US Prelate Addresses Anti-Nuclear Weapon Summit
February 6, 2010
US Prelate Addresses Anti-Nuclear Weapon Summit
Underlines Church’s Just War Teaching
Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, a member of the U.S. bishops’ conference Committee on International Justice and Peace, stated this Wednesday in Paris at the three-day Global Zero Summit.
The gathering, which ended today, brought together 200 international leaders to develop strategies to eliminate nuclear weapons.
The archbishop underlined the Church’s moral teaching on nuclear weapons, based in its commitment to protect human life.
He noted that “as a Permanent Observer to the United Nations, the Holy See has ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and actively participated in the treaty’s review conferences over the past four decades.”
The prelate affirmed that on a national level, the U.S. bishops have issued pastoral letters and public statement on the country’s nuclear policy, and are continually involved in dialogue with public officials on this topic.
“The real risks inherent in nuclear war make the probability of success elusive,” he said.
Drawing on the principles of just war teaching, Archbishop O’Brien stated, “Nuclear war-fighting is rejected in Church teaching because it cannot ensure noncombatant immunity and the likely destruction and lingering radiation would violate the principle of proportionality.”
Mini-nukes
He continued: “Even the limited use of so-called ‘mini-nukes’ would likely lower the barrier to future uses and could lead to indiscriminate and disproportionate harm.
“And the continuing possession of nuclear weapons undermines non-proliferation efforts and contributes to the danger of loose nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorists.”
“Every nuclear weapons system and every nuclear weapons policy should be judged by the ultimate goal of protecting human life and dignity and the related goal of ridding the world of these weapons in mutually verifiable ways,” the archbishop pointed out.
He called on each country to determine the next steps toward this goal, affirming that “the path to zero will be long and treacherous.”
“For my own nation,” the prelate said, “this requires the successful negotiation and ratification of a START follow-on treaty with the Russian Federation, the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the adoption of a nuclear posture that rejects the first use of nuclear weapons or their use against non-nuclear threats.”
He continued: “It will not be easy. Nuclear weapons can be dismantled, but both the human knowledge and the technical capability to build weapons cannot be erased.”
Archbishop O’Brien concluded, “But humanity must walk this path with both care and courage in order to build a future free of the nuclear threat.”
The Global Zero initiative was launched in December 2008 to promote the elimination of nuclear weapons. This week’s summit was planned to lead up to the Global Summit on Nuclear Security in April, called by U.S. President Barack Obama, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference the following month.
— — —
On the Net:
Archbishop O’Brien’s speech: www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/global-zero-summit-2010-obrien.pdf
Jan 1 2010
January 1, 2010
Today we celebrate the 8th day of the Christmas Season, wherein in Scripture we are told that Jesus was brought to be circumcised according to the prescribed law.
Today on this day we celebrate Mary, the Mother of God, who witnessed the many signs and heard many words from prophets and sages, shepherds and Magi, about the power of the Word made Flesh.
This is also celebrated as World Day of Peace. Pope Benedict XVI called upon us to reflect upon the theme: if you want peace cultivate creation.
As we begin the New Year, let us make peace the center of our work and lives: let us be peacemakers and peacebuilders in our personal, work and social lives.
How can we be peacemakers? Peacebuilders?
Would love to hear your thoughts….
ADVENT: Christmas Preparation
November 29, 2009
As we begin Advent today, and we continue the Christmas rush, consider purchasing gifts from Catholic Relief Services, Fair Trade. Visit crsfairtrade.org
With your purchase of Fair Traded goods, you give two gifts: one to the person who will open your gift on Christmas day, and the other gift is for the artisan in a developing country so that he/she can sustain his/her family.
Thanks for considering acting justly as we enter into the Christmas celebration.
“Lectio Divina” as Simple as 1, 2, 3, 4
Brazilian Cardinal Explains Prayerful Reading of Scripture
SÃO PAULO, Brazil, SEPT. 15, 2009 ( Zenit.org ).-
As Brazil celebrates the month of the Bible, Cardinal Odilo Scherer recommended to his archdiocese the exercise of prayerful reading of the Word of God, and explained how to do it.
In the archdiocesan weekly “O São Paulo,” the archbishop of São Paulo recalled how the synod of bishops on the Word of God, held last October, “noted with joy that in the whole world the prayerful reading of the Bible — lectio divina — is being adopted and is spreading.”
“It is a simple method accessible to everyone, including the most simple,” the cardinal said, explaining that the method “proposes the reading and acceptance of the Word of God in a context of prayer, as the Church recommends.” Through lectio divina, Cardinal Scherer continued, a “dialogue of faith” is established, “in which we listen to God who speaks, we respond with prayer and try to be attuned to him in our lives.”
Step by step
The cardinal went on to offer the faithful four easy steps for lectio divina.
First, one reads the passage. “In this first instance, one attempts to understand the text exactly as it appears, without pretending to extract from it immediately messages and conclusions,” he said.
Meditation on the text comes next, in response to the question “What is God saying to me, or to us, through this text? Now we really do try to listen to God who is speaking to us and we receive his voice.”
Then comes “prayer. In this third step, we respond to the question: What does this text bring me to say to God?” “Let us always remember that a good biblical reading is always done only in the dialogue of faith: God speaks, we listen and accept, and respond to God and speak to him,” the cardinal explained. The text “might inspire several types of prayer: praise, profession of faith, thanksgiving, adoration, petition for forgiveness and help.”
The fourth and final step of lectio divina is contemplation. In this step “we dwell on the Word and further our understanding of the mystery of God and his plan of love and salvation; at the same time, we dispose ourselves to accept in our concrete lives what the Word teaches us, renewing our good intentions and obedience of the faith.”
With these four steps, Cardinal Scherer said experience teaches that it is not difficult to practice lectio divina. “It’s enough to start; it is learned by being practiced,” he said. “The preciousness of the Word of God and its importance for Christian life, moreover, well merits an effort on our part.”
Labor Day and Blessed Frederick Ozanam
September 7, 2009
Wishing everyone a Happy Labor Day.
It is also interesting this year that Labor Day falls on the memorial of Blessed Frederick Ozanam, the founder of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
In the 1830’s he and a friend began visiting Paris tenements and offering assistance as best they could. Soon a group dedicated to helping individuals in need under the patronage of St. Vincent de Paul formed around Frederick.
In 1846, Frederick, Amelie and their daughter Marie went to Italy; there Frederick hoped to restore his poor health. They returned the next year. The revolution of 1848 left many Parisians in need of the services of the St. Vincent de Paul conferences. The unemployed numbered 275,000. The government asked Frederick and his co-workers to supervise the government aid to the poor. Vincentians throughout Europe came to the aid of Paris.
Frederick then started a newspaper, The New Era, dedicated to securing justice for the poor and the working classes. Fellow Catholics were often unhappy with what Frederick wrote. Referring to the poor man as “the nation’s priest,” Frederick said that the hunger and sweat of the poor formed a sacrifice that could redeem the people’s humanity.
In 1852 poor health again forced Frederick to return to Italy with his wife and daughter. He died on September 8, 1853. In his sermon at Frederick’s funeral, Lacordaire described his friend as “one of those privileged creatures who came direct from the hand of God in whom God joins tenderness to genius in order to enkindle the world.”
Frederick was beatified in 1997.
Frederick’s witness as a lay Catholic engaged in social ministry serves as a model for our own time. He offered his talents to teach others incorporating the gospel message, as well as living out his witness by serving those, especially as an advocate and with direct material aid to help working class families.
What do you think Frederick Ozanam offers our time?
