose, to forgive sins and drive out demons, and charged them with the care of God’s people they did just that. The New Testament Scriptures are clear: they established churches. When leaders, like the Apostle Judas, died or were killed (or betrayed Christ and killed themselves), they appointed new leaders to take their places.The Early Church had a clear authoritative structure.It’s even more clear, as I said, from even a cursory reading of the Early Church Fathers. The successors to the Apostles.Take Clement of Rome, for example.Clement, the earliest of the Church Fathers, writes under the title of Bishop of Rome, a title which scholars suggest was given to him by the Apostle Peter himself. Clement’s epistle is the oldest we have apart from those collected in the New Testament. His intention in writing: to correct a church in Corinth who weren’t respecting their bishop and his authority.The oldest writing of the Church Fathers that we have is a letter exhorting a church to respect it’s bishop. (This is also what the bulk of Paul’s writings were about as well, so we shouldn’t be too surprised.)Subsequent Early Church Fathers are even more clear.The hierarchical, authoritative structure of the Early Church was clearly Catholic and that structure has passed on, subsequently, down through the ages, these last two thousands years.The Catholic Church can trace that lineage.I found the Catholic Church to be historically satisfying because it’s historically sound. Because it can clearly trace it’s roots back to the very first apostles and to Christ’s promise to build a Church, and to let nothing overcome it. If we take Jesus at His word what other conclusion can we make?Has something overcome the Church? Then Jesus is a liar and not God.Was he speaking about an invisible Church? Then why did the very first Christians appoint leaders over a very real, physical Church? And pass on that leadership?The Catholic Church is Intellectually SatisfyingI read my way into the Catholic Church and what I’ve read has been incredibly enriching.What I’ve found in Catholicism, apart from anything I’ve ever encountered in my Evangelical faith, has been a complete and coherent theology—an unmatched, consistent, and intelligent perspective on the world.A perspective that’s been subjected to two thousand years worth of scrutiny, and constant refinement and reform.As an Evangelical I was, by and large, left to fend for myself on issues of theology, morality, and spirituality. There’s no teaching authority the Evangelical world apart from each denomination—and there are, estimably, 30,000 of them—and, in real fact, no real authority apart from each local church and congregation.Even within each congregation interpretations of important theologies can differ greatly.Ultimately, it was left up to me to distill my own theology. To decide what I believed and what made the most sense based on what I’ve read, who I’ve listened to, and the community I’m a part of.As Evangelicals, we chew these kinds of things over with our friends—those in our somewhat insular communities—and settled difficult theology that way.As a Catholic, the teachings of the Church, based on the authority that Jesus gave the first apostles (that was, as I’ve shown, passed down) has the ability to speak definitively on morality, spirituality, and theology.And what the Church presents is a clear, consistent theology.The same reason why the Church teaches that only men can be called to the priesthood is part and parcel of the same theology behind why marriage is between and woman and a man exclusively. Which is also part of the same coherent theology behind why Jesus is actually present in the Eucharistic elements, and why the Catholic Church worships the way that it does.Rather than a piecemeal theology, the Catholic Church presents a clear narrative which stands up to the most intellectually rigorous examinations. And rather than relying on myself as a biblical scholar and theologian to piece together my own beliefs—is that what God intended?—I can dig into the teachings of two thousands years of scholarship and tradition.
The Catholic Church is Spiritually SatisfyingIf you had asked me about Catholic spirituality before I began my journey into the Catholic Church I would’ve suggested that it was largely empty piety: That most Catholics merely warmed the pews on Sundays, prayed to statues, and didn’t know their Bibles.While some of this may certainly be true for many Catholics the same can be said—at least as far as the pew warming and Bible study goes—for many nominal Protestant Christians as well.Suffice to say, when I actually began to dig into Catholic spirituality I was shocked.Did you know, for example, that Mass is offered daily at most parishes?Devout Catholics can go to church every day.How’s that for spiritually satisfying?What’s more, Catholic spirituality is two thousand years old and encompasses a myriad of enriching practices and traditions.From rich traditions of Bible study like the Ignatian Method pioneered by St. Ignatius in the 15th century to the prayers of the Rosary and even the Mass itself, which can be found profoundly expressed—and profoundly similar to the Mass of today—in a document dating from between 40-60AD.Where my narrow practice of Christian spirituality used to be reading my Bible, personal and private prayer, and attending worship services, Catholicism has opened the door to an ancient and robust spirituality practiced by some of the very earliest Christians—and carried on today.And in no way does it diminish the piety I had as an Evangelical. In all ways, instead, it’s enhanced.The Catholic Church is Aesthetically SatisfyingWhen I first started writing about my reasons for becoming Catholic I didn’t include this category because I hadn’t been around the Catholic Church long enough to understand what it meant.I get it now, and I hope I can explain it sufficiently.The Catholic Church is aesthetically satisfying in that the language it uses, the level of devotion and beauty, and the message it espouses, surrounds the devout Catholic in a world completely of its own. A completely Christian world.A whole other plane of existence—truly.I was recently talking to a Protestant friend—a friend who’d been baptized Catholic but left the Church—who said one of the appeals of the Catholic Church over her experience of Evangelical Protestantism was the level of devotion and reverence for God.That God is truly and deeply worshiped in a Catholic Mass.That’s what I mean, exactly.In many Evangelical Protestant churches Jesus is our buddy—our friend—and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. He’s that to Catholics as well. But He’s also God, King Jesus, as N.T. Wright says, and He deserves our reverence as well.That was missing in my experience of Christianity, as an Evangelical.Likewise, the emphasis on beauty, poetry, and language in the Catholic Church is so rich, and deep, it could take a lifetime just to plumb below the surface. Take a look at any older Catholic Church, even many modern ones, and you’ll find a richness of meaning in every aspect.All pointing to Christ. The whole environment.Why I Became a Catholic this EasterI become a Catholic this Easter, ultimately, because the Holy Spirit drew me in.We can become Catholics—and Christians—in really no other way.I can’t work my way towards God anymore than I can work my way into Heaven. God called me, and I responded.As an Evangelical Protestant, I thought I understood my faith, its roots, and what it meant to be a Christian. As a Catholic, I’ve found much more than I ever imagined.I’ve found a faith that has its roots in history, its origins with Jesus and the Apostles immediately charged by Him with the founding of a Church. I’ve found a faith that stands up to intellectual rigour—that embraces it—and that’s coherent and complete. I’ve found a deep, rich spirituality that I can spend a lifetime discovering, and rediscovering—that’s been tried and true. And, finally, I’ve found a beauty, a language, and a way of life that’s artful, reverent, and ocean-deep.Incredible.That’s why I’ll become a Catholic this Easter.This post was originally written for my personal blog and posted Easter 2015. This Easter marks my first full year as a Catholic and also is cause for greater celebration as my beautiful wife joins the Church at the Easter Vigil. A few weeks later we’ll be baptizing our son, too.Thank you for your kind words, for reading, and for sharing. God bless. Deo Gratias.Stay in touch! Like The Cordial Catholic on Facebook:
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HOW GOOGLE CELEBRATES EASTER!
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| Source: Raheem Kassam |
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Mother Angelica, foundress of EWTN, dies on Easter
Thank you Mother Angelica for your legacy! Thank you for your dedication to promote the Catholic Faith around the world. May you finally find REST IN GOD'S PEACE. -CD2000
Irondale, Ala., Mar 27, 2016 / 06:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic Church in the United States has lost the Poor Clare nun who changed the face of Catholicism in the United States and around the world. Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, foundress of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), passed away on March 27 after a lengthy struggle with the aftereffects of a stroke. She was 92 years old.
“Mother has always and will always personify EWTN, the network that God asked her to found,” said EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Warsaw. “Her accomplishments and legacies in evangelization throughout the world are nothing short of miraculous and can only be attributed to divine Providence and her unwavering faithfulness to Our Lord.”
In 1981, Mother Angelica launched Eternal Word Television Network, which today transmits 24-hour-a-day programming to more than 264 million homes in 144 countries. What began with approximately 20 employees has now grown to nearly 400. The religious network broadcasts terrestrial and shortwave radio around the world, operates a religious goods catalog and publishes the National Catholic Register and Catholic News Agency, among other publishing ventures.
“Mother Angelica succeeded at a task the nation’s bishops themselves couldn’t achieve,” said Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who has served on EWTN’s board of governors since 1995. “She founded and grew a network that appealed to everyday Catholics, understood their needs and fed their spirits. She had a lot of help, obviously, but that was part of her genius.”
“In passing to eternal life, Mother Angelica leaves behind a legacy of holiness and commitment to the New Evangelization that should inspire us all,” said Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus. “I was honored to know and be able to assist Mother Angelica during the early days of EWTN. Over the years, that relationship grew, and today the Knights of Columbus and EWTN partner regularly on important projects.”
“Mother Angelica was fearless because she had God on her side,” Anderson added. “She saw what he needed her to do, and she did it! She transformed the world of Catholic broadcasting and brought the Gospel to far corners of our world. That witness of faith was unmistakable to anyone who met and worked with her, and generations of Catholics have and will continue to be formed by her vision and her ‘Yes’ to God’s will.”
Early Life
Born Rita Rizzo on April 20, 1923, few would have predicted that the girl from a troubled family in Canton, Ohio, would go on to found not only two thriving religious orders, but also the world’s largest religious media network. Her life was one marked by many trials, but also by a profound “Yes” to whatever she felt God was asking of her.
“My parents divorced when I was 6 years old. That’s when hell began,” Mother Angelica said in a Register interview published in 2001. “My mother and I were desperate — moving from place to place, poor, hungry and barely surviving.”
The seeds of Mother’s vocation were in a healing she received when she was a teenager. She suffered from severe stomach pain when she and her mother went to visit Rhoda Wise, a Canton local to whom people had attributed miraculous healings. Wise gave Rita a novena to St. Thérèse of Lisieux. After nine days of prayer, Rita’s pain disappeared: She had been healed.
“That was the day I became aware of God’s love for me and began to thirst for him,” said Mother Angelica. “All I wanted to do after my healing was give myself to Jesus.” And give herself to Jesus, she did.
On Aug. 15, 1944, at the age of 21, Rita entered the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Cleveland and took the name by which the world would come to know her — Sister Mary Angelica of the Annunciation.
A Promise to God
A life-changing incident then set in motion her abiding trust in Providence.
“In 1946, I was chosen as one of the founding sisters of a new monastery [Sancta Clara] in my hometown of Canton, Ohio,” Mother Angelica said in her 2001 interview with the Register. “One day in the 1950s, my work assignment was to scrub the floors in the monastery.”
“Unlike St. Thérèse, I used an electric scrubbing machine. In an instant, the machine went out of control. I lost my footing on the soapy floor and was thrown against the wall, back first.”
Two years later, the injury had worsened to the point Sister Mary Angelica could barely perform her duties. Hospitalized and awaiting surgery, she was told there was a 50/50 chance she’d never walk again.
“I was panic-stricken and made a bargain with God,” Mother recounted. “I promised if he would allow me to walk again that I would build him a monastery in the South. God kept his end, and through divine Providence, so did I.”
Soon after, she presented her desire to her superior. Confronted with two requests by two different nuns to start separate foundations, the abbess, Mother Veronica, who was Sister Mary Angelica’s novice mistress at the monastery in Cleveland, came up with a novel response.
Mother Veronica mailed two letters on the same day. One, on behalf of Sister Mary of the Cross, was mailed to the bishop of Saint Cloud, Minn.; the other, on behalf of Sister Mary Angelica, was mailed to Mobile-Birmingham, Ala., Archbishop Thomas Toolen. The first nun to receive a positive response from the bishop could proceed with her foundation; the other would abandon her idea. By Providence, Archbishop Toolen responded first, forever wedding Sister Angelica with Alabama.
On Feb. 3, 1961, after various medical problems and potential roadblocks, Rome granted Sister Mary Angelica permission for the Alabama foundation, Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Ala. At the time, the Catholic population of the region was only 2 percent.
Media Apostolate
Mother Angelica was always a charismatic speaker. Her persuasive talks on the faith reached the ears of those in charge of radio and eventually television. In 1969, she began recording spiritual talks on audio for mass distribution. She recorded her first radio program in 1971, 10-minute programs for WBRC, according to her biography, Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve and a Network of Miracles by Raymond Arroyo, host of EWTN’s The World Over.
Encouraged by her new friend and patron Nashville lawyer Bill Steltemeier, she recorded her first television programs seven years later — half-hour programs called Our Hermitage. It didn’t take long for her to warm to the idea of a faithful Catholic media apostolate.
While utilizing a secular studio to produce programs for a Christian cable television network one day in 1978, Mother Angelica heard that the station owned by the studio planned to air a program she felt was blasphemous.
“When I found out that the station was going to broadcast a blasphemous movie, I confronted the station manager and objected,” said Mother Angelica. “He ignored my complaint, so I told him I would go elsewhere to make my tapes. He told me, ‘You leave this station and you’re off television.’”
“I’ll build my own!” responded Mother Angelica.
“That decision was the catalyst for EWTN,” said Arroyo. “It led to the sisters’ suggestion to turn the garage into a television studio.”
Eternal Word Television Network was launched, fittingly, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, Aug. 15, 1981. That garage became the first television studio and eventually became the control room — the nerve center — for EWTN’s global television programming.
Spiritual Legacy
Mother’s order, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, which began in Irondale with five nuns, moved and expanded in 1999 to a monastery at The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Ala. The Poor Clares also expanded to new houses in Texas and Arizona.
In November 2015, the Hanceville community was augmented with the arrival of nuns from St. Joseph Adoration Monastery of Charlotte, N.C., which was merged with Our Lady of the Angels, under the leadership of Mother Dolores Marie.
Mother Dolores, who, before becoming a nun, worked for EWTN, described Mother Angelica’s spiritual legacy as a constant striving to respond daily to God’s will.
“When Mother first had her stroke [in 2001], a lot of people said what a shame because she was a voice of the Catholic faith and for the truth,” said Mother Dolores. “But faith tells us that all these 14 years were not wasted at all. Probably her most profound work has gone on in this time, in her silence and suffering. I believe that to be true. Our Lord gave her this time to be truly cloistered in her bed and have that time of deep prayer and intercession and suffering as an offering for the Church and for the world, for our order, for the network, for many things. And ultimately for souls. We won’t know until eternity the value of these past years.”
Mother Marie Andre, one of five nuns who started the Phoenix house and is now the abbess of the Poor Clares’ Our Lady of Solitude Monastery, also recognized Mother’s total commitment to God’s plan.
“She was never fearful of failure, but only fearful of not following God’s will” she added.“Mother described it as a train with several cars. The ‘Yes’ was the engine, with everything else attached to that. If she hadn’t said ‘Yes,’ neither the foundations nor the network would have been founded.”
The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, like EWTN, continues to draw thousands of visitors annually.
“The first thing you detected with Mother was her spousal love of Jesus. She was always telling people, ‘Jesus loves you,’” said Father Joseph Mary Wolfe, one of the original members of the men’s religious community founded by Mother Angelica, the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word. Currently, there are 15 friars in the community. The friars are largely involved in EWTN’s apostolate.
Father Joseph summed up Mother’s spiritual legacy as marked by her love of Jesus, centered on the Eucharist, a great trust in divine Providence and a strong family spirit.
Mother Angelica’s remarkable trust in divine Providence is evidenced by founding the network without counting the cost, as well as by how she prepared for her live television shows.
“She never prepared for live shows,” said Father Joseph, who used to work for the network as an engineer. “She would just pray with the crew and then go on television and trust that God would give her the words to say.”
On an EWTN television special for her 90th birthday, Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa talked about Mother’s authenticity. “To me,” highlighted Father Pacwa, “one of the most important things about Mother Angelica is that what you saw on TV is what you knew off of the stage as well. There was no difference.”
Bishop Robert Baker of the Diocese of Birmingham offered yet another insight into Mother’s rare abilities over the phone on the TV special. “In a special way, I think George Weigel’s book Evangelical Catholicism summarizes what Mother Angelica was about,” Bishop Baker said. “She not only invented that term, many years ago, but put it into practice concretely — working so beautifully off the Scriptures and bringing the truth and the love and the life of the Gospel of Jesus to so many people, not only to our Catholic household of faith, but to many thousands of people who are not Catholic, in that beautiful way she had of touching lives, bringing so many people into the Catholic household of faith.”
Safeguarding the Church
Commentators say that aside from the foundation of the women’s and men’s religious orders, Mother Angelica also played a larger role. Some have asserted that she helped to safeguard the Church in the United States.
“Mother Angelica has been compared to a powerful medieval abbess. But the mass-media instrument she created has extended her influence for the Gospel far beyond that of any medieval abbess, and even beyond that of many of the last century’s most prominent American bishops,” said Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press. “Her long-term contribution is hard to assess, of course, but there is no doubt that Mother Angelica has helped root the Church in America more deeply in the Catholic Tradition; and at the same time, she has helped make the Church more innovative in how she communicates that tradition. All Catholics in America should thank God for Mother Angelica.”
“Mother Angelica has two important legacies,” said Arroyo. “To the wider world, she’s the first woman in the history of broadcast to found and lead a network for over 20 years. No one else has ever done that.”
“She was such a great support to Pope John Paul II and his successor,” added Arroyo. “Her active ministry ran parallel to Pope John Paul II’s, and she backed him up at a time when so many people were undermining Church authority, distorting the history and nature of the liturgy and popular devotion and confusing Catholic teaching. She showed that the commonsense approach of Catholics was right. She normalized the truth of the faith at a time when it was up for grabs.”
On Feb. 12, Pope Francis sent his greetings to Mother Angelica from aboard his papal plane to Cuba. “To Mother Angelica with my blessing, and I ask you to pray for me; I need it,” the Holy Father said. “God bless you, Mother Angelica.”
Retirement From Leadership
Mother Angelica retired from her leadership of EWTN in 2000. She suffered a stroke the following Christmas Eve. As a consequence, she spent the last years of her life mostly without the capacity for speech. Arroyo said that didn’t weaken her effectiveness.
“While she was unable to speak at length and sound off on the controversies and confusions of the day, what she did through prayer in her suffering was remarkable,” said Arroyo. “It’s certainly not our efforts that have kept EWTN on the air and allowed it to reach people in amazing ways. I attribute it all to the suffering of that one woman in Hanceville.”
Warsaw praised Mother Angelica as an inspiring model of Christian faith.
“The important thing, as Mother Angelica’s life and the lives so many of the saints have shown us, is to be faithful and to persevere,” he noted. “She once said, ‘You have been created by God and know Jesus for one reason: to witness to faith, hope and love before an unbelieving world.’”
“Mother Angelica’s life has been a life of faith; her prayer life and obedience to God are worthy of our imitation,” Warsaw continued. “Everything she did was an act of faith,” Archbishop Chaput agreed.
“She inspired other gifted people to join her in the work without compromising her own leadership and vision,” he said. “I admired her very much, not just as a talented leader and communicator, but as a friend and great woman religious of generosity, intellect and Catholic faith.”
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BREAKING: Fr. Thomas Uzhunnalil was crucified by ISIS on Good Friday ~ Cardinal Schönborn confirmed the priest's martyrdom during the Easter Vigil
All forces of Darkness are now merging together against the Catholic Church-- Muslims and even fellow Christians (various Protestant churches), Masons, Agnostics, Atheists, Leftists, Pro-Choice,LGBT, Iglesia Ni Cristo, Ang Dating Daan, Mormons, secular governments etc. are persecuting the Church and Catholics. MAY FR. THOMAS REST IN PEACE! -CD2000
Austrian media is reporting that Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna confirmed last night, during the Easter Vigil at Stephansdom that the Salesian priest, Fr. Thomas Uzhunnalil was crucified by ISIS on Good Friday. Polonia Christiana is also carrying the news, based on the Austrian reports.Fr. Tom is now in Paradise with Our Blessed Lord and His Mother. May his murderers repent and come to believe in the Gospel."Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke, 23:34)Prayer of St. Francis Xavier for the Conversion of the InfidelsEternal God, Creator of all things, remember that Thou alone didst create the souls of infidels, framing them to Thine own image and likeness; behold, O Lord, how, to Thy dishonor, hell is daily replenished with them. Remember, O Lord, Thine only Son, Jesus Christ, Who suffered for them, most bountifully shedding His precious blood. Suffer not, O Lord, Thy Son and our Lord to be any longer despised by infidels. But, rather, being appeased by the entreaties and prayers of the elect, the saints, and of the Church, the most blessed spouse of Thy Son; be mindful of Thy mercy, yet forgetful of their idolatry and infidelity. Cause all to know Him Whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord, Who is our health, life, and resurrection, through Whom we are freed and saved, to Whom be all glory forever. Amen.
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MUSLIM TERRORISTS MURDER, KILL, TERRORIZE, BEHEAD CHRISTIANS AND NON-MUSLIMS FOR THEIR ALLAH!
Muslim around the world again are SILENT against the perpetuated CRIME done by Muslim TERRORISTS to Christians (Mostly Catholics and Orthodox) within their communities. I am wondering how many Evangelical Christians, Born-Again Christians, Iglesia Ni Cristo members and Ang Dating Daan members are rejoicing with this news? -CD2000
"Whoever is not against us is with us..." -Mark 9:40
In Pakistan, Taliban's Easter bombing targets, kills scores of Christians
By Sophia Saifi, CNN
Posted March 28, 2016Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) On Easter Sunday, a crisp spring day, some of the city's Christian population mingled with their Muslim neighbors, celebrating in a neighborhood park -- taking their kids on rides or pushing them on swings. Then, the sound of tragedy.
Without warning, a blast tore through the park, killing indiscriminately.
Because of the innocent setting, an unusually high number of those injured were women and children. But the attack, claimed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, intentionally targeted Christians, the perpetrators say.
The suicide blast, in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore, killed at least 69 people, a local government spokesman told CNN.
More than 341 others were injured, according to Punjab government spokesperson Jehangir Awan.
It comes at a difficult time for Pakistan's Christians, some of whom were in the city's Gulshan Iqbal Park to celebrate the holiday Sunday evening, only to see their Easter Sunday fragment into terror and chaos.
The religious group makes up only 2% of the population, and tensions are high between them and a hardline Muslim core which wants to see a strict interpretation of Islamic law take precedence in Pakistan's legal system.
'Bodies everywhere'
One witness, Danish, was at the amusement park with his two sisters. He recalled the moment that the explosion ripped apart the park, killing one of his sisters and seriously injuring the other.
"It was so crowded that there was even no way of entering it. We went to a canteen to have something to eat, when there was suddenly a big blast. Everyone panicked, running to all directions. Many of them were blocked at the gate of the park. Dead bodies can be found everywhere," he told reporters.
"My sister got wounded in the neck. The object hit her looks like a piece of hard iron, and it burnt her in the neck. She was also wounded in the chest."
Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban known as Jamat-ul-Ahrar vowed such attacks would continue. Parks in the city remained closed into Monday, for security reasons, according the deputy commissioner of police.
Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast. Sharif was born in Lahore and enjoys strong support there.
Pakistan's internal terror operations took a new turn following the incident, with General Asim Bajwa tweeting that the Chief of Army Staff chaired a high-level meeting to review an operation in Punjab -- something that has previously resisted by Nawaz Sharif's government, which has its power base in the province.
Blasphemy law protests erupt
Protests erupted again Sunday, almost a month after a former bodyguard who assassinated a moderate politician was executed. Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged in a Rawalpindi prison February 29, five years after being found guilty of shooting and killing Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer.
The governor had spoken out against the blasphemy law that makes insulting Islam a crime punishable by death.
As many as 10,000 demonstrators gathered in the capital, Islamabad, Friday, praising Qadri and demanding changes to Pakistan's laws, including the adoption of Sharia law, according to local media reports.
International condemnation
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has worked to thaw the icy relations between the two neighbors, called Sharif on Sunday to express his grief over the bombing.
The Indian leader expressed solidarity with Pakistan, the Pakistani state-run news agency reported.
"Modi said coward terrorists had targeted females and kids which was highly condemnable and regrettable," according to the state-run agency, the Associated Press of Pakistan.
The United States and Australian governments also condemned the attack.
"This cowardly act in what has long been a scenic and placid park has killed dozens of innocent civilians and left scores injured," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop echoed the sentiment.
"As Christians worldwide celebrate Easter, a shocking terrorist attack in Lahore, Pakistan, reminds us that terrorism is a global scourge," she said Monday.
"The Australian Government condemns this horrific act that has killed dozens of civilians, including children, and expresses our condolences to the people of Pakistan and its government at this time."
History of violence
In March last year, suicide bombers attacked a Christian community, also in Lahore, setting off two blasts that killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more, officials said.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack too and warned of more to come.
The explosions, which struck the Nishtar Colony area in the city of Lahore, wounded at least 78 people, Dr. Muhammed Saeed Sohbin, medical superintendent at Lahore General Hospital, said then.
In 2013, suicide bombers struck a church in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing more than 80 people.
CNN's Adeel Raja, Zahir Sherazi, Yuli Yang and Jethro Mullen, and journalist Daniyal Hassan in Lahore contributed to this report.
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Pope calls Pakistan attack ‘hideous,’ demands protection for Christians
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| Pakistani women weeping and comforting each other after Muslim Terrorists suicide bomber killed at least 70 Christians in Lahore, Pakistan while celebrating Easter. (Photo Source: Associated Press (AP)) |
ENDLESS MUSLIM MURDERING OF CHRISTIANS! WHEN WILL THIS MADNESS STOPS?!!!
We remember all those persecuted Christians in our prayers and sacrifices. We also pray for Muslims' conversion of hearts! LORD HAVE MERCY! -CD2000
Published March 28, 2016
Source: GMANews
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Monday condemned the Easter suicide bomb by Islamist militants that killed at least 70 people in Pakistan, many of them Christians, as "hideous" and demanded that the country's authorities protect religious minorities.Addressing thousands of people in St. Peter's Square on Easter Monday, a religious holiday, the Pope said Pakistan had been "bloodied by a hideous attack that massacred so many innocent people, mostly families of the Christian minority."The Pope, speaking from the window of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace to crowds in the square below, called the Sunday evening attack in a busy park in the Pakistani city of Lahore, "a vile and senseless crime.""I appeal to civil authorities and all sectors of that nation to make every effort to restore security and serenity to the population, and in particular to the most vulnerable religious minorities," he said.Pope Francis, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, said he also prayed that God would "stop the hands of the violent ones who sow terror and death."A breakaway Taliban militant group that once declared loyalty to Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blast.Pakistan is a majority-Muslim state though it has a Christian population of more than 2 million. — Reuters
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Let's Pray for this!
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Susan Fox: An Open Letter to Catholic Educators
Source: The Cardinal Newman Society
April 6, 2016 | By Susan Fox, JD
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I consider my family a modern day “Pilgrim” story. My husband and I are both Catholic, and raised our four children in a church-going, close-knit family. We did the modern day “soccer parent” stuff: attending all the ball games, all the activities, all the sacraments — all the things that would help our children grow in mind, body and soul.
April 6, 2016 | By Susan Fox, JD
What we didn’t count on was the culture.
We lived in a very “liberal” part of the country, and when our kids hit teen years and turned to their peers, their peers were following the modern day “culture.” It is a culture that comes across as “loving” and “caring” and “tolerant.” Yet it is a culture that kills.
In Catholic high schools, our children were taught that all lifestyles were the same, and that sin did not matter. Sin was redefined as “tolerance,” and the door that prior generations kept shut to protect young from evil was flung wide open.
Sex was no longer something that was a sacred blessing to be shared in a marital bed between husband and wife. Oddly, the people in authority seemed embarrassed to be insisting that this truth was the Truth. Yet every social study, every experience, every life has borne out the reality of that Truth about sex — that it is a blessing only when used the way it was designed. It is like nuclear power: kept safely where it is supposed to be, nuclear power brings great life, warmth and goodness. When that same nuclear power is taken out of that supportive and protective structure, it scorches and destroys all it touches. The same with sex.
Adults should know that; we’re not the ignorant, young, unworldly ones. And yet the Catholic adults teaching our children remained silent. Oh sure, my husband and I were very vocal in telling them the truth, but the response we often got was “Mom, Sister (or Brother) at school hasn’t said anything about this being wrong— and they are Religious. They know more about God and what’s right than you do.You’re just old-fashioned, judging and not tolerant.” (Silly me, I thought an adult’s job was to judge evil — and keep it from the innocent!)
Responding to the deafening silence from their teachers, or at worse the encouragements toward “tolerance,” our children turned to the “culture.” It was there that they were led to believe that sexual relations were just something that anyone could do with anyone, as long as you were doing it “safely.” And if something happened to that “safety net,” then at least young women were not forced to accept the consequences. There were ways to get rid of the “products” of conception. Isn’t that being compassionate toward them and helping them live “good lives” in this world?
The problem with all this is that we are not part of “this world,” and somehow our Catholic educators have forgotten this. We have an enemy who IS part of this world, and he prowls about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Who is more easy prey than the young?
You see, there is no such thing as a “little harmless sin.” Once that door is opened the tiniest bit, our enemy marches in. And he brings his legions with him.
Sin was introduced into all our children’s lives, and one by one we watched as they began to weaken and fall. The teenagers in our community were suffering the broken hearts, bodies and souls that sexual experimentation brings with it. For our enemy has been trying to bastardize sex since the days he was known as Baal, when he convinced the Canaanites to worship “sex” with their temple prostitutes. When that was successful, he convinced them to worship him as Moloch, the god of “death,” by throwing their newborns into fire. Kind of like abortion today.
Are we really that ignorant of history? Of Scripture?
As our children’s hearts broke, they had to turn to ways to dull the pain. Alcohol and drug abuse followed shortly behind. Then, of course, mental and emotional problems. Eating disorders were rampant in our daughters’ Catholic girls’ high school. Abortions were common. Suicides not unheard of.
No one in charge seemed to be able to make any sense out of the pain in their students’ lives. It almost seemed like a darkness of the senses — perhaps a spiritual darkness?
If you have forgotten, let a parent who has survived the Current War on our children remind you — we have an enemy. He’s smarter than us. He’s not here to play around, he’s not here to entertain, he’s not here to have fun. He’s here to kill.
The adults in charge of many of our Catholic schools and colleges seem to have forgotten this. They have, in the name of “tolerance,” accepted things that have his fingerprints all over them. They have allowed these things into their students’ lives, inviting “pro-choice” speakers, “Vagina Monologues,” “Gay” activists and now the latest — “transgender” representatives — onto their campuses and into their student’s lives. And then they scratch their heads at the pain, the suffering and the death that results from things that reek of the enemy. (Yes, perhaps your students will hear these things elsewhere, but they won’t have the Church’s stamp of approval on them in those other places, will they?)
My son’s last year at his “tolerant” Catholic boys’ high school saw several boys commit suicide. At a Catholic school. Good heavens, if we don’t have the way to the joy, hope and love of the Gospel, then who on earth does?
I speak not only as a parent, but as an attorney, having practiced family, juvenile and criminal law. I began to notice a trend among my most disturbed women clients.They all shared similar traits. They had been normal functioning women, mothers, wives, daughters and friends, and then suddenly one day they went “off the reservation.” They began drinking or abusing drugs. By the time they would get to my office, they had lost pretty much everything — marriages, children, possessions — everything.
It got to the point where I would simply gently ask: When did you have your abortion?
The self-medication was always traced back to that one event. Taking an innocent life always matters, no matter how much we try to convince ourselves it doesn’t. Our hearts know, and the ones who suffer the most are those whose own heart convicts them, along with the enemy, forever after.
On a personal level, I have a younger sister who was encouraged to have an abortion as a teenager so that a child would not “complicate” her future. She went on to marry a police officer, have two children and a 20-acre horse farm. Problem was, she could never get over the self-anger that led to self-medication through alcohol and then drugs. Today she, a Catholic girls high school graduate, sits in prison having lost husband, children, home — everything.
Just how “empowering” to women is it to bring that “pro-choice” speaker onto your campus after all?
You forget. We have an enemy. His “choice” is always death. Death for all.
But back to my Pilgrim tale. My husband and I cared more for our teenagers’ lives, temporal and eternal, than for our popularity among them, and so we did what grownups are supposed to do. We made hard decisions to protect them. I sold my law practice, he changed jobs and we dragged them all kicking and screaming to a strong faith-filled diocese and a more “conservative” part of the country. It took at least a couple years of being around rational adults who had not drunk the “culturally tolerant” Kool-Aid before our children began to regain their senses. And of course the icing on the cake was Franciscan University of Steubenville.
We dragged our teenagers there for a youth conference, desperate for anything to wake them up to the truth, and they came home changed individuals. There, for the first time, they saw the Reality of their Faith lived out. They saw REAL “tolerance,” the kind that comes with Truth in Love. It was solid, it was real, it was life-giving. Like Jesus.
Today they are all working professionals, on fire for their faith because they have seen the reality of life without real faith, without Truth, and they know that it ain’t pretty. The friends left behind in the “tolerant” world of their childhood all have crippled, broken adult lives. Even those who are deemed “successful” by current cultural standards walk about with real emptiness inside — an emptiness that all the fun and parties in the world can’t seem to fill, though not for lack of trying.
And so my children try to reach out to save as many as they can, something that was once the job of Catholic educators like yourself. My grown children tell other young adults the hard truths, truths that prior generations were always told because, well, it’s the truth. Not pretty, but true.
And only truth is solid enough to build a life on.
I’ve seen another side of the current “tolerance” reality after getting involved in Christian Healing Ministry. I saw this ministry heal my own children’s wounds inflicted by “tolerance,” and I investigated it further. It was there that I witnessed the reality of “same-sex” relationships. I’ve since met many people who had lived their entire lives as “gay” individuals, only to lose that “attraction” after going through Christian Healing Ministry and Prayer. Now with their God-given attraction to the opposite sex restored, they are the most honest, open, joyful and amazing people to know. The joy they feel in their freedom — freedom based on truth — is infectious and healing. They often say, “Alcoholics struggle with attraction to alcohol, but no one tells them to drink themselves to death. Why did no one love me enough to tell me the same concerning my same-sex attraction? There is freedom in Christ; why was I never told?!”
It is a heart cry expressed by countless others who have been abandoned in this new world of “tolerance.”
Even so, was their path to freedom easy?
No. No brokenness is easy to fix; the scars of sin and evil go deep. That’s why rational adults try to keep sin and its resultant brokenness away from the innocent as much as possible. They try to tell them the Truth.
And the one thing rational adults, and certainly those who claim to know Jesus Christ, don’t do is to encourage more brokenness in the name of “tolerance” and “freedom.”
Because there are eternal consequences to doing so — for our victims, and for ourselves.
So please take this one pilgrim’s story to heart. In history, the Puritans moved to Holland to escape persecution in England before coming to America as “The Pilgrims.” The sinful lifestyles surrounding their children in Holland thereafter caused them to abandon all security so as to protect the temporal AND eternal lives of their children, and to choose instead to fall into the arms of God on an ocean voyage to a new continent.
These times are no less perilous for our youth. They are being lost at alarming rates. Try to save them. Don’t destroy them. There are “clouds of witnesses” watching. What will you tell them, when your job here is done?
When you must give an account for the eternal souls that were placed in your keep, will you be able to say that “True Love” accepts sin so that no one “feels” bad, that you were wiser than Christ in defining “real sin?” Or will you have the great honor of testifying that you taught Truth?
Think on these things. They have eternal consequences. You will see what those consequences become, and you will share responsibility.
Remember the millstone; it’s very heavy. But remember too the great joy and heroism in leading young people to Christ! Some day we parents will also be among the “cloud of witnesses,” and for your courage, love, faithfulness and perseverance in speaking truth to our children, we will be eternally grateful.
Susan Fox and her husband have four grown children. She has worked as an educator and as a family, criminal defense and juvenile attorney, including pro bono work to defend religious liberties and parental rights.
Catholic Education Daily is an online publication of The Cardinal Newman Society. Click here for email updates and free online membership with The Cardinal Newman Society.
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CNS: For Catholic astronauts, flying to space doesn’t mean giving up the faith
By Dennis Sadowski
Posted in April 7, 2016
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| Astronaut Mike Hopkins became Catholic shortly before flying into space for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. (CNS/courtesy NASA) |
WASHINGTON (CNS)— On the International Space Station there’s a place, while filled with robotic equipment, where astronauts like to hang out. Called the Cupola, the small module has seven large bay windows that give crew members a panoramic view of Earth.
On his first — and thus far only — mission into space in September 2013, astronaut Mike Hopkins was eager to find the Cupola. What he saw he found amazing.
“When you see the Earth from that vantage point and see all the natural beauty that exists, it’s hard not to sit there and realize there has to be a higher power that has made this,” said Hopkins, who is Catholic.
It was in the Cupola that Hopkins found himself praying and at times taking Communion.
Under a special arrangement with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and with the help of Father James H. Kuczynski, pastor of Mary Queen Catholic Church in Friendswood, Texas, Hopkins’ parish, the rookie astronaut carried a pyx with six consecrated hosts broken into four pieces. It was enough so that he could take Communion once a week for the 24 weeks he was aboard the ISS.
“It was extremely, extremely important to me,” said Hopkins, now 47, who grew up on a farm outside of Richland, Missouri, in a United Methodist family but completed Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults classes and became Catholic just before going into space.
He said he wanted to become Catholic not just because his wife and two teenage sons were Catholic but because “I felt something was missing in my life.”
Hopkins completed two spacewalks to change out a pump module with fellow spacefarer Rick Mastracchio. Before exiting the ISS, he took Communion as well.
“Those events can be stressful events,” he told Catholic News Service from his office in Houston. “Knowing Jesus was with me when I stepped out the door into the vacuum of space was important to me.”
Such practices of faith, especially among Catholics in the astronaut corps, is hardly unusual. In 1994, astronauts Sid Gutierrez, Thomas Jones and Kevin Chilton, an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, celebrated a Communion service on the shuttle flight deck 125 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
And long before the trio carried out their service, Frank Borman, aboard Apollo 8 orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve in 1968, read from the Book of Genesis in perhaps one of the most memorable broadcasts in U.S. space history. Seven months later, Buzz Aldrin, an elder in his Presbyterian church in Houston, celebrated a communion service for himself after landing on the moon using a kit provided by his church.
Devout Muslim astronauts follow National Fatwa Council guidelines developed in 2007 that define permissible modifications to traditional rituals such as kneeling during prayer, facing Mecca when praying, and washing. Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died during re-entry aboard the shuttle Columbia in 2003 when it broke up over Texas and Louisiana16 minutes prior to landing, carried a microfiche Bible given to him by Israel’s president and had copied the traditional Jewish blessing Shabbat Kiddush into his diary so he could recite it, according to media reports.
On long-term missions to the ISS, schedules give astronauts blocks of private time daily, allowing them to pray, read the Bible or other inspirational works, write in a journal or reflect on God. Hopkins used some of his time to keep up with the Sunday readings and his pastor’s weekly homily, both of which he received via email from the support person for his family assigned by NASA who was a member of his parish.
“My crewmates knew I had the Eucharist with me,” Hopkins said. “In fact, I coordinated with my Russian commander. He knew everything going on. They were all aware of that, but I never tried to make a large deal about it and publicize it and they didn’t either. They respected my faith and my desire to follow that faith even when I was in orbit.”
Astronaut Mike Good, a member of St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Nassau Bay, Texas, near NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and a veteran of two space flights, spent about 12 days on each of his missions aboard the space shuttle. Taking Communion into space, he said, was not as imperative.
“But if I was going to do a six-month expedition on the ISS, I would talk to my priest and figure out what we were going to do,” Good said.
From another perspective, Good, 53, and retired astronaut Mike Massimino, 54, told CNS that the opportunity to fly in space offered time to reflect on creation as they gazed upon the spaceship called Earth.
“One thought I had is that God must love us to give us such a beautiful home,” Massimino said. “It’s given me a view of the planet of how special it is and how loved we are to have such a great place and how we should appreciate it.”
Good, Massimino’s spacewalk partner on a 2009 shuttle mission servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, said he felt blessed to see the planet from high above.
“Looking back at the Earth, I can’t really describe how beautiful it is from 300 miles up,” Good said. “Looking down, you can tell it’s a planet. The sky is black. There’s just a thin blue ribbon, what we see as blue sky on Earth. You realize how small it is and how fragile the planet is.
“It just makes it so obvious that God created this beautiful place. The word awe just comes to mind. … And looking out into space, it’s just a clear view. The stars don’t twinkle. It’s like a high definition 3-D TV. You look out into space and feel very small.”
Both men acknowledged that flying into space is dangerous and they prepared before their missions by participating in the sacrament of reconciliation. “You try to be in as good a state as you can because it’s a dangerous event you’re going to partake in,” said Massimino, who also flew on a shuttle mission to Hubble in 2002.
Good, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, expects that when the moment of launch comes, there’s a feeling of connection with God or a higher power among just about everyone heading to space.
“Heading out to the launchpad is like being in a foxhole,” Good said. “There’s not a lot of atheists in a foxhole. I don’t think there’s many atheists sitting atop the launchpad.”
NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, allow astronauts to take a little more than 3 pounds of personal items into space. Some of the Catholics who have flown have taken crucifixes, prayer cards, icons and other religious objects with them.
Among the things Massimino took on his first flight was a Vatican City flag, which he later gave to St. John Paul II. On his second flight, he took a prayer card depicting Pope Benedict XVI, which he gave to the pontiff.
Hopkins, Good and Massimino took mementos, including religious items, from their schools, parishes and friends into space.
One Catholic astronaut, Mark Vande Hei, 49, is preparing for his first mission to the ISS next March. He said he has talked a bit with his Catholic colleagues about what to expect. The next 11 months will be particularly busy as he trains in Japan, around the U.S. and at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. For now, his spiritual preparation remains the same with daily prayer and regular Mass attendance at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Nassau Bay.
“I pray the rosary while walking the dog,” he added.
To keep astronauts’ spirits high, NASA arranges for occasional calls with celebrities on flights and asks each astronaut with whom they might like to talk. Vande Hei, who holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from St. John’s University in Minnesota, said he suggested Pope Francis.
His request may not be outside the realm of possibility. Pope Benedict communicated with the crew aboard the ISS in May 2011 in a 20-minute conversation.
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Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski
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AsiaNews: Amoris laetitia, not only feelings and morality, but also social engagement
By Bernardo Cervellera
For Asia News
Posted on April 8, 2016
For Asia News
Posted on April 8, 2016
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| Photo Source: Crisis Magazine |
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on family love cannot be reduced to problem of communion for divorced and remarried people. The document suggests ways to remake societal life. As a Catholic vision, it links the actual to the infinite, and calls for public policies that protect the rights of families.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis’ post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which was released today, is a vital contribution to the life of families and contemporary society.
Although it might take Catholics and non-Catholics some time to assimilate the long (265 pages) and demanding document, its emphases, passages, biblical references and look at human love are an objective and solid milestone in the quicksand of situations that are often treated only with fleeting feelings, love spells, fears and private frustrations, which hide an individualist notion of self, in which solitude marks not only the end of a relationship, but acts as it definition, origin and nature.
The document offers a sweet and powerful vision of Catholic humanity that makes its way, corrects, brightens and goes beyond a rationalist and trite conception of ego, love and society.
Some might have liked the exhortation to be only a "yes" or "no" to communion for divorced and remarried people. Instead, Francis gave us a sign and path of how, not only the family, but also the Church, and the whole of society can change. It is interesting to note for example that in the description of actual love between a husband and a wife, the document also speaks of the help that they can give to make more substantial the gifts brought by virgins, who are sometimes tempted to live a single lifestyle more than the consecrated who give their whole life (Amoris Laetitia, n.158, ff).
In the exhortation, the Catholic vision emerges in three main aspects:
1. The love between a man and a woman is continuously defined as the "image of God" and the return to what God and Christ do as a model for relationships (giving oneself, lack of anger, forgiveness, generation, raising children, etc.).
This link between heaven and earth opens the relationship between men and women to an endless effort that does not succumb in the face of difficulties. At the same time, it makes perceptible this effort in lovers’ flesh. Chapter 4 on "Love in marriage" dispels the cliché that Christians dread sex, showing instead that the sex difference and union and tenderness show the image and presence of the divine.
2. Another typically Catholic element is the affirmation of the value of the one and indissoluble marriage, which is both a gift and a task, together with the close focus and care of special, often painful and confusing, situations.
Chapter 8 on ‘Accompanying, discerning and integrating weaknesses’ is centred on Church law, but also on mercy and gradualism with which to accompany many couples to the fullness of marriage.
What emerges is a Church that does not only hand out sacraments or issues bans, but is a living organism, a community that is close to those who are frail and wounded. The ‘and . . . and’ that is typical of Catholic doctrine (Scripture and Tradition; primacy and collegiality; ordained priesthood and the faithful) becomes a "however" (used 19 times) in Francis who combines ideal with particular situations.
3. The third element comes from the Church's social doctrine. In recent years, a lot has been said and discussed with respect to "gender", "new rights", and "children" as a personal and private matter, in which the so-called "traditional family" is treated as a relic of the past.
The exhortation not only highlights the grandeur of the family, but also suggests some paths to realise what has become almost a slogan, namely that "the family is the basis of society", without drawing any consequences.
At paragraphs 39-49, the pope talks about the need to overcome the "culture of the ephemeral" and the "narcissism" of contemporary society, not by “denouncing a decadent world,” but by “being proactive in proposing ways of finding true happiness.”
For this reason, he reiterates some basic principles that require a social commitment that is far too often ignored. The former entail asserting parents’ right to educate their children, with the state as servant and not master; opposing state-sponsored contraception and abortion; stopping the demographic decline of many countries; encouraging states to guarantee every family decent housing, basic services, as well as laws and working conditions “to ensure the future of young people”.
Citing the Church’s Charter of the Rights of the Family, Francis writes, “Families have the right ‘to be able to count on an adequate family policy on the part of public authorities in the juridical, economic, social and fiscal domains’.”
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CBCP News: Nuns find new home atop Zambales hill
From CBCP News
PHOTOS SHARED BY MR. RAYMOND A. SEBASTIAN (FB ACCOUNT)
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CASTILLEJOS, Zambales, Apr. 10, 2016– The Carmelite nuns of Zambales have finally settled down in their new home on top of a hill in Barangay Looc, Castillejos town.
The view from the Carmelite nuns' new home in Barangay Looc, Castillejos town (Photo: Raymond A. Sebastián)
It was “Ascent of Mount Carmel” made physically real as visitors climbed their way up the monastery overlooking the Zambales mountains.
“On behalf of my community, the Carmel of the Holy Spirit of Looc, Castillejos, Zambales, and the whole Carmelite order, we thank God for His mercy, and love,” said Prioress Marianne Binarao, OCD, in her speech.
According to her, their new monastery is a “concrete expression of thanksgiving to the greatest gift of all,” Jesus Christ risen, the Eucharist.
Thanksgiving
“We will continue to speak about Jesus Christ, to praise Him, thank Him, and worship Him. It was He whom we have heard, seen, and touched,” added the Bicolana Carmelite.
Binarao also expressed gratitude to David and Fredesvinda Consunji and family, especially Victor who donated the land and the building.
Designed by Architect Susana S. Castillo, the monastery and chapel were solemnly blessed and dedicated Saturday, April 9, by no less than Cáceres Archbishop Rolando J. Tria Tirona.
The Carmelite prelate also presided over the first public Mass in the monastery chapel, with Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro C. Bacani, San Fernando Archbishop Emeritus Paciano B. Aniceto, Iba Diocesan Administrator Fr. Daniel O. Presto, and members of the local clergy concelebrating.
Flood refugees
Founded by Mother Mary Natividad of the Holy Spirit, OCD of Manila Carmel, the small community of the Discalced Carmelites of the Holy Spirit transferred from their original compound in Mangan-Vaca, Subic.
They had occupied the site since Nov. 19, 1976 upon the request of the Henry Byrne, MSSC, first Bishop of Iba.
But over the years, persistent flooding rendered the old monastery less conducive to the monastic life of prayer and silence, prompting the nuns to make the eventual move to their present hilltop location.
The Congregation for Institute of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, following the recommendation of then Iba Bishop, now San Fernando Archbishop, Florentino G. Lavarias and the Discalced Carmelite Order (OCD) on Feb. 6, 2014 gave the go signal for the transfer to the current site. (Raymond A. Sebastián / CBCP News)
PHOTOS SHARED BY MR. RAYMOND A. SEBASTIAN (FB ACCOUNT)
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Vatican Confirms Papal Visits to Armenia; Georgia, Azerbaijan
That's on June 24-26, 2016! Mark your calendar!
Source: Zenit
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The Vatican has confirmed reports that Pope Francis will visit Armenia in June and has also announced the Pontiff will be visiting Georgia and Azerbaijan in the fall.
Source: Zenit
Pontiff in Armenia at End of June; In Georgia, Azerbaijan in the Fall
The Vatican has confirmed reports that Pope Francis will visit Armenia in June and has also announced the Pontiff will be visiting Georgia and Azerbaijan in the fall.
In a statement released by the Holy See Press Office Saturday, the Vatican confirmed the Pope will visit Armenia June 24 – 26, accepting the invitation of Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenia, His Holiness Karekin II, the civil authorities, and the Catholic Church in Armenia.
In addition, the Vatican Press Office also stated the Pontiff will visit the countries of Georgia and Azerbaijan, Sept. 30 – Oct. 2.
The Pope’s Apostolic Voyage in the Caucasus region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas, follows his accepting the invitation of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, and the two nations’ civil and religious authorities.
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Killed for his FAITH!
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| An Arab was killed by ISIS and identified as Christian because of his tattoo CROSS! (Source: This is Christian Assyria) |
There is NO OTHER SIGN worthy of our CHRISTIAN IDENTITY than the CROSS of JESUS CHRIST! And dying for HIS SAKE is just one thing that we all are unworthy, yet a PRIZED TROPHY every Christian anticipates to receive!
REST IN PEACE brethren in the Lord!
Let's BOAST HIS CROSS by frequently making the SIGN OF THE CROSSwhenever we pass by a church, a cemetery, or eating or traveling, playing, in waking or even before sleeping.
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Q: What is the difference between the Roman Catholic and the Catholic religion?
ANSWER:
Source: CatholicSay
October 10, 2014
The Catholic religion/Church comprises all ecclesial communities, all group of churches in communion with the Pope. If a group or community does not adhere to the Pope, it is not part of the Catholic Church.
There are a number of individual or sui iuris (self-governing) churches, sometimes called “rites”. One of these is the Roman rite. It includes most catholics in the West. So when you say “Roman Catholic” it properly refers to a member of the Roman rite which is the largest of all other rites.
Maronites, Ukrainian, Chaldean, Syro-Malankara Catholics can be properly refered to as “Catholics” but not “Roman Catholics”. They are “Maronite Catholics”, “Chaldean Catholics” etc. They are all as catholic as everyone else since they are in full communion with the Pope.
All the rites are equal, their ecclesial customs and traditions may be different, ways of doing theology etc, but the doctrines are all the same.
Source: CatholicSay
October 10, 2014
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Q: When did the term “Roman Catholic Church” first come into being?
ANSWER:
Source: CatholicSay
November 1, 2014
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It is not possible to give an exact year when the Catholic Church began to be called the “Roman Catholic Church,” but it is possible to approximate it. The term originates as an insult created by Anglicans who wished to refer to themselves as Catholic. They thus coined the term “Roman Catholic” to distinguish those in union with Rome from themselves and to create a sense in which they could refer to themselves as Catholics (by attempting to deprive actual Catholics to the right to the term).
Different variants of the “Roman” insult appeared at different times. The earliest form was the noun “Romanist” (one belonging to the Catholic Church), which appeared in England about 1515-1525. The next to develop was the adjective “Romish” (similar to something done or believed in the Catholic Church), which appeared around 1525-1535. Next came the noun “Roman Catholic” (one belonging to the Catholic Church), which was coined around 1595-1605. Shortly thereafter came the verb “to Romanize” (to make someone a Catholic or to become a Catholic), which appeared around 1600-10. Between 1665 and 1675 we got the noun “Romanism” (the system of Catholic beliefs and practices), and finally we got a latecomer term about 1815-1825, the noun “Roman Catholicism,” a synonym for the earlier “Romanism.”
A similar complex of insults arose around “pope.” About 1515-25 the Anglicans coined the term “papist” and later its derivative “papism.” A quick follow-up, in 1520-1530, was the adjective “popish.” Next came “popery” (1525-1535), then “papistry” (1540-1550), with its later derivatives, “papistical” and “papistic.” (Source: Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, 1995 ed.)
This complex of insults is revealing as it shows the depths of animosity English Protestants had toward the Church. No other religious body (perhaps no other group at all, even national or racial) has such a complex of insults against it woven into the English language as does the Catholic Church. Even today many Protestants who have no idea what the origin of the term is cannot bring themselves to say “Catholic” without qualifying it or replacing it with an insult.
Source: CatholicSay
November 1, 2014
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Q: How Did the Catholic Church Get Her Name?
ANSWER:
Source: CatholicSay
April 16, 2015
The Creed which we recite on Sundays and holy days speaks of one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. As everybody knows, however, the Church referred to in this Creed is more commonly called just the Catholic Church. It is not, by the way, properly called the Roman Catholic Church, but simply the Catholic Church.
The term Roman Catholic is not used by the Church herself; it is a relatively modern term, and one, moreover, that is confined largely to the English language. The English-speaking bishops at the First Vatican Council in 1870, in fact, conducted a vigorous and successful campaign to insure that the term Roman Catholic was nowhere included in any of the Council’s official documents about the Church herself, and the term was not included.
Similarly, nowhere in the 16 documents of the Second Vatican Council will you find the term Roman Catholic. Pope Paul VI signed all the documents of the Second Vatican Council as “I, Paul. Bishop of the Catholic Church.” Simply that — Catholic Church. There are references to the Roman curia, the Roman missal, the Roman rite, etc., but when the adjective Roman is applied to the Church herself, it refers to the Diocese of Rome!
Cardinals, for example, are called cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, but that designation means that when they are named to be cardinals they have thereby become honorary clergy of the Holy Father’s home diocese, the Diocese of Rome. Each cardinal is given a titular church in Rome, and when the cardinals participate in the election of a new pope. they are participating in a process that in ancient times was carried out by the clergy of the Diocese of Rome.
Although the Diocese of Rome is central to the Catholic Church, this does not mean that the Roman rite, or, as is sometimes said, the Latin rite, is co-terminus with the Church as a whole; that would mean neglecting the Byzantine, Chaldean, Maronite or other Oriental rites which are all very much part of the Catholic Church today, as in the past.
In our day, much greater emphasis has been given to these “non-Roman” rites of the Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council devoted a special document, Orientalium Ecclesiarum (Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches), to the Eastern rites which belong to the Catholic Church, and the new Catechism of the Catholic Church similarly gives considerable attention to the distinctive traditions and spirituality of these Eastern rites.
So the proper name for the universal Church is not the Roman Catholic Church. Far from it. That term caught on mostly in English-speaking countries; it was promoted mostly by Anglicans, supporters of the “branch theory” of the Church, namely, that the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of the creed was supposed to consist of three major branches, the Anglican, the Orthodox and the so-called Roman Catholic. It was to avoid that kind of interpretation that the English-speaking bishops at Vatican I succeeded in warning the Church away from ever using the term officially herself: It too easily could be misunderstood.
Today in an era of widespread dissent in the Church, and of equally widespread confusion regarding what authentic Catholic identity is supposed to consist of, many loyal Catholics have recently taken to using the term Roman Catholic in order to affirm their understanding that the Catholic Church of the Sunday creed is the same Church that is united with the Vicar of Christ in Rome, the Pope. This understanding of theirs is correct, but such Catholics should nevertheless beware of using the term, not only because of its dubious origins in Anglican circles intending to suggest that there just might be some other Catholic Church around somewhere besides the Roman one: but also because it often still is used today to suggest that the Roman Catholic Church is something other and lesser than the Catholic Church of the creed. It is commonly used by some dissenting theologians, for example, who appear to be attempting to categorize the Roman Catholic Church as just another contemporary “Christian denomination”–not the body that is identical with the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of the creed.
The proper name of the Church, then, is the Catholic Church. It is not ever called “the Christian Church,” either. Although the prestigious Oxford University Press currently publishes a learned and rather useful reference book called “The Oxford Book of the Christian Church,” the fact is that there has never been a major entity in history called by that name; the Oxford University Press has adopted a misnomer, for the Church of Christ has never been called the Christian Church.
There is, of course, a Protestant denomination in the United States which does call itself by that name, but that particular denomination is hardly what the Oxford University Press had in mind when assigning to its reference book the title that it did. The assignment of the title in question appears to have been one more method, of which there have been so many down through history, of declining to admit that there is, in fact, one–and only one–entity existing in the world today to which the designation “the Catholic Church” in the Creed might possibly apply.
The entity in question, of course, is just that: the very visible, worldwide Catholic Church, in which the 263rd successor of the Apostle Peter, Pope John Paul II, teaches, governs and sanctifies, along with some 3,000 other bishops around the world, who are successors of the apostles of Jesus Christ.
As mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, it is true that the followers of Christ early became known as “Christians” (cf. Acts 11:26). The name Christian, however, was never commonly applied to the Church herself. In the New Testament itself, the Church is simply called “the Church.” There was only one. In that early time there were not yet any break-away bodies substantial enough to be rival claimants of the name and from which the Church might ever have to distinguish herself.
Very early in post-apostolic times, however. the Church did acquire a proper name–and precisely in order to distinguish herself from rival bodies which by then were already beginning to form. The name that the Church acquired when it became necessary for her to have a proper name was the name by which she has been known ever since-the Catholic Church.
The name appears in Christian literature for the first time around the end of the first century. By the time it was written down, it had certainly already been in use, for the indications are that everybody understood exactly what was meant by the name when it was written.
Around the year A.D. 107, a bishop, St. Ignatius of Antioch in the Near East, was arrested, brought to Rome by armed guards and eventually martyred there in the arena. In a farewell letter which this early bishop and martyr wrote to his fellow Christians in Smyrna (today Izmir in modern Turkey), he made the first written mention in history of “the Catholic Church.” He wrote, “Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church” (To the Smyrnaeans 8:2). Thus, the second century of Christianity had scarcely begun when the name of the Catholic Church was already in use.
Thereafter, mention of the name became more and more frequent in the written record. It appears in the oldest written account we possess outside the New Testament of the martyrdom of a Christian for his faith, the “Martyrdom of St. Polycarp,” bishop of the same Church of Smyrna to which St. Ignatius of Antioch had written. St. Polycarp was martyred around 155, and the account of his sufferings dates back to that time. The narrator informs us that in his final prayers before giving up his life for Christ, St. Polycarp “remembered all who had met with him at any time, both small and great, both those with and those without renown, and the whole Catholic Church throughout the world.”
We know that St. Polycarp, at the time of his death in 155, had been a Christian for 86 years. He could not, therefore, have been born much later than 69 or 70. Yet it appears to have been a normal part of the vocabulary of a man of this era to be able to speak of “the whole Catholic Church throughout the world.”
The name had caught on, and no doubt for good reasons.
The term “catholic” simply means “universal,” and when employing it in those early days, St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Polycarp of Smyrna were referring to the Church that was already “everywhere,” as distinguished from whatever sects, schisms or splinter groups might have grown up here and there, in opposition to the Catholic Church.
The term was already understood even then to be an especially fitting name because the Catholic Church was for everyone, not just for adepts, enthusiasts or the specially initiated who might have been attracted to her.
Again, it was already understood that the Church was “catholic” because — to adopt a modern expression — she possessed the fullness of the means of salvation. She also was destined to be “universal” in time as well as in space, and it was to her that applied the promise of Christ to Peter and the other apostles that “the powers of death shall not prevail” against her (Mt 16:18).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church in our own day has concisely summed up all the reasons why the name of the Church of Christ has been the Catholic Church: “The Church is catholic,” the Catechism teaches, “[because] she proclaims the fullness of the faith. She bears in herself and administers the totality of the means of salvation. She is sent out to all peoples. She speaks to all men. She encompasses all times. She is ‘missionary of her very nature'” (no. 868).
So the name became attached to her for good. By the time of the first ecumenical council of the Church, held at Nicaea in Asia Minor in the year 325 A.D., the bishops of that council were legislating quite naturally in the name of the universal body they called in the Council of Nicaea’s official documents “the Catholic Church.” As most people know, it was that same council which formulated the basic Creed in which the term “catholic” was retained as one of the four marks of the true Church of Christ. And it is the same name which is to be found in all 16 documents of the twenty-first ecumenical council of the Church, Vatican Council II.
It was still back in the fourth century that St. Cyril of Jerusalem aptly wrote, “Inquire not simply where the Lord’s house is, for the sects of the profane also make an attempt to call their own dens the houses of the Lord; nor inquire merely where the church is, but where the Catholic Church is. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Body, the Mother of all, which is the Spouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (Catecheses, xviii, 26).
The same inquiry needs to be made in exactly the same way today, for the name of the true Church of Christ has in no way been changed. It was inevitable that the Catechism of the Catholic Church would adopt the same name today that the Church has had throughout the whole of her very long history.
Source: CatholicSay
April 16, 2015
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YHWH: JEHOVAH? or YAHWEH?
Almighty God was referred to by a number of names and titles in the Old Testament. Jews traditionally say there were seven names. One of these names was YHWH. The letters YHWH are named in Hebrew Yod-Heh-Waw-Heh. The Jewish Encyclopaedia states:
"Of the names of God in the Old Testament, that which occurs most frequently (6,823 times) is the so-called Tetragrammaton, Yhwh ( ), the distinctive personal name of the God of Israel. This name is commonly represented in modern translations by the form "Jehovah," which, however, is a philological impossibility."jewishencyclopedia.com (as of 25/09/2005)
Prior to the time of Jesus, mainline Judaism came to believe that YHWH, the divine name of God, was too sacred to be uttered, and the ineffable name stopped being uttered aloud. Because written Hebrew contained consonants but no vowels, it is now unknown exactly how YHWH was pronounced by ancient Jews. However, there is consensus by scholars that God's name was rendered as Yahuweh or Yahweh.
"There is almost universal consensus among scholars today that the sacred Tetragrammaton (YHWH) is to be vocalized and pronounced Yahweh. Probably the name means literally "He is.""New International Version: The Making of a Contemporary Translation CHAPTER 9: YHWH Sabaoth: "The Lord Almighty" Kenneth L. Barker
Jews recognise the divine name in modern times as Yahweh. The Jewish Encyclopedia published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls includes the divine name as Yahweh when translated into English.
Nazarene Judaism is a source of information on the pronunciation of YHWH because they see importance in the use of the name and continued to utter the name after mainstream Judaism had ceased saying the word out loud. The following quote is from an article written by a Nazarene and explains that there is significant evidence that Yahweh is the correct. Nazarenes and the Name of YHWH by James Trimm states;
"It is clear when examining the many sources that the pronunciation of YHWH can be recovered as YAHUWEH sometimes abbreviated as YAHWEH, YAHU or YAH. This is attested to by the Yahwitic names of the Masoretic text, the Peshitta Aramaic and the Marashu texts. The true pronunciation of YHWH is also preserved in ancient transliterations of the name written in Egyptian Hieroglyphics, cuneiform and Greek, all of which had written vowels. The restoration of the use of the name of Yahuweh with its correct pronunciation is as prophetically significant as the restoration of the ancient sect of the Nazarenes. Such a restoration of the name of Yahweh to his people is promised in scripture: For then will I turn to the people a pure language, That they may call upon the name of YHWH (Zeph. 3:9)"
The first half of the Tetragrammaton is commonly used as an abbreviation for God's name and is included in the a number of Biblical names. The shorten form of YHWH is Yah. The New World Translation Reference Bible states;
""As Jah." BHSftn(Heb.), ki Yah; M(Heb.), beYah´, "by Jah."Yah is the first half of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH. It occurs 49 times in M distinguished by a point (mappik) in its second letter and once, in Ca 8:6, without the mappik. TLXXSyVg, "Jehovah." See Ex 15:2 ftn, "Jah"; App 1A."New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures Footnote to Psalm 68:4
This is attested to by a number of English Biblical references. The word Hallelujah means 'Praise Yah" and shows that YH was pronounced as yah. The names Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah all end with Yah. On the other hand, Jehosaphat begins with the incorrect "Jeho" in place of Yah. This carries the same inaccuracy as Jehovah. The inaccuracy is due to Masorite additions from the nineth century C.E. The correct way to transliterate this name is Yahosaphat and is a combination of the word Yah, with the Hebrew 'shaphat', which means 'judge'.
The first letter was Y as the letter J did not exist in the Hebrew language. The Encyclopedia Americana contains the following on the J:
"The form of J was unknown in any alphabet until the 14th century. Either symbol (J,I) used initially generally had the consonantal sound of Y as in year. Gradually, the two symbols (J,l) were differentiated, the J usually acquiring consonantal force and thus becoming regarded as a consonant, and the I becoming a vowel. It was not until 1630 that the differentiation became general in England."
The pronunciation of the name of God has been preserved in a number of other languages that do contain vowels. The Murashu texts were found at Nippur and date back to 464 B.C. These were written in Aramaic cuneiform script on clay tablets.
The version of the Old Testament used by Aramaic speaking Assyrians, Syrians and Chaldeans was the Peshitta text. In the fourth century CE vowels were added to the Aramaic text. When they added vowels to names that begin with part of the divine name the result was to start with Yah, such as in Yahosaphat.
Egyptian hieroglyphics contain written vowels. In Budge's An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary page fifteen shows that the shortened form of YHWH was transliterated as "IA" or "YA", also supporting that God's name begins with the sound Yah.
Assyrian cuneiform script has been found which had the divine name spelt with written vowels. A.H.Sayce published Halley's Bible Handbook in 1898. On page sixty two it discusses three clay cuneiform tablets dating from the time of Hammurabi which contain the phrase Jahweh.
Josephus also can be used to support the idea that the sacred name was pronounced Yahweh. In Jewish Wars, chapter V, Josephus wrote;
"... in which was engraven the sacred name: it consists of four vowels."
Yahweh or Yahuweh contains four 'vowels', being pronounced as ee-ah-oo-eh, whereas Jehovah only contains three.
In Jesus time the Greek transliteration of the divine name was Iaoue or Iabe. This supports Yahweh as it was pronounced ee-ah-oo-eh. In the second century Clement of Alexandria wrote: "The mystic name which is called the Tetragrammaton, by which alone they who had access to the Holy of Holies were protected, is pronounced Iaoue, which means 'who is, and who shall be.'" In Latin it was similarly written as Iabe.
History of the word Jehovah
It is interesting to understand how the word Jehovah was derived, as the history of the word shows why the word is incorrect. In an unfortunate stroke of the pen the Watchtower Society chose to adopt the rendition of YHWH that has least resemblance to the original name and incorporates the very reason the exact pronunciation is unknown.
Ancient Hebrew did not contain vowels and so the pronunciation of words was handed down. In order to preserve the pronunciation of the Hebrew language, the Masoretes created a system for introducing vowels into the Hebrew language during the ninth century A.D. However, when it came to YHWH, rather than putting the correct vowel signs, they put vowel signs for Adonai (Lord) or Elohim (God), in order to remind the reader to use the word Lord or God instead of the name of God. Adonai (Lord) was predominantly used, however, in passages where Adonai and YHWH appeared together, Elohim was used instead, to avoid repetition of the word Lord.
As proposed by the 19th-century Hebrew scholar Gesenius, it is generally accepted that mixing the vowels for Lord and God with the consonants YHWH that led to the manufacture of the hybrid word Jehovah. Hence, it was the effort to avoid pronouncing God's name that led to the manufacture of the hybrid word Jehovah.
"The form Jehovah is of late medieval origin; it is a combination of the consonants of the Divine Name and the vowels attached to it by the Masoretes but belonging to an entirely different word. The sound of Y is represented by J and the sound of W by V, as in Latin. The word "Jehovah" does not accurately represent any form of the Name ever used in Hebrew." Revised Standard Version pp.6-7"Yahweh-the personal name of the God of the Israelites . . . The Masoretes, Jewish biblical scholars of the Middle Ages, replaced the vowel signs that had appeared above or beneath the consonants of YHWH with the vowel signs of Adonai or of Elohim. Thus, the artificial name Jehovah (YeHoWaH) came into being. Although Christian scholars after the Rendssance and Reformation periods used the term Jehovah for YHWH, in the 19th and 20th centuries biblical scholars again began to use the form Yahweh. Early Christian writers, Such as Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century, had used the form Yahweh, thus this pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton was never really lost. Greek transcriptions also indicated that Yhwh Should be pronounced Yahweh."Encyclopedia Britannica (Micropedia, vol. 10)
In the Hebrew Bible the Jews wrote the consonants of the Tetragrammaton as YHWH, but out of reverence for the sacred name of God (or out of fear of violating Exod. 20:7; Lev. 24:16), they vocalized and pronounced it as Adonai or occasionally as Elohim. It is unfortunate, then, that the name was transliterated into German and ultimately into English as Jehovah (which is the way the name is represented in the American Standard Version of 1901), for this conflate form represents the vowels of Adonai superimposed on the consonants of Yahweh, and it was never intended by the Jews to be read as Yehowah (or Jehovah).
The Jewish Encyclopaedia explains the word Jehovah in a similar way. jewishencyclopedia.com (25/9/2005)
"A mispronunciation (introduced by Christian theologians, but almost entirely disregarded by the Jews) of the Hebrew "Yhwh," the (ineffable) name of God (the Tetragrammaton or "Shem ha-Meforash"). This pronunciation is grammatically impossible; it arose through pronouncing the vowels of the "?ere" (marginal reading of the Masorites: = "Adonay") with the consonants of the "ketib" (text-reading: = "Yhwh")"
The first time the Tetragrammaton appeared in an English Bible was on the title page of William Tyndale's Bible translation of 1525, where it was written as Iehouah. This was an interlace of YHVH and Adonai. The King James Version also originally used Iehouah, influenced by the Ben Chayim codex. The King James Bible changed the spelling to Jehovah for the 1762-1769 edition.
Combining YHWH with Adonai is referred to as interlacing, fusing or superimposing. It could hardly be considered accurate or respectful. The illogical fusion of the sacred Name with the vowel points of another name is shown in the preface to The J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible:
"To give the name JHVH the vowels of the word for Lord [Heb. Adonai], is about as hybrid a combination as it would be to spell the name Germany with the vowels in the name Portugal - viz., Gormuna. The monstrous combination Jehovah is not older than about 1520 A.D."
The Watchtower argues that Jehovah is acceptable as it is a translation.
""Yahweh" is obviously a transliteration, whereas "Jehovah" is a translation, and Bible names generally have been translated rather than transliterated." Awake! 1973 March 22 p.27
As already seen, this is not accurate as Jehovah is also a transliteration, but of two separate words. By combining the consonants from YHWH with the vowels from Adonai or possibly Elohim the word Jehovah incorporates the very reason the original pronunciation was lost.
Advocates of the word Jehovah argue that it does not matter whether the word is accurate or not, what is important is that God is distinguished by a personal name.
The Divine Name Brochure p.10, by the Watchtower Society states:
"Even though the modern pronunciation Jehovah might not be exactly the way it was pronounced originally, this in no way detracts from the importance of the name. While many translators favor the pronunciation Yahweh, the New World Translation and also a number of other translations continue the use of the form Jehovah because of people's familiarity with it for centuries."
When translating between languages the pronunciation of names change and so it may not be essential that in English the divine name is pronounced as God originally spoke it to Moses. However, it is ironic that the word Jehovah mixes God's name with the very superstition that caused it to stop being used in the first place. Every time the word Jehovah is pronounced it is a reminder of this very superstition
Jehovah's Witnesses claim Hebrew was the first language as given to Adam and Eve and that it will possibly be the language spoken in the New System. (g71 2/22 p.10) The Watchtower Society prides itself on possessing the pure language, on being the only religion to teach truth.
"Through the Theocratic organization of his anointed witnesses he has been clearing up the Bible truth more and more and thus purifying their speech. So now they talk and live in harmony with the language of the approaching new world. And here, in this year of 1950, his providence brings forth this New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures as a further purification of the speech of his people. He has graciously provided it as a further powerful means for turning to the peoples a "pure language"."Watchtower 1950 September 15 p.320
One might assume then that the Watchtower would prefer to use the accurate version of God's name, rather than the superstitious rendition. The word Jehovah is not an accurate form of the divine name. It can be argued that it is the common pronunciation in English and it is not important to use the name in its correct version. It is strange though that the version chosen actually incorporates the very reason that the divine name stopped being used in the first place.
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