Delegates of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union will hold the Autumn COMECE Plenary Assembly in Brussels on 12-14 October 2022 for an in-depth discussion on the socio-economic and geopolitical implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with a particular emphasis on the energy crisis.
The event will feature a dialogue meeting with Klaus Welle, Secretary-General of the European Parliament, an exchange with Pascal Lamy, former Director General of the World Trade Organisation and Coordinator of the Jacques Delors think tanks network, and Philip McDonagh, Director of the Centre for Religion, Human Values, and International Relations at the Dublin City University.
In the current context of the Russian military aggression on Ukraine, the EU Bishops will analyse the diverse implications of the war, shaping future COMECE contributions to EU policies promoting peace and justice in Europe and the world.
The Assembly will be an occasion for EU Episcopates Delegates to exchange on the current energy crisis, in particular on its socio-economic, geopolitical, and ecological dimensions. The attention of the EU Bishops will turn to the condition of the many refugees who have fled from their own country because of the conflict and to the most economically vulnerable people who find it difficult to meet their basic needs due to the rising energy and commodities prices.
Media The COMECE Plenary Assembly is a closed-door event. Journalists and media operators interested in covering the event or interviewing Bishops are strongly encouraged to contact the Press Office of COMECE.
Mass for Europe The programme also includes a Mass for Europe, to be celebrated at the Church of Notre-Dame des Victoires au Sablon, Place du Grand Sablon, Brussels, on Wednesday 12 October 2021 at 19:00 (CET). The Mass will be concelebrated by the Bishop Delegates of the Episcopates of the 27 EU Member States. It is a public event and does not require registration.
On the occasion of the 2022 COMECE Autumn Assembly and in the context of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Bishops of the European Union warmly invite you to participate in the ‘Mass for Europe’, to be celebrated at the Church of Notre-Dame des Victoires au Sablon, Place du Grand Sablon, Bruxelles, on Wednesday 12 October 2022 at 19:00 (CET).
The Mass will be presided by H.Em. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ and concelebrated by the Bishops Delegates of the Episcopates of the 27 EU Member States. It is a public event and does not require registration.
At the Bangor Christian School in Maine ninth-graders are taught to “refute the teachings of the Islamic religion with the truth of God’s Word.” To work at the school, a teacher must affirm that “he/she is a ‘Born Again’ Christian who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior,” and “must be an active, tithing member of a Bible believing church.”
Similarly, at Maine’s Temple Academy, teachers sign a contract acknowledging that “God recognize[s] homosexuals and other deviants as perverted” and that “deviation from Scriptural standards is grounds for termination.” Temple will not admit children who identify as gay or who come “from homes with serious differences with the school’s biblical basis.”
Putting aside any opinion of the schools’ teachings one way or the other, there are many taxpayers who might feel uncomfortable paying for schools whose moral vision differs from their own, and which, as school policy, will only allow those who follow a certain religion’s teachings in their employ. Yet that is what the Supreme Court has ruled in this summer’s Carson v. Makin decision. Maine must use its public education taxpayer-funded monies to support an inculcation of a world and moral view of one religion.
The Supreme Court has banged the gavel, but as in many such delicate cases involving the present and future of so many, the jury is still out in the court of public opinion. Is freedom of religion in better shape than ever? Has the wall of separation between Church and State remained sharp and crisp?
Separation of Church and State expert Charles Haynes, for one, doesn’t know what to do now. Haynes, who, according to the Washington Post, “literally wrote the book on the topic for the U.S. Department of Education along with partners as diverse as the National Association of Evangelicals and the American Civil Liberties Union,” frets that decisions such as Carson v. Makin and the widely publicized Kennedy v. Bremerton School District decision wherein the high court found in favor of a football coach praying on the 50-yard line on a public, taxpayer-funded high school football field, shrink the line between government and religion to an almost unrecognizable blur.
“What am I supposed to say now? What do I say?…We’re now at the point where you wonder if there is any Establishment Clause left,” Haynes said of the first 10 words of the First Amendment that bars laws “establishing” religion.
With America becoming more diverse by the day the perception of many is that the Supreme Court has indeed opened the door. But to what? To further recognition of the needs of all religions, not just one? Shall we now see devout Muslims unfurl their prayer rugs on high school football fields? Will Orthodox Hebrew schools now be fully funded by state revenue? Or will it be, as critics point out, just another excuse to intimidate and harass minority students who don’t go along with the crowd—as in the West Virginia high school earlier this year wherein a Jewish boy was compelled to attend a Christian prayer assembly against his will? His mother said, “I’m not knocking their faith, but there’s a time and place for everything—and in public schools, during the school day, is not the time and place.”
It has been a hot summer indeed with reactions to the high court’s decisions ranging from the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) sharp denunciation, “The Court’s see-no-evil approach to the coach’s prayer will encourage those who seek to proselytize within the public schools to do so with the Court’s blessing;” to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ exultant, “This is a historic day in the life of our country, one that stirs our thoughts, emotions and prayers.”
The debate over how far is too far regarding state and church has been with us as long as the Republic. In 1785 in a rebuttal against a bill strikingly similar to Carson v. Makin which would have allocated state funds to a Christian school and therefore could have been construed as favoritism or sponsorship of that religion, Founding Father James Madison authored a passionate “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessment,” which states in part regarding freedom of religion: “This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable, because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other men: It is unalienable also, because what is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator.”
Thanks to the agitation of James Madison and his friend, Thomas Jefferson, the bill never got ratified and the law never got passed.
Jefferson penned the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1777, and coined the phrase “wall of separation between church and state” in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association as a concise explanation of freedom of religion.
Are the foundations of that wall as strong as ever? Do they still guarantee true freedom of religion for all religions—minority, majority, and everything in between?
It depends on who’s speaking. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo) addressing a religious service in Colorado, said, “The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it. I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like what they say it does.”
Historically, the statesmen and lawmakers of our land have been unanimous in agreement, at least in principle, that state-sponsored religion is a bad and dangerous idea, harmful to religion itself which should be supported by its membership, governed by its own codes and doctrine and completely free from any government interference, including economic. As Benjamin Franklin commented, “When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its Professors are oblig’d to call for the help of the Civil Power, ’tis a Sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.”
Let’s go to New York City and see if the indie folk scene has its newcomers, and if those ones deserve a listen. Well, as usual, I found one which may fulfill your heart and your starvation for good music.
Adam Aronson is one of these guys you never heard of, just because he is new to the industry, but whom you at once put into your catalogue… And in your indie new songs’ playlist! Because he is good, he has a very personal atmosphere to share, and he knows how to make his music penetrate deeply into your emotional deep layers.
His new song, released today, has a melody that seem to come directly from the 70’s, with some sounds stemming from the 80’s, for a final perfectly modern product making a place for itself in the 2020s’ indie folk landscape. “Door Into Heaven” is a song about resilience. Adam says it relates “to the triumphant feelings that come with finding reliance in the face of adversity.” And man, it does the job!
Open the Door into Heaven with Adam Aronson
Accompanied by Nik Chinboukas on bass and Matt Zebrowski on drums, Adam gives a nice performance with a soulful voice that has a fresh aerial style and communicates well the enthusiasm he tries to find into more melancholic feelings. I know it looks like a dichotomic statement, But Adam’s challenge seems to be to fix life by overcoming tough feelings with your own personal energy and positiveness. And that is what he transmits: it’s possible, it’s nice, it’s life, it’s beautiful, and to hell with the hell.
And he does that with a style that has reminiscence of some of the best songwriters of all times. Jefferson Airplane, Lou Reed, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, are some of the names that crossed my mind when I heard the song for the first time.
Now if you are around NYC in September or October, Adam will be performing there, and you should find where and get there for a night. Meanwhile, here is his last song, “Door Into Heaven”:
Charles Michel said in his statement about Queen Elizabeth II: “Her inspiration has spanned generations”. Here is the full statement:
We remember a remarkable woman today. A remarkable human being. Who shouldered an immense responsibility over the past 70 years. Her inspiration has spanned generations. And touched the lives of so many.
While we all mourn the passing of Queen Elizabeth the Second, we also consider her reign. It has left a legacy like few others in European and global history. From the turbulent years of the Cold War well into the globalised era of the 21st century.
For many, she was an anchor of stability in a rapidly changing world. She was once called “Elizabeth the Steadfast”. She was indeed a wise leader who never failed to show us the importance of lasting values in this modern world – values like service, commitment, and tradition.
She once said: “grief is the price we pay for love”. She was respected, esteemed, and sincerely loved by so many around the world. Our thoughts are, first and foremost, with the King and the Royal Family, with the people of the United Kingdom, and the Commonwealth.
For us in the European Union, her reign covered almost the full arc of post-war European integration. We will always remember her contribution to reconciliation among our nations after World War II and the Cold War. She had experienced the devastation of World War II and knew the importance of trust and cooperation among our countries.
Many of our past and present European leaders have experienced her warm hospitality. So did I at several occasions.
We will do our part to carry on her legacy. Her special legacy of building bridges and of building trust among nations.
Retba is not one of the most popular natural attractions in Africa, but it is definitely one of the most extraordinary. Located on the Cap Vert Peninsula less than an hour from the capital Dakar, the Pink Lake, as it is known locally, attracts visitors due to its unusual and rich color. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean only by wide sand dunes and predictably has huge levels of salinity. In comparison, during the dry season of the year, salt levels exceed those of the Dead Sea.
But where does the pink color of Retba come from?
The reason for this is the cyanobacteria that thrive in the lake due to its salinity. The bacterium emits a reddish hue as it attracts and absorbs the sun’s rays. This creates its unique color, which is most noticeable during the dry period from November to June. The bacterium is completely harmless to humans and swimming in the lake is allowed, but be aware of its characteristic heat, compared to warm syrup.
Workers scoop the salt with their bare hands from the bottom of the lake, put it in baskets and carry them to the shore
The pink lake is quite “shy” and does not reveal itself to everyone. Its color is very fickle and depends on factors such as light and algae. Few visitors have seen its bright pink appearance. Sometimes the lake looks darker, even brown in color.
Almost no living organisms manage to survive in the home of Retba salt, which reaches 40 percent
Therefore, the lake is mainly used as a tourist attraction and for the production of salt, of course. If you visit, you will witness the gleaners in the water and their huge mountains of salt on the shore. The locals scoop up the salt with their bare hands from the bottom of the lake, put it in baskets and carry them ashore. To protect their skin from the long hours in the water, the workers use shea butter, known in Senegal for its cosmetic properties, which is extracted from the karite tree. And as an attraction for tourists, sailing on a wooden boat is offered.
Despite the grueling heat and conditions, the local people are happy and relaxed
Retba is not the only pink representative of lakes on Earth, but it is the largest natural pool of its kind. Its area is about 3 square km, and the maximum depth is 3 meters. On Australia’s Middle Island, there is another similar phenomenon – the mysterious and isolated pink Lake Hillier, the depth of which reaches a remarkable 600 meters.
Photo: Workers remove the salt with their bare hands from the bottom of the lake, put it in baskets and carry them to the shore / iStock by Getty Images
Cat fur generally does not harm humans, but some owners may be sensitive to purring animals and suffer from allergies. Although there is a perception that people are allergic to cat fur, this is not entirely the case.
The sources of allergens that cause some people to suffer from the proximity of a cat are the saliva and urine rather than the fur of the cat.
When meowing animals wash themselves by licking their fur, they can spread particles of hair at home, which are called dander. Because cat dander spreads absolutely everywhere, humans can be sensitive to it, but it is generally not the cause of an allergy in itself. The cat got it off her fur after licking herself to clean her fur. So she spread allergens from her saliva on it, as a result of which – many people can start to sneeze.
To reduce the spread of cat dander at home, you should brush the fur of the meowing pet regularly. This, along with regular house cleaning, can help desensitize your pampered pet.
Safe control of cat hair and dander
You may not like it when your cat sheds fur on your sofa or you find cat hair on your favorite sweater, but as we said – cat hair itself is not a health risk.
Dander is flakes on the cat’s skin
Whether you have a long-haired or a short-haired cat, there is no way to stop shedding. However, you can significantly reduce its shedding and spread throughout the home by brushing it. Regular grooming of a cat’s fur should ideally happen on a daily basis, although this depends on the season and the type of fur that the pet friend has.
Bathing at regular intervals can also greatly alleviate the situation if your home is covered in cat fur. Nutrition is just as important, as quality food is not only important to the health of your meowing friend, but is also a factor in keeping his coat healthy, shiny and beautiful.
How to confirm your allergy to cats?
Allergies that people suffer from have different dimensions. Some people may sneeze or feel itchy eyes in the presence of a cat. More severe symptoms may include wheezing. These reactions can occur if a sensitive person enters a room where a cat has been, even if the cat is not present.
Allergies and sensitivities can be difficult to determine because most people are exposed to multiple possible allergens at once. The best way to confirm a suspected cat allergy is to see a doctor for an allergy test.
Reducing exposure to cat hair
There are several ways to reduce exposure to cat dander and make your home more comfortable for someone sensitive to cats. If you are the one with allergies, delegate the bathing and brushing of the cat to someone else. Home hygiene is also a very important factor. Regular cleaning of surfaces to remove cat dander will greatly relieve your symptoms.
Don’t forget to wash your hands regularly, and as an additional measure, experts recommend keeping the purring pet out of the bedroom.
Although it can be a challenge, confining the cat to one part of the house can provide the most relief for someone who is allergic to cats. Placing the litter box near a window, frequent airing, hand washing and house cleaning can greatly help you live with a purring pet. However – if your allergy is severe and your life seems to be becoming complicated and even dangerous – you may want to consider whether it is okay to continue living with your furry pet and whether to find another loving home. As difficult as this decision is, it is important for your health.
In the Synod Cathedral in San Francisco, Archimandrite Cyprian has painted the iconostasis and complete interior according to the traditions of ancient Moscovy and northern Rus. If we listen to opinions concerning this iconographic style, then along with enthusiastic comments, unfortunately, one can also hear such remarks that testify to the ecclesiastical bad manners of secular critics and to their misunderstanding of the very principles of icon-painting.
Making the demands of icon-painting that can only be made of secular art, incompetent critics look at ancient icons and observe in them a violation of the laws of perspective, erroneous anatomy, non-observance of proportion.
For a correct understanding of ancient icon-painting, it is absolutely necessary to get rid of the view that it is some variant of secular painting. The principles of secular art and the principles of iconography are not only different but even opposed.
Secular painting depicts the real world, the three-dimensional world which is subject to the laws of space and time. Iconography depicts another world, a transcendental and eternal world where the laws of perspective, anatomy, fluctuation of light and shade are powerless. In iconography “there is no material nature; neither days nor nights nor gravity nor space in the human sense, nor time … The terrestrial sun never rises and sets in the celestial land of unutterable Light. And that is why changes from one tone to another, in colorful combinations, are absent. … And that is why the subjects do not cast a shadow, and we do not become aware of their weight, and their size is not subject to spatial perspective.” (Serge Makovsky)
For a correct understanding of icon-painting, it is necessary, first of all, to bear in mind that being a powerful subsidiary means of prayer for man, it must follow those demands whick flow from prayer and not those which flow from secular art. Prayer, according to ascetic rules, must be “unseen”, i.e. not arouse any clear pictorial image in the imagination. An icon must be so painted that it stimulates only one reverential feeling of presence before the Lord, and not the imagination of the Lord Himself. (the same can be said concerning the portrayal of the Mother of God, the angels and the saints.) Therefore, whereas secular art is more valuable the more it arouses a vivid picture in the beholder, iconography is more valuable the less it acts upon the imagination of the person praying.
The second ascetic rule of prayer is abstention from every attempt to attract one’s heart to participation in it by means of artificial arousal in the heart of premature conditions of special compunction or a sweet feeling of divine grace. One absolutely ought not to be concerned with tender sentiments during prayer. They come by themselves without any of one’s own efforts, exclusively by the action of God’s grace. The main concern during prayer must only be full concentration of attention on the contents of the prayer. The Holy Fathers say that one’s whole mind must be devoted to every word of the prayer. And in the course of time, such attention to prayer brings the heart into participation. The only feeling during prayer that is recommended by the ascetic rules is weeping and contrition for one’s sins. A contrite awareness of one’s sinful infirmity leads one to humility and repentance, that is, to that which is the necessary condition for correct spiritual perfection.
Now such ascetic restraint upon one’s imagination and the stirrings of one’s heart during prayer is at first achieved in a dry, tight and narrow way. But, according to the words of Christ, it is only by the “strait gate” and “narrow path” that one can enter the Heavenly Kingdom. Our natural forces, corrupted by sin, untransformed by the grace of God, cannot lead us to true feelings of sanctity. In their place, one erroneously often takes the flushes of blood and nerves for prayerful ecstasy. Such flushes have nothing in common with a genuine state of grace. The real presence in our heart of the grace of God is characterized by amazing peace, but not by flushes (Gal. 5:22). The voice of God is the voice of a “gentle breeze” (3 Kings 19:11-12), and not of excitement.
In complete conformity with this rule of prayer, iconography must not be concerned with the portrayal of the spiritual state of holy persons. Feelings of holiness and states of divine inspiration must be unknown to the humble iconographer, imbued with an awareness of his own sinfulness.
When secular painters, unacquainted with the ascetic rules and not having humility, daringly attempt to depict states of holiness only on the basis of their imagination, then instead of divine inspiration, an unhealthy hysteria inevitably results upon the canvas. It is well known how one talented painter who attempted to portray the feelings of the holy apostles at the moment of the descent of the Holy Spirit, as a matter of fact depicted an ecstatic dance of pagan priests and not the divinely inspired state of the holy apostles.
The only state which prayer and the prescribed form of an icon permit is humility and repentance. The bent figures of saints, the ascetic sternness of their faces, the prayerful inclination of the head and position of the hands – all this wonderfully evokes penitence and the seeking of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
The ancient icon constitutes one indissoluble whole with the church and subordinates itself to the architectural design. Therefore, in almost all ancient icons, “in keeping with the architectural lines of the church, mortal figures were sometimes excessively rectilineal; sometimes, on the other hand, they were unnaturally curved – in conformity with the lines of the arch. Being subject to an urge upwards for a high and narrow iconostasis, these icons sometimes became excessively elongated, the head being disproportionately small in comparison with the body, later becoming unnaturally narrow in the shoulders with the emphasis on the ascetic exhaustion of every figure (Prince Eugene Trubetskoi).
The design of an icon conveys one of the central ideas of Orthodoxy. “In that supremacy of architectural lines over the human figure, which is observed in it, is conveyed the subordination of man to the idea of the church, the predominance of the ecumenical over the individual. Here man stops being self-sufficient in his personality and is subjected to the general architecture of the whole” (Prince Eugene Trubetskoi).
The first powerful stimulus which made the Russian people acept Christianity was the beauty of Orthodox churches. The envoys of the holy Prince Vladimir, as the chronicle relates, standing in the cathedral of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople, could not say where they were – in heaven or on earth. And this unearthly beauty, which affected the Russian people on the threshold of their Christian history, became the main inspiration for their subsequent church culture. In no other area of spiritual culture did the Russian people attain such high achievements as in the area of iconography, ancient example of which are now recognized as an unequalled contribution to the world treasure-house of art.
On Monday, September 5, Serbian Patriarch Porfiry presented Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with the golden degree of the Order of Saint Sava – as a reward for his efforts in defending Christianity in Hungary and throughout Europe, promoting Christian values, as well as because of his personal contribution to the friendship between the Hungarian and Serbian peoples.
At the awarding ceremony, the Serbian Patriarch emphasized that Viktor Orbán is a unique statesman in Europe who “fights for the soul of Europe” and whose words are listened to by other peoples, including the Serbs.
In accepting the award, the Hungarian Prime Minister emphasized that he was proud to receive it from his brother, a Serbian Orthodox Christian. “We are peaceful people, we want peace, but there is really a war for the soul of Europe, and without Christian unity – including Orthodoxy – we cannot win this battle,” the prime minister said.
St. Sava was the first archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It awards the distinction in his name to ecclesiastical and secular figures of outstanding merit.
Serbian Patriarch Porfiry wrote on his Facebook page:
“Today at the seat of the Government of Hungary, in the presence of Bishop Irinej Bački, member of the Holy Synod of Bishops, and Metropolitan Luka, Bishop of Budinski, I awarded the Prime Minister of Hungary, Mr. Viktor Orbán, with the highest award of the Serbian Orthodox church – Order of Saint Sava, first degree.
The high award was presented to Mr. Orbán as a sign of gratitude for the affirmation of traditional Christian values, for the selfless support of the Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Buda, and for an outstanding personal contribution to strengthening the friendship between our two neighboring nations.
Worthy!”
Source: hungarytoday.hu
Featured photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán
This week, California launched “its most aggressive effort yet to combat climate change,” the New York Times reports.
The publication added: “Lawmakers have passed numerous bills designed to reduce emissions and divest from fossil fuels.”
Lawmakers “approved a record $54 billion in spending to fight climate change and passed sweeping new restrictions on oil and gas drilling, as well as a mandate that California stop adding CO2 to the atmosphere by 2045,” the paper explained, adding:
The bills, passed late Wednesday night at the end of a hectic two-year legislative session in Sacramento, marked a victory for Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has sought to cast himself as a climate leader as he boosted his national profile and began attracting speculation about a possible run for the White House.”
Under the new legislation, the state “will now have to cut emissions by at least 85% by 2045, offsetting any remaining emissions by planting more trees or using still-expensive technologies such as direct air capture,” the paper said, noting that “legislators had previously set a legally binding goal for California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.”
Inside Climate News reports that the state has also passed legislation banning new oil and gas wells from being built less than 3,200 feet from homes, schools, nursing homes and other so-called “sensitive receptors.”
