MUSIC: 'Clannad' of IRELAND

A Song in Irish Gaelic about the former 'Troubles' of Northern Ireland. 

Praise be to God HE has healed our way !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KpNzalFKPo

Thanks To You Lord Jesus !!!  Amen !!!

LYRICS: 

Imtheochaidh soir is siar 

A dtainig ariamh 

An ghealach is an ghrian 


Fol lol the doh fol the day 

Fol the doh fol the day 


Imtheochaidh an ghealach's an ghrian 

An Daoine og is a chail 'na dhiadh 


Fol lol the doh fol the day 

Fol the doh fol the day 


Fol lol the doh fol the day 

Fol the doh fol the day 


Imtheochaidh a dtainig ariamh 

an duine og is a chail ne dhiadh 


Fol lol the doh fol the day 

Fol the doh fol the day 


Translation

I will go east and go west

[To the places] from whence came 

The moon and the sun


The moon and the sun will go

And the young man

With his reputation behind him


I will go wherever he came from -

The young man with his reputation behind him 

Taizé Geneve - Alleluia 11

Martyrs - Gaelic Psalm

Psalm 79:3-4 in Scots Gaelic

3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.

4 We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us."

That's the Scripture reference here...like something taken right out of Scottish history.

Vietnam: Christian activists face death penalty; Nazi Mass Graves

Vietnam: Christian activists face prospect of death penalty

May 27, 2011

Three Mennonites who advocated on behalf of farmers whose land was sold by Communist officials have been charged with attempting to overthrow the government. If convicted, the three, who have been denied access to their families and an attorney, face the prospect of life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Vietnam: Christian land rights activists to go on trial (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

Holocaust museum to feature priest's research into Nazi mass graves

May 27, 2011

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will be making public the research of Father Patrick Desbois, a French priest who has documented 600 Nazi mass graves in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus. The priest has devoted the last several years of his life to documenting the "Holocaust by bullets."

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Information on Nazi-Era Mass Graves To Be Made Available to the Public (Jewish Daily Forward)
• Priest-researcher: Holocaust death count is low (CWN, 5/25/09)

Rejoice in the Lord always - Saint Augustine, bishop

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop (c 354 – 430 AD)
Rejoice in the Lord always

The Apostle tells us to rejoice, but in the Lord, not in the world. Whoever wishes to be a friend of this world, says Scripture, will be reckoned an enemy of God. As a man cannot serve two masters, so one cannot rejoice both in the world and in the Lord.

Let joy in the Lord prevail, then, until joy in the world is no more. Let joy in the Lord go on increasing; let joy in the world go on decreasing until it is no more. This is said, not because we are not to rejoice while we are in this world, but in order that, even while we are still in this world, we may already rejoice in the Lord.

You may object: I am in the world; if I rejoice I certainly rejoice where I am. What is this? Do you mean that because you are in the world you are not in the Lord? Listen again to the Apostle, speaking now to the Athenians: in the Acts of the Apostles he says this of God and the Lord our creator: In him we live and move and have our being. If he is everywhere, where is he not? Surely this was what he was exhorting us to realize. The Lord is near, do not be anxious about anything.

This is a great truth, that he ascended above all the heavens, yet is near to those on earth. Who is this stranger and neighbor if not the one who became our neighbor out of compassion? The man lying on the road, left half-dead by robbers, the man treated with contempt by the priest and the levite who passed by, the man approached by the passing Samaritan to take care of him and help him, that man is the whole human race. When the immortal one, the holy one, was far removed from us because we were mortal and sinners, he came down to us, so that he, the stranger, might become our neighbor.

He did not treat us as our sins deserved. For we are now sons of God. How do we show this? The only Son of God died for us, so that he might not remain alone. He who died as the only Son did not want to remain as the only Son. For the only Son of God made many sons of God. He bought brothers for himself by his blood; he made them welcome by being rejected; he ransomed them by being sold; he honored them by being dishonored; he gave them life by being put to death.

So, brethren, rejoice in the Lord, not in the world. That is, rejoice in the truth, not in wickedness; rejoice in the hope of eternity, not in the fading flower of vanity. That is the way to rejoice. Wherever you are on earth, however long you remain on earth, the Lord is near, do not be anxious about anything.

^{VIETNAM 
Archbishop of Hanoi against the demolition of Sisters of Saint Paul convent
by Philip Blair}

The bishop sent a letter to the "competent authorities at all levels", claiming the rightful ownership of the building. Yesterday a meeting with the local government, described as "a waste of time." The pain of the faithful for the continuing cases of forced evictions, despite a 2004 law to protect places of worship. 

Hanoi (AsiaNews) – Mgr. Peter Nguyen Van Nhon, archbishop of Hanoi has sided with the Sisters of Saint Paul, against the government decision to demolish the congregation's convent. In a letter to the "competent authorities at all levels," the archdiocese claims the legitimate ownership of the building and notes the violation of legitimate rights of Catholics, whose grievances are not even considered by the local administration. According to the project, the complex will be demolished to give way to a five-storey hospital.

In the statement released yesterday by the Archdiocese of Hanoi it emerges that "Since May 16, Archbishop Peter Nguyen Van Nhon has sent urgent protest letters to Hanoi City Department of Health, Saint Paul Hospital, and relevant authorities at all levels objecting the demolition of Hanoi Carmelite Monastery". The nuns of the Congregation, he adds, have also sent "their personal letters of protest" to the heads of government of the Vietnamese capital.

Founded in 1883, the Congregation of Vietnamese Sisters of Saint Paul has its headquarters in downtown Hanoi. The building was confiscated almost in its entirety by the Communist government in 1954, a small portion was returned to the nuns over time in which they opened a dispensary for the poor, a residence for orphaned children and provided shelter for girls. Now the government has approved and hastily begun demolition, to construct a five-story building.

The Archdiocese of Hanoi, legitimate owner of the structure, on the top of which a cross (see photo) is still visible, has not been informed nor consulted by the authorities. The latest violation of the rights of Christians has caused anger and dismay in the Vietnamese community, which in the last three years has been subjected to forced removals and evictions from numerous properties by the communist regime.

Yesterday the authorities of Hanoi and the Commission for Religious Affairs held a face to face meeting with Catholic delegates to listen to their "legitimate aspirations". However, the meeting was only "a waste of time" because the construction, say the Catholic leaders, is still ongoing and there have been no compromises or agreements with the government.

The Ordinance on religions promulgated in 2004 states that "the law protects the legitimate property of all faiths." Nevertheless, there are rules that define precisely how the properties are protected and those responsible for this. The issue was raised in recent days by Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man, archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City (see AsiaNews, 23/05/2011 Archbishop of Saigon calls on government to respect religious freedom), and this is the reason why "many Catholic properties were expropriated unfairly."

PATRIARCH SVIATOSLAV HOPES TO RID 'PHANTOM PAINS OF THE PAST' IN RELATIONS WITH MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE

29 April 2011, 10:22 | Interchurch relations | 6 |   | Code for Blog |  | 

"I think we should not poison our relations today with the phantom pains of the past," head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Sviatoslav, said in an interview to Focus magazine in response to a question about relations with the Moscow Patriarchate. 

According to the head of the UGCC, our churches have had many wounds inflicted in the past: "I read about phantom pains felt by someone who lost his arm. It is a psychological illusion," noted Patriarch Sviatoslav.

"I am convinced that we will be able to heal the wounds when we heal our memory with mutual forgiveness. We are now ready for it and, moreover, our faithful demand it. We, as the pastors, should hear the voice of the people, which is the voice of God," said the head of the UGCC.

In answer to the question of what he would like to discuss with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, the head of UGCC noted that the very fact of such a meeting will be a manifest of the mutual recognition and will establish a dialogue. "The Moscow Patriarch showed that he is ready for it. This is indicated by the presence of Bishop Ilarii (Editor: Bishop of Makariv, Vicar of the Kyivan Metroplitanate, Rector of the Catechization and Regent Spiritual School and the Iconography School of the Kyivan Eparchy of UOC) at my enthronement, the greeting of Metropolitan Volodymyr and his invitation to a meeting," said Patriarch Sviatoslav.

In answer to the question in what way the hierarch is going to build relations with the authorities, in view of the fact that the president and his entourage favor the Moscow Patriarchate, the patriarch responded that it will be a constructive dialogue regardless of the fact which church the president and his ministers attend. According to the hierarch, there are more serious challenges in Ukraine today.

"For instance, all the churches are in a great danger to become political parties," noted the patriarch, referring to the words of his spiritual mentor who said back at the time of the underground church that if the church becomes a political party, it will take the side of Herod or Pilate whereas it should be on the side of the Crucified One.

1. "It has become a guideline to me. I believe that the church can be neither pro-regime nor in opposition; it should unite people," said Patriarch Sviatoslav in the interview, the Information Department of the UGCC reports.
   <a href="http://risu.org.ua">Джерело публікації: risu.org.ua</a>
   
   

PARABLE of the yellow traffic light

Parable of the Yellow Light

The light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up...

He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.

After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, ''I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally....I assumed you had stolen the car.''

 

 

HEADS OF UGCC AND KYIVAN PATRIARCHATE DISCUSS COOPERATION

21 May 2011, 11:37 | Interchurch relations | 0 |   | Code for Blog |  | 

On 18 May, at the residence of the Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Patriarch Filaret, his meeting with the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), Patriarch Sviatoslav was held. Patriarch Sviatoslav was accompanied by the Secretary of the Synod of UGCC, Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh.

According to the press-service of UOC-KP, Patriarch Sviatoslav thanked Patriarch Filaret for attending the enthronement of the new head of UGCC at the Cathedral of Resurrection. To remember the event by, he presented to the head of UOC-KP a copy of the Icon of the Mother of God from the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Holy Sophia in Rome and a video of the enthronement service.    

The hierarchs discussed a wide spectrum of questions regarding the cooperation between the Kyivan Patriarchate and UGCC, including social morality, social ministry, state-Church relations, patriotic education, freedom of worship, etc. Patriarch Sviatoslav noted that he intends to develop the achievements of his predecessor, Cardinal Lubomyr (Husar) regarding these questions.

The participants of the meeting expressed concern over the increase of the social confrontation and political extremism. They stressed the need to jointly defend the state sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and civil accord in Ukraine. 

The primates discussed specific lines of development of further cooperation  regarding the bilateral and multilateral interaction. 

Patriarch Filaret presented to the head of UGCC translation of the Apostolic Fathers and other books published by the Kyivan Patriarchate.
<a href="http://risu.org.ua">Джерело публікації: risu.org.ua</a>

Cambodia: A Church arising from the ashes

Cambodia: A Church arising from the ashes - An interview with Bishop Schmitthaeusler

Posted by ACN News - Interview on 24/5/2011, 5:53 pm
Message modified by board administrator 24/5/2011, 5:54 pm




Cambodia – A Church arising from the ashes  Cambodia still bares the wounds of the Khmer Rouge - a brutal regime that ruled from 1975 to 1979 and in which nearly 2 million were killed. These were the cultural elite: the doctors, lawyers, the teachers and the church representatives. Today, Cambodia numbers about 14 million of which 96% are Buddhist and Christians make up a little bit more than 1% of the population.  Bishop Oliver Michel Marie Schmitthaeusler was born 1970 in Strasbourg (France). After his ordination 1998, he went to Cambodia as a missionary. On March 2010 he was ordained a Bishop and installed as Coadjutor Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.    (Bishop Oliver Michel Marie Schmitthaeusler)  Q) Your Excellency, you've been recently appointed the bishop of the capital Phnom-Penh. What was your initial reaction? Was it a shock?  A) I was surprised and afraid because I was very young. I was 39 years old - perhaps at that time the youngest bishop in the world. I was like Jeremiah: "Lord, I'm so young. What can I do?" I then remembered Mary who said: "I'm the servant of the Lord", so I accepted it.  Q) Your Excellency, you have been living 13 years in Cambodia. Did you choose to go to Cambodia or were you invited to go by the Mission Estranger d' Paris (M.E.P) the religious order sending missionaries to Asia?  A) Indeed, I'm a member of the Paris Foreign Mission and I received my orders when I became a deacon. The Superior General announced to all, after my ordination: "Fr. Oliver you will go to Cambodia".  Q) Were you afraid?  A) I was surprised and at the same time, I was very happy. I was in Japan for 3 years as a seminarian. I love Asia and when I received this mission I was happy to go to Cambodia.  Q) You worked for over 10 years in the rural parishes. What did you learn from the Cambodian people?  A) It was a wonderful experience for me especially in the places where I stayed. It was a very small church. When I arrived there was only one Christian. We started everything from scratch. We built the church and we organized a group of young people. We had the first baptism in 2003 - we now have a total of 98 people who have been baptized and 35 Catechumens who will be baptized next year. We also started a small school - a kindergarten and high school. We also have a silk weaving centre. The Khmer people are very friendly and they welcomed me with open arms. It is a very good experience for my priestly life. It will be very difficult for me to leave.  Q) The Cambodian people are 96% Buddhist. What was the reaction of the neighbouring villages when you started to evangelize? Were they open to the fact that suddenly there was a Christian village starting amongst them?  A) In this village we are very lucky; God is with us. The people have accepted us very well because we have a kindergarten and the parents, all Buddhist, send their children to our school. We also have something like a Boys Scout group and every Sunday morning we have more than 300 children who come for one hour of formation.  Q) And there is no fear from the parents that their children will be converted?  A) We've been doing this now for more than six years and every year the number increases so I think this is a good sign. We have started a new parish about 40 km away and we initially had problems especially among the young people.  Q) Why?  A) For two years, with a microphone and loudspeakers, they announced from the pagodas some misinformation about the Catholic Church saying that if the children go to the Catholic Church they will not get authorizations for marriage nor will they get assistance from some NGO's. At Christmas 2006, we invited all the grandparents from the village. They were very happy and they all realized that the Catholic Church is very open and receives everyone. We have become good friends. It is also interesting, in this village every Sunday I have about 10 to 20 old people from the Buddhist community who come to the Church to see what we are doing. They attend Mass and listen to the homily. The relationship is very interesting.  Q) The culture is strongly Buddhist. To be a Khmer is to be Buddhist and to embrace another faith is an anathema to being a Khmer - a rejection of one's culture or identity. Is this correct? A) I think in Cambodia, during the Khmer Rouge's four-year reign of terror under Polpot, everything was destroyed: culture and all forms of religion including Buddhism and Catholicism. Then under the 10 years of post Khmer Rouge Vietnamese Communist occupation, again no form of religion was permitted. Over the last 20 years, the Cambodians have started rebuilding their traditions as well as their religious practices and now, I think, the people are more open than before. This is very beneficial especially for the Catholic Church. When young people become Christians, for instance during baptism, we invite their parents and grandparents to participate. Two years ago we had a funeral. A funeral is very important for Buddhists and they have this perception that the Catholics are not very interested in the dead and have no respect for the dead, especially the dead parents. They were all waiting to see what I was going to do during the funeral ceremony. They were very impressed afterwards. I followed their funeral tradition including the seven days wake in the Buddhist tradition. I tried to impress upon them that we Catholics do not reject the dead, that we have prayers for the dead and that we believe and hope in the Resurrection. It was an opportunity for us to be a witness for Christ and an opportunity for the Buddhists to see what we do.  Q) What would attract a Buddhist to embrace and become a Christian?  A) We start with the youth. The youth are very effective missionaries; because my friend goes to church, I too would also like to go to church even if I do not fully understand what the church is all about. That is the first phase. The second phase is that they discover charity. We have charitable outreach in all our churches. It is the charity of Catholics towards everyone, not just towards our fellow Catholics but towards all without prejudice, especially towards the poor. It is to which they are witness and to that which they are eventually attracted - to open their hearts and love all. The third phase, which is very important, is the meeting with Jesus. This, however, takes time, of course, because it is a new experience but through prayer and the Bible or Scriptural readings, they then meet Jesus. It is a step-by-step process. We often receive many young people and in my Church we have about a hundred every Sunday with more than 60 Buddhists. Of these 60 about 20 or 30 will continue in the formation.  Q) Let us comeback to the Khmer Rouge under the Polpot period. There was massive destruction of churches as well as complete ban on religious practices. How do you address this problem today?  A) That period from 1975 to 1979 was characterized by massive destruction of church property and the death of priests and religious. We had two bishops die; one was killed and the other died from an illness - the first Khmer bishop in the history of Cambodia – and we don't forget that two million Khmer people also died. The missionaries started coming back again in 1989, the first in more than 30 years. The first celebration was at Easter and there were about 1,500 Khmer people in attendance; some new converts, because the missionaries were very active in the refugee camps on the Thai border, and some who were Catholics before the Polpot regime. The new Catholic Church in Cambodia started with 1500 Khmer people.  Q) You are now starting to rebuild not just the community but also the infrastructure. How is that developing?  A) In Phnom-Penh we only have one church, which was a minor seminary before Polpot. We bought it 20 years ago and it is going to be the principal church in Phnom-Penh. We have one more that we built four years ago, but I'm a bishop without a Cathedral because the Cathedral in Phnom-Penh, within one week of the Khmer Rouge occupation in 1975, was destroyed. So it is still a process. There is also a revitalization of the Christians. Last year we did an analysis of the last 20 years of evangelization from 1989 to 2009 and there is a desire from the people to have a church, a Cathedral, and this is a sign of hope. And it is showing us that a physical presence is important.  Q) What scars do you see that still remain among the people post Polpot?  A) The scars started before Polpot. There was the civil war in the 1970's during the time of Lon Nol and the Vietnamese occupation after Polpot. It was a very long period. There was no transmission of the cultural tradition, values, and history during this time, and transmission is very important from one generation to the next. The main concern at that period was simply survival; searching for food and shelter and there was no time to transmit cultural traditions, values and history. For the young that is a challenge when they start building families because they are missing a link and a knowledge of their heritage. In Cambodia 60% of the population is below 20 years old and they have no knowledge of the civil war, the Polpot regime and even their own culture. So it is a challenge for the government and the Church also.  Q) What is the priority particularly in light of this question?  A) In Cambodia, education is the priority. The human resource was destroyed and now they have to re-build everything. It is also a priority of the Catholic Church because education is a part of formation and for me in starting a new mission in the Diocese of Phnom-Penh, education is a priority because we are now living with the first generation of Christians. They have been baptized 20, 10 and five years ago and education is a way for them to deepen their Christian and cultural roots, to help them become leaders in the Church and in their families and to build a better Christian family. We have two seminarians now, which is a lot because we are only 14,000 Christians, so two seminarians is a good ratio. We need to form good Christian families to encourage vocations. So the first focus is formation and education in general. We started with one kindergarten and now we have about 25 kindergartens in the diocese. We also have a technical school in the tradition of Don Bosco.  Q) What about reconciliation after that terrible period where two million people were killed?  A) The majority of the people do not think or are interested in this; reconciliation is a concept only for us. Life, for the majority of the Khmer people, is difficult and they focus on earning a living. They focus on the future and not on the past.  Q) So it is not a focus of the Catholic Church to address this issue?  A) We try with our social communication services. Last year we had a meeting with one of the international judges and we focused on meeting the Catholics who survived during this period. Last year in our Catholic high school we had one day where we talked about the period of the Khmer Rouge. We invited a survivor to speak. We then went to a memorial place, called killing fields. We had prayers with the monks and priests. We try, little by little to maintain the memory of that dark era because I think that it is important, lest we forget, and this is a challenge for the country because of course we cannot forget.  Q) I understand that the king attended the requiem mass of Pope John Paul II. How is the relationship with the government today?  A) The relationship is good especially between the government and the Catholic Church. There is a ministry of cult and religion as in all the other communist countries. I have now been the Vicar General of the diocese of Phnom-Penh for three years and I have good relationship with the government and we are always welcome.  Q) It is, however not easy. You cannot visit door to door. How does this impact your work of evangelization if you are restricted from visiting families in the villages?  A) It is not like that. We don't go to door like the Mormons nor are we allowed to use a public address system to proselytize. I can understand that. Some Protestants have used big banners to quote some Biblical passages and this is not allowed. I can visit families in the village without restrictions. We explain what the Catholic faith is with the government and we always use the term Catholic and not Christians.  Q) What is provoking such negative reaction from the government when a particular personality-based Christian or Protestant sect is established?  A) There are so many Christian sects in Cambodia and the government finds it difficult to understand who is who. They are happy with us because we have a clear structure: the Pope, bishops and then the priests.  Q) Is this negative reaction also due to aggressive proselytism by some sects?  A) Yes this is also one reason. I will give you a very concrete example: Last year I requested to become a citizen. I went to the Ministry of the Interior for an interview. I explained that I was a priest in the Catholic Church. The interviewer was angry with the Christians. He did not understand the difference between Catholics and the others. He said: "Your group wrote on the wall that you have to hate Buddha to be with Jesus". Statements like this are very destructive especially in the minds of the non-Christians and we have many instances like these. I do not mean all are aggressive and are critical of anything Cambodian and the Khmer but it sometimes makes it difficult to mention that we – Catholics - are Christians.  Q) What would be the needs for your country and the Catholic Church now?  A) The need for formation and to help our people to meet with God; this is very important. To have time to pray in silence, to have a relationship with Jesus and with God - this is a big challenge in a Buddhist country.  This interview was conducted by Mark Riedemann for "Where God Weeps," a weekly television and radio show produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.  Editor's Notes  Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.  Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named "An outstanding Apostle of Charity", the organisation is now at work in about 130 countries throughout the world.  The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative's launch in 1979, Aid to the Church in Need's Child's Bible – God Speaks to his Children has been translated into 162 languages and 48 million copies have been distributed all over the world.  While ACN gives full permission for the media to freely make use of the charity's press releases, please acknowledge ACN as the source of stories when using the material.  For more information or to make a donation to help the work of Aid to the Church in Need, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148.  On Line donations can be made at www.aidtochurch.org