Middle East Daily Update 31 December 2014

Middle East Daily Update 31 December 2014

Dear friends, 2014 has been an exceptionally traumatic year for the people of the Middle East, our team on the ground have heard so many tragic stories. As 2014 draws to a close we wanted to summarise what we have encountered and how we have begun responding to the crises and outline our plans for 2015. In Amman, Jordan we have been working with local churches supporting Iraqi refugees mostly from Ninevah. There are hundreds of families who have fled to Jordan, many of whom have received no or limited assistance. As refugees they are unable to seek employment and have to wait months to hear whether they will be moved. In the meantime they are relying on charitable support, but this only goes so far and we have found many families that have not eaten for days in order to pay the rent. Many of the children have been out of education for 6 months or more. A great deal of our time has been spent in Israel/Palestine following recent troubles both in reconciliation and relief. We have been providing aid to Gaza through the Adam Centre which is part of the reconciliation work between Israel and Palestine. We have also been supporting the Church in Bethlehem in providing for the welfare of Christian Palestinians, and the Joseph Storehouse Foundation assisting disadvantaged people in Israel. At St George's, Baghdad our work through the school, clinic and food relief programme continued and with many displaced Iraqis moving to Baghdad has increased. Many Iraqis have been displaced to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where we have been providing relief such as food, blankets, bedding, and mobility aids. In 2015 we are supporting the construction of an IDP camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and in Baghdad. In Israel/Palestine we are partnered with Mosaica working towards a resolution to the conflict. In Amman we are seeking funding for a school and clinic for the Iraqi refugees, premises have already been located and urgent financial support is needed. We found despair, we brought hope and now through your love please help us. Wishing you a very happy new year, Terry Jones and Daniel Packwood

Canon Andrew White's Christmas Update

Dear Friends,

It is the most beautiful time of the year. A time of light, food, parties, fun and presents. We must not forget how much it means to children. The other day I was in Toronto. There were children all around me. There was snow on the ground and a log fire burning. It was reminiscent of everything you could imagine about Christmas. Despite being in Church one of the parents told her child "If you are not good, Christmas will not happen". So the little boy no more than 6 said, "What if we are not good won't Jesus be born". With me the preacher sitting there the parents did not dare answer.

The fact is that Christmas has one reason only, that Jesus was indeed born. Throughout history from the Jewish tradition there was the profound belief that one-day the Messiah, the anointed one of God would be born. He would be the one who would lead people to their heavenly father God. He would be the one who would change peoples understanding of God forever. He would be the one known as the King of Kings.

Yet he was not born of the right stock, he was born of an unmarried mother who was no more than a refugee. She gave birth to her son in a grotty stable, in a grotty little town just outside of Jerusalem called Bethlehem. Not a very grand start for the person who would change history. From the day he was born history was divided into before him BC or after him AD. Those who follow that refugee child now call themselves Christians.

Christmas is also a time when you assess what has happened over the past year. For me this year has been so hard because I am not the vicar in a leafy Parish in the Hampshire/Surrey boarders where my family live. My parish is Baghdad in Iraq. The nation where the Christians have been dismissed from their hometowns in there hundreds of thousands. They have fled in their masses to the very North of Iraq fleeing the onslaught of the terrorist group known as ISIS. There for weeks my staff team have fed and clothed, provided mattresses and cradles for the thousands and thousands of internally displaced people.

Here in their refugee camp, the Christians with no Christmas like us in the West have placed a refugee tent for Jesus and there in the camp is a tent for another person who was also a poor refugee who had nothing.

This Christmas as we celebrate what we have, let us not forget that we too are celebrating the birth of a refugee who had nothing but gives us everything. As we delight in what we can give to people this Christmas let us not forget what this Christmas is really all about the time when this refugee child comes to all of us as the one who leads us to God and offers us the most wonderful gift possible this Christmas. Christmas is all about relationship with our ultimate creator.

I will never forget the day in Baghdad when we had some visitors. They had come to see what it was really like for Christians in Iraq. They were so surprised by how happy the thousands of people were in our congregation. "How can you be so happy when you are surrounded, suicide bombs, mortar's rockets and such violence". One of our young people answered the statement. "You see when you have lost everything, Jesus is all you have got left".

All you have got left is the love of that refugee child. That to us in the Middle East is all that matters this Christmas. The terrorism has got so bad in Iraq that I have had to leave. So I have moved to the other place where I work Bethlehem. That little town where Jesus first came. Two thousand years after he first came he is still everything to the people, He is still everything to our Christians in Iraq and he can still be everything to us. You see when Christmas is over, when you have had all your presents and food, Jesus is all we have got left.

So Christmas is a time when we should never loose the meaning of this Christ Child who came to us so that by simply trusting in him we will have a life filled with hope and purpose and love. He is still with us 2000 years after he first came. This Christmas let us not forget that he so loves us that we must love him and in response our life will be changed forever.

Wishing you a happy and blessed celebration on the birthday of our Lord. 

 
Canon Andrew White

Middle East Update 2 December 2014 Happy and Blessed Christmas Canon Andrew White from Bethlehem and Baghdad

Dear Friends, As we approach Christmas I bring you blessings from Bethlehem and Baghdad. Bethlehem where I am most of my time now because it is deemed too dangerous for me to be in Iraq at the moment and Baghdad that I still see as my home and the place I love more than any other. I may not be there but our team still are working flat out to bring hope to our many thousands of Christians who have been forced from their homes at this time. Every day they are providing food, accommodation, clothing, and disabled aids to those in great need. Last year we could have never dreamt that we would be facing this level of crisis – with our people being hounded from their homes, our people being massacred and having nowhere to go for real safety. I want to thank you for all the help you gave us at this most terrible of times. With your assistance we have been able to help meet the needs of those who have nothing. The story may be out of the news now but the crisis continues. We are having to provide for the needs of those not just in Iraq but also those who have fled to neighbouring countries. Last week we were in Jordan with some of our desperate people. About to be forced out of their totally derelict homes because they could not pay the rent, no school for their children and their husbands and father having been kidnapped or killed by the terrorists in Iraq. Our job has been to provide them all the help and support they need and we can only do it with your help. Meanwhile down the road in Bethlehem it may seem peaceful and pleasant for the pilgrims and tourists but there is a very different side to this little town. We have been greatly privileged to form links with the wonderful evangelical Church in Bethlehem led by Naim and Stephen Khoury. The church is so alive with the glory and Spirit of G-d. It has a vibrant children’s and youth ministry and an extensive evangelism program. Whilst the mosques are proclaiming their words from their minarets this church is proclaiming the word of G-d from its loud speakers. 13 times this church has been blown up and had attempts to destroy it, but they will not stop allowing the love of Jesus from Bethlehem to be heard in Bethlehem. Will you give back to the Middle East something this Christmas as we give thanks for what we have received from there when Christ was born? Everything you give will go to those who need our help this Christmas here in the Middle East where our Lord Yesuah came. Wishing you a happy and blessed celebration on the birthday of our Lord. Canon Andrew White

Bishop Davies dedicates 2015 as a ‘Year of Vocations’ in the Diocese of Shrewsbury

Bishop Mark Davies has dedicated 2015 to be a “Year of Vocations” in the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
The theme of the Catholic Church’s new year, which began with the First Sunday of Advent, was announced in a pastoral letter “on the universal call to holiness” read at Mass in every church and chapel of the Diocese on Sunday November 30.
The year complements the “Year of Consecrated Life” opened by Pope Francis but it is also aimed at encouraging lay Catholics to better understand their own vocations, especially the vocation to marriage.
The year will also see the opening of a centre in Shrewsbury Cathedral for the discernment of vocations for men who are considering the priesthood or consecrated life.

In his letter, the Bishop of Shrewsbury reminded the faithful that all of the baptised have a vocation to be saints, and that for most people this road to perfection would involve carrying out daily activities with charity – such as parents spending time with their children and listening patiently to them – supported by prayer and the sacraments.
“In the Church, no one has a second-class vocation,” Bishop Davies said. “Every one of us is, by baptism, called to become nothing less than a saint.”
“Being comfortable or popular is not the goal of the Christian life – holiness is,” the Bishop said.
“This call to holiness lay at the heart of the Second Vatican Council’s call for renewal in the Church.”
The Bishop extensively quotes Pope Francis who, he says, wants “to remind us that at home or in work or at church; in marriage or in the priesthood; in every moment and in every state of life, ‘a door is opened on the road to sainthood’”.”
“Our path to holiness is to be found, then, amidst the apparently little things of every day,” Bishop Davies continued.
“Pope Francis gives us some very practical examples: avoiding malicious gossip in a conversation is a definite step, he said, towards becoming a saint.
“Exhausted after a hard day’s work but being willing to sit with your children and listen patiently to them, this too is a step towards holiness.
“Making time for prayer each day even when we are tired: this is a sure step towards holiness.  Being ready for Mass on Sunday, and at times making a good Confession, which Pope Francis says, ‘cleans us up’, are vital steps towards holiness.
“He adds that thinking of Our Lady and taking up the Rosary to pray, this is yet another step towards holiness.  Meeting someone in need, making time and being willing to help, are real steps towards becoming the saint we are called to be.
“In other words, the call to holiness is not found up in the clouds or in our dreams.  The call to become a saint is right in front of us every day.”

Bishop Mark Davies - Pastoral Letter: Marriage & the Family – 9th November 2014

A PASTORAL LETTER
On Overcoming the Crisis of Marriage and the Family
To be read in all churches and chapels of the Diocese on Sunday 9th November 2014

My dear brothers and sisters,
On this Remembrance Sunday we recall the great crises faced by generations
before us in the conflicts of the past century. Last month, Pope Francis
invited bishops from around the world to meet with him in Rome to address
what we might call a crisis of our time: the crisis of the family. This is
experienced in some parts of the world in poverty, war or persecution; but in
western countries like our own, it is a crisis most often caused by ideologies
opposed to the sanctity of human life and the institution of marriage and the
family.
The Catholic Church has long opposed these mentalities and the devastation
they have wrought on individuals, societies and especially among the young
and most vulnerable. Pope Francis recently declared that the “Christian
family and marriage are under great attack,” due, he said, to the growing
relativism regarding the very concept of marriage (Address to the Schoenstatt
Movement, 27th October 2014). God’s plan of marriage, which is written
into human nature and raised by Christ to be a Sacrament, is being replaced
by the idea that we can each make our own truth according to our own ideas
and desires (cf. Gaudium et Spes 47).
The first Christians required great courage to overcome and transform a vast,
pagan world whose ideas about marriage and sexual morality were not unlike
those which prevail in our own culture. Today we need this same,
supernatural, courage to give witness to all the Church believes and teaches
about marriage, the family and human sexuality. The Synod of Bishops,
gathered around Pope Francis, met precisely to consider how “the Church
and society can renew their commitment to the family” (Final Synod Report,

Yet, I am conscious that there have been many reports since the Synod suggesting the Church is about to change her constant teaching. Cardinal Nichols, who attended the Synod, wrote on his return that it is simply not true that this meeting was ever about changing the teaching of the Church on marriage, family life or sexual morality (Pastoral Letter of the Archbishop of Westminster, October 2014). The bishops considered the challenges being faced by families across the world. They sought a “pastoral response” which offers, in Pope Francis’ words, answers “to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.” The Church, he added, always seeks “to receive the needy, the penitent and not only the just or those who believe they are perfect!” Pope Francis insisted that we must not only welcome those who are lost amid this crisis, we must be ready to go out and find them!
The Church offers the truth she has received from Christ her Lord, not with hostility towards those who have taken a wrong path, but with the greatest love and concern for every person. The Church on earth is made up of sinners called to become saints; our practice of frequent Confession is, indeed, a constant reminder that every one of us is called along this path! It would be the ultimate failure in pastoral care or charity, to mislead people by encouraging them to remain in sin, or fail to call them to repentance and renewal (cf Lumen Gentium 8). Pope Francis describes such an approach as “deceptive mercy,” a false mercy which bandages wounds but fails to heal them.
Today I want to dispel any misleading impression that the Church will abandon her witness to the truth and change her teaching in the face of hostile trends in public opinion or the destructive ideologies of our time. Pope Francis spoke of this as: “the temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.”

Pope Francis has set before us the example of Saint John Paul II whom he named “the Pope of the family”; and of Pope Paul VI whom, at the end of the Synod, he declared among the Blessed, not least for his sometimes lonely witness to the truth. In the crisis we face today, let us look to the great inheritance of their teaching. May their courage and prayer inspire us to seek a greater faithfulness and a deeper understanding of what Christ and His Church truly teach about marriage, the family and human sexuality. At the end of the Synod, Pope Francis asked: “please do not forget to pray for me!” On this Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which celebrates our unity in faith and love with the Holy See of Rome, may we never fail to pray for our Holy Father as he confirms us in faith amid all the passing crises of time (Luke 22:32).
With my blessing,
+ Mark
Bishop of Shrewsbury

At last - "Thoughts and Meditations for Year B" !!

Sundays of Year B

(Catholic Lectionary – RSV Version)

This is the final one in a series of three books of thoughts and meditations based on the Readings of the Church Year.  Years C and A were published in 2012 and 1013.

They are offered not as difficult theology but as everyday encouragement to those who would learn to identify the King whose Kingdom we serve and find out more about his teaching and what implication that teaching has for how we live our lives.

There is no strictly ordered theme.  The lessons build and are developed as the readings lead from week to week.  Most of the themes and ideas are as they were preached in parish churches or expanded in group study.

This comprehensively revised edition is based on the Three Year Catholic cycle of the Lectionary.   The translation used is that of the RSV (Second Catholic Edition) as used in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Published by Jacquedaw

ISBN
978-0-9565118-7-4

(204 pages)

Price £9.99(+ £2.50 p+p)

buy online at

www.jacquedaw.co.uk

Years A and C are also available from the Jacquedaw webpage

Baghdad Update from Canon Andrew White - 8th July

Dear Friends, 

Back in Baghdad the situation is still very dire and is at a very crucial moment; for the future of Iraq is depending on how the next few weeks turn out and which side starts taking very active steps. The Iraqi army is surrounding Baghdad and shots can be heard from St. George's church every night. The situation is so dire and we need help more than ever. Thankfully we have a large amount of people praying all over the world but we always need more. It is hard to know how many members of the congregation have been killed or fled because the situation is still changing every day and it is so difficult to keep track of people during this crisis.

Iraq is where Christianity started in the very beginning and Christians are now being persecuted. Numerous churches have been burnt down and countless Christians have been forced to flee or killed. Even Christian graves are being desecrated and knocked over the hatred is hard to understand.

We are trying to help some of the families that have fled to Erbil in northern Iraq but the need is just so great it is difficult. People left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing and now the situation in the cities they fled to like Erbil is bad as the cities are being overwhelmed the power goes out at least once a day which makes things difficult when it often gets to 45/120 degrees. Parts of Iraq are also facing a gas crisis as ISIS disrupts the infrastructure and the lines for gas are filled with hundreds of cars and take hours just to get 20 litres because that is the limit.

There is just so much hardship in the country that is allowing ISIS to make such huge gains. The government is still very disorganized and has not been able to make a successful plan to combat ISIS. The Iraqi army is much bigger than ISIS and should have been able to easily crush their uprising but has not been the case while ISIS is still capturing land, supporters, money and weapons. All of these things make everything difficult and everything is really starting to cripple the country.

 
Blessings, 

Update from Canon Andrew White in Baghdad

Blessings from Baghdad

It is not possible to get across to you the reality of the problems in Iraq today. 2,500 people have been killed this month; 1 million 
people have fled their homes. The whole infrastructure of the nation has disappeared and the needs are greater than ever. Basic communication has been stopped, there is no longer any Skype, Facebook or anything beyond basic email and phone. Facebook was the main way I communicated with people, I cannot any more. If people want to communicate with me you can only do it through my private email apbw2@cam.ac.uk. Please do feel free to contact me here.

We continue to try and meet the needs of the people which are so great. Please keep praying for us and keep helping us, the needs are so great, we need you.

Yesterday I did an interview with CCN and BBC Radio 4 for the Today program probably on Wednesday. Whilst being interviewed I was asked if there will be any Christians left here soon. I said I don't know but I will not leave hear as long as one Christian remains, as long as the Lord allows me to remain.

Blessings, 

Meriam Ibrahim freed again after US apology

From 'The Times' :

A Christian woman who was condemned to death, acquitted and rearrested as she tried to flee Sudan, was released for a second time yesterday after a senior US diplomat apologised for issuing her with a visa.
Meriam Ibrahim was seized at Khartoum airport on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after an appeal court overturned her convictions for adultery and apostasy and ordered her release.
Agents from Sudan’s national intelligence and security service accused her of having a false passport and charged her with impersonation. She was arrested with her husband, Daniel Wani, an American citizen, and their infant children Martin and Maya, who was born in prison.
They had arrived at Khartoum airport in an American embassy car. Ms Ibrahim, 27, was travelling on a recently issued South Sudanese passport, with a visa to enter the United States. America’s charge d’affaires in Khartoum, Jerry Lanier, was summoned to the ministry of foreign affairs on Tuesday.
A source familiar with the case said that Ms Ibrahim may have to stay in Sudan, but Abu Bakr al-Sideeg, a foreign ministry spokesman, said she could leave if she “follows the required legal procedures and holds the proper identification papers”. She had faced 100 lashes for adultery and death by hanging for renouncing Islam.

Christian mother Meriam Ibrahim freed, then detained again.

Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian mother sentenced to death for apostasy in Sudan, has been cleared on appeal and freed from prison – only to be detained at the airport with her family as they tried to leave the country.   
The 27-year-old was released from Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison on Monday (23 June) along with her two children, 22-month-old son Martin and newborn Maya, who have been locked up with her. They were reunited with Daniel Wani, Meriam’s husband and the children’s father.

Meriam with her two children, Martin and newborn Maya, in prison

But on Tuesday (24 June), the family were detained at Khartoum airport by around 40 security agents as they tried to leave the country, to go to the US. The powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) said Meriam was arrested after she presented emergency travel documents issued by the South Sudanese embassy while carrying an American visa. She has been charged with obtaining a false travel document, which is punishable with a jail sentence. The family are being held at Khartoum police station.
The BBC’s James Copnall said it is very possible that the NISS, which frequently intervenes in the country’s politics, did not like the decision to release Meriam, and re-arresting her and her family was a way of making this point to the rest of the Sudanese government.
The matter has now escalated into a diplomatic row, with the Sudanese Foreign Ministry summoning the American and South Sudanese ambassadors. South Sudans presidential spokesman said the family’s travel documents were issued from the country’s embassy in Khartoum because Daniel is a South Sudanese citizen.   
Meriam’s release on Monday was ordered by Khartoum Court of Appeals, which cancelled the previous court ruling of 15 May that had sentenced Meriam to death for apostasy and to 100 lashes for adultery in a case that sparked an international outcry.
Daniel, who has dual US and South Sudanese citizenship, had previously said that the family would need to leave if Meriam was freed and has been seeking asylum for them in America. Their case has gained the support of 38 US lawmakers, who last Thursday (19 June) wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to prioritise the matter. They called for Meriam to be granted asylum or refugee status in the country and for the couple’s two children to be registered as US citizens.
The US says it is working with Sudan to ensure that Meriam can leave the country.
Although cleared of all charges, there are concerns for Meriam’s safety as well as that of her family and legal team. Meriam’s accuser, a man claiming to be her brother, had publicly warned that the family would carry out the death penalty in the event that she was acquitted. And in an interview published on Wednesday (26 June), Al Samani Al Hadi Mohamed Abdullah reinforced the threat:

Our family is not convinced by the decision of the court. The law has failed to maintain our rights, and now it is a matter of honour. Christians deface our honour, and we know how to take revenge for that.

Extremist groups in have been pressurising the government to uphold the sentence and have also issued death threats against Meriam’s legal team, saying their actions have been “un-Islamic”.  
Under the strict application of sharia law, Meriam has been regarded as a Muslim because she was born to a Muslim father, even though he left the family when she was six and her mother raised her as a Christian. She was considered to have left Islam – committed apostasy – even though she never practised it and has maintained her Christian faith throughout. Meriam was also considered to have committed adultery because, under sharia, a Muslim woman is not permitted to marry a non-Muslim man.

24 June - Update from Iraq

Dear Friends,

The situation in Iraq continues to be quite difficult for everyone; just in the past 48 hours there has been numerous attacks and countless atrocities. It still remains to be seen how effective the Iraqi Army will be against fighting the ISIS as the situation is continually changing at a very fast paced rate.  A few of the highlights of recent events include a militant attack on an Iraqi convoy in which 69 detainees were killed. Around the area of Babil province in another attack one policeman as well as eight gunmen were killed. ISIS was able to detain 57 families that were in the process of fleeing to Hawija. On top of all of these awful things there was a double explosion which was specifically targeting a funeral for a Colonel but resulted in the death of eleven people.

It is also a very sad time for the Christians in Mosul. As this past Sunday was the first Sunday in 1600 years that there was no Mass on Sunday. Mosul was the ISIS' first main objective and large city they were able to capture and to this day it still remains under their control. They have even just recently raised their flags over some of the government institutes and departments. It still remains unclear how the Iraqi Army will free the city and remove the ISIS and how long this could take.    

With much love and grace,

 

Further update from Canon Andrew White in Iraq

Middle East Update 18 June 2014

Dear Friends,

The crisis in Iraq has now been in operation for over a week. Not hundreds but thousands of people have been killed. Thousands in the Iraqi army have been killed, the military have proved that they do not have the ability or authority to control the present crisis. Whilst the crisis continues causing total havoc we do not have the privilege of just sitting back and doing nothing. We have to think beyond today, whilst providing the immediate relief that is needed we also need to think about how we are going to bring about lasting change.

In the midst of this crisis we are already thinking of the long term plans to work for reconciliation. It is a process that we have been involved intimately in for over a decade but now we are faced with a crisis of new depth. We cannot even get access to most places where we need to bring people together. We plan and pray that we will be able to again soon, at the moment this is not possible but can only hope and pray that soon we will be able to.

At the moment the crisis and division is getting worse. Even embassy's are cutting down size and leaving Iraq. At the moment it is even considered too dangerous for us to be present. We hope to return in the next few days and have so much to do. The Anglican Church is one of the few bodies working in Iraq reaching out to people whatever their religion and sect.

Meanwhile the intense conversations continue each day with political and religious leaders working at how we can overcome the radical influence of the terrorist group ISIS which is now the richest and most powerful terrorist group in the world with over $1 billion. At the moment our priority is meeting the physical relief needs of those in the crisis. We then start working on the complex reconciliation process. When that will be we do not yet know.

With much love and grace,

 

Fr Kenneth Walker F.S.S.P.

Canon Andrew White on the situation in Iraq

Dear Friends,

 

Things are so bad now in Iraq, the worst they have ever been. The Islamic terrorists have taken control of the whole of Mosul which is Nineveh the main Christian stronghold. The army have even fled. We urgently need help and support.

Please, please help us in this crisis.

Iraq is now in its worst crisis since the 2003 war. ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Group), a group that does not even see Al Qaida as extreme enough, has moved into Mosul, which is Nineveh. It has totally taken control, destroyed all government departments. Allowed all prisoners out of the prisons. Killed countless numbers of people. There are bodies over the streets. The army and police have fled, so many of the military resources have been captured. Tankers, armed vehicles and even helicopters are now in the hands of ISIS.

Mosul residents fleeing the ISIS takeover.  

The area is the heartland of the Christian community. Most of our people come from Nineveh and still see that as their home. It is there that they return to regularly. Many Christian's fled from back to Nineveh from Baghdad, as things got so bad there. Now the Christian centre of Iraq has been totally ransacked. The tanks are moving into the Christian villages destroying them and causing total carnage. The ISIS militants are now moving towards Kirkuk, major areas to the Oil fields that provide the lifeblood of Iraq. We are faced with total war that all the Iraqi military have now retreated from.

People have fled in their hundreds of thousands to Kurdistan still in Iraq for safety. The Kurds have even closed the border, preventing entry of the masses. The crisis is so huge it is almost impossible to consider what is really happening.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

The summer is by far our worst time of the year for support. Both our Foundation in the UK and US have seriously had to reduce our funding. We are in a desperate crisis. So many of our people had returned their homes in Nineveh for the summer now they are stuck in this total carnage unable to even escape. We desperately need help so that we can help the Christians of this broken land just get through this new crisis. Please can you help us, we are desperate.

The terrible fact is that ISIS are in the control now of Fallujah in the South and Mosul in the North they could now move down towards Baghdad between the two and cause a total crisis there. So to be honest I don't know what to do, do I stay or go back? I have a huge amount of commitments here. If I go back, I cannot change the situation but I want to be with my people. Here we are with this huge crisis and need and we do not even have the resources to help those most in need. So the crisis is huge and we need help, will you please help us?

With much love and grace,

 

"The milk of grace, doctrine, and guidance"

“When a calf is hungry he goes to the cow, his mother, for milk. However, the cow does not give it to him immediately; it almost seems as if she keeps it for herself. And so what does the calf do? He nudges the cow's udder with his nose, and in this way the milk comes. It is a beautiful image. And this, says the saint, is what you must do with your pastors: always knock at their door, at their heart, so that they give you the milk of doctrine, the milk of grace and the milk of guidance. I ask you, please, to trouble your pastors, to disturb them, all of us, so that we can give you the milk of grace, doctrine and guidance. Bother us! Think of that beautiful image of the calf who nudges his mother to feed him."--Pope Francis

Bishops fix date for ending use of musical settings according to the old translation of the Missal

The Bishops of England and Wales have fixed the end date of the transitional period for implementing music in the new translation of the Roman Missal which was introduced in 2011. As from Pentecost Sunday, 8 June 2014 only settings of the Ordinary of the Mass using the new translation are permitted to be sung at Mass. Settings using the previous translation or paraphrased texts may no longer be used in our parishes, schools and communities.

Archbishop McMahon's Installation Sermon - 1 May

I chose to be installed as Archbishop of Liverpool on the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker because Joseph teaches us that we are part of God’s creative plan for the world, and that we are all called to work together to fulfil that plan.
At the beginning of his pontificate, Saint John XXIII said:
The secret of everything is to let yourself be carried by the Lord and to carry the Lord.
That is a secret which Saint Joseph also understood. He was carried by the Lord in his acceptance of God’s plan for him, and he literally carried the Lord as the guardian, teacher and guide of Jesus. There are three aspects to Joseph’s life which help us to live our Catholic faith, to be carried by the Lord and carry the Lord, in the months and years ahead in this great Archdiocese which is placed under his patronage.
First of all, Joseph teaches us to dream. According to Saint Matthew’s Gospel, when he found that Mary, his betrothed, was pregnant, he made up his mind to do the right thing by her; although espoused to her, he thought it would save her reputation if he were to break this promise quietly. However, in a dream, the Angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife, because she was pregnant with the One to be called Jesus, the Saviour who would save his people from their sins.
In doing this, the Angel encouraged Joseph to abandon the conventions of first century Palestine and marry Mary – which he did. It is thanks to his kindness, his obedience to the will of God, his being a ‘man of honour’ that, from the moment of his conception, Jesus could be loved, cared for and kept safe.
This Jesus is my Saviour, our Saviour – my Lord, our Lord; how easily can we forget that? Our principal task as Christians is to make that message known, to make Jesus present in the world of today. To do this, we must be ready, like Joseph, to break with convention, and do things differently. Joseph teaches us that everything we say and do in our personal and family lives, our parishes and schools, our convents and chaplaincies, must have as its purpose and its end the proclamation of Jesus as Lord, for he is the source and the summit of our lives.
Taking risks to proclaim the good news of salvation is the task before us as much here in the Archdiocese of Liverpool as elsewhere. Breaking with structures and conventions that give us comfort, that feed our complacency and dull our sensitivity to the demands of being a Christian, is what it means to be a missionary disciple.
This afternoon, I want all of us in the Archdiocese of Liverpool to make our own the words of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium:
In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples. All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized.
The task of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ is for all of us. We are all called to carry the Lord and be carried by the Lord. The Archdiocese, in Leaving Safe Harbours, has already begun the ‘resolute process of discernment, purification and reform’ which Pope Francis demands of each Diocese, but this cannot be left to others. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we must work together, as Bishop, priests and people, to continue to hand on the Deposit of Faith, to build up the Body of Christ, to worship God in spirit and truth, and to serve our brothers and sisters.
So let us dream together about how we can better proclaim Jesus as Lord in our own lives, in our parishes, and in our Diocese. And we are called to dream this dream joyfully, filled with the hope which the Risen Lord gives his Church, and never giving in to the temptation to misery or despair, even when it seems we are swimming against the tide. As Pope Francis reminds us:
One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness and zeal is a defeatism which turns us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists, ‘sourpusses’. [Quite how they translated that into Latin is anyone’s guess!] Nobody can go off to battle unless he is fully convinced of victory beforehand. If we start without confidence, we have already lost half the battle and we bury our talents. While painfully aware of our own frailties, we have to march on without giving in, keeping in mind what the Lord said to Saint Paul: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’
So, our dreams invite us to share more deeply in the life of God himself.
Second, Joseph was a worker, a carpenter; the reason why Pius XII established the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker on 1st May, ‘Labour Day’ in many countries, was to demonstrate that God blesses and sanctifies the ordinary.
Each and every person on this earth is born with an unalienable dignity which is rooted in our being made in God’s own image and likeness, as the Book of Genesis reminds us. But that dignity is a gift which has been given to us by God, and it is a gift to be realized, and the place where we realize it is work. As Saint John Paul II said in his Encyclical Letter Laborem exercens, ‘work is a fundamental dimension of our existence on earth’:
Work is a good thing for us – a good thing for our humanity – because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfilment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes ‘more a human being’.
Just as the people of Israel were freed from slavery and made a nation by their experience in Egypt, as a result of his second and third dreams Joseph, by his response and actions in protecting Jesus and Mary, shows that we too will be made free and become a nation, the new People of God. That is a special dignity given at our creation, lost by our sins and restored by Jesus.
We are temples of the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters of Jesus, children of the Most High – it is a dignity that is given to us by God. But it is by work that we discover it and deepen our awareness of it.
As we care for the world around us, develop earth’s resources for the good of mankind, feed our families and ourselves, we truly realize our identity as being loving, and loveable, children of God. In a changing society we must not lose this insight. Finding fulfilment for our God-given gifts of creativity and service, not giving in to pastimes and leisure activities, chasing the false gods of materialism and self-satisfaction, but being mindful of the obligations of social justice, is a challenge that faces the whole of society and not just the Church.
Third, Joseph was a family man. We all belong to different families, beginning with our parents, and as we go through life we gain, and lose, relatives and friends. We can see that in today’s Mass. You are all here today because you are part of my family – and I am part of yours: my brothers and their families, my cousins and personal friends; my brethren from the Dominican order; my brother Bishops; representatives from the Diocese of Nottingham, where I have been blessed to have been Bishop for the last thirteen years; and finally my new family – the Bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laypeople who make up the Archdiocese of Liverpool, together with our friends from other Churches and faith traditions, civic society, and all people of goodwill.
God has endowed the people of Liverpool, Lancashire and the Isle of Man with many great gifts, not least constancy in our Catholic faith, a living heritage which should inspire us and challenge us. The Martyrs of Lancashire testify to their love of Jesus name’ and their fidelity to the truth. Father Nugent, with his plea to ‘save the child’, and his extraordinary efforts to alleviate poverty, promote the welfare of children and establish prison chaplaincy, spoke to us of the need to serve our brothers and sisters, in particular the poor and the vulnerable. That mission has carried on over the years – people have been welcomed to this area from all over the world, and left Liverpool to travel and settle throughout the world.
That search for truth continues in the Hillsborough inquest, as at long last a true picture of the causes of this terrible tragedy become clear and responsibility is taken for it. It is our hope and expectation that the inquest will uncover and explain the truth of what happened so that justice will be done for the 96 and for their families, whose dignity over these last 25 years has been an example to us all.
I am honoured and humbled to be standing here in this beautiful, iconic Cathedral dedicated to Christ our King as your new Bishop, and I hope that I will repay the trust which Pope Francis has placed in me by appointing me as your Bishop, and which now you are asked to place in me as we begin to work together to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. According to John XXIII:
The sublime work, holy and divine, which the [...] Bishops must do each in his own diocese, is to preach the Gospel and guide men [and women] to their eternal salvation, and all must take care not to let ant other earthly business prevent or impede or disturb this primary task.
My prayer today is that all of us, each and every one of us, will make the preaching of the Gospel our primary task. Just as the vocation to be holy, to be saints, is not for the chosen few but for the multitude for whom Christ shed his Blood, so too is the proclamation of Christ in the world in which we live. We proclaim it in our words, in the way in which we speak to and about one another; in our actions, in the way in which we treat other people and serve them; and in our worship, when we gather in the awesome presence of God to worship him in spirit and truth.
So today’s Feast, and this Mass, invite us to place our trust more firmly in Jesus our Saviour; we are asked to dream his dreams, to do his work and to be his family.
To be a Christian is a real challenge in the world in which we live, but it is a joyful, hope-filled and life-giving challenge for which we are prepared by Christ, who gives us the grace of the sacraments to give our lives in his service to the greater glory of God. Together let us accept that challenge, and promise Christ, whoever we are, that we will be carried by him, and carry him, in every moment and aspect of our lives. Amen.

Maniples, Amices and Cassocks (from New Liturgical Movement post)

Fr. Richard Cipolla has done us all a great service by translating a fantastic article by Alessando Gnocchi: "Traces of the Hegelian Guillotine in the Liturgical Reform." Gnocchi is speaking primarily about the sudden disappearance of the maniple, the amice, and the cassock after the Council, and what this says about our attitude towards the world, the Church's (and the clergy's) place in the world, and the veneration of tradition. Because each vestment carries, by the force of long-developed tradition, an inherent theological meaning and is a true component of the spiritual profile of the Christian and of the priest as alter Christus, it follows that changing or discarding such vestments amounts to a redefinition of one's identity and mission. Vesture is a form of anthropology: it is not mere clothing but, in some sense, constitutes the wearer as a certain 'what' and a certain 'who'.

On the maniple:

For obscure reasons, it seems as if someone wanted to erase the memory of this vestment that originated from the mappula, the linen handkerchief that the Roman nobility wore on their left arm to wipe away tears and sweat. It was used also to give the signal to begin the combat games in the Circus.  Merear, Domine, portare manipulum fletus et doloris; ut cum exsultatione recipiam mercedem laboris, says the priest as he puts it on while vesting.  “O Lord, may I be worthy to wear the maniple of tears and suffering, so that I may receive with joy the reward of my labors.”  And once again the battle begins against the world and its prince, in which mystically the priest sweats, cries, bleeds, and does battle in so far as he is on the Cross as the alter Christus. But there needs to be that painful and manly interpenetration in the sacrifice, of which the maniple is the sign and instrument.  Meanwhile, instead, if the memory of it has been lost willingly so that one can dedicate oneself to the festal banquet of a salvation lacking any sweat and toil, then there is no place for the signs of the battle to which one must consign one’s own body.

On the amice:

Impone, Domine, capiti meo galeam salutis, ad expugnandos diabolicos incursus.  Place on my head, O Lord, the helmet of salvation so that I may conquer the assaults of the devil”. So prays the priest when, preparing for the celebration of Mass, he puts on the amice, another vestment that recalls the battle and the sacrifice, fallen into disuse in the reformed Mass.  Today, in the post-Conciliar Church, one speaks to speak, one dialogues to have a dialogue, to have an amiable conversation with the world, all made drunk by the illusory and seductive power of chattering.  There is no need any longer for a vestment like the amice that, in addition to symbolizing the helmet of the warrior, symbolizes also the castigatio vocis, or “discipline of the voice”, and banishes from the act of religion every word that is not part of ritual and, therefore, inexorably, too many.   

On the cassock:

The capacity for ritual has been lost, and, therefore, the aptitude for command has been lost, and for this reason priests have abandoned the practice of wearing the cassock as a rule.

And more generally, on the "militancy" of the Christian:

The idea of giving orders and of battle, of arms and the armature of the spirit, have been dismissed by the Christians who love to be rocked in the cradle of acedia, the most perverse of the capital sins. ... Having succumbed to the sickness of acedia, the Church has ended up seeing herself and presenting herself as a problem instead of a solution to the deepest ill of man.  When she speaks of the world she lets show forth her awareness of her incapacity to point to a way of salvation, as if she is excusing herself for having done so for so many centuries.  She has doubts about fundamental and ascetical principles themselves, and, at the very time she proclaims that she is opening up to the world, she declares herself to be incapable of knowing it, defining it, and, therefore, incapable of educating and converting it.  At the most, she makes herself available to interpret it.
        But it is not in becoming like the world or in being wedded to the language of the world that one wins over the world. It is not in the exaltation of the gesture and the word of which ritual is the “castigatio” (correction) that the world is conquered.  For the world has above all an abhorrence of itself, and it is not by secularizing himself that the Christian conquers the world.

(H/t to Fr. Z)

I will say that, although one can sympathize with Gnocchi's pessimism, there are heartening signs of a rediscovery of all of these vestments on the part of younger clergy, at least in certain parts of the Catholic world. I know (and many NLM readers know) quite a few priests who wear the cassock regularly and who don the amice even for the Ordinary Form. In fact, there is a steadily growing number who tie on the maniple, too. But there can be no question that this practice of the hermeneutic of continuity is found predominantly, almost exclusively, in the traditionalist milieu. It is truly a moment of opportunity for all the clergy in the West, even in the context of the Ordinary Form, to rediscover their soldierly part in the apocalyptic battle by wearing the symbolic vestments that remind them of who and what they are.

Anyway, just do yourself a favor and read Gnocchi's essay...

Bishop Mark Davies - Pastoral Letter for the Canonisation of S John XXIII and S John Paul II

Today in Rome two, great Saints will be recognised by the whole Church.  Two saints whose lives belong, not to a distant era, but to our own times: Saint John XXIII who died little more than half a century ago, and Saint John Paul II who died just nine years ago on the eve of this Divine Mercy Sunday.  I am aware that much will be said this weekend of the historic events of which they were part.  However, I would like us to reflect on how both of these men - from different times and places - responded wholeheartedly to their calling.  I want us to glimpse in what their greatness really consisted and how we can hope to imitate the faithfulness of these two new Saints.  

I have no doubt history will give to Saint John Paul II the title ‘John Paul the Great’ in recognition of his part in the momentous events which shaped both the world and the mission of the Church at the end of the last century and beginning of this Third Christian Millennium.  I am sure many miracles will continue to flow from his prayer for us.  However, one of his closest collaborators said the greatest miracle of Pope John Paul’s life was the way he lived each day: how he worked and used his time, his constant good humour, even during times of stress and suffering.  (Interview with Dr Joaquin Navarro Valls, 4th April 2014.)

“We see the saints praised for their great works,” a spiritual writer observed (Dom Eugene Boylan) but the only greatness which mattered to them was to live everyday in union with Christ “by faith, by love, by humility, and by a complete abandonment to His will”.  It is in such everyday faithfulness that the “miracle” of true holiness is always to be found.  The Acts of the Apostles reminds us that it was by such daily faithfulness that the first Christians made so great an impression on a hostile world (Acts 2: 42-47).

After Pope John XXIII’s death, his Secretary recorded not a list of public achievements, but rather Pope John’s

“radical humility … superhuman trust sustained by intense prayer … unquenchable and burning faith and I came to the conclusion” he wrote, “that only with Christians, priests made in this mould could the Second Vatican Council carry out its work, avoid the pitfalls, recognise the voice of the Spirit and light new Pentecostal fires”.  (Cardinal Loris Capovilla, ‘Reflections on the Second Vatican Council’.)

The words of the Apostle Peter could be repeated of both our new Saints: their faith was indeed “tested and proved like gold – only it is more precious than gold …” (I Peter 1: 7).  It was surely in the faithful living of their vocation that we can glimpse their true greatness.

Our Lord’s words in the Gospel have echoed down the centuries, and been heard anew in many hearts:

“As the Father sent me, so am I sending you” (John 20: 21).

Angelo Roncalli, who was to become Pope John, could never remember a time when he did not want to give his life in the Priesthood.  Karol Wotyla, who became Pope John Paul, had other plans; he hoped for marriage, becoming an academic and a teacher.  Gradually, however, he recognised amidst the terrors of the Nazi occupation of Poland that God was calling him to the Priesthood.  Today we must give thanks that these two men responded wholeheartedly to their vocation.

This Sunday, I ask you to pray for the priests of the future, the priests on whom the future of our Diocese depends.  I hope that in our time many young men will - like Saint John and Saint John Paul - be ready to respond wholeheartedly to this wonderful calling.  This Easter I have sent prayer cards to all the parishes with some words of Pope Francis and my own prayer for this intention.  I announced at the Chrism Mass last week the plan to establish at Shrewsbury Cathedral a ‘house for discernment’ for men considering a vocation to the priesthood.  This house will open its doors in September 2015 creating a community at the heart of our Diocese where the vocation to the Priesthood can be discerned in a year-long programme.

It is, I have been reminded, a brave plan in present conditions.  However, it is a venture I entrust to the prayer of Our Lady, Help of Christians and of St John Vianney.  Today I also entrust all our hopes for the new evangelisation of our country, for a new generation of priests and for a renewed faithfulness in all our vocations to the prayer of two Popes many of us knew and loved: Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II, pray for us!  Amen.

Wishing you the great joy of Easter,

+ Mark

Bishop of Shrewsbury        

Bishop Mark Davies - Homily for Easter Morning

Homily for Easter Morning 20th April 2014

The first disciples made their way to the tomb “very early on the first day of the week.” It was “still dark,” St. John observes (Jn. 20:1). Yet, the darkness in which they walked was not merely the last shades of night; it was surely the shadows of their own despair. Before the emptiness of Christ’s tomb, as the sun rose on that first Easter morning, those women and men came to see and believe. “Till this moment,” St. John notes, “they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (John 20: 10).
The English people came similarly to see and believe some fourteen centuries ago in a way which changed the way we, today, see the whole of human life. The historian Sir Arthur Bryant observed that, “The most important of all Britain’s invaders were those who came armed only with a Cross and the faith and courage that Cross gave” “they converted a savage tribal people and their rulers to Christ’s gentle creed of love and sacrifice, and to the revolutionary belief, inherent in Christianity, that every individual was a … soul of equal value in the eyes of God” (A History of Britain & the British People 1984). This was, indeed, a change from darkness to dawn. In the light of the Easter faith, the English people came to recognise the eternal value and dignity of every human person. How easily we have taken for granted the Christian civilization which was established in the earliest years of our nation. The Second Vatican Council reminded us “once God is forgotten” we are left in darkness (Gaudium et Spes n. 36) and without this faith respect for the inherent sanctity of human life and the God-given dignity of every person cannot long survive.
Today in our country many consciences struggle amid the shadows as they try to distinguish between good and evil in everything which concerns the value of human life itself. In a matter of weeks, a Bill will be brought before Parliament aimed at legalising assisted suicide. This Bill will seek to change long-established laws which uphold the sanctity of human life and protecting some of the weakest in society. It is hard to understand that, at a time when there has been so much public concern about the care of the most vulnerable in our hospitals and care homes, we would be contemplate weakening, rather than strengthening the legal protection offered to some of the weakest and most vulnerable. How much we need what Blessed John Paul II described as that “ever new light” shed by Christ on the true way of love and mercy “which our common humanity calls for” (Evangelium Vitae n.67)
In the run-up to Easter this year, the Prime Minister and other political leaders have each acknowledged publicly the difference Christianity makes to our country. At a time when the Christian contribution to our past – and, indeed, our present – is often air-brushed from memory, this is surely a welcome recognition. It is also a brave acknowledgement as an increasingly, intolerant secularism seeks to impose its grim orthodoxy on society. And yet, the difference Christianity makes must not simply be confused with the effectiveness of community projects and the generous spirit of service which Christian faith certainly inspires. Pope Francis insists the Church can never be regarded as a sort of NGO, a merely humanitarian agency. “If we do not confess Jesus Christ” the Holy Father says, we would no longer be the Church; everything we built would be like sandcastles if it were not based on our faith in Christ (Pro Ecclesia Mass 14th March 2013). So many good works flourish in our society today because they are rooted, built on Christian faith.
On Easter morning, we gather to renew the promises of our Baptism. As Christians, we are not first invited simply to do things but rather to believe something, in fact, to believe Someone! This is the faith, which in St. Paul’s words, has “brought us back to true life” (Col.3:1). Pope Francis recently wrote “I never tire of repeating the words of Pope Benedict XVI: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a Person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (Evangelli Gaudium n.7). Christianity is that meeting, that encounter with Christ; the same meeting with His Cross and Resurrection to which the English people came at the beginning of their history. It is to this encounter that you and I are called anew today, as the light of our Baptismal candles are re-kindled and we stand together to profess the faith we share with all the Church.
+ Mark
Bishop of Shrewsbury

Church of England Diocese issues Twitter Guidelines

A Church of England diocese has issued a list of social media rules to its staff and clergy, urging them to consider God when tweeting the masses.

The guidelines range from practical security advice to more faith-based instructions, including a warning that updates are "transient yet permanent".

The list has been widely shared online, dubbed the "Twitter commandments".

Bath and Wells diocese said it compiled the nine rules to help "spread the word of God in the most effective way".

The guidelines aim to help parish staff "navigate through the social media landscape".
'A bit dull'

Continue reading the main story

Diocese's nine Twitter rules

• Don't rush in
• Remember tweets are transient yet permanent
• Be a good ambassador for the Church
• Don't hide behind anonymity
• Be aware of public/private life boundaries
• Maintain a professional distance
• Stay within the law
• Respect confidentiality
• Be mindful of your own security

The first rule - "don't rush in" - urges ecclesiastical tweeters to consider the following questions:

• Is this my story to share?
• Would I want my mum to read this?
• Would I want God to read this?
• Would I want this on the front page of a newspaper?

Subsequent rules advise on drawing boundaries between public duties and private life, being an ambassador for the Church and maintaining a professional distance.

After feedback to the original rules suggested they were "worthy but a bit on the dull side", some light-hearted advice from a local social media expert was added.
Online community
A spokesman for Bath and Wells diocese told the BBC that publishing the resource was what "any good organisation" would do.

"The Church of England is in every community in the UK, so it seems right that we should be in online communities too," he said.

"We're not the first diocese to provide guidelines, but our clergy increasingly use social media.

"A vicar might engage in conversation online in the same way that they do in the street, post office or pub."

Other religious bodies offer faith-driven advice for their representatives communicating online.

The Methodist Church in Britain urges its clergy to "let Galatians 5:22-26", which urges the spirit of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control", guide their behaviour when sharing the "good news of Jesus Christ in the world" on social media.

But the popularity of these new guidelines took Somerset's Anglican clergy by surprise.

"The irony of these guidelines becoming part of a Twitter storm has not been wasted on us," a staff member said.

"We're just pleased that so many people have found it interesting."