Christmas Message of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal

"Christmas approaches. Therefore I wish peace and Grace to all the inhabitants of this Holy Land: Palestinians and Israelis, Christians, Muslims, Jews and Druses. I extend these greetings to our faithful in Jordan and Cyprus who are also part of this diocese. The Birth of Christ offers several values to meditate upon: peace, hope, love, sharing, hospitality, compassion and human dignity."

Christmas Message 2009

First of all, I want to welcome you, all the journalists gathered here today, and thank you for the good but difficult work you perform. Through this work you have the opportunity to seek and serve the truth. Many journalists have paid and continue to pay a real cost to their lives due to their dedication to the truth. Information is not neutral. It has a real ethical dimension. Through informing the readers about what happens in the world, you help them to have an objective and ethical evaluation of the events themselves. Thank you and welcome.

Christmas approaches. Therefore I wish peace and Grace to all the inhabitants of this Holy Land: Palestinians and Israelis, Christians, Muslims, Jews and Druses. I extend these greetings to our faithful in Jordan and Cyprus who are also part of this diocese. The Birth of Christ offers several values to meditate upon: peace, hope, love, sharing, hospitality, compassion and human dignity.

1. Our dreams for a reconciled Holy Land seem to be utopia. Despite the praiseworthy efforts of politicians and men of good will to find a solution to the ongoing conflict, all of us, Palestinians and Israelis, have all failed in achieving peace. The reality contradicts our dreams. Here are some examples:

A. Palestinians still do not have their own State where they can live in peace and harmony with their Israeli neighbors; they still suffer from Occupation, difficult economical situation, destruction of houses in East Jerusalem and internal divisions, thousands of persons living in Jerusalem or Gaza or the Palestinian Territories are waiting for family reunion; one year after Gaza war, Gaza still suffers from economical siege, lack of freedom of movement and from the contamination of its sea and water, which endangers the health of 1.500.000 citizens among which 50% are under the age of 14.

B. The final status for Jerusalem is still under discussion. Many changes are taking place in the Holy City which may alter its vocation as a Universal city for three religions and two peoples, making it into an exclusive city. Indeed, Jerusalem is called to be a city of peaceful co-existence between its inhabitants. Unfortunately, the Al Aksa compound recently witnessed confrontations between Fundamentalists Jews who tried to invade Al Haram Al Sharif and the young Palestinians, who wanted to defend their Holy Place. The impact of these regrettable events should not be underestimated.

C. Israelis live under great fear which prohibits them from taking courageous decisions to end the conflict. The Separation Wall is a material manifestation of this fear. On another side, we had strongly hoped that the exchange of prisoners between Israelis and Palestinians would succeed and give hope to the Palestinians and Israelis. We feel frustrated by the delay.

2. Nevertheless, our hope is still alive. Hope is the "capacity to see God in the midst of trouble. It encourages us to change the reality in which we find ourselves. Hope means not giving in to evil, but rather standing up to it” (Kairos Palestine Document, 2009). In the Holy Land, everything is not desperate. There are a few signs of hope which are:

A. The partial freeze on the construction of settlements and the removal of over fifty checkpoints within the West Bank. This decision from the Israeli Military has markedly improved the freedom of movement for Palestinians and the economic situation. It is not enough, but, a step forward. We hope that other steps may soon follow. On the other hand, Palestinians are more and more expressing resistance in a non violent fashion. It is a positive sign pointing in the right direction.

B. The generosity of the international community: the financial support of the international community is a strong sign of hope. After the Gaza war, there came into being a chain of solidarity from governments, churches and individuals. We thank all the donors and promise to pray for them on Christmas.

C. The visit of the Holy Father in May 2009. Pope Benedict was well received in Jordan, Israel and Palestine. A great thanks to the governments of the three countries. He came here as pilgrim of peace and reconciliation. “No more bloodshed! No more fighting! No more terrorism! No more war! Instead let us break the vicious circle of violence.” We can add: “No more anti-Semitism, no more Islamophobia, no more fear and hatred”. With such words, the Holy Father addressed us during His visit. His different speeches, homilies, meetings and gestures aimed at promoting inter-religious and ecumenical dialogue, reconciliation and justice and at encouraging the Christian community to remain in the Holy Land and to take an active role in the life of the Country. We continue to gather fruit from his visit:

a. The massive arrival of pilgrims. Last October, according to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, 330.000 pilgrims visited the Holy Land. The year 2009 will be equal to the year 2000, which was a record in the history of pilgrimages, with 2,700,000 pilgrims.

b. The construction of a new pediatric Hospital in Bethlehem named after Benedict XVI, mainly financed by the John Paul II Foundation and other church and civil institutions in Italy.

c. Madaba University in Jordan. Pope Benedict XVI blessed the cornerstone during his last visit. Such a project will represent our contribution in offering excellence in education as we try to do in Bethlehem University.

d. Construction of a housing project in Jerusalem for 72 young couples: Eastern Jerusalem suffers from a severe shortage in housing. Permits are given only with difficulty. Construction is expensive. This project should be a pilot for others.

e. The courageous decision of Benedict XVI to summon a Synod for the Middle East to take place in October 2010. This will give us the opportunity to focus again on the big challenges facing the Churches in the Middle East.

f. The beatification of sister Marie Alphonsine, foundress of the Rosary Sisters. This great event means that the faithful, with real pride and joy, find in her a model of heroic virtues and an intercessor. I want to highlight the fact that this sister was born in Jerusalem, some meters away from the Latin Patriarchate. She also served in different parishes of the Holy Land, including Jordan. She is a model to follow. We will celebrate her feast each 19th of November.

Conclusion. The best gift we seek, above money and wealth, is peace. It is the wish of all the inhabitants of this Land: Israelis and Palestinians alike. Peace is a gift of God for men of good will. We have to deserve it. We are sure that there are many men and women of good will among Israelis and Palestinians. We pray that one day, the beautiful vision of Isaiah will become a reality: "In days to come, the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it (…) they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Is. 2: 2-5).

Happy Christmas and a blessed New Year to all of you.

+ Fouad Twal, Patriarch

A Homily by Father Franklyn M. McAfee for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Homily of Reverend Franklyn M. McAfee, D.D.

Pastor Emeritus

St. John the Beloved Catholic Church

McLean, Virginia

December 23, 2007

Lichfield Cathedral Choir - "Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending"

The choir of Lichfield Cathedral sing the lovely advent hymn "Lo! He comes with clouds descending." Words by Charles Wesley rewritten from the original text by John Cennick . The descant by the choristers during the last verse is absolutely stunning. All pictures are of Lichfield Cathedral.

Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favoured sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign

Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.

The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, amen; let all adore thee,
High on thine eternal throne;
Saviour, take the power and glory;
Claim the kingdoms for thine own:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.

UK Prime Minister Pledges to Force Gay Civil Union Recognition in Eastern Europe

From LifeSiteNews
By Hilary White

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged to attempt to force Eastern European countries to accept as legally valid homosexual civil partnerships contracted in Britain. Brown told Attitude, one of the UK's leading homosexualist magazines, "I'm fighting to get all the countries in Europe to recognise civil partnerships carried out in Britain."

"We want countries where that hasn't been the case - especially in Eastern Europe - to recognise them. We're negotiating agreements with France and then with Spain."

"If we could show eastern Europe as well as western Europe, that this respect for gay people is due, that would be really important," said Brown. "Of course it will be tough, and will take many years, but that has never ever been a good reason not to fight."

He lauded civil partnership laws as a key achievement of the Labour party, saying it "showed our country is far more tolerant than people thought."

The Labour government's commitment to the homosexualist political agenda has been especially successful in schools where "sex education" has been made mandatory throughout all grades and opposition to homosexuality has been suppressed under the guise of combating "homophobic bullying."

Most recently, guidance issued by the Department of Education will see children as young as five taught in schools about "transsexual rights." Schools are recommended to use material produced by the government-funded homosexualist lobby group Stonewall to develop curriculum.

Homosexualist activists have made no secret of their intention to use various European Union bodies to force countries like Lithuania and Poland to accept homosexuality as a valid "sexual alternative." The proposal to force dissenting EU states to conform is a key project of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe). ILGA told the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs on Fundamental Rights that recognition of civil same-sex partnerings is one of the issues of "freedom of movement and mutual recognition of LGBT families relationships in the EU."

Some are calling for resistance to Brown's plan, saying it will threaten laws protecting the family across the EU. John Smeaton, the director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children pointed to various developments that threaten the family in Europe. In January, Spain's Supreme Court ruled that parents do not have the right to opt out of the government's pro-homosexual and anti-family schools program. In September, the European Parliament passed a resolution against a new Lithuanian law seeking to protect minors from sexualization by society, and last week, eight fathers were jailed in Germany after refusing to send their children to sex education classes.

Smeaton wrote, "It is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection."

Religious Freedom Restricted for Nearly 70% of World's Population

From Catholic World News

Nearly 70% of the world’s people live in countries that restrict religious liberty, according to a study by the Pew Forum. The Pew survey found restraints on religious expression in 64 countries, including some of the world’s most populous nations. The Pew study reported:

The highest overall levels of restrictions are found in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran, where both the government and society at large impose numerous limits on religious beliefs and practices. But government policies and social hostilities do not always move in tandem. Vietnam and China, for instance, have high government restrictions on religion but are in the moderate or low range when it comes to social hostilities. Nigeria and Bangladesh follow the opposite pattern: high in social hostilities but moderate in terms of government actions.

Northern Africa and the Middle East are the regions where religious freedom is most heavily circumscribed, the Pew study found; the Americas allow the greatest degree of religious liberty. The survey encountered high degrees of both government regulation and popular hostility to religious minorities in countries such as Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and India. The large countries with low levels of both regulation and public hostility were Brazil, Japan, the United States, Italy, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Global Restrictions on Religion (Pew Research Center)

Editorial: Pope Speaks on Church's "Grave Misgivings" about Modern Environmentalism

Editorial by John-Henry Westen

In comments which received absolutely no mainstream media coverage, Pope Benedict XVI, in his World Day of Peace message issued December 8, explained the skepticism of the leadership of the Church in regard to certain strains of modern environmentalism.

"If the Church's magisterium expresses grave misgivings about notions of the environment inspired by ecocentrism and biocentrism," he said, "it is because such notions eliminate the difference of identity and worth between the human person and other living things."

The Peace message warned, "In the name of a supposedly egalitarian vision of the 'dignity' of all living creatures, such notions end up abolishing the distinctiveness and superior role of human beings." "They also," it said, "open the way to a new pantheism tinged with neo-paganism, which would see the source of man's salvation in nature alone, understood in purely naturalistic terms."

Although the media's telling of the Pope's message (e.g. Drudge Report - "Pope Goes Green") made him sound like the latest world leader turned eco-warrior, the message is a far cry from that.

The Pope's Peace message, and his former writings on the subject of the environment, firmly repudiate the solutions that have led the pro-life movement to disassociate from the environmental movement -- namely population control, the above mentioned view that man is not the center of creation, but only a small, even insignificant part, and an agenda for one-world government.

Nearly all the media attention to the World Day of Peace message focused on the Pope's restatement of certain environmental buzz words, as well as his timely call to take the task of caring for creation seriously. The money paragraph for the mainstream media was this: "Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions?"

However, at the same time the media studiously avoided the Holy Father's above-mentioned criticisms of "ecocentrism," as well as his suggestion that the Darwinist mentality leads to disregard for the environment. "Whenever nature, and human beings in particular, are seen merely as products of chance or an evolutionary determinism, our overall sense of responsibility wanes," said the Pope, adding, "On the other hand, seeing creation as God's gift to humanity helps us understand our vocation and worth as human beings."

Yes, the Pope agrees there is an "ecological crisis," but there is no doubt that he sees this crisis very differently from those who are calling for a global one-child policy.

According to Benedict XVI, "The degradation of nature is closely linked to the cultural models shaping human coexistence: consequently, when 'human ecology' is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits."

In other words, if we are not going to respect human life from conception to natural death and the natural family, we are not going to benefit the environment.

"Young people cannot be asked to respect the environment if they are not helped, within families and society as a whole, to respect themselves," said Benedict. "The book of nature is one and indivisible; it includes not only the environment but also individual, family and social ethics."

The Pope stressed that he "readily" encourages "efforts to promote a greater sense of ecological responsibility," but only those which "would safeguard an authentic 'human ecology' and thus forcefully reaffirm the inviolability of human life at every stage and in every condition, the dignity of the person and the unique mission of the family, where one is trained in love of neighbour and respect for nature."

Now there's an environmental movement we can all sign up to!

Obamas Wanted a Non-Religious Christmas: White House Social Secretary

Perhaps the President wanted to put a hold on a religious observance of Christmas while his hunt for a Washington church continues -- a search that seems to be as exhaustive as OJ's hunt for the "real killer." But then, how does one find a spiritual mentor to replace the Reverend Jeremiah Wright?

From LifeSiteNews

By James Tillman

The Obamas were planning a "non-religious Christmas" and intended not to put the traditional White House créche scene on display.

White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers reportedly told a meeting of former secretaries that the Obamas did not intend to put the manger scene on display - a suggestion that was greeted by an "audible gasp" from her audience.

The White House confirmed that there had been discussion regarding whether to make Christmas more "inclusive."

Despite such discussions, the White House eventually bowed to tradition, reports the NY Times; the creche scene is now on display.

In an email to Fox News' Todd Starnes regarding the issue, the First Lady's office quoted a speech given by President Obama at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree. The President's remarks emphasized that Christmas has a lesson for all, not merely Christians, and that it represents, "a tradition that we celebrate as a country - a tradition that has come to represent more than any one holiday or religion."

Catholic League President Bill Donohue said that it should be no surprise that President Obama and "his wife would like to neuter Christmas in the White House."

He continued: "That's their natural step - to ban the public display of Christian symbols. Have any doubts? Last April, Georgetown University was ordered to put a drape over the name of Jesus as a condition of the president speaking there."

"It is the business of the public to hold [the Obamas] accountable for the way they celebrate Christmas in the White House. We know one thing for sure: no other administration ever entertained internal discussions on whether to display a nativity scene in the White House."