English
SAFCAM Communique #67 - English
04-09-2021
SAFCAM Communique #67 04/09/2021
Dear Subscribers
Mainstream media are freaking out over new prolife legislation in Texas, denouncing it as anti-women…
And this is what the ‘Catholic’ president of the United States had to say about the Texas decision to restrict abortion: “Rather than use its supreme authority to ensure justice could be fairly sought, the highest court of our land will allow millions of women in Texas in need of critical reproductive care to suffer while courts sift through procedural complexities,” said President Biden. And he promised a “whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision… to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions”.
He denounced the “bizarre scheme of outsourced enforcement to private parties” in Texas and said his administration would “protect and defend” Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision of the Supreme Court that enabled the current abortion laws to be enacted!
No nuance. No suggestion that there are two lives at stake here. No reluctance, nothing to say even that abortion is abhorrent but may be preferable to illegal abortions. No qualifications. No recognition of the concept of foetal rights, even if in his judgment they are subordinate to the mother’s. Instead we get cliché phrases about “critical reproductive healthcare”, when what we are talking about is ending the life of a baby whose status is simply ‘unborn’. Abortion is indeed a fraught moral topic, but in the view of a man who is a professing Catholic, there is just the unconditional defence of Roe v Wade. The woman who was manipulated into that 1973 case, subsequently regretted her decision but she had served her purpose for the pro-abortion movement and was outlawed by them from the moment she ‘converted’ to prolife.
Hopefully the Catholic bishops of the US will declare in no uncertain terms that Joe Biden is ‘out of line’! Not only as a ‘catholic’, but as a human being. Science demonstrates that life begins at conception. Abortion is not a catholic issue only. It is a human issue! It must comply to the universal list of human rights – the right to life. We can only hope and pray that the Texan model will lead the way to a more prolife world.
The 52nd International Eucharistic Congress will be held in Budapest this week from September 5 to 12.
From this Sunday thousands of Christians from all over the world, hundreds of bishops and dozens of cardinals will meet in Budapest (Hungary) to participate. The Pope himself will make the trip on the 12th September and celebrate the closing mass of the event in the Heroes Park.
Throughout the week, a series of meetings, testimonies, concerts, activities will bring together all the participants around what represents the heart of Christian life: the Eucharist.
Among the speakers, the program includes conferences by important prelates, such as the Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, or the Patriarch of the Chaldeans Louis Raphaël Sako 1st.
The topic which stirs this Congress is - how can adoration of the Eucharist - of the real presence of Christ in the consecrated host - help spread the message of the Gospel?
The event will obviously give much space to Eucharistic adoration itself.
Where does this idea of a Eucharistic Congress come from? From France, since the first Eucharistic Congress was held in Lille. Inspired by Saint Pierre Julien Eymard (1811-1868) called “the Apostle of the Eucharist”, Emilie Tamisier (1834-1910) took the initiative to organize - with the blessing of Pope Leo XIII (1878- 1903) - the first International Eucharistic Congress in 1881 on the theme: “The Eucharist saves the world”.
The first congresses had a regional impact, then they spread to the French-speaking world (Belgium in 1883 and Switzerland in 1885). In 1893, a congress was organized in Jerusalem, then in 1905 in Rome, in 1908 in London and in 1909 in Cologne. From then on, the event gained momentum and gained international recognition. Hungary is hosting the 52nd Congress and becomes the 26th country to host the event. The next is planned to take place in Ecuador in 2024.
Something not to be missed!
If you are a Salesian who claims to be passionate like Don Bosco in communicating with young people and is convinced of the importance of social communications, then encourage and assist young people to participate in the DBGYFF. It was mentioned in the 65th communique, and you can read more about it in the article posted this week on our website. But hurry! – entries must be submitted by the 30th September. There 3 categories or options and €100,000 in prizes to be won. Diarize the 18 & 19 November also when the leading entries will be available to view on the DBGYFF.com website.
We are currently in what has been identified as the Season of Creation: 1st September to 4th October.
- https://youtu.be/ZT9S4nnX8vo - discover a new devotion – The 14 Stations of Creation (from Genesis to Revelation, including 7 Stations from OT and 7 Stations from the NT). Every Station is accompanied by Word of God and a Reflection with Laudato SI’. There are sequences sung from Canticle of Creation, to the tune of Stabat Mater. It was created by Don Bosco, Kolkata.
The Don Bosco Ethnological Missionary Museum at Colle currently includes an exhibition on Don Paul Albera: no need to travel all the way there. From your desk visit the website www.memcolledonbosco.it
An antidote to avoid the risk of losing our taste for Meditation:
See especially this week, and download the document on MEDITATION posted on our SAFCAM website:
“Lectio Divina has four phases – reading, meditation, prayer, contemplation.
Reading puts food whole into the mouth.
Meditation chews it, digs for the treasure.
Prayer extracts the flavour and helps us to get to discover the treasure.
Contemplation embraces and quenches the thirsty soul, and immerses us into the grace of unity with God.
The phases work so well together that it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins,
but it is all part of one process leading to contemplative union with God.
The manager-coach of the Italian national football team declares his devotion to the Virgin Mary
It is always inspiring and comforting when a celebrity openly shares about his or her faith. In an interview for Italian television, RAI, Italian football manager Roberto Mancini, manager of Italy’s national team shared about the important place that the Our Lady occupies in his life. He affirmed that “she is the rock on which I lean, both as a man and as a football manager. I am a practicing Catholic. I grew up with a prayer corner at home, it was a great gift."
The talented manager who had a brilliant career as a professional player, Mancini is also a man of faith. Does he attribute his success to his great faith in God? Well, during an interview on a religious program on "Rai", the Italian public television channel, he spoke at length at length about his faith and in particular his devotion to the Virgin Mary: "The Blessed Virgin is the Mother of all of us, she is always close to us", he said.
He also shared an amusing story about the day of his first Communion: "My team had an important match that same day, so the priest asked and obtained that they move the time of the game to a little later. Thanks to his intervention, I was able to make my First Communion and then joined my team for the second half of the game. I even scored two goals, and we won!" he recalls.
Wishing you a wonderful month of September which normally provides the pleasant weather of autumn in the North and of spring in the South. But will climate change disrupt that pattern this year?
God bless - Camiel and François
