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See preceding page for earlier entries today, 1/19/13.
I came home late tonight to find that all the posts on this whole page, the whole thread and all the other threads on this Forum have inexplicably been 'centered'. I have tried to remedy the very inconvenient anomaly by using the command on every element in a post that has been centered inappropriately, but although it looks corrected on Preview, the corrections are not reflected at all in the eventual post....THIS IS REALLY MOST ANNOYING, on top of the server administrator's recent 'policy' of logging you out without a warning so if it happens just before you have managed to save and copy what you worked on, it's lost, and you have to start all over...I surely hope Gloria will be able to straighten out this mess with those who run leonardo.it.
Pope to the Church's charity workers:
Actions must be informed by faith
January 19, 2013
Pope Benedict today warned those who work in the Churches’ charity sectors against “closing their eyes to serious ideologies” that harm the integral good of man.
Greeting participants of the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, Pope Benedict spoke at length about the task of Christians engaged in charitable activities, and therefore in a direct relationship with so many other social sectors, who are faced with an emerging “anthropological reductionism”.
He said “From the union between a materialistic view of man and the great development of technology, an anthropology that is essentially atheist has emerged. It presupposes that the man is reduced to autonomous functions, the mind to the brain, human history to a destiny of self-realization”.
“In the perspective of a man deprived of his soul and therefore a personal relationship with the Creator, what is technically possible becomes licit, each experiment is acceptable, any population policy permitted, any manipulation legitimized. The most dangerous pitfall of this line of thinking is in fact the absolute good of man: man wants to be ab-soltus, freed from every bond and every natural constitution”.
This he concluded “is a radical negation of man’s created and filial being, which results in a dramatic solitude”. And he warned “we must never close our eyes to these serious ideologies…It is in fact a negative pitfall for man, even if disguised by good sentiment in the name of an alleged progress, or alleged rights, or an alleged humanism”.
He said “the Christian vision of man is a great yes to the dignity of the person called to intimate communion with God, a filial, humble and confident communion. The human being is neither a stand-alone individual nor a separate anonymous element in a collectivity, but a singular and unique person, intrinsically ordered as a relational and social being".
He returned to a re-statement of the Church's stand on marriage and the family:
"Therefore, the Church reaffirms its great yes to the dignity and beauty of marriage as an expression of the faithful and fruitful alliance between man and woman, and its no to philosophies, such as that of gender, is motivated by the fact that the reciprocity between men and women is an expression of natural beauty of the Creator”.
Perhaps the MSM news agencies took Saturday off, but I have seen no reaction, report or commentary so far in the Anglophone MSM about this last statement! Wait till they realize the Pope put it in there along with his warning that Catholic charities must watch out whose help they are accepting and the questionable ulterior motives behind such aid.
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's address:
Dear friends. I welcome you with affection and joy on the occasion of the plenary assembly pf the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. I Thank your president, Cardinal Robert Sarah, for his words, and i extend a heartfelt greeting to each of you, and to all who work in the charitable services provided by the Church.
With the recent Motu Proprio Intima Ecclesiae natura, (The intimate nature of the Church, from its first three words, but it was given the English title, 'In the service of charity'), I wish to reiterate the ecclesial sense of your activity.
Your testimony can open the door of faith to so many persons who are searching for the love of Christ. Thus, in this Year of Faith, the theme you have chosen to tackle - "Charity, the new ethics and Christian anthropology" - reflects the tight nexus between love and truth, or if one prefers, between faith and charity.
All of Christian ethos, in fact receives its meaning from the faith as the 'encounter' with Christ's love, which offers a new horizon and imprints a decisive direction on life. (cfr Enc. Deus caritas est, 1).
Christian love finds its basis and form in the faith, In encountering God and experiencing his love, we learn "no longer to live for ourselves, but for him, and with him, for others" (ibid., 33).
Starting with this dynamic relationship between faith and charity, I wish to reflect on one point,t hat I will call the prophetic dimension that faith instills into charity. Indeed, the believer's adherence to the Gospel imprints a typically Christian form on charity, for which it constitutes a principle of discernment.
The Christian, especially if he works in a charitable organization, must let himself be oriented by the principles of faith, through which we adhere to 'God's point of view', to his plan for us (cfr Enc. Caritas in veritate, 1).
This new outlook on the world and on man offered by the faith also provides the correct criterion for evaluating the forms in which charity is expressed in the present context.
In every age, whenever man has not sought God's plan, he has been the victim of cultural temptations that ended up enslaving him. In recent centuries, the ideologies that exalted the cult of the nation, of race, of social class, were shown to be true and proper idolatries. The same can be said of savage capitalism, that has led to crises, inequalities, and poverty.
Today, more people are coming to share the common sense about the inalienable dignity of every human being and the reciprocal and interdependent responsibility to him. This to the advantage of true civilization, the civilization of love.
On the other hand, our own time too, unfortunately, has been experiencing the shadows that obscure God's plan. I refer especially to a tragic anthropological reduction that re-proposes the old hedonistic materialism, to which has been added a 'technological Prometheanism".
The marriage between a materialistic view of man and great technological progress has given rise to an anthropology that is basically atheist. It presupposes that man is reduced to his autonomous functions, the mind to the brain, human history to a destiny of self-realization.
All this while doing without God, without any spiritual dimension or any perspective that is not earthly. If man is seen as devoid of his soul, and therefore of any personal relationship with the Creator, anything that is technically possible becomes morally licit, every experiment becomes acceptable, every demographic policy is allowed, and every manipulation is legitimized.
The most frightening insidiousness of this current of thought is, in fact, the absolutization of man. Man wants to be ab-solutus, free of any natural link or constitution. He would claim to be independent and thinks that his happiness consists simply in affirming himself.
"Man questions his own nature... Now, man exists only in abstraction, who can then choose for himself autonomously what his nature is" (Address to the Roman Curia, December 21, 2012). This is a radical denial of man's creation by God and his filiality to God, that ends in his tragic solitude.
Faith and healthy Christian discernment therefore lead us to lend prophetic attention to this ethical problem and to the mentality that underlies it.
The right collaboration with international agencies in the field of development and human promotion should not make us close our eyes in the face of seriously objectionable ideologies; and the Pastors of the Church - who are the 'pillar and support of truth' (2 Tm 3,15) - have the duty to warn against such tendencies not just the Catholic faithful but all persons of good will and right reason.
In fact, this is a negative drift for mankind, even if it disguises itself in good sentiments that promote so-called progress, or presumed rights, or presumed humanism.
In the face of such anthropological reduction, what is the task for each Christian, especially you who are involved in charitable activities, and therefore in direct relationship with so many other social activists?
Of course, we must exercise critical vigilance, and sometimes, reject financing and collaboration which, directly or indirectly, would favor actions or projects that violate Christian anthropology.
But positively, the Church is always engaged in promoting man according to God's plan, in his integral dignity, respecting his vertical and horizontal dimensions.
Even the developmental action of ecclesial organisms tends towards this. The Christian view of man is, indeed, a great Yes to the dignity of man who is called to intimate communion with God, a filial communion, that is humble and trusting.
The human being is not an individual in and of himself, nor an anonymous element in a collectivity, but rather a singular and irrepetible person who is intrinsically ordered for relationship and sociality.
That is why the Church reaffirms its great Yes to the dignity and beauty of matrimony as an expression of the faithful and fruitful alliance between man and woman, and a NO to philosophies such as those of gender, because of the fact that the reciprocity between male and female is an expression of the beauty of nature intended by the Creator.
Dear friends, I thank you for your commitment to man, in fidelity to his true dignity. In the face of epochal challenges today, we know that the answer is the encounter with Christ. In him, man can fully realize his personal good and the common good.
I encourage you to proceed with joyful and generous spirits. From the heart, I impart my Apostolic Blessing.
Almost quietly, in 2012, Benedict XVI laid down new orientations for the work of Catholic charities in much the same way - or perhaps, even more incisively - as John Paul II did for Catholic universities with the landmark Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae in 1990, to define what must characterize Catholic universities that make them Catholic.. (Unfortunately, that has been largely ignored, at least in the United States, by many 'prestigious' Catholic Universities, including Notre Dame, Georgetown and Fordham, to mention just= the most blatant non-compliers.)
In May 2012, Benedict XVI issued new statutes for Caritas Internationalis, the worldwide charitable movement with national and diocesan agencies, that had in recent years become openly infiltrated by liberalism, including its choice of executive officers. The decree strengthens the role of the Vatican dicasteries concerned with the Church's charitable work, especially Cor Unum, as "the dicastery qualified about Caritas Internationalis, its observance of this decree.. as well as in the control and supervision" not just of its activities, but also of the texts it issues "for doctrinal and moral content".
In November 2012, Benedict XVI issued the Apostolic Letter motu proprio 'In the service of charity', with the status of canon law, to decree, among other things, that Catholic charitable activity must not become "just another form of organized social assistance," and directs bishops to ensure that charitable agencies under their authority conform to Church teaching. It forbids Catholic charities from receiving "financial support from groups or institutions that pursue ends contrary to the Church's teaching."
Not surprisingly, neither of the above made it to any Catholic commentator's list of the top 10 papal news in 2012, when the tabloid aspects of Vatileaks seemed to overshadow all other news,in the eyes of MSM.
All the above themes were re-emphasized today by the Holy Father in his address to the plenary assembly of Cor Unum.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/10/2013 03:29] |