Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
We hope you enjoy your visit!
You're currently viewing Catholic CyberForum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our online cyberparish, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.
Join our community!
Messages posted to this board must be polite and free of abuse, personal attacks, blasphemy, racism, threats, harrassment, and crude or sexually-explicit language.
If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
The Year of Faith
Topic Started: Thursday, 20. October 2011, 01:28 (596 Views)
garfield

I think that having books available to borrow is a great idea as they are expensive to buy, I do like the small CTS books and usually pick up a few if I'm in their shop in Westminster or at a conference where there is a bookshop.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rose of York
Member Avatar
Administrator
Quote:
 
Vatican unveils plans for Year of Faith


http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=12880
Keep the Faith!

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rose of York
Member Avatar
Administrator
http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2012/01/pastoral-recommendations-for-year-of_07.html

Quote:
 
Saturday, January 7, 2012
PASTORAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE YEAR OF FAITH

VATICAN CITY, 7 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Made public today was a Note from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith containing pastoral recommendations for the Year of Faith. Summarised extracts of the English-language version are given below.


"With the Apostolic Letter of 11 October 2011, 'Porta fidei', Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of Faith. This Year will begin on 11 October 2012, … and will conclude on 24 November 2013, the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King".

"The beginning of the Year of Faith coincides with the anniversaries of two great events which have marked the life of the Church in our days: the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, … and the twentieth of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church".

Recommendations for the Universal Church

- The main ecclesial event will be the thirteenth General Assembly of the Ordinary Synod of Bishops, on "The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith" to be held in October. It is during the Synod that the Year of Faith will begin.

- Encouraging pilgrimages of the faithful to the See of Peter and to the Holy Land.

- Inviting the faithful to recognise the special role of Mary in the mystery of salvation, to love her and follow her as a model of faith and virtue.

- Holding symposia, conferences and large gatherings to encourage encounters with authentic witness to the faith and to promote understanding of the contents of Catholic doctrine, especially the teachings of Vatican Council II.

- Deepening knowledge of the primary documents of Vatican Council II and of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is especially true for candidates for priesthood, novices in Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as for those in a period of discernment for joining an Ecclesial Association or Movement.

- More attentive reception of the homilies, catechesis, addresses and other speeches and documents of the Holy Father.

- Planning ecumenical initiatives aimed at the restoration of unity among all Christians. In particular, there will be a solemn ecumenical celebration in which all of the baptised will reaffirm their faith in Christ.

- A Secretariat to coordinate all of the different initiatives of the Year of Faith will be established within the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation. The Secretariat will also open a dedicated website.

- At the conclusion of the Year, on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, there will be a Eucharist celebrated by the Holy Father, in which a solemn renewal of the profession of faith will take place.

Recommendations for episcopal conferences

- Dedicating a day of study to the topic of faith, its personal witness and its transmission to new generations.

- Promoting the republication in paperback and economical editions of the documents of Vatican Council II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium, and their wider distribution using modern technologies.

- Translating the documents of Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church into languages which lack a translation. Also, encouraging initiatives of charitable support to enable translations into the local languages of mission countries, where the local Churches cannot afford the expense.

- Promoting television and radio transmissions, films and publications focusing on the faith and on Vatican Council II. This should be done using the new styles of communication, especially on the popular level.

- Disseminating knowledge of local saints and blesseds, the authentic witnesses of the faith.

- Maximising the catechetical potential of local artistic patrimony, possibly with ecumenical cooperation.

- Educators in centres of theological studies, seminaries and Catholic universities should be encouraged to demonstrate the relevance within their various disciplines of the contents of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

- Preparing pamphlets and leaflets of an apologetic nature, with the help of theologians and authors, to help the faithful respond to the questions which arise in difficult contexts, including the challenge of sects and problems related to secularism.

- Examining local catechisms and various catechetical supplements in use in the particular Churches to ensure their complete conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and preparing new ones in case of need.

- Ensuring that the contents of the Catechism of the Catholic Church are present in the "Ratio" of formation for future priests, and in the curriculum of their theological studies.

Recommendations at the diocesan level

- It is hoped that each particular Church will celebrate the opening and the solemn conclusion of the Year of Faith.

- Organising a study day in each diocese on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, particularly for priests, consecrated persons and catechists.

- Each bishop could devote a pastoral letter to the topic of faith, keeping in mind the specific pastoral circumstances of his faithful, reminding them of the importance of Vatican Council II and of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

- Organising catechetical events, especially for young people and those seeking the meaning of life, helping them to discover the beauty of ecclesial faith.

- Reviewing the reception of Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the life and mission of dioceses, particularly in the realm of catechesis.

- Focusing the continuing education of the clergy on the documents of Vatican Council II and on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

- Organising penitential celebrations in which all can ask for God's forgiveness, especially for sins against faith.

- Renewing creative dialogue between faith and reason in the academic and artistic communities, through symposia, meetings and days of study, especially at Catholic universities.

- Promoting encounters with non-believers who sincerely search for the ultimate meaning and definitive truth of their lives and of the world, taking as an example the dialogues of the Courtyard of the Gentiles, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Culture.

- Paying greater attention to Catholic schools, which are a perfect place to offer students a living witness to the Lord and to nurture their faith, using such instruments as the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and "Youcat".

Recommendations for parishes, communities, associations and movements

- All of the faithful are invited to read closely and meditate upon Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Letter, "Porta fidei".

- Intensifying the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist, in which the faith of the Church is proclaimed, celebrated and strengthened. All of the faithful are invited to participate in the Eucharist actively, fruitfully and with awareness.

- Priests should devote greater attention to the study of the documents of Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, apply this to their pastoral care and offer cycles of homilies on the faith or on certain specific aspects.

- Catechists should hold more firmly to the doctrinal richness of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and guide groups of faithful towards a deeper common understanding thereof.

- Parishes can help to distribute the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and other resources appropriate for families - the primary setting for the transmission of the faith - for example, during the blessing of homes, the Baptism of adults, Confirmation and Marriage.

- Promoting missions and other popular programmes in parishes and in the workplace, to help the faithful rediscover the gift of baptismal faith and the task of giving witness.

- Members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and of Societies of Apostolic Life are asked to work towards the new evangelisation, each according to their proper charism.

- Contemplative communities should pray specifically for the renewal of the faith among the People of God, and for a new impulse for its transmission to the young.

- Associations and Ecclesial Movements are invited to promote specific initiatives, through the contribution of their proper charism.

- All of the faithful should try to communicate their own experience of faith and charity to their brothers and sisters of other religions, believers and non-believers. In this way, it is hoped that the entire Christian people will begin a kind of mission towards those with whom they live and work.

The Note concludes by stating that "the recommendations provided here have the goal of inviting all of the members of the Church to work so that this Year may be a special time in which we, as Christians, may share that which is most dear to us: Christ Jesus, the Redeemer of mankind".
CDF/ VIS 20120107 (1430)

Published by VISarchive 02 - Saturday, January 07, 2012
Keep the Faith!

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Anne-Marie

The Epiphany sermon by my priest has triggered a chain of thoughts about Faith and belief...
And what we REALLY believe!
Three magi who we know little about except they came from 'The East' (modern-day Iran was then a centre of beliefs such as theirs), travelled a considerable distance, probably on camels, in the days before anything approaching modern roads because .. of what exactly?
A bright light in the sky - maybe a supernova star, or perhaps a conjunction of planets - caused them to abandon everything and follow it to they knew not where to find they really weren't sure what, other than the birth they thought of someone 'great'.

How many of us drop everything because we feel we need to do something special for a God we don't even know?
It seems to have been something akin to Peter abandoning his family and business to follow a call from a 'tramp'.
I just can't help wondering whether I could ever have that much faith in anything or anyone to abandon everything because I need to follow a 'call'.

Sure, we attend Mass, say our prayers, are kind to folks (if it doesn't cost us too much!).
But what real and total sacrifices do we make of all that matters to us in this world?
Do we abandon the jobs we have spent a life fighting for?
Do we abandon the homes and families we love desperately?
Which all rather begs the question: What do I really believe???
Anne-Marie
FIAT VOLUNTAS DEI
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rose of York
Member Avatar
Administrator
Vatican News
 
Benedict XVI will open the Year of Faith on 11 October, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, with a celebration in the presence of synodal fathers engaged in the general assembly on the theme: “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. Referring to this, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, gave and interview to our newspaper. The Prelate is also anticipating that “mission cities” will be extended from 12 to numbering 72 in Europe. These figures has symbolic value: it moves from the restricted number of apostles to those greater numbers of the first disciples sent out by Christ.

On 9 January the second meeting of those responsible for the “mission cities” was held in the Vatican, and the pastoral plan was signed by twelve major cities of the old continent. How did it go?

Since its first meeting in July last year, there has been an unexpected, great enthusiasm, on the part of the 12 cities Pierluigi Bruno, "Megalopoli 6" (2008)involved in this sign of evangelization, common and participated. This vitality is witnessed by all the present cities, which see the mission as a real possibility for pastoral action, capable of impacting people’s daily lives. Lent was seen as a providential opportunity: that the reading of the Word of God, the bishop’s catechesis, the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation, united with the sign of charity, can still be an evident sign of the commitment of Christians to proclaiming the Good News of Jesus in our day. It is positively striking how my proposal to extend in 2013 this experience to 72 major European cities has been received with unanimous approval. And that is no small thing.


http://www.news.va/en/news/from-12-to-72-the-european-cities-on-mission-like-

I posted part of the article, if you want to see the rest, which is very lengthy, please click the above link.

My preference would be for grass roots evangelisation, in parishes with events advertised as OPEN TO ALL, and by individual Catholics by the example we set to people we meet in our daily lives and being available to answer questions. Major events in large cities will go unnoticed by many people.

Evanglicals, Pentecostals, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses evangelise by meeting people where they are at, in their own home towns, and it works for them. It would work for us, given the chance.



Keep the Faith!

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marts

Confirmation in the article linked that the Year of Faith is going to include a one-sided analysis of Vatican II. It also affirms that the CCC has more authority than Vatican II according to the Holy See. Not only is VII being reformed it is being usurped. Here is an excerpt:

In order to give precise focus on and to provide the necessary energy for this program, Benedict has announced a Year of Faith to begin in October to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Vatican II and the 10th anniversary of the launching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The linking of these two landmark events takes on a more complete significance when one reads the program for the celebrations in the recently published Nota prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Nota envisions a number of doctrinal and pastoral emphases: that Pope Benedict’s teachings on the Reform of the Reform in Continuity along with the Magisterium of John Paul II constitute the principal and authentic interpretation of Vatican II as well as the Documents and the directions which emerged from them; that the CCC is will assume the critical and key role for authoritative catechesis on these definitive teachings.

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=30078

Jesus told us, his disciples, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marts

David Timbs has written an excellent article: 50 Years on: Renewal or Retreat? which highlights that Benedict is in opposition to one of the greatest popes, John XXIII, in that he believes all the Church requires is a Holy Year and not structural reform:

With the gradual rejection of the notion of the People of God, a central motif for ecclesial identity in Vat II, John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger systematically dismantled the authority of the local churches, episcopal conferences and any real notions of subsidiarity. With their regressively authoritarian and centralised pontifical and curial governance, the Church has been monumentally betrayed and demoralised. The catalogue of catastrophes, culpable failures and the totalitarian pontificates of both JP II and Benedict XVI may go on the record as marking the years from 1978 to the present as the greatest disaster period in the history of the Catholic Church. They have not only caused regression from Vatican II, they are both probably guilty of grave material non-reception of that Council.

And now Benedict and the Curia, to mask the disaster, have generated what might well be perceived to be a spiritual smoke screen to blur out the spectacle of a Church left little more than a shell. When faced with a catastrophe, they give the faithful a Catechism……….

Ironically, just five days after his election, John XXIII was thoroughly convinced that not only was the world itself facing critical challenges and an unchartered future but that the Church, to gain evangelical traction and present a credible identity, had to expose itself to similarly risky challenges and plot its own course in troubled waters. He confided in his private secretary, Don Loris Capovilla, that something urgent had to be done in, with and for the Church, On my table pour a lot of problems, questions and concerns. It would take something new and singular, not just a Holy Year.

The Catholic Church got four holy years in succession, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Another is desperately needed but it won’t happen as long as there is instead an insistence on the need for hurriedly manufactured collective spiritual renewal to the exclusion and refusal of fundamental and systemic ecclesial reform.

Read the full article: http://www.v2catholic.com/dtimbs/2012/2012-03-25renewal_or_retreat.htm

Read the words of the Secretary to JohnXXIII: http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/capovilla-concilio-vaticano-ii-12121/

Edited by Marts, Wednesday, 28. March 2012, 17:42.
Jesus told us, his disciples, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Gerard

I started reading post #18 but lost the will to live half way through .............

Gerry
Edited by Gerard, Wednesday, 28. March 2012, 19:45.
"The institutional and charismatic aspects are quasi coessential to the Church's constitution" (Pope John Paul II, 1998).
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Gerard

The Nota nowhere mentions "Reform of the Reform".
It does mention “the hermeneutic of reform in continuity” .

Now as an ardent V2er I never gave any credence to the so called ideas of rupture and discontinuity and I have no fear of “the hermeneutic of reform in continuity”.

I agree that a powerful minority are doing all they can to undermine V2 and Ratzinger/Benedict is among them but I am confident they will fail.

I also find nothing in the Catechism that departs from the documents of V2. In fact I think it is rather a good summary of them.

Gerry
"The institutional and charismatic aspects are quasi coessential to the Church's constitution" (Pope John Paul II, 1998).
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rose of York
Member Avatar
Administrator
I predict that the Year of Faith will be marked with events at National and Diocesan level. There will be Masses at which all the priests of a diocese will concelebrate, and the bishop will be fully vested, with perhaps a new mitre and he will carry his crozier. Civic dignataries will attend. Seating will be limited so each parish will be given an allocation and they will, in some parishes, be allocated as marks of gratitude to the parishioners who have "done a lot for the parish". Dioceses will hold seminars, workshops, perhaps weekend Summer schools. The type I think of as professional Catholics will attend everything. At parish level we who are considered to be of the lower order will just get on with practising our faith, and letting it be known to all our friends and other contacts that we are available at any time if they want to discuss our Catholic/Christian faith. Those who have an interest in deepening our knowledge and faith will continue asking for Bible classes.

My suggestion would be that every parish hold events, part social, partly informative. People could come along to a barbecue and those who wish could go inside the church or parish hall, if there is one, and meet a Catholic who will talk to them in a relaxed manner, and if that person wishes to attend a Mass, offer to accompany them.
Keep the Faith!

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Gerard

Mention of the Bible seems to be absent from all these recomendations comming from the Vatican.
Seem to prefer the catechism :stirthepot:

Gerry
"The institutional and charismatic aspects are quasi coessential to the Church's constitution" (Pope John Paul II, 1998).
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Deacon Robert
Member Avatar

Gerard, you are right, I think, in part. I seem to recall each and every statement in the catechism has a note referencing both bible and in most cases tradition
The burden of life is from ourselves, its lightness from the grace of Christ and the love of God. - William Bernard Ullanthorne

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rose of York
Member Avatar
Administrator
Deacon Robert
Wednesday, 28. March 2012, 22:35
Gerard, you are right, I think, in part. I seem to recall each and every statement in the catechism has a note referencing both bible and in most cases tradition
I clicked on the Forum Library's link to the Catechism
http://ukcatholic.co.uk/topic/105153/1/#new

Looking at two pages chosen at random I noted every paragraph had numbers in red. Clicking on those I was taken to a list of references for that section. They were mainly to Bible verses or Councils of the Church.

There is a crying need in our parishes for Bible Study. I would be welcome at Bible study in any church in my locality (Church of England, Methodist and Independent Evangelical). Not one parish in our rural deanery (a bigger area than some small dioceses) advertises them on their newsletters, viewable on websites.
Keep the Faith!

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Marts

Frank Brennan, SJ gave a talk on 23 March 2012 titled Bringing the modern world into contact
with the vivifying and perennial energies of the gospel
(John XXIII’s half century challenge)

He used the opportunity to “indicate six ways in which we the educated and grounded People of God might respond more passionately to the challenges of the Age.” Here are some excerpts:

The challenges are enormous, but invigorating. John O'Malley SJ, the finest contemporary historian of Vatican II writing in the English language has provided us with "a simple litany" of the changes in church style indicated by the council's vocabulary: "from commands to invitations, from laws to ideals, from threats to persuasion, from coercion to conscience, from monologue to conversation, from ruling to serving, from withdrawn to integrated, from vertical and top-down to horizontal, from exclusion to inclusion, from hostility to friendship, from static to changing, from passive acceptance to active engagement, from prescriptive to principled, from defiant to open-ended, from behaviour modification to conversion of heart, from the dictates of law to the dictates of conscience, from external conformity to the joyful pursuit of holiness."

I am one who welcomes these changes. I am not one of those Catholics so wedded to the continuity of the tradition as to think that nothing happened at Vatican II, and that we should be back to business as usual as we were when those eight year old boys gathered with the Christian Brother around the portrait of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. As you know, I am quite unapologetic in according primacy to the formed and informed conscience of the individual. Any Catholic taking their faith and church membership seriously will be very attentive to the teaching office of the hierarchy, especially the Pope. But at the end of the day, all of us, whether Pope or not, are obliged to form and inform our conscience and to that conscience be true. In the US we are seeing a strong pushback by the Catholic Bishops against the Obama administration’s new health regime on the basis of freedom of conscience. We cannot espouse freedom of conscience against the State and deny it within our own Church….

At World Youth Day in Madrid last year, Archbishop Chaput realising that Gerard Holohan, Bishop of Bunbury, was from Australia, drew him aside in the cathedral before mass “to indicate vigorously that he had indeed discussed the contents of his report with Bishop Morris – except for the names of who he met – at the end of his Apostolic visit to Toowoomba.” [7] If the processes were working correctly, there would have been no need for an Apostolic Visitor to draw aside a bishop he had never met to assure him of due process in relation to another bishop when the stranger bishop had not even made an inquiry. When Archbishop Hart first published his report about Archbishop Chaput’s claim that he had followed due process, I wrote to Archbishop Chaput seeking clarification. He replied promptly though briefly within a day, “I have no comments for you, Father Brennan. God bless you.” [8] On 12 March, Bishop Morris wrote seeking clarification of Chaput’s repeated claim to Australian bishops that he had shared the contents of his report. We await developments….

Vatican II’s dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, describes the Church as the people of God. Many of the people of God anxious to respect the human dignity of all and to ensure that the Church be as perfect a human institution as possible now think that natural justice and due process should be followed within the Church, while always maintaining the hierarchical nature of the Church and the papal primacy. Of course, there are some who question the papal primacy or the need for an ordained hierarchy, but that is definitely not my position and they are not my concern here. The question for the contemporary Catholic is: can I assent to the teaching of Lumen Gentium without having a commitment to due process, natural justice and transparency in Church processes and structures thereby maximizing the prospect that the exercise of hierarchical power and papal primacy will be for the good of the people of God, rather than a corrosive influence on the faith and trust of the people of God?…

It is no longer appropriate for Church hierarchs to claim that notions of transparency, due process and natural justice are antithetical to the hierarchical nature of the Church or to the primacy of the papacy. The primacy is not to be exercised arbitrarily or capriciously; and defenders of the Church will want to go to great lengths to ensure that the papal office is not perceived to be exercised without sufficient regard to the circumstances and evidence of a case. For the Pope to be totally free in the appointment, transfer and removal of bishops, he and his flock have to be assured that his curial officials exercise their power to recommend appointment, transfer or removal in a just and transparent manner.

The laity, the religious, the presbyterate and the bishops in some nations are sure to have a heightened twenty first century notion of justice, transparency, and due process. This heightened notion is a gift for the contemporary Church. It is one of the works of the Spirit. It is not antithetical to the nature of the Church. Lumen Gentium puts it well: [13]

Since the kingdom of Christ is not of this world the Church or people of God in establishing that kingdom takes nothing away from the temporal welfare of any people. On the contrary it fosters and takes to itself, insofar as they are good, the ability, riches and customs in which the genius of each people expresses itself. Taking them to itself it purifies, strengthens, elevates and ennobles them.

Read the full article: http://www.v2catholic.com/fbrennan/2012/2012-03-23catalyst-dinner-talk.htm

Jesus told us, his disciples, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Anne-Marie

Powerful stuff, Marts - and well worth reading.
Anne-Marie
FIAT VOLUNTAS DEI
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · General Catholic Discussion · Next Topic »
Add Reply