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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

CWNews.com - Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has met with lawmakers to discuss proposed changes to the country’s constitution. The appearance by the Ecumenical Patriarch—the acknowledged “first among equals” of Orthodox Church leaders—is historic insofar as the Turkish government has never before acknowledged his stature as a religious leader.

“We are confident that our viewpoints will be taken into consideration,” Patriarch Bartholomew said after his session with the legislators. He pointed out that his meeting was important insofar as minority groups were being consulted. “We don’t want to be second-class citizens,” he said.

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Damascus - The Holy Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church has, as foreseen, ended its work on 8 February,   2012. The final communiqué published this morning announces that the Synod Fathers have chosen candidates suitable for consecration as bishops, in line with the number of eparchies declared vacant and the titular sees whose holders have reached the canonical retirement age. The list of names will be sent to the Holy See for approval.

The Holy Synod considered the situation prevalent in the countries of the patriarchal territories – in particular, Syria and Egypt.  The Fathers launched an appeal to the conscience of these countries’ governments and their opponents to stop the bloodbath and for all parties to consent to resort to dialogue under the aegis of the international community and Arab countries. This dialogue should end in lasting peace built on justice, democracy and freedom.

The Fathers welcomed the open-mindedness that was evident during the Muslim-Christian summit of 7 February in Beirut in which H. B. Patriarch Gregorios III took part. They also asked the Lebanese government to look after the people’s needs, while hoping that all members of the government would grasp the need to rise above personal ambitions and interests.

Finally, the Holy Synod lent its support to the documents published in January by Al-Azhar on freedom of religion and conscience.

The next Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church will be held starting on 18 June 2012 at the patriarchal summer residence of Aïn-Traz (Lebanon.)

Translation from French: V. Chamberlain

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Enter the Fast with Joy!

The Great Fast or Great Lent is the time of preparation for the feast of Christ’s resurrection, the Feast of Pascha. Historically Great Lent was the time of the final stage of catechesis for incorporation into the Church through the Mysteries of Illumination—Baptism, Chrismation and Eucharist. Those intending to be members of the Church were instructed for a period of time, sometimes even up to three years. The last forty days of this catechesis led up to the Sunday of Pascha when they were fully received into and made members of the Body of Christ, through Baptism.

Since the resurrection of Christ, the Feast of feasts, was an explosion of joy and life, its preparation time was also considered a time of true joy in anticipation of the new life brought about by our Lenten discipline. Sometimes Christians may think of Lent as a gloomy time to beat ourselves or to suffer for suffering’s sake. Rather, the Great Fast is the Lenten springtime the Church gives us when we are asked to come to terms with our baptismal commitment to live the joyful new life of a follower of Jesus Christ. Of course, turning our life over to Christ may involve suffering and pain, especially if we are used to living for ourselves alone. But Christ’s good news is joyful, and so, even the temporary pain—the “bright sadness”—that our spiritual combat may cause ultimately gives way to a new life of true and profound joy!

The opening prayers at Sunday Forgiveness Vespers on the eve of Great Lent tell us clearly “…enter the season of the radiant Fast with joy, giving ourselves to spiritual combat, …as we fast from food, let us abstain also from every passion. Rejoicing in the virtues of the Spirit, may we persevere with love, so as to be worthy to see the solemn passion of Christ our God, and with great spiritual gladness to behold His holy resurrection.”

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

By 'Sam' Boyer, Sun News

www.cleveland.com

Theology in color.

That’s how the Rev. Marek Visnovsky explains his unique form of art — iconography.

His talent for painting religious icons is what brought Marek and his family to America, where he is priest and administrator of St. Emilian Byzantine Catholic Church in Brunswick.

When one thinks of art, an image of something free form and unlike anything else comes to mind. Religious icons, on the other hand, follow strict, traditional forms, with as little deviation as possible. It’s intriguing to see that Marek is excited to share his art, a form which began about two centuries after the birth of Christ.

Marek Visnovsky was born in Slovakia, the third of five children. His father was a plumber and his mother a seamstress who risked taking their children to church in the then-communist country. “They might have lost their jobs or suffered other consequences for doing that,” he said. It was their hard work that allowed him and his siblings to go to college.

Marek started college majoring in math and science. “But I had thought about becoming a priest since I was a young boy,” he explained. “So, after two years, I transferred to seminary.” He has an older brother who is also a priest serving in Slovakia.

In 2000, in his final year of seminary, well-known iconographer Phil Zimmerman of New Florence, Pa. came to the Greek-Catholic Seminary in Presov to lecture and give classes. As a lifelong lover of art and painting, Marek attended. “I was the only guy of 30 students,” he said, “so I spent a lot of time with Mr. Zimmerman. We talked a lot — though my English wasn’t very good — and later he asked if I would come to the United States the next year to visit and study with him.”

He was given permission by his bishop to come in August 2001, on the condition he would visit Eastern Catholic churches while here. He lived with the Zimmerman family as he studied for six weeks and they were kind enough to take him to a number of parishes. All the time, he was getting a better grasp on his English.

Click here to read the entire story at cleveland.com. (Blog post)

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I would like to speak to you today about a serious and alarming issue that threatens the right to religious liberty of all Americans and that harasses the Catholic Church in the United States. Three weeks ago, on January 20, 2012, President Obama phoned Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York, the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to inform him that he had approved a new federal mandate issued by his Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the new health care law that will require the Catholic Church and Catholic institutions to pay for insurance coverage for their employees for sterilizations, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception—each of which the Church considers to be intrinsically evil acts.

With this new mandate—the first such federal regulation in our nation’s history—this Administration has cast aside the First Amendment of our Constitution, and has denied Catholics, and people of all faiths, our first and most fundamental freedom—that of religious liberty. Despite the Church’s appeal, the only exemption to this new law the Administration will permit is limited solely to religious groups who hire and serve people primarily of their own faith. In reality, this narrow exemption is meaningless and does not include the vast majority religious institutions—including virtually all Catholic schools, colleges and universities, hospitals, and charitable agencies—which serve the common good of society and open their doors to all people regardless of their creed. Thus, practically every religious employer in the U.S. will be forced, under penalty of law, to pay for insurance coverage that violates both their religious beliefs and their rights of conscience.

In so doing, this Administration sends the alarming message that it regards pregnancy as a disease to be prevented and the killing of the unborn as a “right” that supersedes the religious and conscience rights of its citizens. This is an abomination, and should send a chill through every freedom loving American, especially every Melkite Catholic. How many of our parents and grandparents immigrated to this land of freedom precisely to escape a religious tyranny that reduced Christians to the status of second-class citizens and that sought to prevent them from publicly professing and acting upon their Christian faith! Indeed, in the words of Cardinal-designate Dolan: “This latest erosion of our first freedom should make all Americans pause. When a government tampers with a freedom so fundamental to the life of our nation, one shudders to think what lies ahead.”

With prophetic words, our Holy Father Pope Benedict himself, just last month, warned a group of U.S. bishops visiting Rome of threats to religious freedom, that until only recently one would have considered unthinkable in America. He told the bishops: “it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States comes to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism, which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres…. Of particular concern,” the Pope said, “are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.” He further warned of “concerted efforts…to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices.”

Therefore, I join together with my brother bishops and with the leaders of many other faiths across the country who speak with one voice: this morally offensive mandate cannot stand. We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust and unreasonable law. Our ancestors, who came to these shores, made great sacrifices to secure and defend the God-given freedoms of this great country. Future generations demand no less of us: we must counter this infringement upon our religious liberty. In our great American tradition of government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” I ask you to heed the call of Pope Benedict who concluded his remarks to the US bishops last month by saying: “Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with…the courage to counter a radical secularism.”

My fellow Melkites, I ask two things of you. First, during this upcoming season of Great Lent, raise your minds and hearts to God with fervent prayer and fasting for an end to the assault on religious liberty in our nation. Second, call upon your members of Congress to support legislation that would reverse or repeal this Administration’s unjust mandate. I encourage you to visit the website of the U.S. Catholic Bishops to learn how you can make your voices heard.

Finally, let us make the words of Psalm 68 be our prayer: “Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered; and let those who hate Him flee before His presence!”

With my prayers and blessing, I remain

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Last Updated: 19 February 2013

CWNews.com - Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Latham has issued an appeal to international leaders to help prevent the outbreak of more widespread violence in Syria, arguing that it is possible to resolve the country’s political crisis without ousting the Assad regime.

“Don’t think about changing the regime, but help the regime change,” the Melkite prelate urged. While insisting that he is not competent to evaluate the political situation, he said that the Church will always work to avoid violence. Patriarch Gregory added that in his view the uprisings that have shaken the Arab world during the past year are not revolutions in the ordinary sense, but could bring real and necessary changes.

In light of the fears that other Christian leaders have expressed about the future of other countries—notably Egypt—after the “Arab Spring” uprisings have brought Islamic parties to power, it is noteworthy that the Melkite leader sees the current Syrian regime as relatively tolerant of the Christian minority. “Syria has always had the lowest emigration rate in the Arab world,” the patriach notes. “It is due to the fact that the regime is secular.”