English
SAFCAM Communique #30 (English)
12/12/2020
SAFCAM Communique #30 12/12/2020
Dear Subscribers
Happy feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, and start to the Year of St Joseph!
On the 8th December, Pope Francis unexpectedly announced a Year of St Joseph in honour of the 150th anniversary of Saint Joseph’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church.
The year began on 08/12/2020, and will conclude on 08/12/2021.
The objective of this special year is that “every member of the faithful, following Joseph’s example, may strengthen their life of faith daily in the complete fulfilment of God’s will.” Francis has also granted special indulgences to mark the year. He issued a 10-page apostolic letter entitled Patris corde (“With a father’s heart”), explaining that he simply wishes to share some “personal reflections” on the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “My desire to do so increased during these months of pandemic,” he states, noting that many people have made hidden sacrifices during this crisis in order to protect others. And “Each of us can discover in Joseph - the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence - an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble”. May this year also help to address the ‘crisis of fatherhood’ in society.
The Crisis and Health Rosary
A new Rosary e-book for times of pandemic and illness has been released by the Vatican.
The Rosary reflections were released on the feast of Saint Therese of Lisieux, patron saint of missionaries. The Rosary meditations lead the faithful to pray for all those who are affected by the coronavirus pandemic as well as for any other kind of illness. Called the “Crisis & Health Rosary”, it was created by the Vatican’s COVID-19 Commission. The book can be downloaded from Safcam website.
Following last week’s comment on Christmas Cards, here is a nice one of Jesus and Santa: (See the picture on the website)
BUT! Facebook has once again censored this Christmas card image of Santa Claus kneeling before the infant Jesus in a manger. Two years ago, Facebook first censored the now famous image, identifying it as ‘violent’ or ‘graphic’ content. After a story about the censoring went viral, Facebook relented, removed the warning, and uncovered the painting.
Last week, Facebook once again hid the tender image of Santa, on one knee and head bowed in veneration of baby Jesus, with the same warning usually reserved for obscene material or photos depicting bloodied victims of terrorism:
“Sensitive content … This photo may show violent or graphic content.”
Users then had to click on a button to uncover the photo.
Facebook responds to protests with the following explanation:
“We know that people have different sensitivities with regard to graphic and violent content. For that reason, we add a warning label to especially graphic or violent content so that it is not available to people under the age of eighteen, and so that people are aware of the graphic or offensive nature before they click to see it.”
Last week the English newsletter missed out this section which we reproduce in GREEN (only 20 or so recipients might have received the complete edition!):
Recommended viewing if you have not done so:
https://youtu.be/WtEZJIevStQ - The Rector Major says “It's time for GC28” – Here is the link to the first of 8 clips (5 minutes each) in which he will discuss the eight Lines of Action from his “Post-Chapter Reflections”.
https://youtu.be/H8sb4YV_dZI - The fourth ‘seed’ on “Young Salesians and accompaniment - Orientations and Guidelines” is presented in this 3-minute video clip.
Then browse through the new Vatican website – www.humandevelopment.va – which has been launched in the wake of Pope Francis’ Fratelli Tutti. His third encyclical which proclaims the very simple Gospel message of the “Brotherhood of Man” (excuse the sexist language) has received mixed reviews. Here is a brief extract for example from a review published this past week in that very respected British Catholic Weekly under the title: How encyclicals became a mini-industry
“…There was really very little that was strictly necessary in the encyclical. It was not the Pope arbitrating about disputed matters of faith and morals; it was more about him sharing his thoughts on the events of the day. In other words, it was rather typical of the modern encyclical – usually a kind of circular letter addressed to bishops – that is, an expression of creeping papalism.
Cardinal Newman would have taken a dim view of Fratelli Tutti, not necessarily the content (though he probably wouldn’t have cared for it) but the notion that it is the pope’s job to sound off at intervals in encyclicals about matters that bother him.”
- by Melanie McDonagh - The Tablet on November 26, 2020 (Cynical and sad, really sad!)
SAFCAM Copyright!?
For those of you who receive our weekly communique, you may be surprised that at the very end of each communique, there is a copyright message. We did not place it there; the website generates it automatically and it is not feasible to remove it. So please ignore it, and feel free to copy anything we post, and link it onto other platforms and social media. You have probably noticed that we do the same with many of "our" postings. If you see that we re-posted something from somewhere else, then don't acknowledge SAFCAM but the original website or authors that we took it from.
Online workshop for rectors in January: Notices were sent out to provincials and delegates of provinces about the offer of a ‘mini-course’ by Safcam in both English and French over the 4 weeks of January 2021. To register, just send an email to safcam@safcam.org by the 1st January with your name and community of which you are rector.
All the best for the third week of advent,
Camiel and François
