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,