October 28, 2022

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Around the world, listening sessions for the Synod of Bishops gave many participants a sense of finally being listened to, but they also raised questions about how to promote greater inclusion in the Catholic Church while staying true to church teaching.

Two of the issues raised most often in reports sent to the Vatican were the need to respect and value the contributions women make to the church and the need to face “the impact of a lack of trust and credibility resulting from the abuse crisis,” according to the working document for the synod’s continental stage.

Titled “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent” the Lord’s

command to the people of Israel in the Book of Isaiah the document said, “This is how many reports envision the church: an expansive, but not homogeneous dwelling, capable of sheltering all, but open, letting in and out, and moving toward embracing the Father and all of humanity.”

The document released Oct. 27 is the result of a group reflection on the syntheses of synod discussions submitted by 112 of the world’s 114 bishops’ conferences, all 15 Eastern churches, 17 of the 23 dicasteries of the Roman Curia, the men’s and women’s international unions of superiors general, dozens of Catholic associations and more than 1,000 individuals, it said.

please turn to page 11)

Lay Ministers’ Seminar at Potarinau

Editorial: How many are we? p2

Cries for peace can’t be ignored, pope says at interreligious meeting p3

US Catholic groups urge Biden to seek diplomacy with Putin, avoid nuclear war p3

A Christian Perspective on Social Issues p4 Sunday Scripture p5

50 years of Lay Formation in Guyana (2) p6 Gospel Reflection p6

Pornography weakens the soul, Pope Francis tells young priests, seminarians p7

ServiceatHomeforthoseunabletoattendMass p8

Children’s Page p9

Vatican, China renew agreement on appointing bishops p10

Synod reports show enthusiasm for mission, but also identify obstacles p12

Sadness can serve as 'alarm bell' for life, pope says p12

Saint of the Week p12

On the lighter side p12

Potarinau, South Central Rupununi, Region 9, which was held from Monday 24th to Friday 28th October. The seminar, which was for both new and ongoing Lay Ministers, saw attendees from

Katur. Each day of the seminar began with Holy Mass, followed by breakfast and praying of the Rosary. Fr. Ronnie Fernandes SJ

included Prayer and Images of God, Servant Leadership, The Bible, Sacraments, Social Concerns and the Liturgical Year.

St Ignatius Mission Facebook Page

Sunday, October 30th

07:30 hrs Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Brickdam

Sunday, November 6th

08:00 hrs Mass at Sacred Heart, Main Street 11:00 hrs Meet Confirmation Candidates, Our Lady of the Assumption, Hague

Georgetown, Guyana

Francis Alleyne OSB

How many are we?

By Mike James

In two weeks, on 15 November 2022, the global population is projected to reach 8 billion (8,000,000,000) according to the World Population Prospects 2022, of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. On 1 July 2023 India's population will reach 1.428 billion overtaking China as the world’s most populous country. The population of our global village is projected to reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s, then level off.

Whatabout the Catholic Church?

Earlier this year, the Vatican released statistics showing that in 2020 the number of Catholics in the world increased by 16 million over the previous year to 1.36 billion This means that 17.7% of the world's population is Catholic, second only to the rising number of Sunni Muslims. Of the total Catholic population, 48% are in the Americas, with 28% living in Latin America and the Caribbean. Less than 20% of Catholics worldwide live in Europe where numbers have fallen sharply in recent years.

The number of bishops 6,363 remains constant. The total number of priests reached 410,219 (slightly up, with significant increases in Africa (+1,004) and Asia (+778) but with corresponding falls of priests in Europe andespecially inthe US where numbers have fallen by 60% in the last 30 years Women continue to form a large majority of full time church personal with 630,000 religious sisters worldwide, but the numbers have been falling by more than 2% n recent years.

On the other hand, the number of Permanent deacons worldwide continues to increase overall, this year by 397 to 48,635.

The number of Lay Missionaries worldwide is 413,561, a global increase of 3,121.

In the field of education, the Church operates 72,785 kindergartens worldwide attended by 7,510,632 pupils; 99,668 elementary school for 34,614,488 pupils; 49,437 secondary schools for 19,252,704 pupils. It also follows 2,403,787 high school pupils and 3,771,946 college students.

Brazil is the country with most Catholics, more than 100 million, followed by Mexico 91 million They are followed by the Philippines, US and Italy.

The fall in the number of priests and religious from Europe and North America and the continuous rise (please turn to p4)

Dear Editor,

The fact that our Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us does not mean that he has set us beyond sin and suffering. It means that we must join him in his way of service, humility, and obedience. He said, “The son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. (Matt. 20:28)

The dividing line through myself

Without distinction of nationality, income, intelligence or anything else, we are adopted into the fellowship which wishes us to be a servant along with Jesus.

There are those who make Satan’s temptations of power, immortality and spiritual sickness their way of life. They may be almost entirely possessed by the spirit of evil, but we cannot and must not try to be judges of persons.

The divisions are between those who try to live accordingly to the word of the Holy Spirit, “I am ready”

and those who live accordingly to the word of the tempter “I will not serve”.

There is therefore a dividing line. But let us look more closely at where it runs. It runs straight through myself. Part of me says I will not serve, and part of me says I am ready. The good spirit and the evil spirit have their front lines in me. My life is a mystery which I do not attempt to understand, as though I am led by the hand in a night where I see nothing, but can fully depend on the love and protection of him who guides me.

Leon Jeetlall

GHRA: Guyana needs fundamental electoral reform

Dear Editor,

Guyana is currently juggling a fossilized economy with stone age politics. Addressing this situation requires fundamental electoral reforms, principally liberating the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from PPP/PNC bi partisan domination; creating a strong single seat constituency component and securing gender equality in the allocation of seats.

While commending the Minister of Governance for engaging civil society in holding the current consultation on electoral reform, amending technicalities in the Representation of the Peoples Act (RoPA) is not the agenda the country needs. Amending RoPA suggests that the chaos surrounding Guyana’s 2020 election was something new, rather than the norm. It also conveniently casts APNU as the villain, drawing a veil over the extent to which both major parties are at one over resisting any change to their shared control of the electoral system the cancerous heart of Guyana’s electoral dysfunction. While the major parties skirmish over the details of the RoPA, their track record is unanimous in frustrating fundamental reforms.

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has accepted to attend the consultation both because we believe that conflicts are better addressed by responding thoughtfully to causes rather than passionately to symptoms that allow no compromises. However, the test of the good faith of the Government with respect to electoral reform will be its willingness to allow implementation of approved reforms to the electoral system and the elimination of political parties from GECOM.

Both major political parties have successfully resisted similar recommendations from a constellation of domestic and international bodies for more than two decades. The constitutional reform process of 2000 approved implementation of a single seat constituency. The current allocation of 25 seats to the 10 Administrative Regions (known as the ’Reynolds reforms’) was intended to be an interim, one off step for use in

the 2001 elections with the full system, implemented in time for the 2006 election, that is, 40 individual seats and a National List of 25 seats.

In addition to strengthening accountability to voters, rather than the party leadership, those reforms also weaken the power of party leaders to function like tribal leaders, selecting and recalling Members of Parliament at will.

However, nothing has been done by either party to this day to complete electoral reform, despite intense pressure, particularly between 2000 to 2006, including a Memorandum of Understanding signed jointly by the ABCE countries, the Presidential Secretariat and the then opposition PNC leadership.

The Carter Price formula whereby the Leader of the Opposition presents the President with a list of candidates suited to be Chair of the GECOM has never been approached with the national interest in mind by either party. While neither party is free from criticism, the antics surrounding the appointment of the current GECOM Chair in 2019 were the most abusive manipulation of it.

While recognizing the limitations of the Carter Price formula, it nevertheless allows for huge improvement if political will, imagination and the national interest is available as the motivating feature of the exercise.

The Leader of the Opposition could oversight a professional transparent selection process, engaging a wide cross section of opinion, the results of which could then be presented to the President, rather than the current partisan scenario. This has never been attempted.

The decade of the 2000s saw intensive civic activity from all sectors in Guyana professionals, faith based, trade union, indigenous and non governmental bodies lobbying for implementation of the approved reforms. The Facing the Future (FtF) campaign of 2012, as one example, saw a conference of thirty such organizations elaborate around 100 specific recommendations grouped in 10 clusters.

In addition to domestic activism, CARICOM can chart a long history of

interventions to rescue Guyana from its electoral dysfunctionality. Since the 1970s bi lateral and multi lateral interventions by CARICOM leaders have occurred seeking to influence every Prime Minister or President of Guyana from Forbes Burnham onwards. They include Prime Ministers Eugenia Charles of Dominica, James Mitchell of St. Vincent, Kenny Anthony of St. Lucia (Herdmanston), Henry Forde (Barbados)and Alister McIntyre (CARICOM & Grenada). In addition to these initiatives, finalizing the 2020 elections required unprecedented Caribbean interventions from the Caribbean Court of Justice, the CARICOM re count Team as well as the personal influence of former, Bruce Golding of Jamaica and former and current Prime Ministers of Barbados Owen Arthur and Mia Motley. This is to say nothing of the interventions by resident diplomats from Canada, UK, US and EU.

This constant national humiliation is a further consequence of stone age politics that need to be addressed as a far more urgent priority than the technical details of the RoPA. A good place to start an electoral reform process in Guyana would be with the same CARICOM countries, all with Elections Commissions and election rules akin to ours. Yet we seem incapable of learning lessons. Moreover, none of them appear to spend the indefensible amount of money on elections, or unreported money on electioneering as we do in Guyana.

Tolerance for civil society and civic space is shrinking in Guyana, encouraged by Government Ministers taking freely to social media trolling organizations and individuals. Electoral discussion needs rescuing from such bi partisan social media bullying. However, the GHRA remains hopeful that the professional, faith based, trade union, indigenous and NGOs which engaged in lively debate about electoral reform in the past will re discover that vigour.

GHRA Executive Committee 24th October, 2022

Cries for peace can’t be ignored, pope says at interreligious meeting

ROME (CNS) Standing in front of an ancient symbol of violent battles, Pope Francis and religious leaders from around the world echoed “the cry for peace” of people suffering the impact of conflicts around the world, but especially in Ukraine.

At various spots inside and around Rome’s Colosseum Oct. 25, members of different religions prayed separately for peace before coming together with Pope Francis to issue their appeal to all their followers and, especially, to the modern day emperors who send their gladiators to fight to the death.

But even as the location reminded people of the first century battles, the specter of nuclear war lurked nearby.

Sixty years ago, the Cuban Missile Crisis had the world teetering on the brink.

Pope Francis, addressing the religious leaders, noted the anniversary of that “grave international crisis, when military confrontation and nuclear holocaust seemed imminent.”

And he quoted St. John XXIII’s words from Oct. 25, 1962: “We plead with all government leaders not to remain deaf to this cry of humanity. Let them do everything in their power to safeguard peace. They will thus spare the world the horrors of a war, the terrible consequences of which cannotbe foreseen.”

Saying he made that appeal his own, Pope Francis told the crowd, “We are not ‘neutral, but allied for peace,’ and for that reason we invoke the ‘ius pacis’ (the right to peace) as the right of all to settle conflicts without violence.”

The event at the Colosseum, which included the signing of a formal

“Appeal for Peace,” concluded the interreligious meeting the Community of Sant’Egidio sponsors each year to continue the relationships begun by St. John Paul II in 1986, when he invited religious leaders from around the world to join him in Assisi to pray for peace.

Marco Impagliazzo, president of Sant’Egidio, also quoted from St. John XXIII’s message during the Cuban Missile Crisis: “We recall the grave duties of those who have the responsibility of power. And we add: Let them hear the anguished cry that, from all points of the earth, from innocent children to the elderly, from individuals to communities, rises to heaven: Peace! Peace!”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the continued fighting there and Russian officials’ continuing veiled threats to use nuclear weapons dominated the concerns at the three day meeting, although they did not ignore the often forgotten wars in Ethiopia, Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Haiti, Myanmar, Nicaragua and elsewhere.

“Today peace has been gravely violated, assaulted and trampled upon, and this in Europe, on the very continent that in the last century endured the horrors of two world wars,” Pope Francis said. “Sadly, since then, wars have continued to cause bloodshed and to impoverish the earth. Yet the situation that we are presently experiencing is particularly dramatic. That is why we have raised our prayer to God, who always hears the anguished plea of his sons and daughters.”

But Russia’s war on Ukraine is different, he said. “Today, in fact, something we dreaded and hoped never to hear of again is threatened outright: the use of atomic weapons,

which even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki continued wrongly to be produced and tested.”

Pope Francis told the crowd, which included other Christians as well as Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists: “Peace is at the heart of the religions, their sacred writings and their teaching.”

The religious leaders gathered in Rome, he said, have heard the plea for peace that is “suppressed in so many areas of the world, violated by all too many acts of violence, and denied even to children and the elderly, who have not been spared the bitter sufferings of war.”

“That plea for peace is often stifled, not only by hostile rhetoric but also by indifference,” he said. “It is reduced to silence by hatred, which spreads as the fighting continues.”

While peace is a gift of God, the pope said, it also must be “embraced and nurtured by us men and women, especially by those of us who are believers. Let us not be infected by the perverse rationale of war; let us not fall into the trap of hatred for the enemy.”

The appeal signed at the gathering said humanity is at a crossroads; people today can be either “the generation that lets the planet and humanity die, that accumulates and trades weapons, under the illusion of saving ourselves against others, or instead the generation that creates new ways of living together, does not invest in weapons, abolishes war as a means of conflict resolution and stops the abnormal exploitation of planetary resources.”

“Humanity,” it said, “must put an end to wars or war will put an end to humanity.”❖

in US urge Biden with Putin, avoid

WASHINGTON (CNS) Catholic organizations and religious orders are calling President Joe Biden to undertake diplomatic means to prevent nuclear war with Russia.

In an Oct. 26 letter to Biden sent by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, the organizations condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine and urged Biden not to respond in kind if such weapons are used.

“We urge you to show great restraint, and to do everything in your power to de escalate the conflict, to seek dialogue with Russia, and take immediate, concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament,” the letter said.

Susan Gunn, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, said in a statement that “to work for peace in times of conflict requires imagination and faith.”

“We hope President Biden is inspired by his Catholic faith, to see beyond the boundaries of race, religion and nation to keep pursuing diplomacy and dialogue, and not get caught in an escalation of arms but rather keep turning attention to the care for our common humanity that makes us all brothers and sisters on this one Earth,” she said.

The letter expressed concern that Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons is the most significant since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

It also cites statements from Pope Francis on the threat posed by nuclear weapons. It particularly pointed to the pope’s Oct. 2 comments during the Angelus at the Vatican where he expressed concern about the “risk of nuclear escalation” that would give “rise to fears of uncontrollable and catastrophic consequences worldwide.”

The correspondence also explains that the nuclear threat is “the single greater moral issue” facing Biden because any use of nuclear weapons “would hasten climate disaster.”

The organizations said they would welcome a meeting with Biden to discuss their concerns and the necessity to pursue diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.

The letter was signed by the following organizations and religious orders: Franciscan Action Network, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Pax Christi USA, United States Catholic Mission Association, Sisters of Bon Secours, USA, Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, Sisters of St. Anne, Dominican Sisters of Peace and Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart.❖

People attend a prayer service for peace with Pope Francis and other Christian leaders inside Rome's Colosseum Oct. 25, 2022. Later, the group joined Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and Hindu leaders launching an appeal for peace, especially in Ukraine. (CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters)

By GHK Lall

Look at us, Guyanese, now!

1)

to mention. Now look at it, with all these stupendous numbers. They are real because the numbers and percentages add up, about GDP and economy.

are against them just self

In the span of a short, swiftly exhaled breath, we have gone from the back of beyond to the top of the world. Guyana is now exciting frontier, compelling centerstage, the tramping ground of a thousand voices clamoring, ten thousand feet sounding. The world toasts us. Then, there is the wayside, the rest rarely mentioned amid the glow. They are those burned again in their hopes scorched, dreams shattered that they, too, would get a share an honest, fair, decent share of the riches now bubbling. Well, as I see, count, and conclude, all that they have is that God is eternal, and His word is ever true. It takes time, too long for too many, but Ecclesiasticus reminded us, there is a time for everything, and God’ time and purpose for how things will, and must, unfold are what they are. Meaning, impossible to delay, derail, or deny.

I hear and all read of all these wonderful developments that can’t be denounced because they are what the computers and calculators swear they are; what the spreadsheets with their formulas and their mysterious marvels (algorithms) work out and place before us. It is a wonderful tale of what and where Guyana is today. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and economy are incomparable and unbeatable anywhere in the world. Pause and think about that for a lovely minute, as long as it takes. This is Guyana, our Guyana, from which we hustled to America and Canada, and all those other places too numerous

But I dare to ask, what about the people? What have those numbers come to mean to the ordinary Guyanese man and woman, the regular Guyanese family? The ones living off the minimum wage? We have progressed from the back of beyond well behind just about anything, and behind almost everyone which should translate to an equivalent rise in the standard of living of the average citizen of this society. So, I ask again, has this happened to the poor family scratching out a miserable existence with the drag of minimum wage, or somewhere in that neighborhood? If not an equivalent spiral in the standard and quality of life in Guyana, then are we better off than before, as a whole? And if not, then why not, what are the contributory factors?

What is dragging us down, keeping us down from partaking in all these lavish gifts of heaven (some say the nature of geology)? Who is responsible?

First, let me say this without hesitation: the newfound wealth in this country, and what it has made possible, has not enjoyed a fair and equitable distribution. It has not been spread around, but rather there is now this culture of imbalance that determines who gets and who doesn’t get, as well as how much and when. All this is dependent on which side of the bed some power in this country gets up, and some thought stirs in the head that it is better to throw a bone or a crumb here and there to ensure that the rabid and ravenous are kept quiet. By the way, I am not speaking of dogs or any other animal. Those crumbs and bone fragments are for people. Human beings like me and you; and they are driven by either what is erratic or calculated.

I check the local space, those calling the shots around here, and discern that this is calculated. Those who helped them are rewarded. Business has never been so good. Those who

There are those operating the levers, who ensure that there is reminder of this in the selective and targeted manner in which the God wealth of Guyana is distributed. I search my memory, and come up short. There is no hearing the Church speaking out boldly, authoritatively, persistently about this inflicted poverty in a time and place of plenty.

I raise things up some notches. There are no objections from Christians. Catholics have lost either their remembrance of Jesus poor and wretched; or they are too close to the action to hear anything. Or worse, they have developed a bigger, broader streak of indifference than before. This is when we have the beauty of Jesus, and all those beautiful things that he said and left for us to understand the depths of what it means to be a follower. Or we have money and access to those earthly men with lots of the money that they withhold from the poor and less cooperative segments of Guyana. In our love of the trappings of princes, and the things they make possible, the baptizing (yes, baptizing) of ourselves in their questionable truths, some Christians and Catholics also bow before that false god, Mammon. ❖

EDITORIAL (From P2)

in India and Africa is reflected in the corresponding sharp rises and falls in the home countries of priests and religious missionaries in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean. The Catholic population in Guyana reflects the gradual increase worldwide, but the most significant increases locally are among Indigenous Guyanese. Nearly half of all Catholic baptisms come from indigenous communities Priority is being increasingly placed on Lay Leadership training for the present and future Church in Guyana.❖

Gracious and loving God, we thank your for the gift of our priests.

Through them, we experience your presence in the sacraments. Help our priests to be strong in their vocation.

Set their souls on fire with love for your people.

Grant them the wisdom, understanding, and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Inspire them with the vision of your Kingdom.

Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel.

Allow them to experience joy in their ministry.

Help them to become instruments of your divine grace.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our Eternal Priest. Amen

Counselling Services at Brickdam Presbytery

Carmelite Sisters are available for counselling on Mondays and Thursdays from 9:00am to 12 noon and 1:00pm to 2:00 pm, at theCathedral Presbytery. They are also available by appointment. Persons are encouraged to avail themselves of these services. Kindly contact the Cathedral parish office on tel. no. 226 4631fordetails.

VARIETY STORE

Pope’s Intentions

October Monthly Intention:

a church open to everyone

pray for the Church;; ever faithful to, and courageous in preaching the Gospel, may the Church be a community of solidarity, fraternity and welcome, always living in an atmosphere of Synodality ❖

unmentionables where are our voices?

FIRST READING: Wisdom 11:22 12:2

You are merciful to all because you love all that exists.

In your sight the whole world is like a grain of dust that tips the scales, like a drop of morning dew falling on the ground. Yet you are merciful to all, because you can do all things and overlook men’s sins so that they can repent. Yes, you love all that exists, you hold nothing of what you have made in abhorrence, for had you hated anything, you would not have formed it.

And how, had you not willed it, could a thing persist, how be conserved if not called forth by you? You spare all things because all things are yours, Lord,loveroflife,youwhoseimperishablespiritisinall. Little by little, therefore, you correct those who offend, you admonish and remind them of how they have sinned, so that they may abstain from evil and trust in you, Lord.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 144:1 2,8 11,13 14

Response: I will bless your name for ever, O God my King.

1. I will give you glory, O God my King, I will bless your name for ever.

I will bless you day after day and praise your name for ever. Response

2. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures. Response

3. All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord, and your friends shall repeat their blessing. They shall speak of the glory of your reign and declare your might, O God. Response

4. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds. The Lord supports all who fall and raises all who are bowed down. Response

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:11 2:2 ThenameofChristwillbeglorifiedinyouandyouin him.

We pray continually that our God will make you worthy of his call, and by his power fulfil all your desires for goodness and complete all that you have been doing through faith; because in this way the name of our Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified in you and you in him, by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

To turn now, brothers, to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we shall all be gathered round him: please do not get excited too soon or alarmed by any prediction or rumour or any letter claiming to come from us, implying that the Day of the Lord has already arrived.

GOSPEL: Luke 19: 1 10

TheSon ofMan hascometo seekout and save what waslost.

Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus

others. It calls us to approach everyone with an open heart; not through a lens of suspicion but quite the opposite through the lens of loving hospitality.

In this day and age, it is all too easy to view each other with suspicion or at least a certain guardedness. Of course, it’s wise to be prudent in our dealings with people. But stewardship living calls us to a different outlook towards

This is the attitude our heavenly Father has when He looks upon creation, as we see in our first reading, from the Book of Wisdom. “For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made You spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all

made his appearance; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd; So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully.

They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost’ ❖

things!” God’s “imperishable spirit” is in every person because every person is made in God’s own image and likeness.

Far deeper than good manners or a superficial exchange of pleasantries, the virtue of hospitality is the outward expression of this way of seeing people as God sees them.

Jesus models this transforming hospitality in His encounter with Zacchaeus, the tax collector, in today’s Gospel reading from Luke. Not content with just exchanging a friendly hello

with Zacchaeus, Jesus seeks him out of the crowd and insists on having dinner in his home. This was a gesture of intimacy and true fellowship in that day and culture. Jesus saw the goodness within the man. Our Lord’s open and welcoming attitude (His hospitality) called forth that goodness and Zacchaeus was transformed instantly.

If we are willing to practice true, radical Christian hospitality in our daily lives, our families, workplaces, and our parishes can be transformed, too. ❖

Gospel Reflection

September 30th 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of Lay Ministers’ formation in Guyana In our issue for that day, wepublishedahistoryofLayFormation in Guyana by the Diocesan Liturgy Commission, as well as an article on Lay Ministry in the Rupununi and Pakaraimas, from the Jesuit Magazine ‘America’ ofFebruary13,1993.

Jesus decided that he was going to stay at the house of someone the people considered to be a sinner. At that time tax collectors were put in the same category as thieves, murderers and prostitutes. TheywereJewswho worked for the Romans collecting taxes from the overburdened people and so were seen as traitors to theirown people. As a result they were treated as outcasts. The good people of Jericho were of course outraged that Jesus was going to stay at the house of Zacchaeus. But Jesus pointed that even the tax collector could receive the mercy of God. He declared that he came to look for and save peoplewhoweresinnersandnot to associate with saints. This statement is reassuring to all people because we know we are weak and capable of falling into sin. We need Jesus to seek us outtosaveus.



Zacchaeus just wanted to catch a glimpse of the man he had heard so much about. Instead of just seeing him, he got more than he bargained for. He had a close and personal encounter with Jesus. An encounter is more than just a meeting with someone. A meeting may be brief and soon over. An encounter, on the other hand, leaves a lasting impression and brings about change. What happened to Zacchaeus has happened to everyone who has had an encounter with Jesus in love. The result is conversion, a change of the heart. Therefore, no matter how much we say we know Jesus, if there has been no conversion, no change from the heart,therehasbeennoencounter. We may have met Jesus briefly, but we have not encountered him in love. If we do we will be forever changed like Zacchaeus. ❖

The following article, PLAnning in Guyana, by Joseph Young, SFM and Robert Ling, SFM, is from a 1974 ScarboroMissionsmagazine.

One of the first initiatives that Bishop Benedict Singh took as the first locally born Bishop of Guyana was to promote the training of Parish Lay Assistants.

The PLA program was launched at a weekend retreat on September 30, 1972. Prior to the retreat a committee did three month study and submitted its findings to the priests of the diocese. The priests reacted favorably. Really the plan began as far back as 1969 when plans were considered for the training of catechists and deacon formation. To avoid classifying lay ministers as "mini priests" the name Parish Lay Assistant was substituted for catechists.

The need for greater lay participation in the ministry of the Church was strongly brought home by two factors. One, ordinations to the priesthood are not increasing at the same rate as the Catholic population. Second, due to Guyanese Government restrictions on entry, this shortage of priests cannot be supplied by foreign clergy.

The Parish Lay Assistant is seen as a member of the laity who fulfills a Church ministry in the community. His role is officially recognized by the Church. He will be a responsible co worker with the priest. Although the training program is planned to cover three years, the Assistants are already ministering.

Parish Councils recommend candidates for the program. Both men and women can participate. There is tight screening and a few drop outs from the program already. The Councils look for mature, preferably married candidates.

Some of the functions of the PLA's are: preside over the liturgy of the Word in mission stations; bring Communion to the sick; teach catechism and instruct

people interested in the Faith; visit parishioners; help with the distribution of Communion at Mass; preside over funerals; and give marriage instructions In the Berbice region where the Scarboro Fathers work, the work categories of the candidates are varied. These are a probation officer, rice farmers, an insurance sales man, a psychiatric nurse, an office worker, a cane cutter and a businessman. Fathers John Quinn, Terry O'Donnell and Joe Young constitute the formation team. Father Louis Menezes, a Jesuit, is the regional coordinator.

The fourteen men and two women candidates from five parishes meet once a week for two hours. They discuss the Scriptures and pray together. Occasionally the planned program will be set aside for an awareness session. The floor may be open to a deeper penetration of the values in their lives as Guyanese Christians. For example, they may examine the meaning of honesty in their country, or consider attitudes to marriage.

John (Bobby) Baburam is a Parish Lay Assistant from Black Bush Polder. Bobby, a married full timer, promotes the Credit Union and is in the process

He gives one class a week in four government schools in the area. He also is a great promotor of sports.

In New Amsterdam, another parish, the PLA's ran a one week social ethics program for teenagers who were leaving school.

Ziparuta is an Amerindian village a long way up the Berbice River. The priest visits there once a month. There are three PLA's in the village. They are outstanding men in the community. Their greatest concerns are care of the poor and promotion of temperance in drinking habits. They have Sunday service when the priest can't come, and also give baptismal instructions.

When the PLA program began in Guyana there was some opposition from traditional Catholics but the program has full approval of Church authorities. The Parish Lay Assistants have expressed the feeling themselves that at this time they do not want to be deacons. When the formation period ends in a couple of years, Bishop Singh will commission them in a religious ceremony to serve the Church in Guyana. It's a program with great expectations and the canadidates who have come forward are seeming to assure its

[

From: Journeying with the Word of God, The Religious Education Department, DioceseofGeorgetown, Guyana

Pornography weakens the soul, Pope Francis tells young priests, seminarians

Journeying with the Word of God

MAKING THE WORD OF GOD YOUR OWN

1st Reading: We are reminded that God can do all things and that our very existence is in the hands of God. Our being here is a sign that God loves us and has called us to some purpose here on earth.

2nd Reading: Paul shows his love for the Christians at Thessalonika and gives advice on the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) After telling a funny story about receiving a cellphone decades ago that was “as big as a shoe,” Pope Francis went on to encourage young priests and seminarians to use technology and social media, but to avoid pornography at all costs.

Responding Oct. 24 to questions from priests and seminarians studying in Rome, Pope Francis said he wanted to speak plainly about a danger technology has put in everyone’s reach: digital pornography.

“I am not going to say, ‘Raise your hand if you have had at least one experience of this,'” the pope said. But “it is a vice that so many people have, so many laymen, so many laywomen, and even priests and nuns. The devil enters from there.”

Pope Francis said he was not talking only about “criminal” forms of porn like child pornography, but of “the somewhat ‘normal’ pornography. Dear brothers, be careful of this. The pure heart, the heart that receives Jesus every day, cannot receive this pornographic information.”

According to a transcript released Oct. 26 by the Vatican press office, the pope told the priests and seminarians that if their phones and computers would allow them to block all access to porn, they should set that up, and if not, they should be on guard.

“I tell you, it weakens the soul. It weakens the soul,” the pope said. “The devil enters from there: It weakens the priestly heart.”

At the beginning of the audience, Pope Francis said the students had submitted 205 questions and that he would try to get to 10 of them, which he did.

The questions ranged from advice about finding a spiritual director to a Ukrainian priest asking what the role of the church should be in a time of war.

“The holy mother church is a mother, a mother of all peoples,” the pope responded. And the church suffers when there is war because “wars bring the destruction of her children.”

The church must pray for peace, he said, and be close to and assist all those who are suffering the effects of the fighting.

And while it is difficult to see how the church can have a role in negotiating peace between Russia and Ukraine, the pope said, it does have a role to play in educating Catholics to pray for their enemies.

“You suffer so much, your people, I know, I am close,” the pope told the Ukrainian priest.

“But pray for the attackers, because they are victims like you.

You can’t see the wounds in their souls, but pray, pray that the Lord will convert them and give them the desire for peace to come. This is important.”

On the question of spiritual directors, Pope Francis said they should follow the advice of St. Ignatius of Loyola and have a priest as confessor and another person as their spiritual guide.

While the sacrament of reconciliation requires a priest, he told them, their spiritual directors could be a priest, a religious

woman or a layperson. “Spiritual direction is not a clerical charism, it’s a baptismal charism. Priests who do spiritual direction do not have the charism because they are priests, but because they are baptized.”

Another young man asked Pope Francis how the priests and seminarians studying in Rome can keep “the smell of the sheep” when they are so far from home and from their regular ministry.

“Whether you who are studying or working in the Curia or have some other commitment, it is not a good thing for your spiritual health not to have contact, priestly contact, with God’s holy people,” the pope responded.

Without regular contact, a priest could be a good theologian or philosopher or curial official, but all of that would be only theoretical.

“It is important I would say necessary, in fact, mandatory for each of you to have a weekly pastoral experience, at least,” the pope said.

Another seminarian, who mentioned trying to find “balance” between knowing he was a sinner shown mercy by God and striving to be holy, set the pope off on a speech about how it is best to leave finding balance in life to tightrope walkers in the circus.

“Life is a constant imbalance, because life is journeying and finding finding difficulties, finding good things that take you forward, and these unbalance you, always,” the pope said.

“The Christian life is a continuous walking, falling down and getting up.”❖

Gospel: The Gospel presents us with a short dramatic scene of meeting between Jesus and a rich tax collector. It offers us an opportunity to reflect onthe idea of conversion.

Step 2: ApplyingthevaluesoftheReadings toyourdailylife.

1.“To be loved in your goodness is not a big deal. But to be loved in your badness can be a life changing experience.” What do you thing of this statement?

2.To Jesus it wasn’t whether Zacchaeus deserved his liberating friendship but rather that he needed it. Do you view your relationship with others in the same way?

3.We sometimes get things twisted and convince ourselves that we have chosen God when all the time it is God who has chosen us. Do you believe this?

4.The crowd on the road entering Jericho was blinded by their own judgemental attitude towards others. Have you ever been blinded by such an attitude? How was your ‘vision’ restored?

Step 3: Accepting the message of God’s Wordinyourlifeoffaith

It was Jesus who sought out Zacchaeus and not the other way around. It was Jesus who approached him and spoke to him. Just as Jesus sought out Zacchaeus, so he remembers each of us too. He seeks us out and asks to come to our house to stay. Our response to this call determines the direction our lives will take.

Step 4: Somethingtothink&prayabout

1.Reflect on how you can reach out to someone on the margins of life during the coming week.

2.Has there been any individual or group you have accused unjustly or made judgement about? Think about how can you make amends for this and go about doing so.

3.It is wonderful to know that God loves us with an overwhelming generosity and that God does not see us as sinners but as sons and daughters. In your prayers, ask forgiveness for the times when you have judged others as sinners and refused to see them as Jesus sees them.❖

[

From: Journeying with the Word of God, The Religious Education Department, Diocese of Georgetown, Guyana ]

Pope Francis listens to Korean Cardinal Lazarus You Heung sik, prefect of the Dicastery for Clergy, at the beginning of a meeting with hundreds of seminarians and priests studying in Rome, in the Vatican audience hall, Oct. 24, 2022. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Service

PREPARATION:

• Comfortable seating, place in a semicircle if possible.

• A table with a candle, crucifix or image of Jesus,

• Identify family members who will proclaim the Scripture and perhaps give a brief reflection.

• Select 2 or 3 hymns that everyone knows

LEADER: In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

“In truthI tell youonce again,if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.” (Mt: 18:19 20)

The Candle is now lit

LEADER: The Lord searches for us where we are hidden in our sinfulness and invites himself into our hearts to offer us his forgiveness. (PAUSE)

Lord Jesus, you are kind and full of compassion slow to anger and rich in mercy; Lord, have mercy.

Christ Jesus, you support all who fall and raise up all who are bowed down; Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you search us out where we are and restore us to wholeness and fullness of life; Lord, have mercy.

LEADER: Restore in us, O God, the splendour of your love; renew your image in our hearts, and all our sins remove and lead us to everlasting life. Amen.

LEADER: Let us Pray: God of mercy and compassion true Lord of every home, we are small before you because we are aware that we are sinners.

We thank youfor the joy and the forgiveness that you let your Son Jesus bring to your people.

Search us out, invite us to your table of mercy that we may be restored and renewed.

May he dispose us to share with our brothers and sisters

READINGS

1st Reading is taken from Wisdom 11:22 12:2

Responsorial Psalm 145:1 2,8 11,13b 14

2nd Reading is taken from 2 Thessalonians 1:11 2:2

GOSPEL

Luke 19:1 10

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke

Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance: he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost.’

The Gospel of the Lord

A Short Reflection can be given or a period of silent reflection

PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL

LEADER: With trust, let us pray to God who is kind and full of compassion and who can do all things

Family members are invited to make their petitions.

LORD’S PRAYER

In the name of Jesus the Lord we now ask our heavenly Father to forgive us

unable to attend

as we forgive those who sin against us: Our Father......

LEADER: Jesus is the Lamb of God who has come to seek out and to save the lost. Though we cannot receive him today let us invite him into our hearts as we pray the Act of Spiritual Communion:

ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you.

Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen

LEADER: Let us pray: Dear Lord, it seems that you are so madly in love with your creatures that you could not live without us.

So you created us, and then, when we turned away from you, you redeemed us.

Yet you are God and so have no need of us.

Your greatness is made no greater by our creation;

your power is made no stronger by our redemption.

You have no duty to care for us, no debt to repay us.

It is love, and love alone, which moves you. Amen.

BLESSING

May God our Father, whose grace is everlastingly poured into our hearts, fill us withanoverflowing love. Amen.

May God the Son, through whose death and resurrection we receive life in abundance, shine in our lives. Amen.

May God the Holy Spirit, who works in us and through us to redeem God’s world, give us the power and persistence to follow him. Amen.

And may our merciful God bless us; In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.❖

[Diocesan Liturgy Commission ]

your mercy and forgiving love. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen

Zacchaeus meets Jesus

Dear Boys and Girls, In today's Gospel reading, Jesus travelled to the town of Jericho. There were crowds of people who wanted to see Jesus because he had performed many miracles he had raised Lazarus from the dead and had restored sight to a blind man named Bartimaus, so when Jesus entered the city of Jericho, people lined the streets hoping to get a glimpse of him. One of the people in the crowd was a man who was very short. He was so short that he couldn’t see above all the people in the crowd. His name was Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus really wanted to see Jesus, so he climbed a tree and waited for Jesus to pass by.

As Jesus came to the place where Zacchaeus sat up in the tree, he stopped, looked up in the tree, and said, "Zacchaeus, come down, for I am going to your house today."

The people in the crowd were shocked! You see, Zacchaeus was one of the most hated men in all of Jericho. Why did the people hate him? Because Zacchaeus was a little man with a great big problem! He was a thief and a cheat! He was the chief tax collector and he had become very rich because he cheated people by collecting more taxes than they owed and keeping it for himself. The people could not believe that Jesus would go to the home of a man like that! Zacchaeus knew that he had cheated people and when he and Jesus arrived at his house, he confessed and said that he was sorry for what he had done. He said to Jesus, "I am going to give half of all that I own to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."

Because Zacchaeus was sorry for what he had done and confessed his sin, Jesus forgave him and said, "Today salvation has come to this house." Yes, Zacchaeus was a little man with a big problem sin! But he met Jesus and his life was changed. It doesn't matter if you are short or tall, when you meet Jesus, he will change your life too.

Our Father, when we meet Jesus it is a life changing experience. Thank you for your love and forgiveness Amen ❖

Vatican, China renew agreement on appointing bishops

The cardinal reaffirmed what Pope Francis and Vatican officials have said all along: giving up full control over the choice of bishops is not what the Vatican would have hoped for, but it seemed to be a good first step toward ensuring greater freedom and security for the Catholic community in China. The deal, however, has been criticized by several prominent figures, including by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze kiun, retired archbishop of Hong Kong, who said the agreement would “kill” the unofficial or underground church in China, whose leaders refuse to register with the state run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

The Vatican is not naive, he said. “The Holy See has never spoken of the agreement as the solution of all problems. It has always been perceived and affirmed that the path is long, it can be tiring and that the agreement itself could cause misunderstandings and disorientation.”

In addition, the Vatican would not and does not ignore or minimize the suffering and the different reactions of Chinese Catholics to the agreement, he said. The joy of some and the perplexity of others “is part of the process. But one always has to dirty one’s hands with the reality of things as they are.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Saying it is committed to “respectful dialogue” with China’s communist government and to “fostering the mission of the Catholic Church and the good of the Chinese people,” the Vatican announced it has renewed its agreement with China on the appointment of bishops.

The “provisional agreement,” forged in 2018 and renewed in 2020, has been extended for another two years, the Vatican announced Oct. 22.

The text of the agreement has never been made public, but Vatican officials said it outlines procedures for ensuring Catholic bishops are elected by the Catholic community in China and approved by the pope before their ordinations and installations.

In the past four years only six bishops have been named and installed under the terms of the agreement.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, interviewed by Vatican News Oct. 22, noted that the achievements of the agreement also included the lifting of the excommunications or irregular status of seven bishops who had been ordained with government approval, but not the Vatican’s consent and, he said, “the first six ‘clandestine’ bishops have also

succeeded in being registered and thus have had their position made official, being recognized as bishops by public institutions.”

Many dioceses are still without bishops or have very elderly bishops, he said, but the process is continuing. However, Cardinal Parolin also acknowledged “there are dioceses in which, despite all efforts and good will, no fruitful dialogue exists with local authorities.”

The agreement is still “provisional” because “we are still in the experimentation phase,” the cardinal said.

“As is always the case, such difficult and delicate situations require adequate time for implementation in order to then be able to verify the effectiveness of the result and identify possible improvements.”

“Pope Francis with determination and patient foresight has decided to continue along this path, not under the illusion of finding perfection in human rules, but in the concrete hope of being able to assure Chinese Catholic communities, even in such a complex context, of the guidance of pastors who are worthy and suitable for the task entrusted to them,” Cardinal Parolin said.

Cardinal Parolin told Vatican News that the agreement is not primarily about diplomatic relations with China. Rather, he said, “it mainly concerns aspects that are essential to the daily life of the church in China. I am thinking, for example, of the validity of the sacraments celebrated and the certainty for millions of Chinese faithful that they will be able to live out their faith in full Catholic communion, without thereby being suspected of not being loyal citizens to their country.”

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, whose maternal grandfather was Chinese, told Fides, the news agency of the Dicastery for Evangelization, that in China “historical events had led to painful wounds within the church, to the point of casting a shadow of suspicion on the sacramental life itself. So, there were things at stake that touch the intimate nature of the church and her mission of salvation.”

The agreement attempts “to safeguard the valid apostolic succession and the sacramental nature of the Catholic Church in China,” Cardinal Tagle said. “This can reassure, comfort and enliven baptized Catholics in China.”

As a byproduct of its dialogue with the Chinese government, he said, “one of the wishes of the Holy See has always been to foster reconciliation, and to see the lacerations and contrasts opened within the church by the tribulations it has gone through, healed. Certain wounds need time and God’s consolation in order to be healed.”

“Many signs attest that many Chinese Catholics have grasped the inspiration followed by the Holy See in the ongoing process,” he said. “They are grateful and comforted for a process that confirms before all their full communion with the pope and the universal church.

serve as 'alarm

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the choice they have made marriage or religious life driven by desolation, without first pausing to consider this state of mind, and especially without the help of a guide," he said.

But a "wise rule" of discernment, he said, is "do not make changes where you are in desolation," but wait until the acute sadness has passed.

While moments of sadness are "an experience common to spiritual life," the pope said the path of goodness "is narrow and uphill" and encouraged Christians, especially those who "want to serve the Lord, not to be led astray by desolation."

"If we know how to traverse loneliness and desolation with openness and awareness, we can emerge strengthened in human and spiritual terms," Pope Francis said. "No trial is beyond our reach."

Posters of Chinese President Xi Jinping hang on the wall of the house of a Tibetan Catholic during a Mass celebrated by Father Yao Fei on Christmas Eve in Niuren village, in China's Yunnan province, in this Dec. 24, 2018, file photo.

(CNS photo/Tyrone Siu, Reuters)

Stage of Synod

The general secretariat of the synod chose an international group of laity, religious, priests and bishops to read the submissions, pray about them and then draft a document that would help participants in the next phase reflect on the faith, hopes and concerns witnessed to in the reports. The document was approved by the cardinals and bishops belonging to the synod’s general council.

What emerged from the reports, it said, “is a profound re appropriation of the common dignity of all the baptized. This is the authentic pillar of a synodal church and the theological foundation of a unity which is capable of resisting the push toward homogenization. This enables us to continue to promote and make good use of the variety of charisms that the Spirit with unpredictable abundance pours out on the faithful.”

Those who most often feel unwelcome in the church or undervalued, it said, include: women, young people, people with disabilities, the poor, those who are divorced and civilly remarried, single parents, those in polygamous marriages and members of the LGBTQ communities.

Responding to experiences of exclusion and discrimination shared by Catholic with disabilities, the document said that “in spite of its own

teachings, the church is in danger of imitating the way society casts them aside.”

Reflecting the central place of the Eucharist in the life of the church, it said most submissions included a call for greater participation by all Catholics in the liturgy, working to ensure that it is less “concentrated on the celebrant,” involves more young people and women, including in preaching, and is more reflective of local cultures.

At the same time, the document also noted that in several reports, including that from the United States, some participants in the local listening sessions “lamented” Pope Francis’ decision to limit celebrations of the Latin rite Mass according to the rite used before the Second Vatican Council.

“The quality of homilies is almost unanimously reported as a problem,” it said.

But the document also highlighted a common desire to find solutions to

various forms of “sacramental deprivation,” including for people in remote towns and villages without a priest, as well as for civilly remarried Catholics and those in polygamous marriages.

While the reports were not “against priests or the ministerial priesthood,” the document said, many of them cited “clericalism” as an obstacle to being a “synodal church,” one where all the baptized share responsibility for the life of the community and for its mission of spreading the Gospel.

“Clericalism is seen as a form of spiritual impoverishment, a deprivation of the true goods of ordained ministry, and a culture that isolates clergy and harms the laity,” it said. Clericalism produces “rigidity, attachment to legalistic power and an exercise of authority that is power rather than service.”

In synod listening sessions around the world, participants noted that women are the majority of Catholics regularly

attending the liturgy and staffing most paid and volunteer parish activities, yet it is mostly men who make the decisions in the church.

“Many reports ask that the church continue its discernment in relation to a range of specific questions: the active role of women in the governing structures of church bodies, the possibility for women with adequate training to preach in parish settings, and a female diaconate,” the document said. “Much greater diversity of opinion was expressed on the subject of priestly ordination for women, which some reports call for, while others consider a closed issue.”

Between January and March, smaller groups of church representatives are to meet on a continental or regional level; organized by bishops’ conferences, the groups are to include bishops, priests, religious and laypeople to read the document, pray about it and discuss which issues raised it in are most important and urgent for Catholics in their region to address in order to increase participation, a sense of communion and a commitment to missionary outreach. ❖

The document may be accessed at: https://www.synod.va/en/highlights/ working document for the continental stage.html

releases document for

Synod reports show enthusiasm for mission, but also identify obstacles Saint of the Week

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Catholics around the globe long to share the Gospel with a world in need, but they see situations and tensions within the church that challenge their ability to do so, said one of the drafters of the document for the continental phase of the Synod of Bishops.

The reports sent to the Vatican from local and national listening sessions show “a deep, deep hunger for a new confidence in the church, a confidence in its ability to proclaim the Gospel to a world so deeply in need,” said Anna Rowlands, a professor of Catholic social thought and practice at Durham University in England.

Rowlands, who read many of the contributions to the synod before helping draft the new document, told reporters at the Vatican Oct. 27 that the reports showed that confidence is challenged by internal church problems, especially the clerical abuse scandal.

With “just as much” focus on mission, she said, the reports ask, “What condition does the church have to be in in its own internal life and relationships to be able to carry that message to the world? To meet Christ in the world and bring Christ to the world in a Spirit led way?”

In talking about exclusion and clericalism and a lack of listening to each other, “the reports are saying there are aspects of our own relationships, our capacity for genuine unity in diversity,” that stand in the way, Rowlands said. The reports acknowledge that it is difficult to speak authoritatively to the world of reconciliation in Christ “if we cannot ourselves be brothers and sisters, if we can’t heal our own divisions, our mutual suspicions, our lack of fundamental trust.”

The synod document is titled “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” a quotation of the Lord’s command to the people of Israel in the Book of Isaiah.

“Enlarging the tent requires welcoming others into it, making room for their diversity,” the document said. But echoing the submissions to the synod’s Vatican office, the document listed people and groups who often feel excluded or are seen to be excluded: women, young people, people with disabilities, the poor, those who are divorced and civilly remarried, single parents, those in polygamous marriages and members of the LGBTQ communities.

the church all are called to look at each person as “someone loved by God, called into being by God. Christ died for this person on the cross, so if I am not capable of giving space to this person in the tent, I have a problem with God.”

Asked about the document drafters pushing or prioritizing certain themes, such as the call for women to have a greater role in church leadership, to continue studying the possibility of women deacons and the mention of some reports that even called for the ordination of women priests, Cardinal Mario Grech, synod secretary general, insisted the document only reflects what the reports sent in said.

“No decisions have been made” on any issue, he said. “We are not pushing any agenda. This has been said from the beginning. Our responsibility was to present and to give back to the people of God that which was entrusted to us. There is no agenda.”

Asked if there were limits to who could be let into the church’s tent and about Catholics who do not want the tent enlarged, Cardinal Jean Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, relator general of the synod, responded, “There will be groups sitting in the tent who are not very happy that some people are in one corner.”

“But who is invited to the tent? All the people created and loved by God. All the people,” he said. “Our behavior perhaps is sometimes a bit more fragmented, and our love is not as big as the love of God, so therefore we create segregations, even inside the tent.”

Everyone naturally likes some people more than others, but in

Rowlands added that in drafting the document, if an issue came up “over and over” in the national syntheses, “we had to honor” and include it in the document.

The question of women’s role in the church and society and their experiences in both “were brought up across the reports; it is an astonishing, common theme,” she said. But it is also important to note how they spoke about the issue; “this is rooted in people’s sense of the common dignity that comes from their baptism.”

The discussion was not about women’s rights, but about “the living out of a common baptismal vocation in the church in such a way that the charisms of the Spirit, the gifts and capacities and skills of all the baptized, are able to be honored and nurtured and flourish,” Rowlands said.❖

All Saints' Day is a solemn holy day celebrated annually on November 1st. The day is dedicated to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven. It should not be confused with All Souls' Day, which is observed on November 2nd, and is dedicated to those who have died and not yet reached heaven. By placing these two celebrations next to each other, the Church reminds us of the bonds the living share with the dead in the Communion of Saints.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Feelings of desolation and sadness are not signs of trials that may discourage Christians, they can be indispensable signs that point to dangers along the path toward happiness, Pope Francis said.

Although many consider sadness "an ill to avoid at all costs," Christians should see it as "an indispensable alarm bell for life, inviting us to explore richer and more fertile landscapes that transience and escapism do not permit," the pope said Oct. 26 during his weekly general audience. Sadness "is indispensable for our health," he said. "It protects us from harming ourselves and

others. It would be far more serious and dangerous if we did not feel this."

The pope continued his series of audience talks on spiritual discernment, reflecting on desolation and the role it plays in Christian life.

Recalling the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Pope Francis defined desolation as the "darkness of the soul" and the "unquiet of different agitations and temptations" that lead one to becoming "lazy, tepid, sad, as if separated from his or her creator and Lord."

"No one wants to be desolate, sad," he said. "We would all like a life that is always joyful, cheerful and fulfilled. Yet this, besides not

being possible, would not be good for us either. Indeed, the change from a life oriented toward vice can start from a situation of sadness, of remorse for what one has done."

"Sometimes sadness is a traffic light: 'Stop. Stop. It's red. Stop,'" the pope said. However, for men and women who seek to do good, desolation also can be an obstacle "with which the tempter (the devil) tries to discourage us" and can lead to abandoning "work, study, prayer" or other commitments.

"Unfortunately, some people decide to abandon the life of prayer, or (please turn to page 10)

The Solemnity of All Saints is when the Church honours all saints, known and unknown. “A huge number, impossible to count” that is the picture this Solemnity creates. In every age there have been men and women who have followed the Lord faithfully, and who now rejoice in the Liturgy of Heaven, as they stand before the throne of the Lamb. These are the “anonymous” saints, whose names we don’t remember but even though their names are not on our lips, their memory, inspiration, example and prayers are set before us today, so that we too can be encouraged in our own “journey of perfection”. What does it take to be a saint? Surely the Gospel that is appointed for today (the Beatitudes) shows us that it is in the small things that we triumph: gentleness, mercy, making peace, faithful mourning, purity of heart, poverty in spirit these are not grand, public ways to sanctity. They are domestic, and homely, to be practised and perfected with those closest to us. We sometimes exalt the ”named” saints to the degree that we can feel they are distant from us. This feast, as well as celebrating the memory of the many whose names we do not know, also prompts us to see holiness as within our grasp.❖

[www.catholic.org , ww.salfordliturgy.org.uk &www.loyolapress.com ]

November

Sadness can serve as 'alarm bell' for life, pope says