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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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By Natasha Marsh • Catholic News Service
MELBOURNE, Australia (CNS) — One of the smallest Eastern Catholic churches in the world, the Russian Catholic Church, faces some big issues, including its survival.
That’s the issue that will be front and center at a Congress of Russian Catholic delegates from around the world meeting in northern Italy in June. It has been organized by an Australian-based Russian Catholic priest, Father Lawrence Cross, a retired lecturer in theology at Australian Catholic University.
The congress, the first in Russian Catholic history, will occur against the backdrop of last February’s historic meeting in Havana between Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. It was the first time a pope had met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Both churches drifted into schism in the two centuries after the so-called Great Schism of 1054.
Father Cross explained that the tiny Russian Byzantine Catholic Church was formed by Russian Orthodox who saw the pope, the bishop of Rome, as an essential element for the fullness of orthodoxy.
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ugcc.org.ua - This week a ceasefire between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists came into effect but the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCSE) said violations to the ceasefire are already occurring.
The conflict, which started in April 2014, has killed some 10,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. 3.8 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance.
Speaking to Vatican Radio, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, said that Europe must not allow the humanitarian emergency unfolding at its heart to go unnoticed.
Those who are trapped in the so-called “grey zone” on the border of the occupied territory which has been under constant bombardment for the past three years: almost 200,000 people including many elderly people and families. According to UNICEF some 12,000 children live in this area. He said the Church is present on the territory and supported by funds raised by Pope Francis’ call for a collection that goes towards food, medicine and other basic needs.
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Rabweh - From 21 to 23 February 2017, the Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church took place in Rabweh in the presence of almost all bishops. Also invited and present at this meeting were the Apostolic Nuncio of Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari and the Apostolic Nuncio of Lebanon, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia.
The Synod thanked the Holy Father Francis for his attention to issues of the Melkite Church’s domestic issues.
During the working sessions, it was noted with regret and concern that serious difficulties had emerged recently over inter-episcopal relations on the one hand, and administrative problems on the other. Frank discussion among the participants allowed consideration of possible solutions.
Some bishops who had either failed to reply to two prior invitations to synod, or who had issued certain inappropriate press statements, admitted that they had acted improperly and wished to express their regret on that account. However, there was acknowledgment that occasional unintentional mistakes had been made in Melkite Church administration.
Finally, a spirit of brotherly reconciliation and renewed commitment to move forward together in communion for the restoration of ecclesial peace prevailed over past misunderstandings and enabled significant decisions to be made for the Melkite community’s welfare.
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He called the cross, erected in the village of Telekuf-Tesqopa, about 17 miles from Mosul, "the first spark of light shining in all the cities of the Nineveh Plain since the darkness of ISIS, which lasted almost two and a half years."
"This is our land and this is our home," Sako said during the mass, and added that the cross will announce "to the world that this is our land, we were born here and we will die here. Our ancestors were buried in this pure land and we are going to remain to preserve them with all our might and for future generations."
The people set off fireworks and cheered, "Victory! Victory! Victory! For those who chose the faith and those who return!" according to Breitbart.
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CWN - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has criticized the unbridled search for “likes” on social media.
It is “a real disease when our young people are ready to do anything, sometimes even terrific things, to risk their lives, so that someone says that he likes it,” said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, according to the Interfax news agency. “Some young people have only one goal, to collect ‘likes,’ if there are no ‘likes’ they feel it like a personal tragedy.”
The prelate also criticized contemporary culture for its constant array of sinful images: “the whole civilization is directed to help a person perceive these sinful images … There are almost no movies without an image that excites sinful thoughts.”
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CWN - The Atlantic has reported on the work of Father Columba Stewart, a Minnesota Benedictine monk who founded the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in Collegeville.
Working with local teams, Father Stewart’s library has photographed 50,000,000 pages from over 140,000 manuscripts since 2004. The priest’s efforts predate ISIS, but “given what’s happened in the last years since the rise of ISIS, it’s very clear that things are really endangered,” he said.
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