Neighborliness: bridging gaps in the digital age

MESSAGE OF BISHOP MYLO HUBERT VERGARA, COMMISSION HEAD, CBCP EPISCOPAL COMMISSION ON SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS AND MASS MEDIA ON THE 48TH WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY, JUNE 1, 2014

June 1, 2014, Ascension Sunday is World Communications Day. Each year, the pope reflects on the importance of social communications as tools to proclaim the Good News.

This year, Pope Francis challenges us to a better sense of ‘neighborliness’ to bridge gaps even in this digital age.
Just as the apostles were urged no longer to ‘look up’ but ‘look down’ and go down from the mountain to fulfil their mission of evangelization, our shouts joy and praise to God should evangelize our neighbors.

It is by power of Jesus Christ that we can fulfil our task of evangelization here on earth. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus challenges us to make disciples of all nations by baptizing in the name of the Triune of God, knowing that reaching out to our neighbour is motivated by the loving presence of Jesus who is with us till the end of time.

What are the various practical and effective ways by which we can evangelize others today? There are many – sharing of God’s Word in-family gatherings, life testimonies and examples, use of social media, service in the parish, reaching out to the poor, etc.

Pope Francis reminds us in his message for the 48th World Communications Day: “God communication helps us to grow closer, to know one another better and ultimately, and to grow in unity. The walls which divide us can be broken down only if we are prepared to listen and learn from one another. We need to resolve our differences through forms of dialogue which helps us grow in understanding and mutual respect. A culture of encounter demands that we be ready not only to give, but also to receive.” (Pope Francis, January 23, 2014)

Pastoral Guidance on the Pork Barrel Scam

Do not be overcome by evil

but overcome evil with good!

(Romans 12:21)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

The Lord Jesus promised us at the Last Supper before he died: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27) In the past months there has been no peace in the minds and hearts of many of our people. Besides the many problems that our people are facing just to make ends meet, many are bothered at the news of millions and billions of the people’s hard earned money being squandered by people to whom they have entrusted the care of governance of our country. This has disturbed not a few. As the alleged net of corruption spread, all the more the people are disturbed and some are even losing hope. Where will all this lead us? Whom can we trust?

We cannot keep silent in the midst of this turmoil. Pope Francis wrote: The Church’s pastors… have the right to offer opinions on all that affects people’s lives, since the task of evangelization implies and demands the integral promotion of each human being. (EG 182). In this issue of great import for our people we make the following call:

1. We invite all those implicated in the pork barrel scam to allow impartial investigation to take place. If they are in public office, they must NOT use the power of their office to obstruct the pursuit of truth.

2. We plead with the media to be fair in protecting the good name of people. Let those who have been implicated be given proper forum and proper coverage to explain their actions.

3. Let the Ombudsman do its task to investigate and prosecute those who are at fault. The judiciary is the proper venue to bring out justice. Justice delayed is justice denied.

4. Let those who are at fault come out and admit their wrong doings rather than hurling denials and counter-accusations, thus muddling the issue to the confusion of the people. What is stolen must be returned. The good name destroyed must be repaired.

5. Let the concern of all be the common good – that people do not lose trust on the institutions of governance and that there may be just restitution of the public money lost.

We are much saddened by the pork barrel scandal. We are shocked, together with our people, at the amount of money squandered when there are so many in great need. But we are grateful that in God’s Providence the scam is coming to light. Truth ultimately comes out. This should make public officials careful that they do not abuse the trust given to them. This also invites all of us to be vigilant over our public officials. There should be public accountability over public trust.

Let us not lose hope! As in all situations, we will see the light beyond this crisis. It will make us stronger and more mature. Let us not stop hoping, praying and being concerned and vigilant. Our government is what we make of it. Again, let us heed what Pope Francis said in a talk which he gave on Sept 16, 1013: “None of us can say, ‘I have nothing to do with this, how they govern.’ … No, no, I am responsible for their governance, and I have to do the best so that they govern well, and I have to do my best by participating in politics according to my ability.”

I request all our Catholic faithful to pray an extra rosary from May 31, Feast of the Visitation until August 15, Solemnity of the Assumption, and offer it for the conversion of the culprits in the pork barrel scam, for the courage of the witnesses and the healing of our country. I encourage our youth and children to receive Holy Communion frequently during these days of prayer and offer prayers for the culprits, the witnesses and our government. Let us overcome evil by the power of good.

For the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, May 24, 2014, Memorial of Mary Help of Christians

+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS

Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan

CBCP President

The New Media and the Work of Evangelisation

An Address Given by Irish Archbishop Eamon Martin

DUBLIN, May 23, 2014 (Zenit.org) - This address was delivered May 19th by Archbishop Eamon Martin, Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh, at the Soul Waves Radio conference in Dublin.

***

Many people say that it was a four minute speech which led to the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires as Pope. In his pre-conclave speech to the other Cardinals, he used the popular image from the Book of Revelation of Jesus standing at the door and knocking. But in an unusual and inspired way he turned the image around: “Obviously, the text refers to his knocking from the outside in order to enter but I think about the times in which Jesus knocks from within so that we will let him come out. The self-referential Church keeps Jesus Christ within herself and does not let him out….” A Church which does not come out of herself to evangelise, he said, becomes self-referential and then gets sick.

We have become familiar over the past year with this consistent theme in the teaching of Pope Francis. In Evangelii Gaudium he writes: ‘I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security…. If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life’.

It is in this context that I would like to introduce the challenges and opportunities for new media in evangelisation. I am going to take it for granted that all of us here accept the necessity of people of faith to be involved in new media if we want to make the Gospel widely known in today’s world. The Catholic Church has always advocated the use of whatever media are available to it in bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Fifty years ago, at the Second Vatican Council, one of the first decrees issued by the Council fathers, Inter Mirifica, was on the media of social communications. Its first paragraph reads:

‘Among the wonderful technological discoveries which men of talent, especially in the present era, have made with God’s help, the Church welcomes and promotes with special interest those which have … uncovered new avenues of communicating… news, views and teachings of every sort. The most important of these inventions are media such as the press, movies, radio, television and the like. These can … reach and influence, not only individuals, but the very masses and the whole of human society…’

Note the welcoming and positive tone of the message for these ‘wonderful technological discoveries’. Mention of ‘press, movies, radio, TV’ seems miles away from smartphones, tablets, Netflix, Skype, Twitter and Facebook!

Christians always made use of all forms of media to spread the good news – whether it be parchments and scrolls, high crosses, art, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, the printing, television or radio. We must welcome the use of so-called ‘new media’ in this task. Many parishes have websites, there are ‘sacred spaces’ on line, priests on Facebook, the pope on Twitter, i-Catholic, soul waves radio and many more. Last year Proposition 18 from the Synod on the New Evangelization stated, “Education in the wise and constructive use of social media is an important means to be utilized in the New Evangelization.”

By way of example, last week along with Cardinal Brady I led the Armagh diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes. Our first morning Mass at the grotto was web-streamed across the world and within minutes we had requests for special intentions from home and beyond.

There are different ways of looking at the use of new media in evangelisation – one is to see the new media as yet another tool to reach people with the message of the Gospel. By means of the various forms of new media, we can reach out to the peripheries and draw people in, so that they can hear the Word of God and understand it better. They may then be open to a face to face encounter with a Church or parish group, or feel drawn to Mass and the sacraments.

Another way is to see the digital, online, or virtual world itself as a new space which is itself in need of evangelisation. It is in this context that we notice references to a ‘digital continent to be won for Christ’, a ‘digital sea in which the barque of Christ must set sail’, a ‘virtual world ripe for mission’.

If the first of these is described as ‘evangelising through’ the internet, the second might be termed ‘evangelising on’ the internet.

One of my favourite chapters in the New Testament is Acts 17, which speaks about Paul going into Athens, the bustling communications capital of the ancient world. Paul is greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. Verse 21 comments: All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas’. I see the internet as being like the ‘new Athens’, new marketplace or Areopagus, a ‘global village’ to be won for Christ. Our challenge is to become witnesses for Christ in this strange new world, to enter into dialogue with the digital culture.

If only to be able to reach our young people and an increasing percentage of people of all ages, we need to be present in this new Areopgaus. Our young people are spending huge proportions of their time in this virtual world, so much that for many it is becoming increasingly the place where they live their lives, and what we call the real world of face to face seems often dull uneventful to them, and their secondary existence. Never cease to be amazed at the ability of young people to text, snapchat, Facebook with others all while talking to you!

The internet has become like the nervous system of our culture, in which more and more people are expressing and exploring their identity, picking up and discarding their values and attitudes, expressing their feelings and prejudices, befriending and unfriending each other, measuring each other’s status and importance, relevance and appearance. If our young people and people are living in this gigantic network, then we, as people of faith need to be in there, dialoguing with the inhabitants of this world, with the men and women who dwell in the web!

When in the Church we speak about new evangelisation, we more often than not think of the so called ‘real world’, but billions of people live in the social networks. These have been described as among the biggest countries in the world – and they are countries with no barriers. For example, 1.2 billion inhabit the world of Facebook. The majority of these people may never enter a Church, but if we are to respond to the Gospel mandate given us by Christ to ‘go out to the whole world’, then we must nowadays include the digital world and proclaim the Good News there. Our challenge as evangelisers has always been to reach out and encounter people where they are at, and nowadays, more and more that means online!

In his MESSAGE FOR THE 48TH WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY, Pope Francis speaks about ‘Communication at the Service of an Authentic Culture of Encounter’.

The internet, in particular, he says, ‘offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God’.

Pope Francis recognises the problems and drawbacks with authentic communication in the virtual world, for example – problems with achieving balance, fighting stereotypes, the ease with which people can isolate themselves or ‘barricade themselves’ online ‘behind sources of information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political and economic interests’.

However he is clear that as Christians we need to ‘walk the streets of the digital highways, to encounter like the Good Samaritan those who are lying on the side of the road and witness to them in tenderness and love’. Thanks to the internet, he says, ‘Christian witness can reach the peripheries of human existence’. I quote from the Message: ‘The digital highway is … a street teeming with people who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope. By means of the internet, the Christian message can reach “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8)’.

There is a temptation to see evangelisation in the new media as simply bombarding people with religious messages. Pope Francis encourages us to go beyond this. He challenges us to think about how we can effectively encounter people and witness to them in, and using, new media. He asks: ‘Can we be available to them, hear their issues and problems, engage with their questions and doubts and their search for truth’?

In a beautiful passage he says: ‘May the image of the Good Samaritan who tended to the wounds of the injured man by pouring oil and wine over them be our inspiration. Let our communication be a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine which gladdens hearts’. He urges us: ‘Let us boldly become citizens of the digital world… in order to dialogue with people today and to help them encounter Christ. [The Church] needs to be a Church at the side of others, capable of accompanying everyone along the way’.

I would therefore like to suggest a number of principles to guide our presence in the digital highways:

1. Be positive and joyful. Offer ‘digital smiles’ and have a sense of humour. Remember that it is the ‘ joy of the Gospel’ that we are communicating, so, as Pope Francis says: no ‘funeral faces’ or ‘sourpusses’!

2. Strictly avoid aggression and ‘preachiness’ online; try not to be judgemental or polemical – goodness knows, there is enough of this online already! Instead, try Pope Francis’ approach of ‘tenderness and balm’.

3. Never bear false witness on the internet.

4. Remember ‘Ubi caritas et amor’. Fill the internet with charity and love, always giving rather than taking. Continually seek to broaden and reframe discussions and seek to include a sense of charity and solidarity with the suffering in the world.

5. Have a broad back when criticisms and insults are made – when possible, gently correct.

6. Pray in the digital world! Establish sacred spaces, opportunities for stillness, reflection amd meditation online.

7. Establish connections, relationships and build communion. Church has always been about ‘gathering’. In this, it is worth considering an ecumenical presence for the Christian churches online. The internet tends to be a place of ethical and intellectual relativism, and often of aggressive secularism. The scandal of disunity among Christians can be easily exploited and exaggerated. Therefore we must seek to share resources so that we can have a powerful Gospel witness. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people started noticing online: ‘See how these Christians love one another’.

8. Educate our young to keep themselves safe and to use the internet responsibly.

9. Witness to human dignity at all times online. Seek, as Pope Benedict once said, to ‘give a soul to the internet’. We are well aware of the pervasive prevalence of pornography on the internet which can ‘pollute the spirit’, destroy and degrade human sexuality and relationships, reduce persons to objects for gratification, draw millions into the commodification and commercialisation of sex, feed the monster that is human trafficking.

10. Be missionary, be aware that with the help of the internet, a message has the potential to reach the ends of the earth in seconds. In this regard, let us foster and call forth charisms in younger committed people who understand the power and potential of the net to bear witness.

On 5 May Pope Francis tweeted: @Pontifex: What does “evangelise” mean? To give witness with joy and simplicity to what we are and what we believe in.

That is our challenge and our privilege as Christians. Freely we have received the joy of the gospel now let us freely give it.

Asian Conference on the Family Official Statement

Introduction

            We, 551 participants, lay faithful, religious and clergy, coming from 14 Asian countries, 60 Philippine dioceses and 20 lay associations, gathered in Manila from 13 to 16 May 2014 to celebrate with exuberant joy the thirty years since the Charter of the Rights of the Family was promulgated.

            With us was the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Bishop Jean Laffitte, as well as 28 bishops and some men and women of other faith traditions.

The Charter of Rights of the Family

            The Charter manifests that nothing authentically human fails to find an echo in the heart of each believer (Gaudium et Spes, n. 1). It expresses what we hold to be the basic framework within which the human family – any human family – every human family – can form, flourish and fulfill its mission.

50 years since Vatican II

            In the past 50 years, the world has been undergoing great changes in the economic, social, political, cultural and religious spheres. Affected by these changes is the most basic human institution, the family. In fact, the family itself has been the primary beneficiary and victim of these changes, which have become challenges to families all over the world.

Challenges and Threats

            These challenges present themselves as threats to the very existence of the family itself. Abortion kills the very life without which no family can exist. Contraception and sterilization – and a contraceptive mentality which refuses to shoulder the responsibility of having children – threaten the procreative purpose of marriage and the family by attacking the very wellsprings of human life. The advocacy for same-sex marriages likewise attempts to reduce marriage to a sterile relationship between people of the same sex.

An amnesia of God and moral relativism

            A consumeristic, materialistic and individualistic culture that suffers from an amnesia of God (Pope Benedict XVI) and is fed by a certain liberal and moral relativism has also threatened the family by breeding lifestyles harmful to family living. And so people live, motivated not so much by the cultivation of healthy human relationships but driven rather by the desire for money, pleasure and success. The outcome is a society where fidelity and commitment come in short supply and are subordinated to the accumulation of possessions and the achievement of personal ambitions; hence, the widespread phenomenon of divorce and marital infidelity.

Poverty breeds moral desolation

            Looming large like a storm cloud whose waters can drown the family is the poverty that afflicts billions of people in our continent. This poverty has resulted in conditions which make moral living almost impossible, and has become a fertile field of temptations for impoverished families to surrender their own human dignity in order to meet the economic requirements of survival. Poverty is the fertile ground for pornography, cybercrimes, prostitution, human trafficking, slavery, and other practices that dehumanize and divide members of families. Poverty has also driven people to seek means of livelihood that separate husbands and wives from each other and from their children. Thus, poverty, the deprivation of the necessities for decent human living, has led to the destruction of families.

The ambiguity of affluence

            If poverty is gravely harmful to the family, affluence also affects families destructively if it is not tempered by a sense of solidarity with others, especially the poor. Affluence, when enjoyed in a self-centered manner, can only result in the destruction of the lives of individuals and families through hedonism and extravagance.

Threats from other institutions

            Compounding the threats to the family are governments and other social institutions that militate against life and the family through coercive measures that run counter to the rights of individuals, couples and families to flourish according to the natural law and the laws of the Church. This natural law we refer to is the participation of human beings in God’s eternal law, a participation inscribed in our very humanity and can be discovered by the light of reason aided by the grace of God. Governments that promote contraception, abortion, sterilization, coercive population control, divorce, same-sex marriages and euthanasia, destroy families which they are duty-bound to protect and foster.

A tsunami of evils

            The result of all of these and other threats to family life is a tsunami of evils threatening to engulf families today, whether they be rich or poor.

The family is dear to the heart of God

            But the present changes present not only threats but opportunities for families. We believe that the family is especially dear to the heart of God, for the family is the first social institution established by God to foster, defend and promote human life and human love. It is by way of the family, that the good of society, of humanity and of the Church herself passes (CRF, Preamble, K). Because it is so precious to God, it must also be most highly valued by us. Thank God, we in Asia do. Because the family is so valuable and because God wants the future of humanity to pass through the human family, we must safeguard, protect, foster and promote the family. We – each one of us, all of us – must individually and together do this for what is at stake is the future of humanity.

Therefore, we must continue to insist that:

–  the family is based on marriage, that intimate union of life in complementarity between a man and a woman which is constituted in the freely contracted and publicly expressed indissoluble bond of matrimony and is open to the transmission of life;

–  marriage is the natural institution to which the mission of transmitting life is exclusively entrusted;

–  the family, a natural society, exists prior to the State or any other community, and possesses inherent rights which are inalienable (CRF, Preamble, B-D).

            Because the family exists prior to the State, we should not allow the State to encroach upon the inherent and inalienable rights of families.

We urge respect for every human life

            We urge respect for every human life from conception to natural death and echo the words of St. John Paul II, the saint of the family, who called upon the faithful in Asian countries “where the demographic question is often used as an argument for the need to introduce abortion and artificial population control programs, to resist ‘the culture of death’. They can show their fidelity to God and their commitment to true human promotion by supporting and participating in programs which defend the life of those who are powerless to defend themselves” (Ecclesia in Asia, n. 35).

The family and the destiny of nations

            We should also ensure that the family remains “the place where different generations come together and help one another to grow in human wisdom and to harmonize the rights of individuals with other demands of social life” (CRF, Preamble, F). We should realize that our place in human history comes by way of our family.

The need for social equity

            We commit ourselves and we urge our Asian societies to work for a more equitable sharing in the goods of this world so as to enable all families to have their rightful share in this world’s goods.

The family and the Church as sacrament

            We in the Catholic Church have a special obligation to protect and promote the human family and the Christian family. For the Church is of its nature a sacrament of salvation which both signifies and effects the union of God with human beings and the union of human beings with each other (LG 1). Hence, what makes for the unity of human beings should be protected and fostered by the Church. The family is, of course, most necessary for the union of human beings with each other. But we in the Church should especially protect and foster the Christian family because it is the basic unit of the Church, the domestic Church, the Church in the home. As the Christian family goes, so goes the Church. If the Christian family is strong, the Church will be strong. If the Christian family is weak, the Church will be weak.

The Church protects the family

            But it is also true that the Church is the most potent protector of the family. If the Church cannot protect the family, the family will be left without much protection. But if the Church is vigorous in protecting and fostering the family, the family will be protected and flourish.

Governments must protect the family

            We urge governments to consider seriously the Charter on the Rights of the Family in the formulation of policies affecting the family. We pledge ourselves to encourage dialogue with our respective governments on matters affecting the family.

The witness of families…

            During this assembly, we have heard and seen couples and young people witness how the Christian family has been a powerful transmitter of Gospel values, and of the Good News itself. Where Christ is accepted in faith and imitated in love, there also Christian values are protected and transmitted and the Christian family is strengthened.

…under the sign of the Cross

            In this assembly, we wish to express our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Asia and in other parts of the world who are prevented from expressing their faith in God by oppressive cultural systems and government policies.

With brothers and sisters of other faiths…

            We have come to appreciate more through the sharing of our brothers and sisters who are of other faiths that they are also our allies in transmitting to our future generations the values of God and his Kingdom.

We choose life!

            Today, we are challenged to choose between life and death for the human family. If we choose life and obey the law of God written in our hearts, we shall live (cf. Dt 30:19f). We in this assembly choose life for the family! We will pray and work for the protection, preservation, and flourishing of every human family.

Encouraged by one another, we are joyful missionaries!

            Strengthened by the testimony of those who have given witness in this assembly, encouraged by our togetherness and sharing, and fortified by the Spirit of the Lord, we go forth in joy to make of the family and especially the Christian family Good News for the salvation of the world. We shall be joyful missionaries for the family, proclaiming the Gospel of life and love so as to be “a voice in public life” on behalf of freedom and justice that cannot be silenced by force (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, n. 74).

The Holy Family, the Family of Life

            We ask the Holy Family of the Lord Jesus Christ – who is Life (Jn 14:6) – the Blessed Virgin Mary – Mother of Life (cf. Jn 19:26f; cf. Rev 12:1-6) – and St. Joseph – Guardian of Life (Mt 3:13-23) – to intercede for us in our prayer and work for the family to the praise and glory of the Blessed Trinity.

Video for the 48th World Communications Day

Download this video and play this in all masses to celebrate the 48th World Communications Day on June 1, 2014.

Second, in line with this celebration, there will be a Second Collection in all masses.  20 percent of the proceeds will be used for the pastoral projects of the Episcopal Commission on Social Communications while the rest will be used for your Diocesan Ministry of Social Communications.  Please remit your contributions to your dioceses / archdioceses.

I thank you wholeheartedly for your support and assistance to a worthy cause that always seeks to update the faithful on the language of mass media as a potent tool for the new evangelization.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

(sgd.) +MYLO HUBERT C. VERGARA, D.D.

Commission Head

MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR THE 51st WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS

11 MAY 2014 - FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Theme: Vocations, Witness to the Truth

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. The Gospel says that “Jesus went about all the cities and villages... When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’” (Mt 9:35-38). These words surprise us, because we all know that it is necessary first to plow, sow and cultivate to then, in due time, reap an abundant harvest. Jesus says instead that “the harvest is plentiful”. But who did the work to bring about these results? There is only one answer: God. Clearly the field of which Jesus is speaking is humanity, us. And the efficacious action which has borne “much fruit” is the grace of God, that is, communion with Him (cf. Jn 15:5). The prayer which Jesus asks of the Church therefore concerns the need to increase the number of those who serve his Kingdom. Saint Paul, who was one of “God’s fellow workers”, tirelessly dedicated himself to the cause of the Gospel and the Church. The Apostle, with the awareness of one who has personally experienced how mysterious God’s saving will is, and how the initiative of grace is the origin of every vocation, reminds the Christians of Corinth: “You are God’s field” (1 Cor 3:9). That is why wonder first arises in our hearts over the plentiful harvest which God alone can bestow; then gratitude for a love that always goes before us; and lastly, adoration for the work that he has accomplished, which requires our free consent in acting with him and for him.

2. Many times we have prayed with the words of the Psalmist: “It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Ps 100:3); or: “The Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession” (Ps 135:4). And yet we are God’s “possession” not in the sense of a possession that renders us slaves, but rather of a strong bond that unites us to God and one another, in accord with a covenant that is eternal, “for his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 136). In the account of the calling of the prophet Jeremiah, for example, God reminds us that he continually watches over each one of us in order that his word may be accomplished in us. The image is of an almond branch which is the first tree to flower, thus announcing life’s rebirth in the springtime (cf Jer 1:11-12). Everything comes from him and is his gift: the world, life, death, the present, the future, but — the Apostle assures us — “you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3:23). Hence the way of belonging to God is explained: it comes about through a unique and personal relationship with Jesus, which Baptism confers on us from the beginning of our rebirth to new life. It is Christ, therefore, who continually summons us by his word to place our trust in him, loving him “with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength” (Mk 12:33). Therefore every vocation, even within the variety of paths, always requires an exodus from oneself in order to centre one’s life on Christ and on his Gospel. Both in married life and in the forms of religious consecration, as well as in priestly life, we must surmount the ways of thinking and acting that do not conform to the will of God. It is an “exodus that leads us on a journey of adoration of the Lord and of service to him in our brothers and sisters” (Address to the International Union of Superiors General, 8 May 2013). Therefore, we are all called to adore Christ in our hearts (1 Pet 3:15) in order to allow ourselves to be touched by the impulse of grace contained in the seed of the word, which must grow in us and be transformed into concrete service to our neighbour. We need not be afraid: God follows the work of his hands with passion and skill in every phase of life. He never abandons us! He has the fulfilment of his plan for us at heart, and yet he wishes to achieve it with our consent and cooperation.

3. Today too, Jesus lives and walks along the paths of ordinary life in order to draw near to everyone, beginning with the least, and to heal us of our infirmities and illnesses. I turn now to those who are well disposed to listen to the voice of Christ that rings out in the Church and to understand what their own vocation is. I invite you to listen to and follow Jesus, and to allow yourselves to be transformed interiorly by his words, which “are spirit and life” (Jn 6:62). Mary, the Mother of Jesus and ours, also says to us: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). It will help you to participate in a communal journey that is able to release the best energies in you and around you. A vocation is a fruit that ripens in a well cultivated field of mutual love that becomes mutual service, in the context of an authentic ecclesial life. No vocation is born of itself or lives for itself. A vocation flows from the heart of God and blossoms in the good soil of faithful people, in the experience of fraternal love. Did not Jesus say: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35)?

4. Dear brothers and sisters, this “high standard of ordinary Christian living” (cf John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31) means sometimes going against the tide and also encountering obstacles, outside ourselves and within ourselves. Jesus himself warns us: the good seed of God’s word is often snatched away by the Evil one, blocked by tribulation, and choked by worldly cares and temptation (cf Mt 13:19-22). All of these difficulties could discourage us, making us fall back on seemingly more comfortable paths. However, the true joy of those who are called consists in believing and experiencing that he, the Lord, is faithful, and that with him we can walk, be disciples and witnesses of God’s love, open our hearts to great ideals, to great things. “We Christians were not chosen by the Lord for small things; push onwards toward the highest principles. Stake your lives on noble ideals!” (Homily at Holy Mass and the Conferral of the Sacrament of Confirmation, 28 April 2013). I ask you bishops, priests, religious, Christian communities and families to orient vocational pastoral planning in this direction, by accompanying young people on pathways of holiness which, because they are personal, “call for a genuine ‘training in holiness’ capable of being adapted to every person’s need. This training must integrate the resources offered to everyone with both the traditional forms of individual and group assistance, as well as the more recent forms of support offered in associations and movements recognized by the Church” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31).

Let us dispose our hearts therefore to being “good soil”, by listening, receiving and living out the word, and thus bearing fruit. The more we unite ourselves to Jesus through prayer, Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the Sacraments celebrated and lived in the Church and in fraternity, the more there will grow in us the joy of cooperating with God in the service of the Kingdom of mercy and truth, of justice and peace. And the harvest will be plentiful, proportionate to the grace we have meekly welcomed into our lives. With this wish, and asking you to pray for me, I cordially impart to you all my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 15 January 2014

FRANCIS

Draft 2 of the Summary of the 48th World Communications Day Message of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

You may download the summary here.  Please distribute it to your parishes to be delivered in your homilies this June 1, 2014, Ascension Sunday.  Thank you!

COMMUNICATION AT THE SERVICE OF AN AUTHENTIC CULTURE OF ENCOUNTER: A SUMMARY

A SUMMARY BASED ON THE MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER, POPE FRANCIS ON THE 
OCCASION OF THE 48TH WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY ON ASCENSION SUNDAY, 
JUNE 1, 2014


BY FR. JOSELITO JOPSON, ECE, M.A. COMM, SICL
Executive Secretary, CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Communications

We are enamored by all sorts of gadgets and technological advancements right within our reach.

The world of the internet contains the most exciting arena for communications like social networking and establishing links anywhere around the globe in an instant.

But despite such advancements, divisions still run deep. “The world suffers from exclusion, marginalization, and poverty that borders around the combination of economic, political, ideological, and even religious motives.” (Pope Francis, 48th World Communications Day Message)

For this year marking the 48th World Communications Day on Ascension Sunday, the Holy Father Pope Francis underscores an authentic culture of encounter among the people in the vast world of social communications.

Dubbed with the theme, “Communication at the service of the an authentic culture of encounter”, the Holy Father stresses on communication as an “ultimately human rather than a technological achievement.”

Quoting from the document, “A culture of encounter needs a listening ear and an understanding heart that listens to different cultures and traditions.”

According to the Holy Father, the parable of the Good Samaritan provides the key to the very heart of communications:  “Who is my neighbor?”

The document states: “Communication is not aimed at promoting consumption or manipulating others ... we are dealing with a form of violent aggression like that suffered by the man in the parable, who was beaten by robbers and left abandoned on the road. The Levite and the priest do not regard him as a neighbour, but as a stranger to be kept at a distance. Nowadays there is a danger that certain media so condition our responses that we fail to see our real neighbour.”

“It is not enough to be passersby on the digital highways, simply “connected”; connections need to grow into true encounters.”

The Holy Father explains, “We need to love and be loved.  The world of media is called to tenderness… the digital highway is teeming with people who are hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope.”

The Holy Father Pope Francis encourages all Catholics to practice neighborliness to all even in the vast world of social networks.

“Show that the Church is home to all.  The social networks are one way to experience this call to discover the beauty of the faith, the beauty of encountering Christ.

Neighborliness demands that we dialogue with men and women, understand expectations, doubts and hopes, and bring them the Gospel, Jesus himself.

Let our communication be a balm relieving pain and fine wine to gladden our hearts… the challenge of media is to share with others the beauty of God.”

Let us practice neighborliness in social networks and let the beauty of God emanate from this wonderful technology!

CELEBRATION OF WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY 2014

ATTN: ALL ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATORS, DIOCESAN MINISTERS OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

Your Eminences / Excellencies / Reverend Administrators / Monsignors / Reverend Fathers / Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Greetings in the Risen Lord!

Each year, the Catholic Church celebrates the World Communications Day on Ascension Sunday.  This day, now on its 48^th anniversary, falls on June 1, 2014, with the theme “Communications at the Service of an Authentic Culture of Encounter”.

I am sending the WCD message of the Holy Father, Pope Francis and a summary of the document as well as a 5 minute video which you can reproduce for your parishes to be delivered during homilies.

Second, in line with this celebration, there will be a Second Collection in all masses.  20 percent of the proceeds will be used for the pastoral projects of the Episcopal Commission on Social Communications while the rest will be used for your Diocesan Ministry of Social Communications.  Please remit your contributions to the “CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Communications and Mass Media” or simply “CBCP-ECSC”.  You may also deposit directly to BPI account no. 4951-0078-17 as soon as possible.  Please inform us of this deposit through email or telephone.

I thank you wholeheartedly for your support and assistance to a worthy cause that always seeks to update the faithful on the language of mass media as a potent tool for the new evangelization.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

(sgd.) +MYLO HUBERT C. VERGARA, D.D.

Commission Head