Subject: VISnews 120119
Organization: VIS
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY SECOND YEAR - N. 14
ENGLISH
THURSDAY, 19 JANUARY 2012
SUMMARY:
- Difficulties and Hopes of the Catholic Church in America
- The Holy Father Receives a Finnish Ecumenical Delegation
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts
___________________________________________________________
DIFFICULTIES AND HOPES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AMERICA
VATICAN CITY, 19 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican Benedict XVI received
a group of prelates from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
(Regions 4 and 6), at the end of their "ad limina" visit. Extracts from his
English-language remarks to them are given below.
"At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus
about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the
conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined
in your nation's founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not
only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from
nature and nature's God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in
the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly
opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but
increasingly hostile to Christianity as such.
"For her part, the Church in the United States is called, in season and
out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral
truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social
prospering. ... With her long tradition of respect for the right
relationship between faith and reason, the Church has a critical role to
play in countering cultural currents which, on the basis of an extreme
individualism, seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth.
... The Church's defence of a moral reasoning based on the natural law is
grounded on her conviction that this law is not a threat to our freedom, but
rather a 'language' which enables us to understand ourselves and the truth
of our being, and so to shape a more just and humane world".
"The Church's witness, then, is of its nature public: she seeks to
convince by proposing rational arguments in the public square. The
legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the
Church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not
to engage, or be engaged by, the voices of committed believers in
determining the values which will shape the future of the nation.
"In the light of these considerations, it is imperative that the entire
Catholic community in the United States come to realise the grave threats to
the Church's public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which
finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The
seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level
of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to
limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.
Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny
the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and
institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices.
Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom
to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of
conscience.
"Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed
Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-a-vis the dominant
culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would
de-legitimise the Church's participation in public debate about the issues
which are determining the future of American society. ... In this regard, I
would mention with appreciation your efforts to maintain contacts with
Catholics involved in political life and to help them understand their
personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially
with regard to the great moral issues of our time: respect for God's gift of
life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human
rights".
"No one who looks at these issues realistically can ignore the genuine
difficulties which the Church encounters at the present moment. Yet in faith
we can take heart from the growing awareness of the need to preserve a civil
order clearly rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as from the
promise offered by a new generation of Catholics whose experience and
convictions will have a decisive role in renewing the Church's presence and
witness in American society. The hope which these 'signs of the times' give
us is itself a reason to renew our efforts to mobilise the intellectual and
moral resources of the entire Catholic community in the service of the
evangelisation of American culture and the building of the civilisation of
love"
AL/ VIS
20120119 (760)
THE HOLY FATHER RECEIVES A FINNISH ECUMENICAL DELEGATION
VATICAN CITY, 19 JAN 2012 (VIS) - In keeping with a long-standing tradition
a Finnish ecumenical delegation (led this year by Catholic Bishop Teemu
Sippo S.C.I. of Helsinki and Lutheran Bishop Seppo Hakkinen of Mikkeli) is
currently visiting Rome to mark the Feast of St. Henry. The group was
received this morning in audience by the Holy Father. "Our deepened
friendship and common witness to Jesus Christ - especially before today's
world, which so often lacks true direction and longs to hear the message of
salvation - must hasten our progress towards the resolution of our remaining
differences, and indeed of all matters on which Christians are divided", the
Pope said to them speaking English.
"In recent times, ethical questions have become one of the points of
difference among Christians, especially with regard to the proper
understanding of human nature and its dignity. There is a need for
Christians to arrive at a profound agreement on matters of anthropology,
which can then help society and politicians to make wise and just decisions
regarding important questions in the area of human life, family and
sexuality. In this regard, the recent ecumenical bilateral dialogue document
in the Finnish-Swedish context not only reflects a rapprochement between
Catholics and Lutherans over the understanding of justification, but it
urges Christians to renew their commitment to imitate Christ in life and
action".
"Our longing for the full, visible unity of Christians requires patient
and trustful waiting", Pope Benedict concluded, "not in a spirit of
helplessness or passivity, but with deep trust that the unity of all
Christians in one Church is truly God's gift and not our own achievement.
Such patient waiting, in prayerful hope, transforms us and prepares us for
visible unity not as we plan it, but as God grants it".
AC/ VIS
20120119 (310)
AUDIENCES
VATICAN CITY, 19 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in
audience:
- Seven prelates of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, on
their "ad limina" visit:
- Archbishop Edwin Frederick O'Brien, apostolic administrator of Baltimore
and pro-grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy
Sepulchre of Jerusalem, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Mitchell Thomas
Rozanski and Denis James Madden.
- Bishop Paul Stephen Loverde of Arlington.
- Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo of Richmond.
- Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston.
- Bishop William Francis Malooly of Wilmington.
- Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke O.S.B. of Eichstatt, Germany.
AL:AP/ VIS 20120119
(110)
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
VATICAN CITY, 19 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Appointed Bishop William C. Skurla of Passaic, U.S.A., as metropolitan
archbishop of Pittsburgh of the Byzantines (Catholics 58,763, priests 64,
permanent deacons 17, religious 88), U.S.A.
- Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary and vicar for
Jordan of the patriarchate of Jerusalem of the Latins presented by Bishop
Selim Sayegh, in accordance with canon 411 of the Code of Canon Law.
- Appointed Archbishop Maroun Elias Lahham of Tunis, Tunisia, as auxiliary
and vicar for Jordan of the patriarchate of Jerusalem of the Latins
(Catholics 160,700, priests 417, permanent deacons 3, religious 1,842),
allowing him to maintain his title of archbishop "ad personam".
NER:RE:NEA/ VIS 20120119
(120)
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