Below is an excerpt from a report on Church News Ireland about a recent resolution passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in relation to the prohibition of euthanasia.

“On January 25, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a non-binding resolution stating: “Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited.”

The purpose of the resolution, entitled “Protecting human rights and dignity by taking into account previously expressed wishes of patients”, defines the principles that should govern the practice of “living wills” or “advance directives” in the 47 States of the Council of Europe.

The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) welcomed the adoption of the PACE resolution. “This Resolution is a major victory for the protection of life and dignity,” said ECLJ Director Grégor Puppinck.

Puppinck noted that because “living wills” or “advance directives” are open to abuses, and are a “backdoor” for introducing euthanasia or assisted suicide into legislation, PACE’s resolution was necessary.

The resolution is comprised of a list of principles already elaborated in three documents previously adopted in the Council of Europe, including the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo Convention), which legally binds the majority of member States.”

From CNI

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Below is an excerpt from an article in CiNews about the beatification of Hildegard Burjan

“A married woman and politician, who founded a Catholic religious congregation is being beatified in Austria today (Sunday 29^th Jan).

The extraordinary woman, who began life as a Jew, converted to Catholicism, had a family, a political career and founded a congregation of nuns, is held up as a model for evangelisation by the leader of the Catholic Church in Austria, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

Hildegard Burjan was born in 1883 into a liberal Jewish family in Germany.  She studied literature, philosophy and sociology in Switzerland and Berlin and obtained a Ph.D. in 1908.  The year before, 1907, she married the Hungarian entrepreneur Alexander Burjan.  In 1909 she was surprisingly healed from a grave sickness, which brought about her conversion to Catholicism.

She moved with her husband to Vienna, where she had her only daughter Lisa.  It was a difficult pregnancy, which threatened her life a number of times.  Her doctors advised her to abort the baby, but she categorically refused.

In Vienna, she got to know a group of Catholics who wanted to put Pope Leo XIII’s social encyclical Rerum Novarum into practise.  Hildegard started to interest herself in the social issues of the day, in particular the working conditions and spiritual welfare of poor women and children.

In 1912, she founded the Society of Christian Women Working at Home and in 1918 the Society for Social Help.

A year later, on October 4, 1919, she founded the congregation of sisters named Caritas Socialis.

The order cares especially for women and children in difficult conditions and for elderly and terminally ill people.  It plays a major role in the hospice movement in Austria.”

By Susan Gately

To read more visit CiNews

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland, a member church of the Anglican (Episcopalian) Communion. The Cathedral, situated in the heart of the city of Dublin, is an active place of Christian worship and ministry with daily choral services sung by the Cathedral choirs of boy choristers and girl choristers and professional gentlemen.

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral will make its Sunday services available through live-streaming from 29^th January at Evensong, and every Sunday thereafter at 11.15am and 3.15pm. Those who are unable to attend services at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in person will be able to view Sunday services on-line. These services may be accessed via the Cathedral website: www.stpatrickscathedral.ie or via the Church Services TV website: www.churchservices.tv/stpatrickscathedral

We look forward to welcoming you to our service

Below is an excerpt from a report in the Irish Catholic about how parishes of all denominations in the Mullingar area have come together to see how they may work collectively to help those struggling in the current economic climate.

“Parishes of all denominations in the Mullingar area united as one Christian community last weekend in order to face the challenge of how Christians can offer practical support to those struggling to cope in the current financial climate.

Christian Voices Together, an initiative launched in Christian Unity Week last year by local Christian churches, hosted a conference attended by 120 people from all denominations who wanted to work together to help their community through financial austerity.

”The conference is a significant beacon of hope for our community,” said Rev. Alastair Graham, chairperson of the group.

”Christianity in practice makes a difference to peoples’ lives. We hope to clearly identify what needs to be done in the Mullingar area.”

”We need confidence in ourselves and confidence in the Good News,” said Fr John Nally of Ballynacargy parish.

”If one Church was doing it, people would say fair enough, but when all Christian communities come together, society says that’s different, that’s something we need. It’s a powerful sign that something new is there.”

When asked if this initiative could become a national Christian movement, Fr Nally said it was a very locally based project, ”but there is no reason why people can’t do the same thing in their own area, if they have the heart for it and are prepared to work together”.

By Mags Gargan

To read more visit Irish Catholic

Below is an excerpt of a report on Catholic News Service about Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the 2012 celebration of World Communications Day.

“Amid the deluge of information and nonstop chatter in today’s media, the church needs to help people find safe havens of silence, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Far from being the enemy of calm and quiet, social media and the Internet can lead people to virtual sanctuaries that offer silent reflection, thoughtful dialogue and true meaning in life, he said.

“Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God,” he said in his message for the 2012 celebration of World Communications Day.

Even brief posts and viral tweets can carry potent messages when people use those tools — not for spamming or for scanning the latest gossip — but for sharing a real part of themselves, he said.

“In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated, as long as those taking part in the conversation do not neglect to cultivate their own inner lives,” he said.”

By Carol Glatz

To read more visit CNS

Below is an excerpt from a Catholic News Agency article about the possibility of a visit to Lebanon by Pope Benedict XVI later this year.

“A visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Lebanon later this year is “very possible,” according to the Vatican’s official spokesman.

The Pope would use the visit to deliver a document – known as an apostolic exhortation – that is the fruit of the discussions that took place at last October’s Synod for the Middle East.

“In the context of the publication of a synod document, it is very possible and reasonable for the Pope to go to Lebanon and deliver this message,” Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., told CNA on Jan. 23.

“Lebanon is certainly a country that desires the Pope’s presence. Given that the Pope has already been to the Holy Land, Lebanon is a place that would be an option to host the Pope for this purpose,” Fr. Lombardi said.

The Italian media is already speculating that the Pope will travel to the country in mid-September. Possible dates include Sept. 13, the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross, and the following weekend, Sept. 22-23.

Pope Benedict could make stops in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut and the seat of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate, Bkerké, as part of his trip.”

By David Kerr

To read more visit Catholic News Agency

Below is an excerpt from an article in CiNews about the appointment of seven new candidates for the Permanent Diaconate in Carlow Cathedral.

“Seven men from the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin were received as candidates for the Permanent Diaconate in Carlow Cathedral.

Fr Ruairi O’Domhnaill who gave the homily on the occasion recalled Cardinal O’Fiach’s reference to the Irish laity as the great sleeping giant.  “Sometimes I think that we, as ordained men, carried our boyhood fear of sleeping giants into our adult lives in the Church, and have been afraid to awaken the giant for fear he will run amok in the Church and we will lose control of what he may do.

“When Paul VI established the norms for permanent deacons in the Church, he specifically set among them the task of promoting and sustaining the activity of the laity.  In other words a specific task of permanent deacons is to awaken the sleeping giant of the laity,” said Fr O’Domhnaill.

He urged the deacons to measure their success, not in the amount of time they spent working, but to the extent to which they encourage, empower and facilitate others to take their place within the Church’s mission.  Fr O’Domhnaill said it was historic to accept seven men formally as candidates for the permanent diaconate, as never before in the long story of Carlow Cathedral had such an event occurred.

In the diocese, it is over one thousand years since such an event occurred. “

By Ann Marie Foley

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Below is an excerpt from an article in CiNews about the safe return of a number of relics of the True Cross that were recently stolen from Holycross Abbey.

“A number of religious relics of the True Cross, stolen from the historic Holycross Abbey in County Tipperary last October, have been recovered by Gardaí.

The relics, said to be part of the true cross on which Christ was crucified, as well as a gold and bronze cross, were stolen in a daring raid by a gang of three men on Tuesday October 11.  The gang used a portable angle grinder to forcibly cut the relic, which had been in the Abbey for nearly 900 years, from its steel cabinet located beside the altar in the Abbey.

The theft caused much sadness in the parish of Holycross and among the wider Catholic community, and local parish priest Fr Tom Breen had made several appeals in both the local and national media for their safe return. “

By Sean Ryan

To read more visit CiNews

Below is an excerpt from an article in Catholic Herald about the causes for sainthood of two British nuns, which have now been sent to the Vatican for further study.

“The Vatican has taken up the canonisation Cause of a British nun who helped to hide scores of Jews from the Nazis during the Second World War.

A file on Mother Riccarda Beauchamp Hambrough (pictured) has been sent to the Vatican to be studied by historians and theologians.

Her Cause for sainthood was opened in July 2010 by the Diocese of Rome along with that of Sister Katherine Flanagan, marking the first phase of the investigations.

In a significant development, the Causes of both women, who have the status of Servants of God, have together been sent to the Holy See’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, marking a quick and early step forward in the long road to becoming saints.

If it is concluded that the pair lived lives of “heroic virtue”, the Pope will declare the London-born nuns to be “Venerable” and the search will begin for two miracles to first declare them Blessed and then as saints.

Both nuns belonged to a revived order of Bridgettine Sisters nicknamed “the hot cross bun nuns” because of the distinctive crosses covering the tops of their wimples.

Mother Riccarda helped to save the lives of about 60 Jews by hiding them from the Nazis in her Rome convent, the Casa di Santa Brigida.”

By Simon Caldwell

To read more visit Catholic Herald

Below is an excerpt from an article on Zenit about the first year anniversary of the establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

“The first year of the first ordinariate established for Anglican communities who sought full communion with Rome was marked by “much to be joyful and thankful for,” according to the group’s leader. There were also misunderstandings to be addresses, he acknowledged.

Last Sunday marked the first anniversary of the establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. On Jan. 15, 2011, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a decree which formally established a Personal Ordinariate in England and Wales for groups of Anglicans and their clergy who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

According to the ordinariate’s Web site, around 500 Catholics and Anglicans gathered to mark the anniversary with solemn evensong, and a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by benediction at St. James, Spanish Place, London.

It was offered up in thanksgiving for the Pope’s decision to allow Anglicans who wish to enter the Catholic Church to retain the use of some of their traditional prayers and liturgy.

During his sermon, the ordinary, Monsignor Keith Newton said, “This evening we have much to be joyful and thankful for. For the gifts and spiritual riches of Anglicanism which nurtured our faith; for the warmth of welcome and support we have received from so many Catholics; for the vision, love and faith of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict.”

By Zenit

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