The Word of God

On Friday the Synod of Bishops released a final message about their discussions on "The Word of God.”
The message focussed on four aspects
· The Voice:- The voice of the Creator speaks to us through the wonders of creation and through scripture.
· The Face:- The face is Jesus, who through his teaching brought new universal meaning to scriptures.
· The House:- The house is the Church, the community of faith, where the Word of God is reflected on and put into action.
· The Road:- The spiritual road map for us individually and for all humanity to achieve a way of life that we learn from the Word of God and that prepares us for our reunion with the Creator.

Link: the full message
Link: the message summary

The Moral Demands of Affluence

Philosopher and ethicst, Professor Garrett Cullity, of Adelaide University, has tackled an age-old question: “To what extent are we morally obliged to help those in need?” and developed a new and compelling answer, in his latest book, The Moral Demands of Affluence – the book also recently won him the $10,000 Australian Catholic University (ACU), Eureka Prize for Ethics.

Cullity argues that the altruistic model of restricting one’s life in order to aid another is flawed; that it is not morally wrong to live a life of rich personal fulfillment. In fact, this is exactly what it is to be human. But, helping others is also part of being human and must be done with perspective, the book says.

Not letting the affluent off lightly, Professor Cullity states: “If you are not making an effort to find an effective way of helping the poor, then you are acting wrongly”.

Link: Eureka Prize Media Release
Link: ABC Radio program-Life Matters-interview
Link: Audio recording of the interview

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

In Australia, approximately 400 events were held to Stand Up and Take Action against povertry.

202,186 Australians joined with 116, 993, 629 people around the globe who stood up to let their Governments know that they want them to meet their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals and people living in poverty.

The Word of God

After 2 weeks of speeches by participants at the Synod of Bishops on the topic of "The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church", all the proposals have been summarised into a set of 19 issues or questions.
These questions will be addressed by the bishops in groups during the next few days.

These are the questions:

1. How can we help the faithful to understand better that the Word of God is Christ, the incarnate Word of God? How can we go deeper in the dialogue dimension of Revelation in theology and in Church practice?
2. What implications are drawn from the fact that the liturgical celebration is the ordinary place for and the summit of the Word of God?
3. How can we educate people in a living hearing of the Word of God, in the Church, for all people and every cultural level?
4. How can we educate people in lectio divina [a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures]?
5. Is there a need for a compendium to help those preaching homilies better serve the Word of God?
6. Is it possible to revise the Lectionary and modify the selections of the readings from the Old and New Testament?
7. What place does the ministerial character of the Word of God have, and what importance must be attributed to this?
8. How can we help people to better understand the intrinsic link between the Word and the Eucharist?
9. What means should be adopted for the translation and spreading of the Bible among the greatest possible number of cultures, in particular among the poor?
10. How can the relationship between exegetes, theologians and pastors be healed and their collaboration be stimulated?
11. How can we go deeper in the sense of Scripture and its interpretation, in the respect for and the balance between the word, the Spirit, the living tradition and the magisterium of the Church?
12. What is thought of the idea of a world conference on the Word of God promoted by the magisterium of the Church?
13. How can the search for the unity of Christians and dialogue with the Jews be developed more around the Word of God?
14. What is understood by a biblical animation of all ministry?
15. What questions merit a more detailed examination from the magisterium of the Church (inerrancy, pneumatology, relation of inspiration-Scripture-tradition-magisterium)
16. How can interreligious dialogue and the dogmatic affirmation of Christ, sole mediator, be reconciled?
17. How can knowledge of the Word of God through other means besides the biblical text be fostered (art, poetry, Internet, etc.)?
18. What philosophical formation is needed to better understand and interpret the Word of God and sacred Scripture?
19. What interpretive criteria of the Word of God ensure an authentic inculturation of the Gospel message?

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

We know that every single day some 25,000 children die from preventable causes.
This is tolerated by the world’s leaders! Unless we protest we are condoning the intolerable!

U2 lead singer, Bono: "It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger. That's mad, that is mad."

During the last 4 weeks the world’s rich nations have spent $ trillions to save corrupt banking systems – just like that!
In that time 700,000 children have died of preventable treatable disease and hunger!
Isn’t such neglect evil?

In Victoria Square, Adelaide, South Australians, including a considerable number of students from Catholic colleges, were Standing Up in support of the ‘Eradication of Poverty’ in the world.

We are standing now with millions around the world on this symbolic day, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, to show our commitment to the fight against extreme poverty and inequality.
We are standing because we refuse to accept more excuses in a world where 50,000 people die every day as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor is getting wider.

We are standing because we want our leaders to honour their promises to meet the Millennium Development Goals – and we ask them to exceed these goals.

We join in solidarity with people from hundreds of countries to say: To the leaders of the wealthy countries – We urge you to keep your promises on poverty – debt cancellation, more and better aid, trade justice and gender equality.

To the leaders of poorer countries – make it your first responsibility to save the lives of your poorest citizens.
We ask you to tackle inequality, to be accountable to your people, to govern fairly and justly, to fight corruption and to fulfill human rights.

Today, and every day, we will STAND UP and SPEAK OUT against poverty.
We will continue the fight against poverty and inequality and to hold our leaders to their promises.
We are asking not for charity but for justice. We are millions of voices standing in solidarity to say, no more excuses - end poverty now.

Find out more....

Fr Julian Tenison Woods

Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Fr Julian Tenison Woods, 7/10/1889.

He greatly inspired and encouraged Mary MacKillop to found the Sisters of St Joseph.
His story.....

The Mary MacKillop Centre, Kensington, is an interesting place for a visit. Sr Patricia Keane at the centre has a wealth of knowledge and has available a variety of mementos in stock for the Christmas season, including the 2009 Josephite Calendar @ $5.50

Link....

Sr Pat also publishes The MacKillop Centre Gazette which provides a wealth of information.

The October 2008 edition is available here....

The Word of God

The historic Synod of Bishops on the Bible, "The Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church", began on Sunday.
Apart from the 278 representatives from Catholic dioceses from around the world there will be 25 representatives from the Vatican and religious orders.

Also present will be 41 experts from 21 countries and 37 auditors from 26 countries. 25 women are included amongst these experts and auditors.

Representatives from the Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion, the World Lutheran Federation, the Church of the Disciples of Christ and the World Council of Churches will also be present.

Pope Benedict has also invited three special guests to address the synod, who will each present a unique perspective to the bishops.

• Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen of Haifa, Israel, who will speak about how the Jewish people read and interpret Sacred Scripture.


• Rev. A. Miller Milloy, secretary general of the United Bible Societies


• Frere Alois, prior of the Taize Community.

Link

The Draft Guidelines, or ‘Lineamenta’, for the Synod provide a comprehensive outline of the many questions that the representatives are invited to address.

Link

Only 32 of the 250+ participants will have voting rights.
Three Australian voting representatives are Cardinal George Pell, Bishop Michael Putney and Bishop Peter William

Previous information on this topic entered on September 11, 2008

Catholic Social Justice Teaching

Bruce Duncan writes:
“God will judge us on how we have responded to the needs of the poor, sick, hungry and imprisoned. Jesus meant to shock his hearers. Piety is worthless in God's eyes if it ignores one's social responsibility, since God identifies intensely with people in distress."

In his article ‘Reality Check For Antisocial Church’ he suggests that most Catholics do not know the basics of the Church’s social justice teachings or what the Millennium Development Goals are all about.
Is he right?
Read the full article here.....

Celebrating Mass

Carmel Pilcher RSJ has written about the celebration of Mass in today's communities. She wrote:

"At our Sunday Eucharist we gain strength from each other by sharing Christ’s Word and Eucharist. The Mass is less about spending my personal hour with Jesus and more about committing my life to Christ and the community with whom I worship. It is about gathering with others to focus on the life of our faith community in relation to Christ’s sacrifice. The Mass is the clearest sign of unity and love, and there is no room for division or anger. We can only truly get to know each other and become one body if we gather regularly with the same community." Link

While mulling it over I was reminded of the words of Pope John Paul II when he visited Alice Springs in 1986:

“All over the world people worship God and read his word in their own language, and colour the great signs and symbols of religion with touches of their own traditions. Why should you be different from them in this regard, why should you not be allowed the happiness of being with God and each other in Aboriginal fashion?”

That same message would surely apply to any local faith community?