News from around the Catholic world for the week ending 1 August.
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• Congregation for Divine Worship confirms the sign of peace will remain where it is in the Mass
• A child born of a surrogate mother in Thailand abandoned for having Down Syndrome
• Sydney Christians unite against persecution in Iraq
• Sydney farewells its late Archbishop
• Sydney to host the 2014 Catholic Digital Media Conference.
TRANSCRIPT
BOBBIE: Pope Francis has approved a letter issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments confirming that the sign of peace will remain where it currently is in the Mass. The decision follows discussions among theologians on whether the sign of peace would be more appropriate before the presentation of the gifts.
The letter says it will not be moved so as “not to introduce structural changes in the Roman Missal”.
The letter also clarified the correct use of the gesture, stating the need to ensure there is never a song for peace, people should not move from their place to exchange the sign of peace, and the priest should not depart from the altar to offer peace to members of the congregation.
The letter emphasised the time should not be used to offer holiday greetings, congratulations or condolences. According to the letter, the sign of peace should be done with dignity and awareness, as “a witness to the Christian belief that true peace is a gift of Christ’s death and resurrection”.
It reads that “If the faithful do not understand and do not show, in their ritual gestures, the true significance of the right of peace, they are weakened in the Christian concept of peace, and their fruitful participation in the Eucharist is negatively affected”.
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Questions have been raised about regulation of international surrogacy after an Australian couple allegedly abandoned a Down Syndrome child born of a surrogate mother in Thailand.
Australian media have reported that a West Australian couple contracted a 21 year-old Thai woman named Pattaramon Janbua in a surrogacy agreement, resulting in twin children. Reports indicate that Ms Janbue was urged to abort one of the twins, named Gammy, after he was diagnosed with Down Syndrome in-utero.
After the children were born in December last year it is alleged that the Australian couple took the healthy female twin back to Australia and abandoned Gammy to Ms Janbua.
Gammy has since been in hospital due to a congenital heart condition, and Ms Janbua is now demanding that the Australian parents return the female twin. The Australian couple dispute the claim that they urged Ms Janbua to abort Gammy and that the child was abandoned, stating that they were forced to leave Thailand without Gammy due to political unrest in the region.
In response to the case the Thai Government, which previously had no laws concerning surrogacy, has outlawed surrogacy except in non-commercial cases between blood relatives.
The case has also prompted response by the Australian Federal Government. Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop announced that an interdepartmental committee would hold several meetings to discuss issues related to international surrogacy arrangements.
While commercial surrogacy is currently illegal in Australia, Australians are able to enter commercial surrogacy agreements overseas, with the resulting children subject to Australian immigration checks.
The Catholic Church teaches that surrogate motherhood is morally illicit. Donum Vitae, from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, states that surrogate motherhood fails to live up to the responsibility of marriage and the conjugal act, offends the dignity of the child, and creates a detrimental division between the physical, psychological and moral elements which make up a family.
More on that story via ABC and Sydney Morning Herald.
Read Donum Vitae on the Vatican website.
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Australia’s Coptic, Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac communities have hosted a demonstration through the streets of Sydney, calling on the United Nations to assist Iraqi Christians persecuted by Islamic State militants.
The peaceful protest in the Sydney CBD last Saturday attracted over 5,000 people, marching from Central Station to Martin Place.
Addressing the crowds, former Fairfield City Council mayor Samir Yousif pleaded for Australian and international governments to stand up for Iraqi Christians and fight against militant Islam.
Mr Yousif said, “The only way we can stop this persecution is for the international community to step in and encourage and help the Iraqi Government to be a government for all people, regardless of their religious, sect or belief.”
Kiara Pirola, who was at the protest, spoke to Cradio about the demonstration.
KIARA: There were really great vibes from the crowd, everybody was really energetic and enthusiastic and positive about the whole situation. I felt really, really at home in the crowd. It was really important to me that I was there cause there was not a lot I could actually do for my brothers and sisters in Iraq who are suffering right now, but one thing I could do, one small thing I could do was make sure that the world knew, and that we knew that they were there and that they were in pain, and hopefully maybe we’ll get some action on that point. But the march certainly achieved what it set out to achieve, which was to get some attention, and it was a real joy and a pleasure to be a part of.
BOBBIE: A worldwide day of prayer for Iraq also took place on Wednesday in response to the call for prayer from Iraq’s Church leaders.
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako announced the world day of prayer in a statement, which called on all people to [quote]“combine our voices and our hearts before the Lord in order to ask for peace.”
Aid to the Church in Need International president Johannes von Heereman echoed Patriarch Sako’s request to the international Church, saying, “[i]n view of such suffering as we are forced to watch in Iraq today, it is time to join together with our suffering brothers and sisters and to show the world that we have not abandoned them.”
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Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy, former Archbishop of Sydney passed away on Sunday at 90 years of age.
Cardinal Clancy was born in Lithgow, New South Wales on 13 December 1923 to school teacher John Bede Clancy and Ellen Lucy Edwards.
After completing his studies at the Parramatta Marist Brothers College, he was ordained a Priest in 1949. In 1965 he earned his Doctorate in Theology and started teaching at the University of Sydney.
Cardinal Clancy was made Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney on 19 January 1974 and four years later was appointed Archbishop of Canberra & Goulbourn. On 12 February 1983 he was appointed Archbishop of Sydney and elevated to Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Vallicella on 28 June 1988.
He remained Archbishop of Sydney until his retirement in 2001 when he was succeeded by Cardinal George Pell.
In 1992 Cardinal Clancy became the Foundation Chancellor of Australian Catholic University. During the episcopacy of Cardinal Clancy, Parramatta’s seminary was closed and the Seminary of the Good Shepard was opened in Homebush, the current Seminary for Sydney.
Sydney’s Apostolic Administrator Bishop Peter Comensoli said the news caused great sadness.
“He was a great churchman and a true leader with total dedication to his vocation” Bishop Comensoli said.
Pope Francis sent a message to Bishop Comensoli offering his condolences on the news of Cardinal Clancy’s passing.
“I join you in commending the late cardinal’s soul to God the Father of mercies, with gratitude for his years of episcopal ministry and his wise pastoral leadership in the Archdiocese of Sydney,” Pope Francis said.
A Vigil Mass will be held for the late Cardinal at St Mary’s Cathedral, 7.30pm tonight. His body was received at the Cathedral yesterday afternoon and will lie in state until the funeral at 10am Saturday.
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Australia and New Zealand’s Catholic digital media enthusiasts will get a chance to learn from two of the world’s foremost Catholic media figures this month for the first staging of the Catholic Digital Media Conference (CDMC).
Popular U.S. speakers and podcasters Greg and Jennifer Willits will speak on the benefits of digital media for the work of evangelisation, and how to create quality Catholic media.
Greg who, along with his wife Jennifer, was instrumental in beginning the Catholic New Media Conference in the U.S. spoke to us about the importance of these sorts of gatherings for the Church and her mission.
GREG WILLITS: This stuff is vitally, vitally important because the world is looking at media for their daily consumption of what’s happening in the world, and they’re finding out about the faith from places that don’t necessarily support the faith. And so looking to things like the Catholic Digital Media Conference is so vital for the growth of the Church because this is where people are looking for content, and if we’re there representing the Church, if we’re there pointing people to Jesus Christ it’s going to make a massive difference in the world.
BOBBIE: The follow-up to the successful CNMC Melbourne in September 2013, CDMC Sydney will offer insights into how Catholics can – and should – use the Internet to share the message of the Gospel, with useful tips on how platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram can be tools for evangelisation.
Other speakers at the conference include Australians and New Zealanders who are involved, either professionally or in their personal lives, in using online media as a tool to share the message of Christ.
CDMC Sydney is being held at the Isabel Menton Theatre at Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, on August 19 and 20. For more details or to register visit www.cdmcaustralia.com. Registrations close Monday.
Music Credit: Waking Up by Dexter Britain.
