Pope's Encyclical:
The Joy of the Gospel

(see: need to cancel "archive" in some search results) V2Catholic.com   A voice for the poor 
Edited by Hong Kong prison chaplain Fr John Wotherspoon O.M.I.  胡 頌 恆 神 父   

DV  A new menu 7 days a week to encourage people who are trying
 to follow the example of Pope Francis by concern for issues like these

 
Imitating Pope Francis Francis 

We live in a world where toxic relationships erupt in enmity between families, community factions, political parties, tribes and races, and nations.  But every once in awhile we see a great reversal, in which bitter enemies are somehow able to cross through the mire of hatred and anger between them into friendship.

Vatican II & Renewal (1)

16 Documents of Vatican II

A Call to Action
Assn Catholic Priests Ireland
Bp Pat Power
Bp Geoff Robinson
Bruce Duncan
Catalyst for Renewal
Catholica
Catholics for Ministry  
Catholics for Renewal 
STANDUP4VATICAN2
The Swag
VII - Voice of the Church
We Are Church

Excellent articles on Mission
  Hugh McMahon SSC

Does Pope Francis Like the Lectionary-Based Collects?

Pastor Hans highly recommends Michelle Alexander's book:
The New Jim Crow (on The New York Times Best Seller List for ten months)

What a great photo:  Two flying footballers!

98. How many wars take place within the people of God and in our different communities! In our neighbourhoods and in the workplace, how many wars are caused by envy and jealousy, even among Christians! 

Spiritual worldliness leads some Christians to war with other Christians who stand in the way of their quest for power, prestige, pleasure and economic security.

Some are even no longer content to live as part of the greater Church community but stoke a spirit of exclusivity, creating an “inner circle”. Instead of belonging to the whole Church in all its rich variety, they belong to this or that group which thinks itself different or special.

This website's Tanzania File
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- with links to all letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

South America file
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
 - letters from South American inmates in HK prisons

Love of the Bible with no interest in Ecumenism is like love of the Bible and no interest in helping the poor ......we've missed a/the point

Sun: Africa           Mon: Europe & Russia          Tues: South Asia          Wed: East Asia    
      Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific        Frid: South America           Sat: Central & North America 
    Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:
Jesus, today, Tuesday, please bless the people of South Asia

On this 11th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hunan
Please join me in praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month

Darlene Starrs
(Canada)

Who Is It That Is Asking For A Drink Of Water?

It has been rightly said that Francis needs to be stronger about the issue of clerical sexual abuse, but the excitement about him is profound and points to a global need for God

c.f. Francis, you must meet victims of clergy abuse

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David Timbs 
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John W:
Previous Daily Blogs

Shared governance of the Church by pope and bishops needs to be restored

Pope Francis warns Religious Orders against "theoretical poverty"  

“The U.S.-Mexico border is our Lampedusa. Migrants in this hemisphere try to reach it, but often die in the attempt”

Interactive Bible Quiz - Two Peter
Based on the actual words of the Bible. 
How many times can you get 3/3 ?! 

Their hearts are open only to the limited horizon of their own immanence and interests, and as a consequence they neither learn from their sins nor are they genuinely open to forgiveness. 

This is a tremendous corruption disguised as a good. We need to avoid it by making the Church constantly go out from herself, keeping her mission focused on Jesus Christ, and her commitment to the poor.

God save us from a worldly Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings!

This stifling worldliness can only be healed by breathing in the pure air of the Holy Spirit who frees us from self-centredness cloaked in an outward religiosity bereft of God. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of the Gospel!

South America file
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
 - letters from South American inmates in HK prisons

"Impose no burden beyond what is essential"

Sun: Africa           Mon: Europe & Russia          Tues: South Asia          Wed: East Asia    
      Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific        Frid: South America           Sat: Central & North America 
    Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:
Jesus, today, Monday, please bless the people of Europe & North Asia

On this 10th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hubei
Please join me in praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month

God was able to breathe life into the dust and give life to humans. Lent is a time to go to the Lord, the Creator and plead with Him to once again turn our “dust or ashes” into a life of grace

Pope Francis:
Thank you Holy Spirit

Inspiring photos:

Link
Link		Links 01  02	Link

Newness, harmony, mission

Engagements of Pope Francis

Many thanks for checking
 this website each day

St Paul on Metro/Tube/MTR!

Little girl telling the story of Jonah - brilliant!

Pope Francis vs. critics on sex abuse- Both sides have a point

96. This way of thinking also feeds the vainglory of those who are content to have a modicum of power and would rather be the general of a defeated army than a mere private in a unit which continues to fight.

 How often we dream up vast apostolic projects, meticulously planned, just like defeated generals! But this is to deny our history as a Church, which is glorious precisely because it is a history of sacrifice, of hopes and daily struggles, of lives spent in service and fidelity to work, tiring as it may be, for all work is “the sweat of our brow”.

 Instead, we waste time talking about “what needs to be done” – in Spanish we call this the sin of “habriaqueísmo” – like spiritual masters and pastoral experts who give instructions from on high. We indulge in endless fantasies and we lose contact with the real lives and difficulties of our people.

Reflection: in the past two weeks, two of the world's biggest fish have been caught: one in Mexico, and one in Tanzania. 

This website's Tanzania File 
 (stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
-  letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

South America file
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
 - letters from South American inmates in HK prisons

The words of this article produce a wish in one's heart that they also could be applied within the (Western) Catholic Church ...i.e. would that Catholic theologians and spiritual writers could be shown the same latitude that is rightly shown Eastern Christians

Malaysia ....lax security at airport....many drug mules in HK prisons picked up drugs in M and left for HK by KL airport...+.... big meeting of leaders on in Beijing at moment ...+... Xianjing extremists mounting ruthless campaign  = pieces of a jigsaw?

On this 9th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Henan
Please join me in praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month

The unjust treatment
 of Bishop Bill Morris

Tribalism lives on, for better and for worse

95. This insidious worldliness is evident in a number of attitudes which appear opposed, yet all have the same pretence of “taking over the space of the Church”. 

In some people we see an ostentatious preoccupation for the liturgy, for doctrine and for the Church’s prestige, but without any concern that the Gospel have a real impact on God’s faithful people and the concrete needs of the present time.

 In this way, the life of the Church turns into a museum piece or something which is the property of a select few.

 In others, this spiritual worldliness lurks behind a fascination with social and political gain, or pride in their ability to manage practical affairs, or an obsession with programmes of self-help and self-realization. 

It can also translate into a concern to be seen, into a social life full of appearances, meetings, dinners and receptions. 

It can also lead to a business mentality, caught up with management, statistics, plans and evaluations whose principal beneficiary is not God’s people but the Church as an institution. 

The mark of Christ, incarnate, crucified and risen, is not present; closed and elite groups are formed, and no effort is made to go forth and seek out those who are distant or the immense multitudes who thirst for Christ. Evangelical fervour is replaced by the empty pleasure of complacency and self-indulgence.

Adam to God: why did you make woman so beautiful?
God to Adam: so that you would be attracted to her

Adam to God: why did you make her so kind and caring?
God to Adam: so that you would love her

Adam to God: but why did you make her so dumb?
God to Adam: so that she would love you

  .... let each nation's bishops' conference have the responsibility and authority that is its due....an R&A that is better suited to their people than Rule From Rome

On this 8th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Heilongjiang
Please join me in praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month

Liturgy - New Translation

1998 ICEL Sacramentary
Misguided Missal 
The new translation
Ghastly process/result

Ron Schmit:
 1962 Mass a condemnation of Vatican II

PrayTell

------------------------------------------

Spirituality

 Sacred Space 
 Daily prayer online.
Available in 19 languages

Jackie Evancho  - To Believe

Pray-as-you-go.org
Daily prayer with 
beautiful music

Whole text of 1966 Jerusalem Bible

Previous Smiles file

The other is the self-absorbed promethean neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. 

In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others. These are manifestations of an anthropocentric immanentism. It is impossible to think that a genuine evangelizing thrust could emerge from these adulterated forms of Christianity.

South America file
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
 - letters from S. American inmates in HK prisons

This article points out that Eastern and Western Christianity are more like sisters than cousins

Sun: Africa           Mon: Europe & Russia          Tues: South Asia          Wed: East Asia    
      Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific        Frid: South America           Sat: Central & North America 
    Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:
Jesus, today, Friday, please bless the people of South America

On this 7th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hebei
Please join me in praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month

Pope Francis:
Lent a time for
 penance and charity

This journey calls us to acknowledge and respond to the growing spiritual and material poverty in our midst.

Specifically, it means consciously resisting the pressure of a culture which thinks it can do without God, where parents no longer teach their children to pray, where violence, poverty and social decay are taken for granted. 

May this Lent, then, be a time when, as individuals and communities, we heed the words of the Gospel, reflect on the mysteries of our faith, practice acts of penance and charity, and open our hearts ever more fully to God’s grace and to the needs of our brothers and sisters.

This site's full statistics
 for February 2014 

To publish an article on this site please contact Fr John Wotherspoon omi:   jdwomi@gmail.com  

If you find a broken link in this website,
  please contact: jdwomi@gmail.com

Why I collect rubbish for Pope

Taking a stand

Navigation Aids      

  Standing up to bullies

"Reform of reform" agenda

Too Western/European 

Abortion - a true story

"Same-sex marriage": two elephants
 in the men's room     

     Near Death Experiences

Globalisation of Indifference

Tale of Two Brains

John's other sites: 

www.doctorjesus.org

www.riccicenter.com 

www.simplebible.info 

www.china8.org 

  www.jesustower.com 

www.oneminuteenglish.com 

China Library
 - essential reading for anyone interested in China's Christian history

The Catholic Church's drinking problem

"Empty convents do not serve the church so that they can be turned into hotels for earning money. Empty convents are not ours, they are for the flesh of Christ, who are the refugees."

93. Spiritual worldliness, which hides behind the appearance of piety and even love for the Church, consists in seeking not the Lord’s glory but human glory and personal well-being. It is what the Lord reprimanded the Pharisees for: “How can you believe, since you look to one another for approval, and are not concerned with the approval that comes from the one God? (Jn 5.44 JB translation) 

It is a subtle way of seeking one’s “own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Phil 2:21). It takes on many forms, depending on the kinds of persons and groups into which it seeps

This website's Tanzania File 
(stopping Africans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from Tanzanian inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

South America file
(stopping S. Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from South American inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

This article uses most diplomatic language to describe a complicated situation:
the split in Christianity between East and West

Sun: Africa           Mon: Europe & Russia          Tues: South Asia          Wed: East Asia    
      Thurs: S.E. Asia & Pacific        Frid: South America           Sat: Central & North America 
    Please join me in praying for one part of the world each day of the week:
Jesus, today, Thursday, please bless the people of South East Asia  

On this 6th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Hainan
Please join me in praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month

Neither money, nor political influence, nor well designed programs and strategies, nor even popular support can ultimately be counted on.  As important as any of the big breaks we look for and as hard as we may work at doing necessary things, only the Lord can be trusted to support and sustain us from the beginning to the end of our “life sentence” in his service. Our hope is not in the next big break.

Vatican II - Renewal (2)

Hans Küng: 
 Letter to bishops  

Revolution to stop authoritarianism 

Fr Joseph Ratzinger: 
Writings on Vat II 

Robert Mickens:  
Vatican Implosion

Nicholas Lash:     Vatican II: 
Of Happy Memory - and Hope?

Robert McNally:  
Crisis & Criticism in the Church 

Priests 9 Masses a day
 - need to ordain married men

The evil of compulsory celibacy

Link between compulsory celibacy and sexual abuse

Why are women not being
 ordained to priesthood?

92. There indeed we find true healing, since the way to relate to others which truly heals instead of debilitating us, is a mystical fraternity, a contemplative fraternity. 

It is a fraternal love capable of seeing the sacred grandeur of our neighbour, of finding God in every human being, of tolerating the nuisances of life in common by clinging to the love of God, of opening the heart to divine love and seeking the happiness of others just as (our) heavenly Father does.

Here and now, especially where we are a “little flock”, the Lord’s disciples are called to live as a community which is the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are called to bear witness to a constantly new way of living together in fidelity to the Gospel. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of community!

Not a mis-print. See this YouTube

This website's South America file 
(stopping South Americans from being tricked into bringing drugs to HK)
- letters  from South American inmates  in Hong Kong prisons

A simple summary of Christian dis-unity

May this Lent be a time of blessing
 ....for ourselves, our families, our nation, our Church, our world

On this 5th of the month, Jesus please bless the prisoners of Guizhou
Please join me in praying for prisoners in one part of China each day of the month

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Fr John Wotherspoon O.M.I.  胡 頌 恆 神 父   
 Email:   jdwomi@gmail.com  
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Mail address: PO Box 74013 Kowloon Central Post Office, Kowloon , Hong Kong

www.China8.org  

www.DoctorJesus.org  

www.JesusTower.com

     www.OneMinuteEnglish.com

  www.RicciCenter.com

 www.SimpleBible.info