“We exist only in relationships: with God the Creator, with our brothers and sisters as members of a common family, and with all of God’s creatures within our common home. We cannot live in harmony with creation if we are not at peace with the Creator who is the source and origin of all things.”
“The earth herself, burdened and laid waste,
is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she ‘groans in travail’.
We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth;
our very bodies are made up of her elements,
we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.”
(Pope Francis – Laudato si’)
Under the direction of Paolo Ondarza #SeasonOfCreation Instagram: @vaticanmuseums @VaticanNews Facebook: @vaticannews
The recent Report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and a new Independent Review of Safeguarding Structures and Arrangements in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, known as the “Elliot Report”, were the main items discussed by the Bishops of England and Wales during their Plenary Assembly that met from November 16-20.
The IICSA Report was published by the British Government on November 10. It examines the extent of institutional failings by the Catholic Church in England and Wales to protect children from sexual abuse over the past 50 years and the Church’s current safeguarding regime, drawing from the victims’ accounts.
During their Plenary session, the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) confirmed it had accepted its seven recommendations to improve the Church’s response to abuse. The CBCEW also accepted the final proposals and recommendations of the “Elliot Report”, an independent reviewtheycommissioned in order to shape the safeguarding. The review was carried out by Mr Ian Elliott, an experienced safeguarding professional who has worked across the world in this area.
One of his key proposals of this second Report, which was issued on November 20, is the creation of a national body with powers of effective audit and oversight of safeguarding in both Dioceses and Religious Orders. Mr Elliot also suggested the creation of an independent tribunal dealing with the canonical issues related to abuse, a closer cooperation with the survivors and the creation of a second authority for the prevention of abuses in Religious Orders.
In their final statemement, the Bishops of England and Wales, once again, expressed their “sorrow and contrition” for the abuse inflicted on children in the Catholic Church and committed “to listen more intently to those who have been abused so as to learn from them and benefit from their wisdom. It is through learning from their testimony that hearts are changed. We are grateful to those survivors”, they said.
According to the Bishops, the new recommendations are a further step towards the goal “to be a Church in which every child and vulnerable person is not only safe but nurtured into human flourishing”. They assured that the work of implementation will begin immediately and will be carried out in close cooperation with the Religious Orders.
Noting that the “Elliott Report” builds on all that has been achieved in the Church safeguarding ministry in the past 20 years, achievements also recognised in the IICSA Report, the Bishops acknowledged “without hesitation”, their failings, mistakes, and lack of adequate cooperation, expressing “deep sorrow” and asking “forgiveness, especially from victims and survivors.” “We affirm our resolve to effect the next step in our work of safeguarding and care for survivors”, the statement concludes.
Apologies from Cardinal Nichols
In a second statement, the president of the CBCEW Cardinal Vincent Nichols apologized on his part for letting people down “in many ways, in different times, in different places, for different reasons”, describing abuse in the Church as “a terrible wickedness”.
The Elliot Review” is the third independent enquiry commissioned by the CBCEW on Church Safeguarding Structures against abuse, after the “Nolan Report” del 2001 e la “Cumberlege Review” del 2007.
At the conclusion of the Holy Mass for the Solemnity of Christ the King, Pope Francis announced that he has decided to transfer the diocesan celebration of World Youth Day (WYD) from Palm Sunday to Christ the King Sunday.
In announcing the change, the Holy Father said, “The centre of the celebration remains the Mystery of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of Man, as Saint John Paul II, the initiator and patron of WYD, always emphasized.”
Dioceses celebrate World Youth Day in the years between the major, intercontinental edition of the event, which takes place every 2-3 years in a location chosen by the Pope. The most recent international WYD was held in Panama City in 2019, with the next, in Lisbon, scheduled to take place in 2022. WYD Lisbon, however, has been moved back to 2023 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cry out that Christ reigns
The announcement of the changed date came ahead of the ceremony of the passage of the WYD Cross and the icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani, the symbols of the World Youth Days. On Sunday, a delegation of young people from Panama handed off the Cross and icon to their counterparts from Lisbon, in what Pope Francis described as “a significant ceremony.”
In his remarks prior to the ceremonial passage of Cross and icon, Pope Francis said, “Dear young people, cry out with your life that Christ lives and reigns,” while recalling Christ’s words from the Gospel: “If you keep silent, the very stones will cry out!”
Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica for the Solemnity of Christ the King, observed annually on the last Sunday of the liturgical year.
The Holy Father used the day’s Gospel, with Jesus’ discourse on the Last Judgement, as the starting point for his homily. “Before pouring out His love for us on the Cross, Jesus shares his final wishes,” the Pope said. “He tells us that the good we do to one of our least brothers and sisters – whether hungry or thirsty, a stranger, in need, sick or in prison – we do to Him.”
We can all ask ourselves whether we put these works into practice, the Pope continued, emphasising Jesus’ words “I am here”; that is, Jesus is present in “the least of these.”
Speaking especially to young people, Pope Francis said, “Let us not give up on great dreams. Let us not settle only for what is necessary.” He reminded them that we are created “to make God’s dreams come true in this world.
Making great choices
We can do this, the Pope said, “with great choices.” Returning to the Gospel, he said that Jesus will judge us based on our choices. If we choose hatred and evil we can never be happy; but “if we choose God, we grow daily in His love, and if we choose to love others, we find true happiness,” said Pope Francis.
The Holy Father acknowledge the “obstacles that can make our choices difficult,” including “fear, insecurity, unanswered questions.” Love, however, helps us move past these obstacles, to the point where we no longer ask, “Why am I alive?” but “For whom” do I live?
“Choosing life,” Pope Francis said, “means resisting the ‘throwaway culture’ and the desire to have everything now, in order to direct our lives towards the goal of heaven, towards God’s dreams.”
What is best for you?
Pope Francis had one final piece of advice for those striving for goodness and happiness. When making daily choices, we must ask ourselves not, “What do I feel like doing,” but rather, “What is best for me?” This, the Pope said, is the question the Holy Spirit places in hearts.
“This interior discernment can result either in frivolous choices, or in decisions that shape our lives,” Pope Francis said in conclusion. “Let us look to Jesus and ask Him for the courage to choose what is best for us, to enable us to follow Him in the way of love. And in this way, we discover joy.”
The Philippines enshrines freedom of religion as a fundamental human right and guarantees the liberty to profess and adhere to religious beliefs, practices, and convictions without unreasonable restrictions.
(JANSEN ROMERO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Strategic Communications and Research Ernesto Abella made this pitch during the virtual staging of the Third Ministerial to Advance Freedom of Religion or Belief co-hosted by the United States and Poland on Nov. 16-17, 2020.
Abella noted, in particular, the active participation of religious minorities in the mainstream of national life and the Philippines’ advocacy of interfaith dialogues in multilateral, regional, and domestic forums as a vital tool to advance and protect religious liberty.
This is the third year that Abella has participated in the annual gathering hosted since then by the US State Department.
The DFA undersecretary thanked Poland for organizing the conference that enabled participants to share views and practices on how to advance the fundamental freedom of religion or belief and protect religious minorities.
The international meeting gathered high-level officials from 60 States and International Organizations, including ministers of foreign affairs, deputy foreign ministers, and special envoys for freedom of religion.
The second day of the conference was dedicated to three thematic sessions on the freedom of religion or belief and its links to security, human rights, gender equality, and sustainable development.
Civil society, international, religious and non-government organizations representatives discussed how international cooperation among entities committed to advancing freedom of religion or belief could move forward especially in these challenging times of a pandemic.
The participants called for a worldwide commitment to protect and promote freedom of religion or belief through concrete initiatives where coordinated and joint action could be explored.
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“It is when Christianity takes root in the Gospel that it gives the best of itself to civilization,” while “it loses the best of itself when it ends up corrupting itself and identifying with worldly logic and structures,” writes Pope Francis in an unpublished text that appears in a new book entitled, “Il Cielo sulla terra: Amare e servire per trasformare il mondo” (Heaven on earth: loving and serving in order to transform the world.” The volume, which will be published next Tuesday, 24 November, by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana, is part of the ecumenical series “Exchange of Gifts.” Il Cielo sulla terra is a collection of Pope Francis’ statements on the theme of that faith that is transformed into charity towards others. The preface is by Martin Junge, Secretary General of the World Lutheran Federation.
In the one new text, Pope Francis emphasizes the “transforming power of Christianity” throughout the centuries, starting from the consideration of the value of each individual person. A new, more just and fraternal world was born as a “free consequence of a faith lived simply.”
Christianity, he observes, “did not transform the ancient world with worldly tactics or ethical voluntarisms, but solely by the power of the Spirit of the Risen Jesus”:
“The whole river of small or large works of charity, a current of solidarity that has been flowing through history for two thousand years, has this unique source. Charity is born of emotion, amazement and grace.
From the very beginning, historically, the charity of Christians became attention to the needs of the most fragile people, the widows, the poor, the slaves, the sick, the marginalized… Compassion, suffering with those who suffer, sharing. It also became a denunciation of injustices and a commitment to combat them as far as possible. Because taking care of a person means embracing his or her whole condition and helping him or her to free himself or herself from what most oppresses and denies his or her rights.
“The primacy of Grace,” concludes the Pope, “does not lead to passivity, on the contrary, it increases energy a hundredfold and increases sensitivity to injustice”.
From conflict to communion
In his preface to the work, Martin Junge, the Secretary General of the World Lutheran Federation, recalls with “deep gratitude” the words of Pope Francis during Joint Commemoration of the Reformation in Lund in 2016: “Jesus reminds us: ‘Without me you can do nothing.’ He is the one who supports us and encourages us to seek ways to make unity an ever more evident reality.”
“In that memorable liturgy and sermon,” writes Junge, “Catholics and Lutherans together affirmed our commitment to a journey from conflict to communion. This journey is only possible because of Christ, who heals all wounds and memories, turning us away from the pain of past experiences to embrace the gift of reconciliation that Christ has placed in our midst.” It is a commitment, the Secretary General explains, that implies “looking at one another from the perspective of unity and not from the point of view of division” because “there is much more that unites us than divides us.” It is a commitment, too, that involves common service for the least among us and for the suffering: “Together we bear witness to God’s mercy both through the confession of faith and through our common service to the world.”
If you want to see the national mainstream media’s double standard on religion, compare their treatment of the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Amy Coney Barrett.
Warnock is running against Sen. Kelly Loeffler in one of the two Georgia runoff elections that will take place in January. The stakes are enormous. If Democrats win both seats, they would have narrow control of both houses of Congress and the presidency. If they eliminated the filibuster, they could pack the Supreme Court and fundamentally reshape health care policy.
Most of the national mainstream media, however, aren’t interested in some of the radical remarks Warnock has made from the pulpit over the years.
“America, nobody can serve God and the military,” he said in a 2011 sermon.
It’s a shocking statement, even if you buy the Warnock campaign’s dubious spin that it was taken out of context. But a search of The New York Times’ website for “Raphael Warnock serve God military” returned no results as of this writing. The Washington Post’s website had two results for those search terms, one column and one analysis piece, but no news story.
Even when the media do cover the statement, look at the framing. “Warnock hit by Republicans over ‘cannot serve God and the military’ comment,” The Hill said. To the media, the story isn’t that a Democrat did something controversial. It’s that Republicans are pouncing on a Democrat’s radicalism or trying to create a scandal. Once you start looking for it, you’ll notice it everywhere.
This isn’t the only shocking thing Warnock has said while in the ministry. In 2003, Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s former pastor, preached a sermon that included the line “God damn America.” Wright also blamed America for 9/11.
In 1995, the church at which Warnock worked hosted Fidel Castro for a speech. Warnock once smeared police officers from the pulpit. “In Ferguson, police power (is) showing up in a kind of gangster and thug mentality,” he said in 2015. In a 2016 speech, he said, “America needs to repent for its worship of whiteness.”
Here’s the amazing thing. When the national mainstream media do cover these statements, Warnock’s religion isn’t investigated and scrutinized. It’s used to invalidate criticism and attack his opponents.
“Republicans paint Raphael Warnock as a religious radical,” a recent Politico headline read. Notice the “Republicans pounce” angle. The story is worse.
Republicans are “portraying Warnock as a figure to fear. His faith tradition, they argue, is at the base of it.” Note: There are no quotes in the story of a Republican attacking his faith — unless you fall for the reporter’s sleight of hand.
If Warnock had made the above statements in any context, Republicans would bring them up. That’s what you do in politics when your opponent makes extreme and unpopular remarks. But because Warnock is a pastor, the media pretend that highlighting his comments is really an attack on his faith. What garbage.
The double standard here is almost too obvious to point out. Barrett’s faith didn’t make her past statements on abortion off-limits to the media. Just the opposite. Democrats and the media, but I repeat myself, opposed her nomination in part because of how seriously she takes her faith.
The media also thoroughly investigated her church group, running stories that were little more than wild innuendo.
“Amy Coney Barrett’s People of Praise faith group has had a complicated relationship to Catholicism,” The Washington Post headline said. “Handmaid’s Tale? U.S. Supreme Court candidate’s religious community under scrutiny,” Reuters said about Barrett.
If you’re a liberal, the media will use your faith to shield you from having to explain your past remarks and beliefs. If you’re a conservative, the media will portray your faith as worrisome and threatening. See the difference?
This whole sorry double standard is yet another reason not to have faith in the neutrality of the national mainstream media.
— Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen to him discuss his columns each Monday at 3 p.m. with Kevin Wall on AM 670 KMZQ Right Talk. Contact him at [email protected] or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.
RAIPUR: Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led states, Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader BhupeshBaghel on Saturday asked whether inter-religion marriages of family members of BJP leaders will fall under the definition of ‘love jihad‘. “Family members of several BJP leaders have also performed inter-religion marriages. I ask BJP leaders if these marriages come under the definition of ‘love jihad’?” asked Baghel while addressing media here. The statement comes after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had recently announced that his government will bring a strict law to curb “love jihad” and forcible religious conversion. Prior to this, Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh had said the state would soon have a law against ‘love jihad’.
Thursday Nov. 12, The College of William and Mary’s Earl Gregg Swem Library held a book talk with author and alumnus Michael Branch ’85. Branch graduated with degrees in English and psychology from the College, and is currently a professor of literature and environment at the University of Nevada, Reno. Branch dialed into the Zoom call from his home in the outskirts of Reno, with a digitized image of a dry lake as his background, a significant focal point of his career in writing.
At the beginning of the talk, Branch started by discussing the dried-out desert lake in many of his works, including his most recent books “How to Cuss in Western,” “Rants from the Hill,” and “Raising Wild.” These three collections of essays were the spotlight of Branch’s book talk. Branch read two essays from “Rants from the Hill,” “My Home Lake,” and “A Visit from the Mary Kay Lady.” After the readings, Branch answered questions from the audience.
Branch’s freshman year roommate and life-long friend Tracy Melton introduced him at the book talk and detailed his experiences with Branch’s writing process.
“I’ve really enjoyed the personal essays that he described today,” Melton said. “We are able to get together with family and other W&M friends every year or two. I’ve heard some of the stories before they’ve made it into print, which is compelling to see the process of making the stories. I’ve been to his house and know his wife and daughters, so they feel like family stories. I can hear him telling the story, which makes them even more compelling to me.”
“I believe that writing is all about surprise. And I believe that as a reader, if you’re not surprised, you’re not energized.”
One attendee, Cathy Boyd, shared how she joined the talk to support her friend Dean of University Libraries Carrie Cooper, who moderated the event, and the luring nature of Branch’s titles.
“I am here because of a friend of Carrie Cooper,” Boyd said. “She posted the information on Facebook this morning and because I trust her, I signed up. I admit I was also lured by the title, How To Cuss In Western.”
Branch was inspired to title his book “How to Cuss in Western” by a swear jar he had while raising his kids. This jar provoked him to think about how people in the old West would cuss. Eventually the jar influenced his essay “How To Cuss in Western,” then became the title of the whole collection.
Branch recommends his earlier book, “Rants from the Hill,” for college students.
“The narrative voice of that book is not only funny but also cantankerous,” Branch said. “College students should be engaged in questioning received wisdom, refusing to take things at second hand from other people. My narrator in that book is similarly resistant. He’s a guy who doesn’t have much interest in a ‘normal’ way of living and I hope this narrative voice helps to liberate some space in the reader’s mind — to remind us that there are as many ways to live as there are individual people.”
“I was a first-generation college student and I would have never gone on to graduate school if I hadn’t had the experience I had at William & Mary.”
Branch made it evident in his book talk that he embraces individuality in his own writing style. Branch emphasized his writing technique of a pivot. This style leads the reader to believe one notion or to follow a certain narrative, but then pivots in a surprising way. This pivot he says, helps keep the reader engaged and the story interesting, even if editors don’t like this technique.
“I believe that writing is all about surprise,” Branch said. “And I believe that as a reader, if you’re not surprised, you’re not energized.”
This surprise pivot in his writing seemed to manifest itself in his personal life as well. Branch ended his book talk discussing his time at the College as an undergraduate student. He reflected about how in the beginning of his four years, he did not fully appreciate the College experience. However, in retrospect he is forever grateful for his time here.
“I look back and I really wish I could go back and be more appreciative in the moment,” Branch said. “You go out into the world and you realize you don’t meet people like this everywhere. Special people in a special place at a special time. It’s things that you really take for granted when you’re younger and it took me a long time to come around to this, but I attribute everything that I went on to do to my experience. I was a first-generation college student and I would have never gone on to graduate school if I hadn’t had the experience I had at William & Mary.”
he UK has reached a post-Brexittrade deal with Canada that will allow the country to continue trading under the same terms as the current European Union agreement.
Boris Johnson and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau sealed the “agreement in principle” in a video call on Saturday, the Department for International Trade (DIT) said.
According to the UK Government, the agreement will pave the way for negotiations to start next year on a new comprehensive deal with Canada.
When the Brexit transition period ends on December 31 the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement reached by the EU and Canada after seven years of negotations, will roll on into the new year.
As the terms remain the same, the agreement does not give any new benefits to business.
But industry groups expressed relief that their businesses will not face higher trade tariffs with Canada next month as they warned that similar deals were urgently needed.
Mr Johnson said the extension was “a fantastic agreement for Britain”, adding: “Our negotiators have been working flat out to secure trade deals for the UK and from as early next year we have agreed to start work on a new, bespoke trade deal with Canada that will go even further in meeting the needs of our economy.”
Brexit briefing: 40 days until the end of the transition period
Speaking during the video call, which also included International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and her counterpart Mary NG, Mr Trudeau said the deal meant that “now we get to continue to work on a bespoke agreement, a comprehensive agreement over the coming years that will really maximise our trade opportunities and boost things for everyone”.
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry welcomed the “necessary” deal.
“It is now vital that Boris Johnson and Liz Truss show the same urgency in securing the other 14 outstanding continuity agreements with countries like Mexico, Ghana and Singapore, where a total of £60 billion of UK trade is still at risk, and time is beginning to run out,” she added.
British Chambers of Commerce director general Adam Marshall said the deal “will be warmly welcomed” but warned that similar continuity deals were urgently needed with other key markets, including Turkey and Singapore, to avoid “a damaging cliff edge for both importers and exporters”.
He repeated his call for a deal to be struck with the EU, describing that as the “single most critical trade agreement our business communities need”.
Federation of Small Businesses chairman Mike Cherry added: “There was always a danger that the end of the transition period would mean losing wider international market access that we enjoyed as part of EU membership.
“The fact that this new agreement upholds the small business chapter that was previously in place is very welcome. We look forward to such chapters being at the centre of all future UK trade deals.”
Confederation of British Industry director-general Josh Hardie said it was “great news for businesses” and that the agreement can “lay the foundations for an even deeper trade agreement”.
Before it is formally signed, the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement will be subject to final legal checks.
