Cairo (AINA) - A media representative for Egypt's Catholic bishops echoed concerns that police sided with Islamic extremists who attacked a funeral service en masse at St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo.
"The police must have been aware of the situation. So why were the police not in front of the cathedral?" asked Father Rafik Greiche of the Egyptian Catholic bishops' conference.
He told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that the police "only arrived two hours later, and then they protected the attackers." Muslim extremists had previously threatened to disrupt the service, the priest said.
The April 7 funeral was for four Christians killed in a gunfight that followed a dispute in the town of Khusus near Cairo. A Muslim was also killed in that clash.
After the Christians' funeral, mourners left the cathedral and joined sympathetic Muslims in chanting slogans against President Mohammed Morsi and calling for his removal.
At some point violence broke out for unclear reasons. At its worst, 200 people attacked the Christians, some throwing stones and petrol bombs from the roofs of buildings surrounding the cathedral.
Christians took up the defense of the cathedral and threw fire bombs and brick shards at the riot police, some of whom were injured.
The clash lasted until late in the evening. Two were killed and more than 90 hurt. The New York Times is among the media outlets reporting the apparent alliance between the attackers and the riot police.
Coptic Catholic Bishop Kyrillos William Samaan of Assiut has condemned the attack.
"Nobody could have imagined that anybody would attack such an important symbol for all Egyptians as St Mark's Cathedral in Cairo," the bishop said. "It is shocking. But we will never learn the real motives for these attacks."
Fr. Greiche said that other local Muslims have voiced their support and sympathy for the Christian community.
"All of our Muslim friends told us that the events make them feel ashamed," he said.
The priest recently visited Azhar University, a prominent Sunni institution, noting that the sheiks there "assured us that such attacks are not compatible with Islam."
The attack also drew condemnation from Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who said he regarded any attack on churches as "a personal attack" against him.
Despite the president's words, some Egyptian Christians told Reuters news service that the violence has prompted them to consider leaving their homeland.
Orthodox Coptic leader Pope Tawadros II said the president has not done everything he could to protect the cathedral.
"We want actions, not words," he said.
Fr. Greiche said the violence comes at a time of improving relations between Egyptian Catholics and other Christians. The Catholic leadership is in "permanent contact" with the Protestant and Orthodox Churches in Egypt.
He said relations with the Coptic Orthodox have "completely transformed" since the election of Pope Tawadros in November 2012.
"Tawadros is very open," he added. The Orthodox Pope attended the enthronement of the new Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac.
"That had never happened before," he said.
Another unprecedented event in Egyptian Christian relations is still in development. Pope Tawadros intends to visit Pope Francis in Rome.
Monday, April 22, 2013
An interesting tome. I'm sure if you talk to almost any Eastern Catholic in the US you'll hear a story about some inter-Church dilemma they or a friend have experienced. Many of them have to do with a rather unidirectional flow of treatment of Eastern Catholics by Latin clergy. Things like baptizing Eastern Catholic children in Latin parishes without complaint, but refusal to allow Latin children to be baptized in an Eastern Catholic parish or denying Chrismation to a Latin child attending an Eastern Catholic parish or requiring CCD classes for an Eastern Catholic attending a Latin parish.
(Canon Law Society of America) - Eastern Catholics and Latin Pastors: Issues and Canonical Norms by Lorenzo Lorusso, OP, English Edition by Chorbishop John Faris, 2013, 352 pp., ISBN1-932208-35-6
There are eighteen Eastern Catholic jurisdictions in the United States with approximately 600,000 registered faithful. Pastors and canonists are often confronted with questions when Eastern Catholic faithful approach them for sacraments. Lorusso’s book is a valuable resource regarding membership in a Church sui iuris, marriage, baptism, confirmation (chrismation), and the other sacraments.
RIVERSIDE, CA (The Tribune) — A community group seeking to preserve a towering cross atop Riverside's city-owned Mount Rubidoux has purchased a small parcel around the landmark.
The Press-Enterprise reports the group Totally Mt. Rubidoux paid $10,500 in Thursday's auction for the parcel.
The City Council voted to sell the land around the cross to avoid a lawsuit on its constitutionality after Americans United for Separation of Church and State last year threatened a lawsuit.
The group asserted that religious symbol on public land is unconstitutional.
The land was once owned by Mission Inn founder Frank Miller and there has been a cross atop the hill since 1907. Miller's family donated the land to the city in 1955 and it became a public park.
 |
(ekathimerini) - US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Turkey on Sunday to re-open Orthodox clergy schools near Istanbul that authorities have kept closed for more than 40 years.
"It is our hope that the Halki seminary will open," Kerry said during a press conference in Istanbul after two days of talks on the Syrian crisis and the Mideast peace process.
Kerry said he discussed religious freedom in overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey and the possible re-opening of the theological schools in talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The Halki seminary, where Orthodox clergy used to train, is located on an island off Istanbul and was closed in 1971, after Turkey fell out with Greece over Cyprus.
Kerry also met on Sunday the Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians.
Both the United States and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, have increased pressure on Ankara to re-open the seminary as well as introducing further rights for religious minorities in the new constitution it is currently drafting.
Ankara says it is also in favour of such a move but cites procedural issues for the delay in implementing it.
Vartholomaios told Kerry that the Turkish government had improved its treatment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate recently.
“Over the last few months and years, there has been progress in the government’s behaviour towards the Patriarchate and more generally towards minorities,” he said.
“Of course, within this framework, we expect solutions to our existing problems, such as the re-opening of the Halki Seminary, which is a great need for our Patriarchate, for its present and future.”
(OCA) - The national youth directors of several Orthodox jurisdictions have collaborated to offer a resource packet for clergy and lay persons to minister to youth and young adults in light of the recent violence in and around Boston.
The resource packet - it may be downloaded in PDF format here - contains a cover letter from the youth directors, three reflections on the attacks by adults, ten tips for speaking to youth groups and Church school classes about public violence, and a ten suggested steps for equipping youth groups and OCF chapters to respond to these tragedies (reposted below). Also available on-line is the OCA’s study guide, “A Christian Response to Terrorism”, originally compiled after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, provides prayers, scriptural references, and discussion questions to use with youth and young adults.
10 Do’s and Don’t’s of Talking to our Youth about Acts of Public Violence
By Mr. Andrew Boyd
- Don’t Tell Them Everything is Ok
If you are reading this article, chances are things are not “ok”. We often have an impulse to reassure our Youth, but insisting that “Everything will be ok” apart from being not necessarily true, is usually a way to make us, the adult, feel better. Stock phrases and pious platitudes often shut down conversation and railroad emotions. It’s an easy answer to difficult questions and uncomfortable realities. Instead, direct the attention back on the youth you are ministering to. Ask them how they are feeling, how they are doing, what they are struggling with and focus on listening to them instead of providing stock answers.- Don’t Preach Blame
In times of irrational violence we all seek the stability of rationalization, namely in finding someone to blame. Our twenty-four hour cable news cycle will obsess in the endeavor, speculating as to which radical group, which political wing-nuts, which religious zealots, deserve the blame. From a Christian perspective, we all deserve the blame. Our separation from God, our willful disregard of His commandments creates this world of violence and patterns of suffering that we all live with everyday. Instead of dwelling on and giving air to the hate that violent groups and individuals are motivated by, focus instead on the positive response of Christians to such tragedies (aid, prayers, healing) and the opportunity that such tragedies give for all of us to witness our faith by loving our neighbor, even those who hate us.- Don’t Do This Ad Hoc
Don’t ambush your youth group or Church School class with an impromptu discussion of a violent tragedy. Instead, give notice that this is your intended topic. Plan your discussion points if possible and plan to include periods in the discussion for your youth to share their thoughts and feelings. Try before hand to articulate your own response to the events and your emotional response to the images and stories from the tragedy.- Don’t Have All the Answers
You do not have all the answers and pretending to is dangerous in any situation, but particularly in speaking about violent tragedies. Try to start your discussion with “I think” and “I feel” instead of stock dogmatic phrases like “The Church teaches...”. Try turning questions back to the youth when possible. For example, if a young adult says “What kind of God would allow this?” try responding with a question to the whole group “Why would the God we believe in allow this?” Guiding our youth towards the right answer is often a more effective means of teaching then merely didactic lectures.- Don’t Get in Over Your Head
Ask for help if you need it. If you are a lay person, reach out to your priest, if you are a member of the clergy, reach out to a mental health professional or brother clergy. Likewise, if you think that someone in your care needs additional support, do not hesitate to refer them to clergy or to mental health professionals. Humbly helping is sometimes the best way to be a hero.- Do Communicate
In the days following a violent tragedy, communicate with your youth as much as possible. Share what IOCC and other Assembly of Bishops organizations are doing to respond. Share what our bishops are saying. Point out where Christians are stepping up to help people. Share what the needs people might have who were directly impacted by the tragedy. Encourage them to help. Let them know that you plan on discussing this with them at upcoming youth events or meeting. After a crisis, these regular communications are a great way to let your youth know that the Church is responding, and that you are there for them (without having to come out and say it).- Do Make Space to Listen
Let your youth know that you and other clergy or lay leaders are available to listen to them, and then do it! Listen to them without judgment. Don’t jump down their throats if they express anger or doubt or loss of faith. Feel comfortable being with them in their confusion and uncertainty instead of trying to “fix” their problems. Share your own anxieties and emotions if appropriate to let them know that it’s permissible to have them.- Do Pray Together
Apart from encouraging them to attend Church, and to pray privately, pray together as a youth group, OCF chapter, or Church School class. Ask your youth what they would like to pray for, or simply prayer The Jesus Prayer so that Christ might have mercy on us all. Model prayer while you are together so that your youth will do it when they are at home.- Do Care for Yourself
Be aware of how these events are affecting you. Make sure you are receiving proper spiritual guidance, and have a trusted person to confide in. Model healthy behaviors for your youth instead of exempting yourself from those same behaviors.- Do Preach the Gospel
Lastly, these kinds of crisis, after the dust has settled, can provide great teachable moments to preach the Gospel of the Crucified Christ. We are the only faith that believes in a God who takes on human suffering Himself in order to open up a path towards eternal life and freedom from suffering. This is a powerful message. Our answer to these traumatic events is that Cross, that One who came to suffer “on behalf of all and for all.” That because of His suffering, all suffering now has meaning as a means for us to attain to Life Eternal in His Kingdom.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
From the blog Roger Pearse, a post on how a modern opinion gets conflated with a patristic source.
A correspondent has written to me with an interesting quotation which is being attributed on the web to Cyril of Alexandria. It may be found here, among other places, and reads:
When we ingest the Eucharist in reality we are ingesting the Godhead ….. because His Body and Blood are diffused through our members we become partakers of the divine nature.
My correspondent notes that this contradicts what Cyril says in Against Nestorius 4:
But out of overmuch reverence, he blushes (it appears) at the measures of emptiness and endures not to see the Son Co-Eternal with God the Father, Him who is in the Form and Equality in everything with Him Who begat Him, come down unto lowliness: he finds fault with the economy and haply leaves not unblamed the Divine Counsel and Plan. For he pretends to investigate the force of the things said by Christ, and as it were taking in the depth of the ideas; then bringing round (as he thinks) my words to a seeming absurdity and ignorance; “Let us see, he says, who it is that mis-interprets. As the Living Father sent Me, for I live (according to him) God the Word, because of the Father, and he that eateth Me he too shall live: which do we eat, the Godhead or the flesh?”
Perceivest thou not therefore at length how thy mind is gone? for the Word of God saying that He is sent, says, he also that eateth Me, he too shall live. But we eat, not consuming the Godhead (away with the folly) but the Very Flesh of the Word Which has been made Life-giving, because it has been made His Who liveth because of the Father...
Complete article here.
(RISU) - On 19 April, the Head of the Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) and Head of the Department of Foreign Relations of UGCC, Bishop Borys Gudziak set off for a pilgrimage to Constantinople. The trip is organized in the context of the celebration of the 1025th anniversary of Baptism of Rus-Ukraine and will end on 22 April.
During the pilgrimage, the delegation of UGCC will meet with Patriarch Bartholomew I. According to Patriarch Sviatoslav, “it is a courtesy visit to the Mother Church of the Christians of the Kyivan Tradition.”
The delegation will also visit the Cathedral of the Holy Sophia, the Greek-Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity and other shrines. So reported the Information Department of UGCC.
"Before the meeting Patriarch Sviatoslav and Bishop Borys visited the Cathedral of St. George at the Phanar and venerated the relics of the holy hierarchs Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom. After the meeting, there was a quick stop to the Church of the Theotokos of Blachernae, particularly significant today on the Saturday of the Akathist, where Patriarch Sviatoslav led the singing of the first Kontakion of the Akathist Hymn" - Daniel Galadza informs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
