Sep 30

Alternative prayers for Sun 26(B) and 26(B) Gospel in drama form

Two classes, divided by "I Do" (New York Times)
 Marriage & prosperity link,  one-parent life & poverty link

c.f. Marriage is the best way  to fight child poverty in US

Rethinking Mission
Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
The original role of frontline missionaries was to sow the gospel seed, form local leaders and hand over to them the responsibility for the growing Church. Then they moved on.  It was only later that they saw their task as that of establishing churches on the Roman model and taking on the responsibility for running those churches till, soon or later, a local clergy could share that responsibility with them.  Often that took many generations and there was a reluctance to leave at all. Mission became “ministry in another culture”.

Reflection on St Francis Xavier
Fr Frank Brennan SJ
"Multitudes out here fail to become Christians only because there is nobody prepared to undertake the holy task of instructing them. I have often felt strongly moved to go to the universities of Europe, crying out like a madman to those who have more learning than good will: 'How many souls are missing heaven and going to hell through your negligence?'

Recently  in book store I saw
 The Price of Civilization by Jeffrey Sachs. I found his previous book 
The End of Povery compelling

Sep 28

Religion you can feel
Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
Today, Christianity in many countries is losing its attraction because it is too left-brained: it seeks to be relevant by being knowledgeable on world issues and urging social responsibility but fails to take people out of their ordinary world and help them experience a higher reality. The Wats and shrines of Thailand exercise the right side of the brain with their rituals and symbols which uplift by being seen, heard, admired and touched

Vatican II: lost and betrayed Giovanni Franzone (ACP)
It is said that John Paul II and then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – as of 2005, Benedict XVI – were the ones who put a stop to the post-conciliar ferment, imposing a restrictive, minimalist interpretation of Vatican II. However, in my opinion, it was Paul VI himself who set the premises so that the Council could be, at least in part, “tamed” and the post-conciliar period “cooled down”

US election: climate change ???      and  Silence on climate change

A beautiful St V d P reflection
He recommended prayer before action to recognize the divine will, 
so as not to leap ahead of Providence

The dumbing new translation Dr Anthony Lowes (Catholica)

Injustice in God's name:  the corruption of modern Islam (ABC)

Synod latest:
 94 more names, inclu 29 women! So,  this article  has been updated!

Vatican II then and now Fr Frank Brennan SJ (Eureka St)
Update of prev talk, with comments re Card Martini and Card Burke

Why not women? Bishop Emil A. Wcela
The case for women deacons

Romnesia (George Monbiot)
The amnesia which affects rich people like Gina Rinehart & MR

Why would a Confucianist become a Christian?
Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
It was the possibility that Christianity could underpin and invigorate Confucianism which attracted Xu Guangqi, 
and the dialogue needs to be continued today

Congratulations to Catholics for Renewal on  launch of  www.catholicsforreweal.org.au  
committed to the vision and renewed promotion of Vatican II

A modern missionary success story
Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
This is a brilliant article,  a "must read" for members of missionary  congregations.
 We draw attention to something we call, ‘A Third Stage of Mission’ or ‘Third Generation of Mission’ 

ABC Radio interview: A Jesuit scholar of Hinduism Fr Frank Clooney SJ speaks about the future of interfaith understanding and learning from Hinduism in a world where India is becoming increasingly important

The Sunni Shiite Divide - a most enlightening article by Stephen Crittenden (GM).
Essential reading for colleges & universities 

A great time to be a missionary!
Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
There was once a moment in human history when transport changed from horses to engines. However, there were those who believed that this happened only because there were not enough horses. We are at such a moment. Diminishing vocations and less need for traditional apostolates indicate that mission, as we knew it, is finished. But there is a new buzz in mission circles about the energizing possibilities being opened for the  Church by a wider understanding of the missionary task. The Eastern Churches (like the Syrian) were larger and showed greater diversity by presenting themselves in the languages and forms of the cultures they encountered. It was only after they were virtually wiped out by Islam that variety diminished and the predominance of the Roman Church, especially its liturgies and theologies, became a reality

Non tax-paying German Catholics to be excommunicated
No Communion or burial if you don't pay Church tax.
This has to be a candidate for "Non Christian action of the Year"

Leaving the priesthood
The purpose of this website is to provide information about challenges  priests encounter & need for reform

HK friends asked what I thought  about pilgrimages to Naju, Korea.
This is what I found for them

Award-winning 5 min video:
 Chicken-a-la-Carte 
If we are going to be true to the Gospel, if we are going to be true to the vision of Vatican 2, we just have to be concerned about world poverty. It should be on the agenda of every parish/school/community meeting: - what are we doing this week/month/year for the poor?

Vatican II's golden anniversary Tony Magliano (NCR)

Cyber Senior HK For people 55 or over!

UN International Day of Peace   

Recently I met a lady pastor from Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Pastor has two master's degrees: one in theology, one in divinity !

Sin of clericalism  is at heart of sexual abuse crisis
Scott Appleby (ACP)

Arctic ice shrinks 18% in 1 year 'Our response has not been alarm, or panic, or a sense of emergency.
But: ‘Let’s go there and drill for oil’. 

There was a response by Chris McDonnell to a recent critical article by William Oddie on the Catholic Herald website,
posted a few days ago. Here is a shorter version of that response printed in the Catholic Herald last weekend

On Sep 18, HK papers had many references to The Mukden Incident  by which Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931

Soon to open in China: Melbourne's Monash University!

Recently a friend in Hong Kong asked  Does a baby need a Christian name to be baptised?
Here's a good answer. Enjoy! 

A new daybreak in mision Fr John Prior SVD (Good Oil)
Today mission is at once local – face to face – and global –  “glocal”

Speaking the truth to the Vat (NYT)
The nuns of Providence House don’t have time to be distracted by doctrinaire dust-ups
as they serve paroled and homeless women

Reader from Australia: I have been following the growing tension between Japan and the Middle Kingdom.
I hope the politicians hose that one down in a hurry

A lack of confidence Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
The biggest obstacle to the proclamation of the gospel is the lack of confidence  in those who want to evangelize.
Our formation was designed for life within traditional parish structures. Those who saw the need to move out beyond those limits in order to engage the unreached  had to find their own way by trial and error. Some of the most valuable insights were gained, not from books, but from working with people

Sep 17

Whatever happened to Mission? Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
I just felt that something was missing and wondered what it might be.   
It was only when I moved to China and a new missionary situation,   that I began to see where the crux
 of the problem lay. Somewhere along the line missionaries had wandered from their original task

Why do they hate us? (Guardian)
Reasons for world protest at US

Pope in Lebanaon Arab Spring = Christian Winter? John Allen (NCR)

Were medieval universities Catholic? Fr John O'Malley SJ (America)

What is a homily supposed to be? Elizabeth Harrington (Leader)
"Conversation"...feedback!?

Speaking of feedback: Cardinal Dolan re new translation

Call for reform: Voice of Faithful - 10 years old

Sep 16

We need to work more on our identity
Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
In the 1980s and 90s  tens of  thousands of young Koreans were drawn to the Church
in a search to satisfy their deeper yearnings. I believe only Christianity has the answers to this search 

Reader: Glad you are publishing  many items on evangelisation
as the big meeting on Mission begins in Rome next month 

Arctic sea ice shrinks to smallest extent ever recorded
(Guardian)

Widow gave $60 million to Legion
Reader: Didn't stop beatification 

Card Burke speaks about humility
c.f.r. last week's post re CB's h'y

To tune of  "Stabat Mater": The Jesus Stabat Mater

Can anyone verify this story?
When Carlo Martini was rector of the Gregorian University, Pope Paul VI said to him "I hope you become pope one day"

Can anyone verify this story?
Cadres in Hong Kong who are pushing "National Education" are doing so in order to get fast-track promotion by Beijing

Mission institutes - adapting to the new reality?
The new missionary situation is challenging, but it can be a wake-up call for mission institutes rather than their death knell. In a divided world where hope, concern for others and regard for the non-materialist is fading, the Ad Gentes mission institutes can show their worth

Sep 14
Feast of The Cross A beautiful poem for this feast:
"Retreat" by James McAuley

Refocusing for the future Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
With the dramatic decrease in clerical and religious missionary vocations, 
the challenge of preparing lay missionaries to take a leading role in mission
is an obvious concern  that has yet to be faced.

Pope to Lebanon today A high-risk trip

Rule of Law in China a sad joke?
Today's Ming Pao editorial - note how the reporters were treated!
 Li Wangyang (Wikipedia)

Sunday 24B Liturgy: Alternative prayers Gospel Play: The Messiahs' Staff !

The Bishop Robert Finn saga
Reader: Send him to a monastery for the term of his natural life

Sep 13

Have you seen this YouTube? !

Sep 21: UN Int'l Day of Peace 

China maintains silence over vice-premier missing for 10 days
Where is future president?

Empty churches - "church is dead" Gary Everett (CathBlog)
People looking for a Christ-centered community,  not an institution 

Giant balloon Rosary over Chicago

Why the lack of excitement? Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
For over 400 years missionaries took a confident faith from the west to the east. It may be time for modern missionaries to take that faith, refined and renewed, back to their home Churches and rekindle enthusiasm there

The Mind Thieves George Monbiot
Link between diet and dementia,  junk food & Alzheimer’s disease 

Stephen K has posted a strong comment at Sep 9 article re Cardinal  Burke's Cappa

Story of Fr Stan Brennan OFM A wonderful example of life-long dedication to the poor

Completing the missionary task Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
Once in charge, the indigenous leadership felt its duty was to continue and stabilize the system they had inherited. It had not been made clear to them that they were expected to move out of their foreign shell and bridge the gap with the wider population by developing a church more suited to the local situation.

What it means to be a missionary Fr Hugh McMahon SSC
  My search has moved  from "Is there still a need for mission?" to "What should the new focus for mission be?" to "Where can we find examples for this new direction?"

Brendan Hoban on Martini and Hume & their messages from  grave
It was noticeable too that some of Martini's more controversial statements were issued after his London visits to visit Hume

Bizarre entry to Moon's cultic orbit

Ghastly attack on Vatican II
A bottle of coke before Vat II was cheaper than after VII. Therefore VII responsible for price rise??!!!

Comment on above article by Brian Coyne (Catholica) 

Of Pharisees, pots, bronze kettles, liturgical rubrics, cups and cats
Ron Rolheiser OMI
(CathNews - has link to whole art)

Cardinal Burke models humility
Cappa was designed in the Middle Ages for a prelate on horseback to present a dignified appearance. 
The train was to cover the horse’s ass

Sep 9:   Bl  Frederic Ozanam

Sep 8

Beautiful alternative prayers  for tomorrow's liturgy (Thank you Bible Claret!)

Separatist map of Africa (Guardian)  Prayers....!

Click to check your IP address

Sep 7

Don't mention the war Brendan Hoban (ACP)
Thou shalt not talk about this...

Pope's butler: 20 whistleblowers (CathNewsUSA)
R:  Plot becomes more interesting

Groeschel leaves Catholic cable (Washington Post)
R: EWTN a revolving door 

Sep 6

Keep the Paralympics separate! Stella Young
(ABC's wheelchair blogger, writing from London Paralympics)
"Disabilities as far as the eye can see and not a staring face in the joint.
Acceptance Heaven!"

Another excellent article on Yves Congar’s My Journal of the Council - Dr Catherine Thom (BBI)
Click here for six (!) other new BBI  arts re Vat II

Life in the Ramadan fasting lane Pat Walsh (Eureka Street)

Sep 5

On Being Evangelized Fr Tim Williams CM
Perhaps it is the Catholic Tradition which needs to reassess itself ?  

Tony Blair should go on trial for Iraq invasion (George Monbiot)

The cultural collapse of Catholicism Dr Graham English (Catholica)

Called to account - Ethics of British banking  (Tablet)
"Only a mass movement of social renewal can address the root causes of the (banking) crisis".
This has to be one of the most important articles written this year. Should be read by everyone who has a bank account

Full text of Cardinal Martini's last interview (Commonweal)
The Church has to recognize its own errors and has to travel a radical journey of change, beginning with the Pope and the bishops.

Grow your own fresh air indoor
As the world becomes more urban, indoor fresh air more important

NY priest regrets sex abuse comments  

Sep 2

Cardinal Carlo Martini RIP
Reader: One of the very few at the top who was capable of thinking about a Christ-like Church and not as a privileged institution, exempt from scrutiny and the test of truth

Tribute to late Cardinal Paul Shan by HK's Cardinal JosephZen
(Tablet) 'What bad record?'. 'You have met the Dalai Lama,' he replied. 

Ireland in Crisis. A possible way out Colm Hughes (ACP)
This is the sort of thing that the Church could do in every country
- humble service as a way of making up for scandal and pain

Paul Ryan's speech: a round-up  of his most audacious untruths
 (Guardian)

Chinese Bible translator to be beatified  (CathNews)
See comment by John W

The lesson that Jesuits could give  aid organisations in Africa
(Catholic Herald)

As I cut my finger nails yesterday I wondered Why do we have fingernails and toenails?
Creator thought of everything !