The Weekly News In
Review newsletter is a service
provided by Understand The Times that is a
compilation of the news articles
posted on our site during the previous
week.
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May 24 - REFLECTION: Corpus Christi, Enthroning the Lord
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
This procession is
undergoing a
resurgence in many places as adoration of and
devotion
to the most Holy
Eucharist experiences a wonderful renewal.
After having
received the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus
Christ in Holy
Communion, Catholic Christians come from the
Sanctuary and
process into the Streets of the world, pausing along
the way for solemn
worship, singing songs of
adoration,
and holding the Lord, enthroned.
The procession
symbolizes
the
ongoing redemptive mission of Jesus Christ to the
world
as it is now lived
out through his Church. We march with
the Body of Jesus
Christ, the Eucharistic Host, enthroned in a
"monstrance", a sacred vessel
made of precious metal where the
priest or deacon
enthrones the consecrated Eucharist for public
worship.
Through our
Baptism, through our participation in all of the
sacraments
and, in particular, through the
Holy Eucharist, we
now abide in God. We live in Him and He lives in
us. We
also carry Him into the world as we carry the
monstrance into
the streets today.
Often, especially in
difficulty, the Lord
appears to be
hidden, as He does to so many in the Holy
Eucharist.
But, with the light
of faith, He soon reveals Himself. Through the
continuing work of
grace - and our response to God's loving
invitations - we really can become
such "living
monstrances", living tabernacles, wherein the
Lord
dwells.
We can enthrone Him in the
center of
the
"City" of this age as we marched the
Monstrance into the cities
of the world today.
While we live in this current
age we
participate in
bringing heaven to earth and earth to
heaven.
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June 1 - Rick Warren joins movement to end religious conflict
Article: One World Religion
NEW YORK -
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
said Friday that leaders in an interdependent
world must work to end
religious conflict or face "catastrophe" as
he
introduced a new foundation
dedicated to interfaith understanding.
Religion is
as important in this century as political
ideology was in the last, Blair
said. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation
will fight
extremism, organize faith groups
against poverty and illness,
and educate people worldwide about
religions other than their
own, he said.
"There is a new reality. We have
to come to terms
with it. And it implies, at its
fundamentals, peaceful coexistence or
catastrophe," said
Blair in a speech before religious and
business leaders at the posh
Time Warner Center.
"If faith
becomes a countervailing force, pulling people apart,
then it becomes destructive
and indeed dangerous."
The group's advisory
council includes
evangelical megapastor Rick
Warren, who with his
wife, Kay, advocates for
HIV/AIDS victims worldwide;
Ismail
Khudr Al-Shatti, an adviser to the prime
minister of Kuwait; and world
Baptist and Jewish leaders. Catholic
Cardinal Cormac Murphy
O'Connor of Westminster, England, has pledged to
join the council when the pope
allows him to retire.
In a brief interview, Blair said he defined
extremists as
"people who want to exclude the other if
someone
is of a different faith."
Blair told the crowd that although
Islamic extremism draws the
most attention, "there are elements of
extremism in every major
faith."
"It
is important where people of good faith combat
such extremism, that they are
supported," said Blair, who is an
envoy for the Quartet of
Mideast peacemakers - the U.S., European
Union,
Russia and United
Nations.
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June 1 - Rosary Is a School of Mary, Says Pope
Article: Roman Catholic Chruch And The Last Days
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
The rosary is a school of Mary in
which
Christians can
learn to let the lamp of faith shine brighter in
their hearts,
says Benedict XVI.
In his address at
St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father reflected on
the rosary, which he said is
"a
biblical meditation
that permits us to reflect on the events of the
Lord's life in the
company of the Blessed Virgin, treasuring them,
as she did, in our
heart."
Benedict XVI encouraged the practice praying
of the rosary,
"so that, in the school of Mary, the lamp of faith
may shine ever
brighter in the heart of Christians and in their
houses."
He
continued: "Going beyond
the surface,
Mary 'sees' with
the eyes of faith God's work in history. For this
reason she is
blessed, because she believed: By faith, in fact, she
welcomed the
word of the Lord and conceived the incarnate
Word.
"And Mary's 'Magnificat,' after
centuries and
millennia, remains
the truest and the deepest interpretation of
history,
while the readings of the many wise persons of this
world have been
falsified by the facts over the course of the
centuries."
"Let us return home with the
Magnificat in
our heart,"
urged the Holy Father. "Let us carry in us
Mary's
same sentiments
of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, her faith
and her hope, her
docile abandonment into the hands of divine
providence.
"Let us imitate her example of
availability
and generosity in
serving our brothers and sisters.
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June 2 - Benedict XVI Calls for Globalize Solidarity
Article: One World Religion
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 2, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
In a world
increasingly
affected by globalized economic and commercial
interests, Benedict XVI has made an appeal to
"globalize" the call for
solidarity. The lay foundation was
created in 1993 by
Pope John Paul II to
promote the social
doctrine of the Church in professional and
business
sectors.
The Pope noted
how the foundation had been reflecting on the need
"to promote a global
development that allows
for the integral
development of man, while highlighting the
contribution that
can be made by voluntary associations, nonprofit
foundations and
other community groups that have come into being
with the aim of
making the social fabric ever more
cohesive."
"Harmonious development is
possible,"
he added, "if the economic and political
decisions take into
account the fundamental principles that make it
accessible to
all," in particular, "the principles of
subsidiarity
and
solidarity."
"Only a shared culture of
responsible and
active participation
will enable human beings to consider themselves
not just as users
or passive witnesses, but as active participants
in world
development," the Pontiff added.
"The great challenge of today is
to
'globalize,' not just
economic and commercial interests, but also
the call for
solidarity, while respecting and taking advantage of
the contribution of
all components of society," he added.
The Pope
thanked the members of the foundation for "the
generous
support you
tirelessly give to the Church's charitable activities
and works of
human promotion," and he invited them also to
reflect
"on the
creation of a just world economic
order."
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June 2 - Soaring prices compound Myanmar's cyclone misery
Article: Misc.
A month after Cyclone Nargis scythed
a
path of destruction through
Myanmar's former capital and Irrawaddy
delta, leaving 134,000 dead or
missing,
those spared by the storm are
struggling to cope with soaring prices for
food and
fuel.
"A 50 kg bag of rice
now sells for 38,000 kyat, or
about $34.50, up from 27,000 kyat before
the storm flooded more than
one million acres of
arable land with
seawater.
Peanut oil, used for
cooking, has jumped nearly 40 percent to
5,500 kyat for a 2 kg
container.
In a country
where government workers earn $30 a month or
less, people often spend around
two thirds of their income to
put meals on the table.
"The rich are okay,
but while prices go up,
salaries stay the same. We have to eat smaller
meals," 27-year-old Ma Oo said as she inspected
tied bunches of vegetable
greens at the market.
Four weeks on, Myanmar's reclusive
junta is gradually and grudgingly
opening up to foreign aid and
expertise. It has handed out more visas to
foreign experts, but access to
the delta remains restricted.
The
U.N. World Food
Programme
said it has given 575,000
people their first ration of rice,
"but many people have
not been reached, and others are now due a second
round of
distributions."
"With current
contributions, we will run out of
food by mid-July,"
Sheeran said
after a weekend visit to
Myanmar.
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June 2 - Ahmadinejad says Israel will soon disappear
Article: Israel And The Last Days
TEHRAN (AFP) -
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad predicted on Monday that
Muslims
would uproot "satanic powers" and
repeated
his controversial belief that
Israel will soon
disappear, the
Mehr news agency
reported.
"I must announce that
the Zionist regime (Israel),
with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder,
invasion and betrayal is about
to die and will soon be erased from the
geographical scene,"
he said.
"Today, the time for the
fall of the satanic power of the
United States has come and the
countdown to the annihilation
of the emperor of power and wealth has
started."
"I tell you that
with the unity and awareness
of all the Islamic countries all the
satanic powers will soon be
destroyed," he said to
a group of foreign visitors
ahead of the 19th anniversary of the death
of revolutionary leader
Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini.
Ahmadinejad also
again expressed his
apocalyptic vision that tyranny in the world be
abolished by the return to
earth of the
Mahdi, the
12th imam of Shiite
Islam, alongside great
religious figures including Jesus Christ. "With
the appearance of the
promised saviour... and his companions such as
Jesus Christ, tyranny will be
soon be eradicated in the
world."
Ahmadinejad has always been a
devotee of the Mahdi, who
Shiites believe disappeared more than a
thousand years ago and who
will
return one day to usher in a
new era of peace and harmony.
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June 3 - Calif. Senate Mulls Assisted Suicide Bill
Article: Perilous Times
It may soon
become legal
for doctors and
nurses in California to "help" their patients die if
a new assisted
suicide bill passes through the state
senate.
Last week, AB 2747 made its way to the
state senate for its
first reading, one day
after the state
assembly approved the bill narrowly with a 42-34
vote.
If passed, the
bill would allow
medical practitioners throughout the state to give
terminally ill
patients judged with less than a year to live the
option of receiving
sedatives that would subject them to a form of
slow, unconscious
dehydration and starvation.
But perhaps the biggest criticism of
the bill is the
argument that the bill would
pressure patients
who are poor and uninsured to end their life
prematurely, even
while a terminal diagnosis from a doctor could
prove
false.
"[L]egalizing assisted suicide
would allow
anxious, depressed patients to become trapped by
their
own request for
death, and die in a state of unrecognized terror,
even though the
depression can be treated in most cases," the
group
explained.
"People who are
ill need support,
spiritual care, and counseling if they're
depressed. But AB
2747 would ensure the death of innocent
Californians at the
hands of an increasingly unscrupulous insurance
industry that
regards people cheaper dead than alive," he
said.
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June 2 - Ahmadinejad: Zionism has damaged Europe
Article: Misc.
Iran's
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, said Tuesday his country
would continue with its controversial
nuclear program, but rejected nuclear
weapons.
Khamenei also warned against nuclear
terrorism, saying that one day "world
terrorists could attain nuclear weapons
and take peace away from all the
people in the world." The Iranian
leader also accused the US of using
nuclear energy to maintain its dominance
over other nations in the world.
The
country's supreme leader also
said US President George W. Bush and
his advisers were acting erratically
and "sound mentally ill. Sometimes
they threaten, sometimes they order
assassinations...and sometimes they ask
for help - it's like mad people
staggering to and fro," he
said.
The
international community's concern
was enhanced again by Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments at
Tuesday's UN food agency summit in
Rome. According to the Telenews agency,
he said Europeans are suffering from the
"artificial regime" of Israel.
"Europeans have
suffered the biggest damage from the
Zionists and today the weight of this
artificial regime, both political and
economic, is on Europe's shoulders,"
he said.
Incoming Iranian parliamentary speaker,
Ali Larijani, expressed support for Hamas
in a conversation with Hamas's
Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, on
Tuesday. "If you
keep up the resistance you will succeed in
being victorious,"
Larijani told Haniyeh. In response,
Haniyeh asserted that
"We will never stop battling the
Zionist enemy."
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June 3 - Iranian president slams 'devilish' West over food crisis
Article: Signs Of The Last Times
ROME
(AFP) -
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad
slammed
the West over its handling of the
global food crisis Tuesday, accusing
certain "big powers" of acting with
sometimes "devilish" motives.
In a
speech to a food summit in Rome,
he notably called for the crisis to be
tackled outside the United
Nations system, alleging that
major powers were imposing their will
on the UN Security
Council.
He
also alleged that
western countries
were acting to devalue the US
dollar, fueling the rise in oil and food
prices. "Today the planners of the
big powers act in order to devaluate (the)
dollar," he said according
to the official translation of his comments,
accusing
them of seeking to "impose their
will on the market."
UN
chief
Ban Ki-moon opened the summit
Tuesday calling for
a huge rise
in food production to help ease a
food price crisis that threatens to plunge
millions more people into
poverty.
With
food prices at a 30-year high, the
UN secretary general warned that
while
the world must "respond
immediately," it must also put the long-term
focus
on "improving food
security."
Food prices have doubled in
three years, according to the
World Bank, sparking
riots in Egypt and
Haiti and in many African nations.
Brazil,
Vietnam, India
and Egypt have all imposed food export
restrictions.
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June 2 - Lakeland Outpouring Coming to Your City?
Article: Signs And Wonders
Ten weeks
in, daily and nightly revival services
still continue in Lakeland,
Florida. They've been
marked by thousands of
healings, both there and across the world where
people have been watching
the services via God-TV or the Internet.
King believes the anointing to get out of the
pews and heal others is
available to anyone who comes to Lakeland or
watches the revival on TV or
the Internet. She said,
"I hope it's the end of
spectator Christianity. I do believe it's for
everyone." She
said, "It's for a purpose
not just to sit in a revival night
after night. It's so that you can
take it back to where you're
from and in your sphere of influence and
just let it blaze.
"And we've been hearing
testimonies of people
who've even watched it on the
media where it's breaking out in their
regions, their churches, their
nations," she added.
Clark feels the Lord told him of several
North
American cities that will soon
see these stadium-size revival services
break out.
It's his vision now to train
up a thousand saints to minister
healings in every one of those
cities. That's because, as Clark wrote,
"God's going to anoint 'believing
believers' to
take part in this new
move of the Lord."
King added, "From Lakeland it's going to
start
hitting cities where there are
hungry people that'll gather together in
the name of Jesus and wait on
Him and just release their faith to do the
stuff. It's not going to be
contained in one place. It's going to
spread. It's going to move. It'll
go from city to city."
Clark also believes God's going to amaze
"unbelieving
believers" who've been taught God doesn't even
do healing
anymore in these days.
He begs fellow believers
"Don't miss the anointing!
"
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May 30 - Latin Mass: A ritual returns
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
After nearly four decades,
the
so-called Latin
Mass is returning to a Catholic church in Charlotte
today. It's a rite
embraced by traditionalist Catholics who
prize
the silence, ritual,
and mystery of a form of worship that dates
back more than a
thousand years.
Latin had
been the official language of the
Rome-based church since the 3rd or 4th
century. But a push in the 1960s to
bring the church in line with the modern
world - a move spurred by the
Second Vatican Council - led to major
changes in the way the Mass is
conducted. Starting in 1970, the priest
began facing the people, not the
altar, and said prayers in English, Spanish
and other local languages.
Since
then, a priest has needed
permission of the local bishop to publicly
celebrate the Mass in Latin. But
that changed last July. Pope Benedict XVI
directed
that any parish getting a request for a Latin
Mass could add one.
But
for some Catholics,
the chance to
worship the way their spiritual
ancestors did makes them feel closer to
God. "It's a different experience,"
Debra Lemmon, 41, of Huntersville,
says of the Latin Mass.
"It puts you
in a more contemplative state, a
more reverent state . . . There's a better
opportunity to go
deeper."
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June 5 - Ahmadinejad Invites Japan to Prepare for a World Without the US
Article: Misc.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been
making
headlines during his first visit
to Western Europe as Iran's president
by attacking the United States
and Israel, but he also is trying to use
the opportunity to show that
he's not as isolated as his opponents would
wish.
The official Iranian news
agency, Irna, had a different take on the
encounter, saying
Ahmadinejad had told Fukuda
that
U.S. domination was in
decline. "Iran and Japan as two civilized and
influential nations should
get ready for a world minus the
U.S.,"
he said.
Ahmadinejad said "enemies" did not want
Iran and
Japan to work together, but it
was time for the two countries to plan
for long-term cooperation.
He invited Fukuda to join Iran in developing
"peaceful" nuclear
energy programs, and said Tehran-Tokyo cooperation
could expand in other fields
too. Iran is an important oil supplier for
energy-hungry Japan,
the world's second-largest economy, but
attempts to deepen energy
cooperation have run into strong U.S.
opposition.
He used the visit to the Italian
capital to lash out at his usual
targets, calling Israel an "artificial
regime"
that is "doomed"
and declaring that the "myth of [American]
invincibility is being
shattered."
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June 6 - Holy See on UN Protection of All Human Rights
Artcile: One World Government
GENEVA,
JUNE 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the
English-language address
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's
permanent observer at the
U.N. offices in Geneva, gave Wednesday to a
working group of the 8th
Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
In
the fight against poverty, especially
extreme poverty, the
international community has set for itself specific
objectives like the Millennium
Development Goals, which are an important
road leading to a more
universal development. The various
"instruments
of the United Nations and its
specialized agencies concerning the
integral development of the
human being, economic and social progress
and development of all
peoples"
The universal value of
human dignity requires
the promotion and
protection of all human rights
without distinction of any kind.
The new Optional Protocol of the ICESCR,
therefore, represents a
positive step towards a fair social and
international order.
The experience of other Treaty
bodies shows that these procedures can
help to clarify and implement
the normative content of a particular
provision; to lead monitoring systems to a more
focused and disciplined legal
approach; to concentrate on a concrete
violation of human rights,
keeping in mind that coherence is needed to
avoid their fragmentation.
While different approaches to
human rights can emerge, in the light of
the "inherent dignity and
of the equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human
family" (UDHR, Preamble, 1) it would be
possible to
arrive at a fair agreement. In
this way,
differences should open the
way to a more dynamic recognition, promotion
and protection of human rights
and not stifle their universal
implementation. In this
connection, there is a need to adopt a
comprehensive and holistic
approach under which all human rights would
be covered and reservations
should not be permitted.
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June 5 - 'Emerging church' seeks the justice Jesus sought
Article: Emerging Church
The group is part of the decade-old
emerging
church movement,
an eclectic wave of change propelled by the
Internet and
peopled globally mainly by the young.
Their Jesus is a radical.
They have
little use for the
institutional church, with its
buildings, budgets
and boards. They meet in homes. Their aim is to
live like Jesus,
compelled to service among the poor. They eschew
congregations for
communities. Their faith is not a doctrine
but a conversation -
fluid and evolving.
"Experiment is a word we use a
lot,"
said Adam Klein,
who helps lead the loosely organized San Francisco
community that
calls itself reIMAGINE.
"The net
affects the way we think and relate and store
knowledge.
It is creating a new set of
values and
a new hierarchy of
leaders. We haven't seen the half of it
yet."
They know they
are not the first believers compelled by faith to
give to the needy.
Their difference is that
traditional
Christian charity may involve compassion but not
always
a commitment to
justice, said
Brian
McLaren, one of the early
emergent
thinkers and the
author of several books, including "Adventures in
Missing the
Point," which he wrote with Tony Campolo.
"The emergent church
emphasizes Christ's
message of social
justice, seeks the kind of spirituality that flows
from that and
creates a community that supports that
spirituality",
he said. Some
emergents embrace
ancient ritual,
including the Eucharist, and they evangelize,
although in social
action they may not necessarily talk about their
faith at
all.
"The problem with (traditional)
evangelizing is that
it is delivering answers to people who are not
seeking
them," he said. "We need to be a peculiar
people. Jesus
gives the order of
what that looks like and what that means.
"Jesus was political,"
said Klein,
whose community
helped pay for his recent trip to Africa to build
mobile medical
clinics. "If it was
all
about the life after,
he wouldn't have been killed the way he
was."
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June 9 - Parish to host Eucharistic miracles exhibit
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Good Shepherd Church in Surrey will be
the first church in Canada to host the
Vatican's
Eucharistic Miracles of the World Exhibit.
The inspiration and timing of the
exhibit
revolves around
the 49th Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City,
June 15 to 22, said
organizer Carolyn Wharton, and is a response to
the call of the
Canadian bishops for everyone, especially those not
attending the
Quebec congress, to use the time as a period of
prayer
and reflection.
Another purpose of the event is to
reinforce
awareness about Eucharistic Miracles, said
Wharton,
a Star of the Sea
parishioner who attends Good Shepherd Church.
Wharton hopes the exhibit will lead other
churches to
opening adoration chapels like Good Shepherd's,
where
perpetual
adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has been taking
place
for the last seven
years.
Eucharistic
miracles are extraordinary events concerning the
bread and wine
transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ
at Mass which can be experienced through
the
senses. The
Church teaches that Eucharistic miracles are meant
to
confirm faith and to
teach the faithful to look beyond the external
appearance of the
bread and wine, to the substance, the Real
Presence of
Jesus, that is, His Flesh and Blood.
"This scientific confirmation
makes this
miracle very
relevant to the 21st century," said Father
Horgan. "The
exhibit is here in B.C. to help
us better
comprehend the incomprehensible and to grow in our
love
for the Eucharist,
discovering its beauty and riches."
Wharton
hopes the exhibit will "help everyone to
understand more
deeply the fact that
the Eucharist is a daily
miracle, and that
this miracle takes place whenever the Holy
Sacrifice of the
Mass is offered, during which time Christ is
present in a
unique and incomparable way."
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
In Jesus,
Roger Oakland
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