News from around the Catholic world for the week ending 11 October.
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• Pope Francis calls Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
• Order of Malta opens new refugee camp on Turkish-Syrian border
• Melbourne doctor may lose license for refusing to refer sex-selective abortion
• 40 Hours for Vocations starts in Sydney
• Archbishop responds to Tasmanian euthanasia bill
TRANSCRIPT
BOBBIE: This is Bobbie with your Catholic news headlines for the week ending 11th of October.
Pope Francis has this week announced that an Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be held in October next year to address “the pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelisation”.
This will be only the third Extraordinary Synod to be held since Pope Paul VI established the Synod of Bishops in 1965. Canon Law stipulates that the Synod of Bishops meets in an extraordinary general assembly when the matter under consideration, while related to the good of the universal Church, requires rapid definition.
There has been speculation as to whether the Synod has been called to address the question of reception of Holy Communion for people who have divorced and remarried outside of the Church. However, Vatican Spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi has stressed the importance of maintaining unity and allowing the Synod to run its course.
Fr Lombardi said “It is right that the Church should move as a community in reflection and prayer, and that she takes common pastoral directions in relation to the most important points – such as the pastoral [care]of the family – under the guidance of the Pope and the bishops. The convocation of the extraordinary Synod clearly indicates this path.
“In this context, the proposal of particular pastoral solutions by local persons or offices carries the risk of engendering confusion. It is opportune to emphasise the importance of following a path in full communion with the ecclesial community,” he said.
The Synod will be held in the Vatican from 5 to 19 October 2014.
More details on that story at news.va
Malteser International, the Order of the Knights of Malta’s humanitarian arm, has opened a new refugee camp for Syrian refugees on the Turkish-Syrian border.
The new camp opened on Wednesday and has already taken in 4000 refugees, with thousands more expected. The flow of refugees has paralised camps on the Turkish border, with the UN estimating that there are nearly 2 million refugees fleeing from Syria, at least 1 million of whom are children.
Malteser International have three doctors and three nurses providing healthcare at the new camp and treated more than 80 patients on the camp’s opening day. Health advisor Sandra Harlass says that the arduous escape from Syria has taken its toll on many of the refugees.
“The people coming into the camp have spent many days and nights on the run, sleeping in the open with nightly temperatures down to six degrees, in poor hygiene conditions,” said Ms. Harlass.
“This causes diarrhea, respiratory infections and skin diseases. Some have injuries such as broken bones or wounds,” she said.
Malteser International has been active in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon since August 2012, providing emergency aid for more than 30,000 people.
More details of that story on the Order of Malta website.
A Melbourne doctor may lose his medical license after refusing to refer a couple for an abortion based on the sex of the child.
Sunshine-based GP Dr Mark Hobart has been under investigation by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the Medical Board of Australia since April, when he admitted in a News Corp Australia newspaper that he refused to refer the couple to another doctor.The couple had requested the abortion at 19 weeks after discovering that their unborn child was a girl.
Dr Hobart told the Herald Sun that referring the couple would have gone against his moral conscience.
“The pregnancy was well advanced and I refused to refer the patient because there was no medical reason to do it,” he said.
He also said that he wasn’t aware of any doctor who would do the abortion on sex selective grounds, however the couple obtained the abortion without Dr Hobart’s referral a few days later.
Dr Hobart has been a GP for 27 years, but may never practice again under the Abortion Law Reform Act, which was passed by the Victorian Parliament 5 years ago on Thursday. The Act states that a doctor who conscientiously objects to performing an abortion must refer the patient to another doctor.
Vocal pro-life advocate and Victorian state MP Bernie Finn told Cradio that the sooner the law is repealed, the better.
“This is another unjust provision of legislation which is the most extreme abortion law in the western world,” he said.
Over in Sydney, more than 500 people are expected to participate in 40 Hours for Vocations at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd in Homebush this weekend.
Now in its third year, the annual campaign calls on Catholics to take an hour or two out of their weekend to pray for all men and women discerning vocations to marriage, the priesthood or religious life.
Seminary Rector Fr Anthony Percy said that he believes with more and more people participating in the weekend each year, the Archdiocese of Sydney and the Seminary have tapped into a real need.
Fr Percy said “More than 100 signed up in our first year but many times that number came to pray for a few hours or to spend longer in our chapel in reflection and prayer.
“Last year we had an even larger turnout with several men and women, including the mother of one of our seminarians staying all night in prayer in the chapel,” he said.
40 Hours for Vocations begins this evening, Friday 11th October with Evening Prayer in the Seminary Chapel. It continues throughout the night until Sunday, 13th October when it concludes with Mass at 11am.
Details on that story are available via the Sydney Archdiocese’ website
In other news Archbishop Julian Porteous has responded to Tasmania’s proposed Euthanasia legislation in a homily delivered at St Mary’s Cathedral, Hobart on Sunday.
Archbishop Porteous reflected on Blessed John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae, stressing the importance of protecting and upholding the unique dignity and destiny of every human being.
ARCHBISHOP PORTEOUS: But it’s our understanding of what shapes our response; that we recognise that any legislation for the taking of life, even if a person wishes to do so, is inherently wrong. It seems incongruous, really, here in Tasmania, that as there is an effort to stem the growing number of suicides among the young; because Tasmania sadly has one of the highest suicide rates in the country; that there are members of government now who are introducing legislation to permit old people to choose suicide. And I’ve been very gratified to see the number of voices that have been raised in the local media condemning this proposed legislation.
BOBBIE: Archbishop Porteous’ response comes as Tasmanian MPs prepare to debate the voluntary assisted dying legislation in Parliament next week.
You can hear the full homily on the Cradio website.
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
