Month: July 2010

Aide: (Catholic) Church Plays Key Role in Dialogue in Cuba

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VATICAN CITY, JULY 11, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The announcement of the upcoming release of political dissidents in Cuba, an event in which the Church played a vital role, is a significant step for the Caribbean nation, says a Vatican spokesman.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, said this in the most recent edition of the weekly Vatican Television program “Octava Dies.”

On Wednesday, the Archdiocese of Havana announced the forthcoming release of 52 political prisoners — five immediately and 47 more in the coming three or four months. Their release is another fruit of mediation by the Church, which already brought the freedom of a paraplegic prisoner and the relocation of 12 others.

The Vatican spokesman said the release of the prisoners, and the end of the hunger strike of journalist Guillermo Fariñas, “is good news from the Caribbean island, which we were expecting for several weeks.”
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Islam’s Public Enemy #1 – Coptic Priest Zakaria Botros

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The report is filtered through Evangelical theology but it remains powerful nevertheless.

Another video of Fr. Zakaria:

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Founding an Orthodox Liberal Arts and Sciences College

Helping Macrina

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From Fr. Gregory Jensen (Koinonia)

Of the many reasons I keep a blog, one central reason is that it allows me to meet many, many people and to introduce them to the Orthodox Church.

Most of the people I meet online never become Orthodox–but some do. Among those who have is Macrina Walker who, until very recently, was a cloistered Catholic Cistercian nun in the Netherlands. Without going into the particulars, I have corresponded with Sr Macrina for a while now and I can tell you she has not undertaken lightly the decision to leave her monastery and prepare for admission to the Orthodox Church.

Because she has left her monastery, however, “life is still betwixt and between” and while “things are coming together in quite an exciting way” for her, many “things are still unclear and it will take awhile to jump through some legal hoops.” So for the time being, Macrina hopes to support herself by making and selling prayer ropes. Anyone familiar with the lives of the desert fathers can tell you, Macrina is doing what monastics have always done, she is supporting herself by manual labor.

A prayer rope is something like a Catholic rosary. Where the rosary is used to say the Hail Mary and to mediate on the life of the Theotokos, the prayer rope is used to in conjunction with sating the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”) You can learn more about the prayer rope here and can find out a bit about the Jesus Prayer here.

The prices for the prayer ropes are reasonable.

These prayer ropes are made from pure black wool and natural, light wooden beads. There are three main varieties:

100 knot, with cross and tassle

50 knot, with cross and tassle

33 knot, with small cross
The 33 knot rope is available in a slightly looser and slightly tighter version, depending on the thickness of one’s wrists!

All the ropes will still stretch somewhat.

Prices are as follows:
33 knot: euro 7
50 knot: euro 11
100 knot: euro 18

Postage & packaging:
Within Europe: euro 1.30
Outside Europe: euro 1.50

For orders of more than one prayer rope, Macrina will look at postage costs and get back to you.

So would you please consider ordering a prayer rope from Sr Macrina? Or maybe ordering several for your parish bookstore? You can find out how to place an order by going to Macrina’s blog, “A Vow of Conversation.”

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

[zdgcc]

The post-Orthodox Orthodox?

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Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Democratic nominee for US Senator, supports homosexual marriage. Here’s the introduction from the Greek Star (a Chicago newspaper with Greek readership):

Alexi Giannoulias, Democratic nominee for US Senator, shares why he supports the freedom to marry for all, including people of the same sex. This is something that many of his supporters, and especially Greek-Americans may be opposed to. The Greek-American politician chose to be honest and he should be given credit for being brave to state his opinion on a difficult subject. He stated, “There may be many individuals that may not be happy with my particular stance”. The Greek Orthodox church does not allow, or support, same sex marriage. Giannoulias in the video continues “To me faith has always been less about how you treat God and more about how you treat people.”

Alexi Giannoulias

Moral relativism afflicts the Greek Star as much as it does Giannoulias. Since when is a stand against the moral tradition an act of bravery? Why the accolade for a position that flies in the face of Church teaching?

What you see in Giannoulias is the same syndrome that affects former Senator Paul Sarbanes and Senator Olympia Snowe who had no qualms ignoring Church teaching on the sanctity of life in their public lives. Both Sarbanes and Snowe never met an abortion provision they did not defend. Both voted against the repeal of partial birth abortion, and both supported the funding that promoted abortions in the Third World (a particularly noxious form of cultural imperialism). Giannoulias takes the accommodation of the moral deconstruction of Western culture to the next level: redefine marriage to cultural insignificance.

And no, Alexi, the Christian faith is not about “how you treat God.” The Christian faith is about how God has treated you. Then, and only then, will you properly understand how to treat people.

Yet the real failure, or at least the primary failure, does not rest with Giannoulias, or Sabanes or Snowe. The real failure is the accommodation the Church makes with the culture by lauding these politicians without public correction. Giannoulias simply reflects the generation that follows Sarbanes and Snowe. The generation that follows Giannoulias will justify even more egregious sin. The culture is morally confused, and because the Church refuses to draw clear moral distinctions our parishioners are too. That’s why Giannoulias supports homosexual marriage and why the Greek Star praises his stand as virtuous.

Here’s the video:

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