5 Catholic Headlines You May Have Missed (4 Oct)

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News from around the Catholic world for the week ending 4 October.

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• Council of Cardinals meets in Rome

• Assassination attempt on Coptic bishop

• Reform agenda for the handling of clerical sexual abuse in Australia

• Rockhampton’s Bishop Heenan to retire

• Launch of new series on the life and legacy of Blessed John Paul II

 

TRANSCRIPT

SARAH: This is Sarah with your Catholic news headlines for the week ending 4th of October.

The newly formed Council of Cardinals gathered in Rome this week for their first meeting with Pope Francis since the creation of the Council on 13 April this year.

The Council is made up of 8 Cardinals from around the world, including Australia’s own Cardinal George Pell. It was established by Pope Francis as a new method of consultation on the governance of the Church.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi offered a press briefing ahead of the opening session of the Council earlier this week, Vatican Radio reports:

Vatican Radio: Fr Lombardi noted that, ahead of this week’s meeting, all the cardinals have already been hard at working, seeking input from bishops conferences in their particular parts of the globe and they’ve already had a couple of informal get-togethers to share ideas and suggestions ahead of the opening session on Tuesday morning. Fr Lombardi also read out the part of the papal letter which spells out the main tasks facing the newly instituted Council:

Fr Lombardi: “ …a Council of Cardinals with the task of assisting me in the governance of the Universal church and drawing up a project for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus on the Roman Curia”

Sarah: The Council’s discussions concluded on Thursday, and it has been reported that a new apostolic constitution to replace ‘Pastor Bonus’ was on the agenda, along with the recognition of the role of the laity in the Church. The 8 prelates are expected to join Pope Francis for a pilgrimage to Assisi on Friday local time.

More details on that story at Vatican Radio

Coptic Bishop Makarios has survived an assassination attempt in the troubled Abu Qerqas district of Egypt this week.

According to a statement issued by the Minya diocese, Bishop Makarios was visiting a grieving family in a local village when his vehicle came under fire. The attack lasted for an hour and a half before the bishop and his companions were able to find refuge.

The Minya diocese has seen some of the worst sectarian violence in recent months. A statement released by the diocese reported that the local church of the Abu Qerqas district where the attempted assassination occurred has been closed for 10 years due to attacks and a lack of security in the area.

Security forces have identified Bishop Makarios’ attackers and are currently on the look out.

More details on this story are available at Daily News Egypt

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has this week announced its endorsement of a reform agenda which could see the most significant overhaul of the Church’s approach to clerical sexual abuse in its more than 200-year history in Australia.

The reform agenda is being developed by the The Truth, Justice and Healing Council and includes a number of proposals such as broader involvement of independent bodies in dealing with cases of clerical sexual abuse, more rigorous assessment, monitoring, auditing and enforcement of Towards Healing practices, and greater transparency through public reporting.

Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council said that while the Church would support recommendations for a national scheme that may come from the Royal Commission, this might still be years away.

Mr Sullivan said “This is why the Church is going ahead with developing its own reform proposals which could be put in place as soon as late next year and could work alongside any future national scheme.

“These proposals recognise that we must do better when we are dealing with victims of sexual abuse and as we work to make sure our institutions are as safe as possible for children.”

The reform proposals are outlined in the Truth Justice and Healing Council’s Towards Healing submission to the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. They are now being fully developed and will be presented to the Bishops Conference in the first half of 2014.

More details on this story are available via the ACBC media blog.

It was this week announced that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan.

Bishop Heenan, who turned 75 last year, was ordained a priest on 29 June 1962 and was appointed bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

In his 21 years as Bishop he served on a number of Commissions of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and presided over a $6 million restoration of St Joseph’s Cathedral. In 2008 his diocese was rocked by floods and received a $50,000 donation from Pope Benedict XVI, which Bishop Heenan passed on to the St Vincent De Paul Society to assist those who had been displaced.

Bishop Heenan said he has learned a lot from his time with the people of the Rockhampton diocese.

Getting to know the different aspects of the Diocese was extremely interesting. From the rural areas of agriculture, the cattle and sheep industries, across to the coastal belt with its focus on the sugarcane industry, and with the mining industry touching many parts of the Diocese, I have learned so much”, he said.

Rockhampton is now the fourth Australian diocese awaiting the appointment of a bishop; four other dioceses are awaiting auxiliaries, with an additional four diocesan bishops close to reaching retirement age.

Bishop Heenan will retire to Brisbane to be closer to his family.

More on that story via the ACBC Media Blog

In other news… a brand new series exploring the life and legacy of Blessed John Paul II will launch on Cradio this month.

Living the Legacy is a series of 10 talks presented by Sister Bernadette Pike, founding member of the Missionaries of the Gospel, a new community inspired by the spirituality of Blessed John Paul II.

Sr Bernadette said that the series will explore aspects of Blessed John Paul II’s life, teachings and spirituality, which constitute a unique charism given by the Holy Spirit to meet the needs of the Church at this time.

Sr Bernadette: The idea of this series is to explore, ‘what is this way of being? What was it like for John Paul II to be with people? What was the Holy Spirit doing through him, and how can we learn from that? How can the whole Church learn from that?'”

The launch of the Living the Legacy series coincides with Blessed John Paul II’s feast day on the 22nd of October, and comes after this week’s announcement that the much-loved Polish Pope will be canonized alongside Bl. John XXIII in April next year.

To stay in the loop, make sure you like Cradio’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our emails via the Cradio homepage.

That’s it for this week’s headlines, thanks for listening. For more details of those stories or for more Catholic talks, interviews and programs visit cradio.org.au.

Music Credit: Waking Up Instrumental – Dexter Britain

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