“If we live united to Jesus, faithful to Him, we will be able to confront with hope and serenity even the passage of death. If my life has been a path with the Lord, of trust in his immense mercy, I will be prepared to accept the last moments of my earthly existence as the definitive trustful abandonment in his receiving hands, in awaiting to contemplate Him face to face.”
--Pope Francis
Friday, November 29, 2013
Quote of the Day
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Christmas with Mother Teresa: A True Story Never Before Told
A newly written book, Christmas with Mother Teresa tells an amazing true story that has never before been told. It is the story of how Catholic Relief Services and the Missionaries of Charity joined forces to being emergency humanitarian aid to millions of Bengali refugees from East Pakistan who flooded eastern India in 1971. It’s a dramatic, action-packed tale of political repression, natural disaster, guerilla warfare, ethnic cleansing, massive population shifts, Cold War politics, modern war, and the birth of a new nation. More than that, however, it’s a powerful drama of great human tragedy and suffering illuminated and uplifted by the gentle touch of Christ’s redeeming love.
Well-researched, compelling, and inspiring, Christmas with Mother Teresa gives readers the historical and cultural background of the events it describes. It explains that the innocent Bengali people of East Pakistan were massacred and forced onto India’s doorstep in such great numbers in 1971 because their determination to be free conflicted with West Pakistani commercial interests.
As related in the book, the Hindu natives of East Bengal had lived as second-class citizens in the apartheid-style nation of East Pakistan for decades, ruled by Islamic West Pakistani foreigners with whom they had little in common. Late in 1970, facing continued repression and racism, government mismanagement of a terrible natural disaster, and persistent violations of their rights, the Bengalis started a guerrilla uprising against the corrupt Pakistani regime.
Pakistan was governed by a brutal military dictator named General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, who was determined to crush the rebellion and restore full Pakistani control of East Bengal no matter what the cost. When mass arrests, torture, and random cold-blooded shootings of East Pakistani civilians failed to destroy the liberation movement, General Khan turned to mass murder. The Pakistani Army began ruthlessly massacring tens of thousands of innocent Bengali men, women and children and burning dozens of villages across its eastern colony.
This wholesale reign of terror precipitated a mass exodus of Bengalis from East Pakistan. Beginning in March of 1971 and continuing until December of that year, nearly ten million of them—mostly civilians, but with a few guerrillas mixed in—ran for their lives, pouring en masse across the Indian border, seeking refuge from their enemies in the nearest friendly country. A large number of them landed in the already densely populated and impoverished Indian state of West Bengal, whose capital was Calcutta. These millions of refugees arrived in India absolutely destitute, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, presenting their host nation with a humanitarian crisis of almost unimaginable proportions—and presenting Catholic Relief Services with one of the greatest relief challenges in the organization’s remarkable history.
Christmas with Mother Teresa tells how Catholic Relief Services (CRS)—the overseas charitable agency of the U.S. Catholic Church—brilliantly rose to the occasion, planning and executing a tremendous feat of emergency relief. From March to December of 1971, as the horrific Bengali genocide decimated East Pakistan, Cold War leaders played ruthless power games, and the threat of war hung over the Indian subcontinent, CRS staff and thousands of volunteers led by the Missionaries of Charity worked together around the clock building some two hundred refugee camps along the Indian border and supplying all the material needs of two million Bengali refugees: sanitation, medical services, food, water, clothing, soap, and shelter. In collaboration with CRS, the Missionaries of Charity also provided for the refugees’ critical spiritual and emotional needs of love, friendship, recreation, comfort, support, and encouragement.
Based on eyewitness testimony, Christmas with Mother Teresa tells how this extraordinary work of charity was organized and carried out under the principal direction of two individuals: the CRS Program Director for India and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The climax of this profoundly moving and unforgettable true story is a totally unexpected and unique Christmas experience shared with the “saint of Calcutta”, the refugees, and a special visitor from the United States whose cause for sainthood is also underway.
The book will also relate in detail:
• How Catholic Relief Services helped Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity perform their daily works of mercy in Calcutta • How CRS and the Missionaries of Charity brought aid to desperate Bengalis after a crippling natural disaster struck East Pakistan in 1970 • How India and the world responded to the massive refugee crisis • The role played by Cold War superpowers in the conflict between India and Pakistan • How Mother Teresa’s example and leadership contributed to the success of the CRS refugee relief program • Why Mother Teresa became known as “a great symbol of peace” • How the Bengali genocide and refugee crisis were ultimately stopped • What happened to the refugees after the crisis • Everyday examples of Mother Teresa’s heroic virtues such as humility, charity, patience, abandonment to the Divine Will, and trust in Divine Providence as witnessed by the CRS Program Director • What the Program Director learned from Mother Teresa’s example of holiness
Why has this gem of a story remained buried for so many years? One reason is that the events took place in a relatively obscure developing country during polarized and chaotic times for the world in general. The Cold War was raging, and many nations fell into one of two camps, either pro-Communist (led by the Soviet Union) or anti-Communist (led by the United States). India, however, refused to take part in this conflict, so it was generally marginalized by the two Cold War superpowers who dominated the world stage. Also, despite their magnitude, the Bengali genocide and refugee crisis were overshadowed in the international media and in people’s minds by other, “bigger” events and issues such as the Vietnam War, radical social and cultural changes, environmental concerns, the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race, the Apollo moon landings, and the sweeping liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Another reason why this novel-like tale has remained untold has to do with a disturbing and lesser-known aspect of the Cold War politics of the time. For political reasons, as the book candidly points out, in the early 1970s the U.S. government was allied with and even secretly arming the Pakistani military dictatorship responsible for the massacre of up to three million innocent Bengalis and the forced displacement of ten million others into India. The Nixon administration downplayed the ethnic cleansing and refugee crisis, thus keeping its shameful and illegal involvement in these humanitarian tragedies largely hidden from American public view. The horrible details of the Bengali genocide and the U.S. role in it were not fully revealed to the Western world until after the Cold War had ended, beginning in the late 1990s with the research of R. J. Rummel and other historians and continuing since 2002 with the declassification of relevant U.S. State Department documents.
A third reason why this account is generally unknown is that no one has written and published an in-depth account of it, firsthand or otherwise. Nearly all of the eyewitnesses to these events have passed away, taking their memories to their graves. Even Eileen Egan (1911-2001), the great contemporary journalist, biographer and co-worker of Mother Teresa and a prominent figure in Catholic Relief Services, only gives a thumbnail sketch of the enormous refugee crisis and relief effort or mentions them in passing in her published writings because she was not directly involved in them firsthand (cf. Such a Vision of the Street: Mother Teresa—The Spirit and the Work [New York: Doubleday, 1985], pp. 196-99, 204, 212; also cf. Catholic Relief Services: The Beginning Years [New York: Catholic Relief Services, 1988], pp. 292-93).
Indeed, this amazing story might have been lost for all time—except for the fact that at least one eyewitness to it is still alive today and willing to share it with others. Moreover, this eyewitness was not a casual bystander or passive victim of the historic events he witnessed, but rather a key figure who was intimately involved in them. As the CRS Program Director for India from 1969 to 1977, this man spent nine years working closely with Mother Teresa and was in charge of the tremendous relief effort for East Pakistani refugees. This humble and cheerful man, now retired and in his late seventies, is a good storyteller and a good friend of mine. Over the past few years, he has kindly granted me a series of private interviews in which he told the untold story; he also shared with me his personal photo collection of his unique Christmas with Mother Teresa (some of these photos will be included in the published book). I have written the narrative based on my interviews with him as well as on my own additional research, and the book is now being marketed to various Catholic publishers in the U.S. The identity of the CRS Program Director will be revealed in the published book.
Christmas with Mother Teresa will acquaint readers with a major unrecognized achievement in the history of Catholic Relief Services and will fill an important gap in the biographies of Mother Teresa published to date. Information about the book’s publisher, release date, availability, and pricing will be provided on my Twitter page at twitter.com/justinsoutar as well as here on my blog as it becomes available, so please stay tuned.
Well-researched, compelling, and inspiring, Christmas with Mother Teresa gives readers the historical and cultural background of the events it describes. It explains that the innocent Bengali people of East Pakistan were massacred and forced onto India’s doorstep in such great numbers in 1971 because their determination to be free conflicted with West Pakistani commercial interests.
As related in the book, the Hindu natives of East Bengal had lived as second-class citizens in the apartheid-style nation of East Pakistan for decades, ruled by Islamic West Pakistani foreigners with whom they had little in common. Late in 1970, facing continued repression and racism, government mismanagement of a terrible natural disaster, and persistent violations of their rights, the Bengalis started a guerrilla uprising against the corrupt Pakistani regime.
Pakistan was governed by a brutal military dictator named General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, who was determined to crush the rebellion and restore full Pakistani control of East Bengal no matter what the cost. When mass arrests, torture, and random cold-blooded shootings of East Pakistani civilians failed to destroy the liberation movement, General Khan turned to mass murder. The Pakistani Army began ruthlessly massacring tens of thousands of innocent Bengali men, women and children and burning dozens of villages across its eastern colony.
This wholesale reign of terror precipitated a mass exodus of Bengalis from East Pakistan. Beginning in March of 1971 and continuing until December of that year, nearly ten million of them—mostly civilians, but with a few guerrillas mixed in—ran for their lives, pouring en masse across the Indian border, seeking refuge from their enemies in the nearest friendly country. A large number of them landed in the already densely populated and impoverished Indian state of West Bengal, whose capital was Calcutta. These millions of refugees arrived in India absolutely destitute, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, presenting their host nation with a humanitarian crisis of almost unimaginable proportions—and presenting Catholic Relief Services with one of the greatest relief challenges in the organization’s remarkable history.
Christmas with Mother Teresa tells how Catholic Relief Services (CRS)—the overseas charitable agency of the U.S. Catholic Church—brilliantly rose to the occasion, planning and executing a tremendous feat of emergency relief. From March to December of 1971, as the horrific Bengali genocide decimated East Pakistan, Cold War leaders played ruthless power games, and the threat of war hung over the Indian subcontinent, CRS staff and thousands of volunteers led by the Missionaries of Charity worked together around the clock building some two hundred refugee camps along the Indian border and supplying all the material needs of two million Bengali refugees: sanitation, medical services, food, water, clothing, soap, and shelter. In collaboration with CRS, the Missionaries of Charity also provided for the refugees’ critical spiritual and emotional needs of love, friendship, recreation, comfort, support, and encouragement.
Based on eyewitness testimony, Christmas with Mother Teresa tells how this extraordinary work of charity was organized and carried out under the principal direction of two individuals: the CRS Program Director for India and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The climax of this profoundly moving and unforgettable true story is a totally unexpected and unique Christmas experience shared with the “saint of Calcutta”, the refugees, and a special visitor from the United States whose cause for sainthood is also underway.
The book will also relate in detail:
• How Catholic Relief Services helped Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity perform their daily works of mercy in Calcutta • How CRS and the Missionaries of Charity brought aid to desperate Bengalis after a crippling natural disaster struck East Pakistan in 1970 • How India and the world responded to the massive refugee crisis • The role played by Cold War superpowers in the conflict between India and Pakistan • How Mother Teresa’s example and leadership contributed to the success of the CRS refugee relief program • Why Mother Teresa became known as “a great symbol of peace” • How the Bengali genocide and refugee crisis were ultimately stopped • What happened to the refugees after the crisis • Everyday examples of Mother Teresa’s heroic virtues such as humility, charity, patience, abandonment to the Divine Will, and trust in Divine Providence as witnessed by the CRS Program Director • What the Program Director learned from Mother Teresa’s example of holiness
Why has this gem of a story remained buried for so many years? One reason is that the events took place in a relatively obscure developing country during polarized and chaotic times for the world in general. The Cold War was raging, and many nations fell into one of two camps, either pro-Communist (led by the Soviet Union) or anti-Communist (led by the United States). India, however, refused to take part in this conflict, so it was generally marginalized by the two Cold War superpowers who dominated the world stage. Also, despite their magnitude, the Bengali genocide and refugee crisis were overshadowed in the international media and in people’s minds by other, “bigger” events and issues such as the Vietnam War, radical social and cultural changes, environmental concerns, the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race, the Apollo moon landings, and the sweeping liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Another reason why this novel-like tale has remained untold has to do with a disturbing and lesser-known aspect of the Cold War politics of the time. For political reasons, as the book candidly points out, in the early 1970s the U.S. government was allied with and even secretly arming the Pakistani military dictatorship responsible for the massacre of up to three million innocent Bengalis and the forced displacement of ten million others into India. The Nixon administration downplayed the ethnic cleansing and refugee crisis, thus keeping its shameful and illegal involvement in these humanitarian tragedies largely hidden from American public view. The horrible details of the Bengali genocide and the U.S. role in it were not fully revealed to the Western world until after the Cold War had ended, beginning in the late 1990s with the research of R. J. Rummel and other historians and continuing since 2002 with the declassification of relevant U.S. State Department documents.
A third reason why this account is generally unknown is that no one has written and published an in-depth account of it, firsthand or otherwise. Nearly all of the eyewitnesses to these events have passed away, taking their memories to their graves. Even Eileen Egan (1911-2001), the great contemporary journalist, biographer and co-worker of Mother Teresa and a prominent figure in Catholic Relief Services, only gives a thumbnail sketch of the enormous refugee crisis and relief effort or mentions them in passing in her published writings because she was not directly involved in them firsthand (cf. Such a Vision of the Street: Mother Teresa—The Spirit and the Work [New York: Doubleday, 1985], pp. 196-99, 204, 212; also cf. Catholic Relief Services: The Beginning Years [New York: Catholic Relief Services, 1988], pp. 292-93).
Indeed, this amazing story might have been lost for all time—except for the fact that at least one eyewitness to it is still alive today and willing to share it with others. Moreover, this eyewitness was not a casual bystander or passive victim of the historic events he witnessed, but rather a key figure who was intimately involved in them. As the CRS Program Director for India from 1969 to 1977, this man spent nine years working closely with Mother Teresa and was in charge of the tremendous relief effort for East Pakistani refugees. This humble and cheerful man, now retired and in his late seventies, is a good storyteller and a good friend of mine. Over the past few years, he has kindly granted me a series of private interviews in which he told the untold story; he also shared with me his personal photo collection of his unique Christmas with Mother Teresa (some of these photos will be included in the published book). I have written the narrative based on my interviews with him as well as on my own additional research, and the book is now being marketed to various Catholic publishers in the U.S. The identity of the CRS Program Director will be revealed in the published book.
Christmas with Mother Teresa will acquaint readers with a major unrecognized achievement in the history of Catholic Relief Services and will fill an important gap in the biographies of Mother Teresa published to date. Information about the book’s publisher, release date, availability, and pricing will be provided on my Twitter page at twitter.com/justinsoutar as well as here on my blog as it becomes available, so please stay tuned.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Quote of the Day
"Jesus is the center of creation; and so the attitude demanded of us as true believers is that of recognizing and accepting in our lives the centrality of Jesus Christ, in our thoughts, in our words and in our works. And so our thoughts will be Christian thoughts, thoughts of Christ. Our works will be Christian works, works of Christ; and our words will be Christian words, words of Christ. But when this center is lost, when it is replaced by something else, only harm can result for everything around us and for ourselves."
--Pope Francis
Friday, November 22, 2013
Quote of the Day
"The universe is not the result of chance, as some would have us believe. Contemplating it, we are invited to read in it something profound: the wisdom of the Creator, the inexhaustible imagination of God, his infinite love for us. We must not let our minds be limited by theories which come only to a certain point and that -- if we look well -- are not in fact in concurrence with the faith, but do not succeed in explaining the ultimate meaning of reality. In the beauty of the world, in its mystery, in its grandeur and its rationality we cannot but read the eternal rationality, and we cannot but let ourselves be guided by it to the one God, creator of heaven and earth. If we have this look, we will see that He who has created the world is he who is born in a cave in Bethlehem and continues to dwell in our midst in the Eucharist, it is the same living God who interpellates us, loves us, and wishes to lead us to eternal life."
--Pope Benedict XVI
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Quote of the Day
"There are no two ways of looking at either the world or God. There is no distinction between concern for human welfare and concern for ecological preservation. The way we relate to nature as creation directly reflects the way we believe in God as Creator of all things. The sensitivity with which we handle the natural environment clearly mirrors the sacredness that we reserve for the divine.
"Moreover, scientists estimate that those most hurt by global warming in the years to come, are those who can least afford it. According to the Gospel of St. Matthew, the questions that will be asked of us all at the final moment of accountability will not be about our religious observance but on whether we fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, comforted the sick, and cared for captives.
"Our reckless consumption of the earth’s resources – energy, water, and forests – threatens us with irreversible climate change. Burning more fuel than we need in an overpopulated city, we may contribute to droughts or floods thousands of miles away.
"To restore the planet we need a spiritual worldview, which brings frugality and simplicity, humility and respect. We must constantly be aware of the impact of our actions on all of creation. We must direct our focus away from what we want to what the planet needs. We must choose to care for creation; otherwise, we do not really care about anything at all.
"In our efforts, to contain global warming, we are ultimately admitting just how prepared we are to sacrifice some of our selfish and greedy lifestyles. When will we learn to say: “Enough!”? When will we understand how important it is to leave as light a footprint as possible on this planet for the sake of future generations?...
"We can no longer afford to wait; we can no longer afford to be idle. The world has clearly expressed its opinion; our political leaders must accordingly act with urgency. Deadlines can no longer be postponed; indecision and inaction are not options. We have a choice to make. The time to choose is now."
--Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Friday, November 15, 2013
Quote of the Day
“The Kingdom of God is in our midst: do not look for strange things, don’t look for new things with this worldly curiosity. Let the Holy Spirit take us forward, with that wisdom that is a soft breeze. This is the Spirit of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus speaks of.”
--Pope Francis
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
To an Authentic and Renewed Conversion: Vatican II and the Year of Faith
(Note: I've already published two much longer versions of this article, one as a four-part series on EzineArticles and one here on my blog, but this much shorter version is neat and tidy and just gives you the essentials. Since I have not found a home for it elsewhere and since the Year of Faith is now drawing to a close, I thought I'd share it with my readers here.)
“To an Authentic and Renewed Conversion”: Vatican II and the Year of Faith
by Justin Soutar
***(Note: All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Bible.)***
On October 11, 2011, in an Apostolic Letter entitled Porta Fidei (The Door of Faith), Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of Faith from October 2012 through November 2013 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. This Holy Year, according to Benedict, "is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Savior of the world.” [1]
Why did Benedict declare this Year of Faith? In his message to young people gathered for World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, in August 2011, he observed: “Today we are seeing a certain ‘eclipse of God’ taking place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity.” [2]
Benedict was aware that Europe and the West today are gradually losing touch with their Christian heritage, allowing God to fade into the background and become irrelevant to social and political life. This insidious “amnesia” not only threatens to cut modern Western civilization completely off from its Christian roots—with disastrous consequences for the entire world—but has also begun to subtly infect the minds and hearts of individual Christian believers, weakening their faith and leading them away from Christ.
What better way to respond to this “’eclipse of God’” and combat this “amnesia,” this “denial of the treasure of our faith,” than to summon the whole Church “to an authentic and renewed conversion” to her Lord Jesus Christ, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2) and “the one Savior of the world”? This Year of Faith is meant to revitalize and reform the Church so that it can more effectively carry out its mission of proclaiming Christ to the whole world.
The Holy Spirit obviously inspired our previous Vicar of Christ to proclaim this Year of Faith in response to the needs of the Church and the world at this particular moment in human history. In light of "a profound crisis of faith" that has gripped contemporary human society and culture, Benedict pointed out "the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.” [3]
The primary objective of the Second Vatican Council was to preserve and hand on the deposit of faith. Although they include pastoral instructions and guidelines, the documents of Vatican II are primarily official dogmatic (teaching) documents of the Church’s Magisterium, written by the Catholic bishops of the world in union with the Successor of Saint Peter and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In Porta Fidei, quoting his great predecessor, Benedict says:
According to Benedict XVI, the Second Vatican Council can only fulfill its potential for renewing the Church “if we interpret and implement it guided by a right hermeneutic.” [5] In an address to the Italian bishops’ conference last year, our previous Holy Father identified this “right hermeneutic” as “a hermeneutic of continuity and reform.” [6] This double hermeneutic points to the essentially twofold nature of Vatican II and is the “key” to unlocking the Council’s inner meaning.
The fundamental objective of the Council was to preserve and transmit Catholic doctrine “in continuity with the 2,000-year-old Tradition of the Church.” [7] In his opening address to the Council on October 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII stated: “The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously.” [8] In accord with this directive, the Council Fathers carefully examined, further developed, and handed on to succeeding generations—while preserving fully intact—the unchanging doctrines of the Faith in a series of authoritative documents called dogmatic constitutions.
The second key term in the “right hermeneutic” for correctly understanding and implementing the Council is “reform.” While carefully preserving and handing on the deposit of faith, the Sacred Liturgy, the sacraments, and prayer in unbroken continuity with the Church’s ancient tradition, the Council introduced many liturgical, pastoral, and disciplinary reforms into the Church’s life to enable the Church to more effectively carry out her mission of teaching, governing, and sanctifying believers and of evangelizing non-believers in the context of the modern world. Thus the Council’s liturgical, pastoral, and disciplinary reforms must be kept within the framework of doctrinal and liturgical continuity.
Due to incorrect interpretation and implementation of the Council in the decades following it, Vatican II and its documents have often been misconstrued as a radical break with the Church’s tradition, when in fact they are an organic growth and development of that tradition. None of the Council documents contain new teachings; they merely re-enunciate, synthesize, and develop further what the Church has always believed and taught, and thus are meant to be read and understood within the context of the Church’s 2,000-year tradition.
By summoning us “to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Savior of the world” during this Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI called us to return to the basic essentials of our Christian faith that the Second Vatican Council proclaimed anew to the modern world. Benedict said that “we should learn the simplest and most fundamental lesson of the Council: namely, that Christianity in its essence consists of faith in God which is Trinitarian Love, and in a personal and community encounter with Christ who orients and gives meaning to life. Everything else flows from this.” [9]
As an “eclipse of God” slowly darkens our modern age and “a profound crisis of faith” takes hold on it, the basic truths of our faith proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council—and proclaimed anew to the Church and the world by Popes John Paul, Benedict, and Francis—shine ever more brilliantly: God exists. He is real. He loves us and hears our prayers. Man is an essentially religious being made in the image and likeness of God, and only in relationship to God, his Creator, does man discover his true identity and dignity and grasp the real meaning and purpose of life.
Perhaps no better prayer for this Year of Faith can be said than that of Benedict XVI: “May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ and of the whole Church, help us to achieve and to bring to completion what the Council Fathers, motivated by the Holy Spirit, pondered in their hearts: the desire that all might know the Gospel and encounter the Lord Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” [10]
Copyright © 2012, 2013 Justin D. Soutar. All rights reserved.
ENDNOTES
1. Porta Fidei, no. 6.
2. Message for the Twenty-Sixth World Youth Day (2011), no. 1 [Bold/italics added] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/youth/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100806_youth_en.html
3. Porta Fidei, no. 2.
4. (Porta Fidei, no. 5 [Novo Millennio Ineunte, n. 57]) [Bold/italics added].
5. Porta Fidei, no. 5 [Bold/italics added].
6. Address to the General Assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, May 24, 2012 [Bold/italics added]. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2012/may/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20120524_cei_en.html
7. Ibid.
8. Quoted in Address to Italian Bishops, May 24, 2012 [Bold/italics added].
9. General Audience, October 10, 2012.
10. Ibid.
“To an Authentic and Renewed Conversion”: Vatican II and the Year of Faith
by Justin Soutar
***(Note: All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Bible.)***
On October 11, 2011, in an Apostolic Letter entitled Porta Fidei (The Door of Faith), Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of Faith from October 2012 through November 2013 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. This Holy Year, according to Benedict, "is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Savior of the world.” [1]
Why did Benedict declare this Year of Faith? In his message to young people gathered for World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, in August 2011, he observed: “Today we are seeing a certain ‘eclipse of God’ taking place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity.” [2]
Benedict was aware that Europe and the West today are gradually losing touch with their Christian heritage, allowing God to fade into the background and become irrelevant to social and political life. This insidious “amnesia” not only threatens to cut modern Western civilization completely off from its Christian roots—with disastrous consequences for the entire world—but has also begun to subtly infect the minds and hearts of individual Christian believers, weakening their faith and leading them away from Christ.
What better way to respond to this “’eclipse of God’” and combat this “amnesia,” this “denial of the treasure of our faith,” than to summon the whole Church “to an authentic and renewed conversion” to her Lord Jesus Christ, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2) and “the one Savior of the world”? This Year of Faith is meant to revitalize and reform the Church so that it can more effectively carry out its mission of proclaiming Christ to the whole world.
The Holy Spirit obviously inspired our previous Vicar of Christ to proclaim this Year of Faith in response to the needs of the Church and the world at this particular moment in human history. In light of "a profound crisis of faith" that has gripped contemporary human society and culture, Benedict pointed out "the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.” [3]
The primary objective of the Second Vatican Council was to preserve and hand on the deposit of faith. Although they include pastoral instructions and guidelines, the documents of Vatican II are primarily official dogmatic (teaching) documents of the Church’s Magisterium, written by the Catholic bishops of the world in union with the Successor of Saint Peter and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In Porta Fidei, quoting his great predecessor, Benedict says:
…the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, “have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church’s tradition…I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.” [4]
According to Benedict XVI, the Second Vatican Council can only fulfill its potential for renewing the Church “if we interpret and implement it guided by a right hermeneutic.” [5] In an address to the Italian bishops’ conference last year, our previous Holy Father identified this “right hermeneutic” as “a hermeneutic of continuity and reform.” [6] This double hermeneutic points to the essentially twofold nature of Vatican II and is the “key” to unlocking the Council’s inner meaning.
The fundamental objective of the Council was to preserve and transmit Catholic doctrine “in continuity with the 2,000-year-old Tradition of the Church.” [7] In his opening address to the Council on October 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII stated: “The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously.” [8] In accord with this directive, the Council Fathers carefully examined, further developed, and handed on to succeeding generations—while preserving fully intact—the unchanging doctrines of the Faith in a series of authoritative documents called dogmatic constitutions.
The second key term in the “right hermeneutic” for correctly understanding and implementing the Council is “reform.” While carefully preserving and handing on the deposit of faith, the Sacred Liturgy, the sacraments, and prayer in unbroken continuity with the Church’s ancient tradition, the Council introduced many liturgical, pastoral, and disciplinary reforms into the Church’s life to enable the Church to more effectively carry out her mission of teaching, governing, and sanctifying believers and of evangelizing non-believers in the context of the modern world. Thus the Council’s liturgical, pastoral, and disciplinary reforms must be kept within the framework of doctrinal and liturgical continuity.
Due to incorrect interpretation and implementation of the Council in the decades following it, Vatican II and its documents have often been misconstrued as a radical break with the Church’s tradition, when in fact they are an organic growth and development of that tradition. None of the Council documents contain new teachings; they merely re-enunciate, synthesize, and develop further what the Church has always believed and taught, and thus are meant to be read and understood within the context of the Church’s 2,000-year tradition.
By summoning us “to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Savior of the world” during this Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI called us to return to the basic essentials of our Christian faith that the Second Vatican Council proclaimed anew to the modern world. Benedict said that “we should learn the simplest and most fundamental lesson of the Council: namely, that Christianity in its essence consists of faith in God which is Trinitarian Love, and in a personal and community encounter with Christ who orients and gives meaning to life. Everything else flows from this.” [9]
As an “eclipse of God” slowly darkens our modern age and “a profound crisis of faith” takes hold on it, the basic truths of our faith proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council—and proclaimed anew to the Church and the world by Popes John Paul, Benedict, and Francis—shine ever more brilliantly: God exists. He is real. He loves us and hears our prayers. Man is an essentially religious being made in the image and likeness of God, and only in relationship to God, his Creator, does man discover his true identity and dignity and grasp the real meaning and purpose of life.
Perhaps no better prayer for this Year of Faith can be said than that of Benedict XVI: “May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ and of the whole Church, help us to achieve and to bring to completion what the Council Fathers, motivated by the Holy Spirit, pondered in their hearts: the desire that all might know the Gospel and encounter the Lord Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” [10]
Copyright © 2012, 2013 Justin D. Soutar. All rights reserved.
ENDNOTES
1. Porta Fidei, no. 6.
2. Message for the Twenty-Sixth World Youth Day (2011), no. 1 [Bold/italics added] http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/youth/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100806_youth_en.html
3. Porta Fidei, no. 2.
4. (Porta Fidei, no. 5 [Novo Millennio Ineunte, n. 57]) [Bold/italics added].
5. Porta Fidei, no. 5 [Bold/italics added].
6. Address to the General Assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, May 24, 2012 [Bold/italics added]. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2012/may/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20120524_cei_en.html
7. Ibid.
8. Quoted in Address to Italian Bishops, May 24, 2012 [Bold/italics added].
9. General Audience, October 10, 2012.
10. Ibid.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Quote of the Day
"Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
--Matthew 25:37-40
Friday, November 8, 2013
Thought for the Day
“The joy of God is not the death of the sinner, but the life of the sinner. And how far from this were those who murmured against Jesus, how far from the heart of God! They didn’t know Him. They thought that being religious, being good people meant always being well-mannered and polite, and often pretending to be polite, right? This is the hypocrisy of the murmuring. But the joy of God the Father, in fact, is love. He loves us. 'But I’m a sinner, I’ve done this and that and the other!' 'But I love you anyway, and I go out searching for you, and I bring you home.' This is our Father. Let’s reflect on this.”
--Pope Francis
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Quote of the Day
"Having faith in the Lord is not something that involves solely our intelligence, the area of intellectual knowledge; rather, it is a change that involves our life, our whole self: feelings, heart, intelligence, will, corporeity, emotions, and human relationships. With faith everything truly changes."
--Benedict XVI
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Quote of the Day
"To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ."
--2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
Saturday, November 2, 2013
We Need Ken Cuccinelli for Governor
The whole country is now watching Virginia's gubernatorial race. This is one of the few gubernatorial elections in America that is held in an odd-numbered year. National interest in this particular race is based on the fact that Virginia, once a longtime Republican stronghold, is now a "battleground state" over which Republicans and Democrats are fighting furiously for control. Ending decades of Republican rule, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won a majority of the popular vote in Virginia in 2008, which helped win him the presidency. President Obama narrowly won Virginia a second time (albeit fradulently) in 2012. Now the Democrats are hoping the third time will be the charm with the election of Terry McAuliffe to succeed Republican incumbent Bob McDonnell as governor of Virginia.
Governor McDonnell has served our state well over these last four years. Just one year after the election of President Obama, in 2009, Bob made headlines when he won Virginia by a landslide, garnering 59 percent of the popular vote. A devout Catholic in his late fifties, he has come closer than almost anyone else I know to the ideals of statesmanship and public service. One of his first acts as governor was to reopen the twenty-three interstate rest areas that had been closed the previous year by Democratic governor Tim Kaine. Coming into office in the middle of the worst recession in decades, McDonnell pledged to keep things running without raising taxes. He has kept his promise. He has worked faithfully to protect innocent unborn human lives; he signed into law a bill that requires pregnant women in Virginia to view an ultrasound prior to having an abortion, and he has also enacted strict new regulations for abortion clinics in our state (which were previously not regulated at all). He has upheld the Virginia Marriage Amendment. He has refused to pay for or administer ObamaCare in Virginia, instead signing into law our own common-sense state healthcare reform bill that respects human life and human rights. His economic initiatives have created thousands of new jobs. He has worked to make Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast, with an "all-of-the-above" approach including a general shift towards renewable energy resources. Under McDonnell's leadership, Virginia has been ranked one of the top states in the country to do business in. He has consistently shown respect for our men and women in the armed forces. He represents the traditional Republican ethos of limited government, low taxes, and a strong national defense. All this with his character as a "compassionate conservative" who is concerned about the true needs of people and who exhibits the increasingly lost art of bipartisanship--who knows how to work with representatives of both parties to get things done for the common good. All in all, I am very satisfied with McDonnell's performance as governor of Virginia. He will be missed. I think Bob McDonnell would make a good president of the United States. He has the right attitude, the experience, the principles, and the deep religious faith. He even looks presidential. If it weren't for the corrupt Republican establishment, he would actually have a chance at the nation's highest office.
The current Republican candidate for governor, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, is the logical choice to succeed McDonnell as governor of our state. A devout Catholic like McDonnell, in his mid-40s with a large family, Ken represents the average Virginian. Also like McDonnell, Ken has the character, the principles, the deep religious faith, and the ethic of public service. He has done a fantastic job as our state attorney general. He is strongly pro-life and opposed to abortion on demand. He supports keeping the Virginia Marriage Amendment on the books to legally protect marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Just minutes after the deceptively misnamed Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010, Ken became the first state attorney general in the nation to sue the federal government over ObamaCare. Needless to add, Ken is all for the repeal of ObamaCare. When the IRS ripped off Virginia not too long ago, Ken sued the federal government and won, resulting in millions of illegally collected taxpayer dollars being returned to us. He is opposed to a proposed $880,000,000 annual transportation tax increase that would take yet more money out of our wallets. And he is in favor of a proposed $1,400,000,000 Virginia income tax cut that would be a boon for our state economy. The election of Ken Cuccinelli as next governor of Virginia would represent a smooth transition, a successful passing of the baton of the true leadership we need in these difficult and challenging times.
By contrast, the election of Terry McAuliffe as governor of Virginia would be a disaster for our state. Terry is a wealthy elitist who cares nothing for the average Virginian. He is strongly pro-abortion and supports abortion on demand. He wants to repeal the Virginia Marriage Amendment to allow legal recognition of sodomy. He favors the full implementation of ObamaCare in Virginia, which our current governor, Bob McDonnell, strongly opposes. He supports the $880 million transportation tax increase and opposes the $1.4 billion income tax cut. Terry is a politician, not a statesman. If he takes over the governorship, he will plunge Virginia full throttle into the Obama nightmare our nation has been struggling through these last five years.
Unfortunately, it looks as if McAuliffe is poised to win this election. He has received millions of dollars in fundraising assistance from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is grooming him to be her vice-presidential running mate in 2016. Both the Clintons have been going all out to ensure Terry's election as governor of Virginia, in order to advance their and President Obama's self-serving radical agenda to "fundamentally transform" America, which involves taking away our rights and taking even more of our money through taxes. So far, they seem to be succeeding, as polls show McAuliffe tied with or slightly ahead of Cuccinelli. I'd like to think that Ken will make it, but I have my doubts. This country seems to be sliding gradually into a one-party dictatorship run by the corrupt elitist Democrats, who are using money and dirty tricks to gain and retain power. President Obama won the 2008 election by outspending John McCain three to one. He won the 2012 election by spending one billion dollars and through massive voter fraud in Ohio, Pennslyvania, Virginia and other states as discovered by the American Civil Rights Union. Now I'm sure the Democrats will let nothing stand in their way of taking over Virginia. THey won't let a principled man like Ken win the governorship of Virginia because if he does, it will be a great victory of the people against ObamaCare, indicating that the nation in general is ready to repeal this disastrous law.
Whatever happens in this gubernatorial election will be either God's ordaining or permitting will. All I can do, as a Catholic and an American citizen, is do my part: pray for the election of a good governor, vote my conscience on November 5, and encourage others to do the same. I strongly urge all of my fellow Virginians reading this to vote Ken Cuccinelli for governor, as well as Earl Jackson for lieutenant governor and Mark Obenshain for attorney general. All three have the same positions on the issues described above. We need these good men running our state. Having done our best, we leave the results in God's hands. As Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say, we're not called to be successful; we're called to be faithful. Our enemies have lots of money and worldly power on their side; we have God on our side. If God is for us, who can be against us? Even if we lose this battle, we should not be discouraged but keep up the good fight. We are fighting for human rights, for human life and marriage and liberty, for our Constitution, and for the heart and soul of our nation. If we remain faithful, one day the final victory will be ours.
Governor McDonnell has served our state well over these last four years. Just one year after the election of President Obama, in 2009, Bob made headlines when he won Virginia by a landslide, garnering 59 percent of the popular vote. A devout Catholic in his late fifties, he has come closer than almost anyone else I know to the ideals of statesmanship and public service. One of his first acts as governor was to reopen the twenty-three interstate rest areas that had been closed the previous year by Democratic governor Tim Kaine. Coming into office in the middle of the worst recession in decades, McDonnell pledged to keep things running without raising taxes. He has kept his promise. He has worked faithfully to protect innocent unborn human lives; he signed into law a bill that requires pregnant women in Virginia to view an ultrasound prior to having an abortion, and he has also enacted strict new regulations for abortion clinics in our state (which were previously not regulated at all). He has upheld the Virginia Marriage Amendment. He has refused to pay for or administer ObamaCare in Virginia, instead signing into law our own common-sense state healthcare reform bill that respects human life and human rights. His economic initiatives have created thousands of new jobs. He has worked to make Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast, with an "all-of-the-above" approach including a general shift towards renewable energy resources. Under McDonnell's leadership, Virginia has been ranked one of the top states in the country to do business in. He has consistently shown respect for our men and women in the armed forces. He represents the traditional Republican ethos of limited government, low taxes, and a strong national defense. All this with his character as a "compassionate conservative" who is concerned about the true needs of people and who exhibits the increasingly lost art of bipartisanship--who knows how to work with representatives of both parties to get things done for the common good. All in all, I am very satisfied with McDonnell's performance as governor of Virginia. He will be missed. I think Bob McDonnell would make a good president of the United States. He has the right attitude, the experience, the principles, and the deep religious faith. He even looks presidential. If it weren't for the corrupt Republican establishment, he would actually have a chance at the nation's highest office.
The current Republican candidate for governor, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, is the logical choice to succeed McDonnell as governor of our state. A devout Catholic like McDonnell, in his mid-40s with a large family, Ken represents the average Virginian. Also like McDonnell, Ken has the character, the principles, the deep religious faith, and the ethic of public service. He has done a fantastic job as our state attorney general. He is strongly pro-life and opposed to abortion on demand. He supports keeping the Virginia Marriage Amendment on the books to legally protect marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Just minutes after the deceptively misnamed Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010, Ken became the first state attorney general in the nation to sue the federal government over ObamaCare. Needless to add, Ken is all for the repeal of ObamaCare. When the IRS ripped off Virginia not too long ago, Ken sued the federal government and won, resulting in millions of illegally collected taxpayer dollars being returned to us. He is opposed to a proposed $880,000,000 annual transportation tax increase that would take yet more money out of our wallets. And he is in favor of a proposed $1,400,000,000 Virginia income tax cut that would be a boon for our state economy. The election of Ken Cuccinelli as next governor of Virginia would represent a smooth transition, a successful passing of the baton of the true leadership we need in these difficult and challenging times.
By contrast, the election of Terry McAuliffe as governor of Virginia would be a disaster for our state. Terry is a wealthy elitist who cares nothing for the average Virginian. He is strongly pro-abortion and supports abortion on demand. He wants to repeal the Virginia Marriage Amendment to allow legal recognition of sodomy. He favors the full implementation of ObamaCare in Virginia, which our current governor, Bob McDonnell, strongly opposes. He supports the $880 million transportation tax increase and opposes the $1.4 billion income tax cut. Terry is a politician, not a statesman. If he takes over the governorship, he will plunge Virginia full throttle into the Obama nightmare our nation has been struggling through these last five years.
Unfortunately, it looks as if McAuliffe is poised to win this election. He has received millions of dollars in fundraising assistance from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is grooming him to be her vice-presidential running mate in 2016. Both the Clintons have been going all out to ensure Terry's election as governor of Virginia, in order to advance their and President Obama's self-serving radical agenda to "fundamentally transform" America, which involves taking away our rights and taking even more of our money through taxes. So far, they seem to be succeeding, as polls show McAuliffe tied with or slightly ahead of Cuccinelli. I'd like to think that Ken will make it, but I have my doubts. This country seems to be sliding gradually into a one-party dictatorship run by the corrupt elitist Democrats, who are using money and dirty tricks to gain and retain power. President Obama won the 2008 election by outspending John McCain three to one. He won the 2012 election by spending one billion dollars and through massive voter fraud in Ohio, Pennslyvania, Virginia and other states as discovered by the American Civil Rights Union. Now I'm sure the Democrats will let nothing stand in their way of taking over Virginia. THey won't let a principled man like Ken win the governorship of Virginia because if he does, it will be a great victory of the people against ObamaCare, indicating that the nation in general is ready to repeal this disastrous law.
Whatever happens in this gubernatorial election will be either God's ordaining or permitting will. All I can do, as a Catholic and an American citizen, is do my part: pray for the election of a good governor, vote my conscience on November 5, and encourage others to do the same. I strongly urge all of my fellow Virginians reading this to vote Ken Cuccinelli for governor, as well as Earl Jackson for lieutenant governor and Mark Obenshain for attorney general. All three have the same positions on the issues described above. We need these good men running our state. Having done our best, we leave the results in God's hands. As Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say, we're not called to be successful; we're called to be faithful. Our enemies have lots of money and worldly power on their side; we have God on our side. If God is for us, who can be against us? Even if we lose this battle, we should not be discouraged but keep up the good fight. We are fighting for human rights, for human life and marriage and liberty, for our Constitution, and for the heart and soul of our nation. If we remain faithful, one day the final victory will be ours.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Quote of the Day
"Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."
--St. Matthew 5:11-12
--St. Matthew 5:11-12
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