Tag: Christianity

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, will allow hundreds of military appointments to get through the Senate as he ends his 10-month-long pro-life blockade that sought to force the Pentagon to change its abortion policies.

The senator began blocking military appointments that need Senate confirmation in February by refusing to allow them to pass via unanimous consent. The blockade was a protest against a Department of Defense policy that provides paid leave and reimbursement for travel expenses for service members who seek to obtain an abortion. It also covers travel costs for dependents and spouses.

Although the policy is still in place, Tuberville announced on Tuesday that he would end his blockade for most appointments — the backlog has grown to more than 400. He said he would only maintain his blockade against a handful of very senior positions.

“I’m not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer,” Tuberville told reporters, according to CBS News. “We just released them —  about 440 of them. Everybody but 10 or 11 four-stars.”

The military appointments are normally a routine process approved in large blocs by unanimous consent of the Senate. Without unanimous consent, the Senate would have needed to vote on each appointment individually. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, chose to only bring a handful of appointment votes up individually, declining to bypass the blockade of most appointments.

Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, thanked Tuberville for maintaining the blockade for 10 months in a post on X, which was reposted by the senator.

“We’re proud of the stand that [Tuberville] took on behalf of the preborn,” Hawkins said. “Every day he stood firm was a message sent to Washington that the lives of America’s preborn are worth defending, even if Joe Biden and his Pentagon don’t think so.”

Federal law prohibits Department of Defense funds from being “used to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.”

Even though the law does not expressly prohibit funds for travel expenses or paid leave to obtain an abortion, some Republican lawmakers have argued that such policies violate the statute. Republicans have introduced bills that would expressly prohibit agencies from using funds in this way, but those efforts have been blocked in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Christians must rely more on the Holy Spirit than on their own plans and strategies if they hope to fulfill their mission to share the good news of God’s love and of salvation in Christ, Pope Francis said.

The pope began his weekly general audience Dec. 6 explaining to the crowd that he once again asked an aide to read his catechesis “because I’m still struggling — I’m much better, but I struggle if I speak too much.”

Since late November, Pope Francis has had respiratory difficulties related to a bronchial infection.

Msgr. Filippo Ciampanelli, an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, read the pope’s text, which was part of a yearlong series of talks about zeal for evangelization. But Pope Francis took the microphone back at the end of the audience to ask people to continue praying for peace in Ukraine and in Israel and Palestine.

The pope’s main text focused on the need to pray for and rely on the Holy Spirit’s assistance in evangelization. Without the Holy Spirit, the pope wrote, “all zeal is vain and falsely apostolic: it would only be our own and would not bear fruit.”

“The Spirit is the protagonist; he always precedes the missionaries and makes the fruit grow,” the pope said, and that is a comforting thought because then Christians know that while they have an obligation to share the Gospel, the results are always the work of the Holy Spirit.

“The Lord has not left us theological dispensations or a pastoral manual to apply, but the Holy Spirit who inspires the mission,” he said.

Mission outreach inspired by the Spirit “always has two characteristics: creativity and simplicity,” the pope’s text said, and those traits are especially necessary “in this age of ours, which does not help us have a religious outlook on life.”

At “the center of all evangelizing activity and all efforts at church renewal,” he said, is the simple Gospel truth: “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.”

When sharing that Gospel message seems “difficult, arduous (and) apparently fruitless,” he said, people may be tempted to stop trying.

“Perhaps one takes refuge in safety zones, like the habitual repetition of things one always does, or in the alluring calls of an intimist spirituality or even in a misunderstood sense of the centrality of the liturgy,” he said. “They are temptations that disguise themselves as fidelity to tradition, but often, rather than responses to the Spirit, they are reactions to personal dissatisfactions.”

But Christians can be certain that relying on the Holy Spirit and focusing on the key truths of the Gospel, they will find “new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world.”

Pope Francis urged Christians to pray for the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance each day and not be afraid “because he, who is harmony, always keeps creativity and simplicity together, inspires communion and sends out on mission, opens to diversity and leads back to unity.”

A pro-family campaign group has warned that a proposed March referendum in Ireland to amend the country’s constitution would be a “further downgrading of the importance of marriage to society.”

The Irish government announced Dec. 5 that it intended to ask the people next year to amend the 1937 document to provide for a wider concept of family and further to delete a provision on the role of stay-at-home mothers in favor of recognizing overall caregiving instead.

David Quinn, director of the Iona Institute, a pro-family think-tank, told OSV News that while he would like more time to study the exact proposed working, “our initial response is that we would see the rewording of the section on the family to include relationships other than marriage as a further downgrading of the importance of marriage to society, indicating that the state does not see any special value in the institution of marriage.”

Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar announced Dec. 5 that if the referendum passes, the document will change the definition of the family to being either “founded on marriage or on other durable relationships.”

It’s further proposed to remove the reference to marriage as the one on which the “family is founded.”

In a separate vote, citizens will be asked whether they want to delete the so-called “mothers in the home” section where the document currently “recognizes that by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.”

The Irish Constitution obliges the government to “endeavor to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labor to the neglect of their duties in the home.”

However, if passed, the referendum would delete this and instead recognize “that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to society a support without which the common good cannot be achieved and shall strive to support such provision.”

Quinn also had reservations about this proposal.

“We note that the proposed replacement to the section on mothers in the home, no longer mentions the home at all. This seems highly significant. Why not mention the home? The government could make the language in this section gender neutral but still give special mention to the home and its value to people,” said the director of the Iona institute.

“But this fits in with the overall government philosophy which seems to prioritize the economy over the home and wishes as many people as possible to become members of the workforce and taxpayers,” Quinn warned.

Both votes are due to be held March 8, traditionally International Women’s Day. In 2015, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage after voters opted by a 2-1 majority to redefine marriage in the constitution as between two people “without distinction as to their sex.”

Skopje, North Macedonia, December 6, 2023

Photo: pravlife.org     

A study on the state of Orthodox churches and monasteries in North Macedonia was presented last week by the National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the world’s largest organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of cultural and historical heritage around the world.

Over the past two years, 707 objects—more than half the total number of registered churches and monasteries—in all dioceses of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archdiocese were examined. For each church or monastery, a report has been published detailing where it is located, when and by whom it was built, and its present condition, together with advice for addressing specific problems, reports religija.mk.

Many holy sites are in a worrying condition, according to the Committee.

Concerning the most famous church in the country, St. Sophia Cathedral in Ohrid (9th C.), the Committee notes that the building is overgrown with grass on all sides and the wooden brackets of the exonarthex are noticeably damaged.

Regarding the famous Lesnovo Monastery, it is reported that the frescoes directly under the dome in one of the churches are almost irretrievably lost due a roof leak.

View the reports at the Monitoring the Orthodox Cultural Heritage site.

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Svyatogorsk, Donetsk Province, Ukraine, December 6, 2023

Photo: svlavra.church.ua     

Despite its responsibility to the hundreds of people taking shelter within its walls and despite the considerable suffering it has experienced since the war began in February 2022, the Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra continues to help others who are in need.

Bodies of refugees found under rubble at Ukraine’s much-suffering Svyatogorsk LavraTheir bodies were sent to the nearby city of Kramatorsk for a forensic medical examination.

“>The Svyatogorsk Lavra and its sketes have repeatedly come under attack during the war since last February, suffering considerable damage.

At present, in addition to the many monastics, about 200 people, including 100 pensioners (many of whom are disabled) and children, are living at monastery. The Lavra routinely receives humanitarian aid from different parts of Ukraine, which it generously shares with other monasteries and surrounding towns. “After all, this is the only way—together—to survive the difficult times we are facing,” the monastery reports.

In particular, tons of vegetables, flour, pasta, and grains were delivered to the territorial center for assistance to people without permanent residence in Izyum, various hospitals, a charitable organization caring for hundreds of families, local villages, a center for assistance to displaced persons, the Holy Protection Convent in Liman, and the St. Sergius Convent in Sergeevka.

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Windsor, Ontario, Canada, December 6, 2023

Bp. Ioan Casian (center). Photo: Facebook     

The Romanian Orthodox Cathedral of St. George and St. Andrei Șaguna festively commemorated its 105th anniversary late last month.

The celebration, held Friday, November 24 to Sunday, November 26, “was joy and celebration crowned by the light of education,” reports the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada.

“God’s care does not depend on us, but is a gift of God’s bounty to us. This is the quintessence of a weekend of spiritual joy celebrating a community that carries here in the diaspora the flag of Romanian Orthodoxy in symbiosis with the education that St. Andrei Șaguna gave,” the diocese writes.

St. Andrei Șaguna, the cathedral’s second patron, was a 19th-century Holy Hierarch in Transylvania who fought for improved education and rights for the Romanian community under the Habsburg Monarchy. In this vein, the Windsor cathedral held a conference dedicated to Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, a Romanian Orthodox confessor and one of the most noted theologians of the 20th century, who is Romanian Church preparing to canonize Elder Cleopa, Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Elder Gherasim (Iscu)At its session on February 25, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to begin the canonization process of a dozen confessors and missionaries who suffered under Communism, to mark the 140th anniversary of autocephaly and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Patriarchate in 2025.

“>to be canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2025.

The festive weekend began with the Divine Liturgy on Friday, celebrated by His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian of Canada and local and visiting clergy.

And on Saturday, Bp. Ioan Casian kicked off the symposium, held under the auspices of the St. Maximos the Confessor cultural-theological and catechetical training center of the Canadian Diocese, saying:

I dedicated this symposium to Father Dumitru Stăniloae because in his writings we find answers to the problems of our time and a model of thinking or rationality for our lives that leads us, as he himself says, to “our improvement.” We find in him a lucidity and a naturalness of thought that combines spiritual intelligence with ascetic effort, Biblical thinking with contemporary philosophical reflection, the depth of inner contemplation and the breadth of ecclesial-community development. We also find an almost surgical thoroughness in analyzing the ancient writings and exhausting them as resources that can be used to our spiritual advantage. He combines a poetic and symbolic sensibility and a capacity for globalization and synthesis that is hardly comparable.

The conference brought together clergy and scholars, representing both the Romanian and Serbian Churches and various universities, who presented “perspectives related to the role of the Church and education, the Scriptures and the Eucharist, the need to provide pertinent answers to youth, as well as aspects of Father Stăniloae’s thought with relevance for today’s multicultural world.”

On Sunday, the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy was celebrated again, for the feast of St. Andrei Șaguna.

At the request of the cathedral community, the mayor of Windsor declared the week of November 24-December 1 as the Week of Romanian Pioneers in Windsor. Bp. Ioan Casian read the mayor’s proclamation following the Divine Liturgy, to the joy of the faithful.

The weekend concluded with a fraternal agape.

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We marked a joyous beginning to Advent this past Sunday with our 92nd annual procession and Mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego.

Thousands joined us for the mile-long walk from Our Lady of Solitude Church to East Los Angeles College Stadium. It was a glorious witness to the life of our local Church, with families young and old, Catholic school students, priests, religious, and my brother bishops and I, all coming to praise Jesus.

This procession was started in 1931 by the many Catholic refugees from Mexico who had fled the persecution of the Church and were welcomed here by my predecessor, Archbishop John Cantwell.

It is a beautiful story of mercy and hospitality for us to remember at Christmas; for me, this story ties in with the Las Posadas (“The Inns”) tradition, in which Mexican families reenact the experience of Mary and Joseph on that first Christmas night, when they could find no room at the inn.

I think of Jesus’ words: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

All these centuries later, Jesus is still standing and knocking at the door of every heart, still inviting each of us to welcome him, to join him at the table that he has prepared for us in his eternal kingdom.

The Catechism tells us that Jesus is the One “who is” and the One “who comes.”

We live our lives in this balance, in between the gift of his birth in Bethlehem and his promise to come again and gather us in his love at the end of time.

Love came down from heaven on that first Christmas.

In her Virgin womb, holy Mary bore the God who is Love. She bore the Love who created the stars and the heavens, the earth and all that is in it. She bore the Love who still moves the winds and the seas, and who sustains everything that lives and has breath.

But why? Why did Love come down? The answer is in his name: “And you shall call his name Jesus,” the angel told Joseph, “for he will save his people from their sins.”

Love came down to save us from our sins, and from the consequence of our sins, which is death.

The joy of Christmas is the joy of salvation, that beautiful cry of the angel on Christmas night: “To you is born this day … a Savior!”

“Salvation” is one of those religious terms that has become harder to understand as the society around us has grown more secular and materialistic.

Not many people anymore seem to think they need to be “saved.” We are confident in our science and technology; we think we can manage any problem, that we have everything under control.

And it is true: We have made great progress in our standards of living, we have created breakthroughs in medicines and treatments for disease. 

But our inventions can never free us from the snares of our sinfulness, can never save us from the many ways we turn away from God and hurt one another.

And no matter how advanced our science may become, we will never discover the “cure” for death.

For this we need a Savior.

Jesus came down from heaven because he knows that we cannot save ourselves, that we could never find our way to heaven without him.

St. Catherine of Siena said, “Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of humankind. God does nothing without this goal in mind.”

This is the joyful mystery of Christmas. Jesus comes to reveal that we are loved by God with a love that begins in God’s own heart, a love that begins before the foundation of the world and will continue into all eternity.

Love is the reason for the universe, and love is the reason for your life and mine. God has made each one of us to love and to be loved, to love as we have been loved by him. 

This is the promise of salvation that Jesus brings, the promise of a love that never ends.

In this season of salvation, this season of joy, let us open our hearts once again to experience our Savior’s love.

And let us ask him to renew in us the desire to share his love and to make his salvation known to every person.

Pray for me and I will pray for you.

And let us ask holy Mary, the cause of our joy, to help us to live each day with the joy of salvation.

Bucharest and Chișinău, December 6, 2023

Photo: spzh.news     

Hundreds of faithful Orthodox Christians took to the streets outside the Ukrainian embassies in Bucharest and Chișinău yesterday in protest of the Ukrainian state’s persecution of His Eminence Metropolitan Longin of Bancheny of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Met. Longin, ethnically Romanian, is greatly beloved by the Romanian people and is one of the most authoritative hierarchs of the UOC. However, because he firmly stands with canonical Orthodoxy, he has become a target of the Ukrainian authorities, despite holding the title of “Hero of Ukraine” for great efforts to love and raise hundreds of orphans.

Like many other hierarchs, Met. Longin is “It’s a great joy when you taste these bitter trials”—UOC hierarch announces state is taking him to courtHis Eminence Metropolitan Longin of Bancheny of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a beloved hierarch and father to 100s of orphans, announced on Tuesday that the state’s investigation against him has finished, and the matter will now go to court.

“>accused of “inciting religious enmity,” and Armed security forces surround Ukrainian monastery that is home to hundreds of orphans (+VIDEO)The monastery is run by His Eminence Metropolitan Longin, one of the most authoritative hierarchs of the UOC, who is also the adopted father to hundreds of orphans who are cared for at the monastery.”>last month, armed security forces surrounded and searched the Holy Ascension Monastery where the hierarch is abbot, frightening his adopted children.

As of 11:00 AM yesterday, about 300 people had gathered outside the Ukrainian embassy in Bucharest in support of Met. Longin and the Romanian-speaking residents of Ukraine whose right are violated, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

The protestors demanded that the Ukrainian authorities stop the aggression against the faithful, guarantee Ukrainians the right to freedom of religion, and ensure the safety and freedom of Met. Longin.

The people held banners reading, “If you’re against God, who are you with?” “We defend the faith that our fathers bequeathed to us,” “Don’t leave orphans without their father, Met. Longin,””Met. Longin is a Romanian Orthodox martyr from Ukraine,” and more.

And in Chișinău, Moldova, about 100 people gathered at the Ukrainian embassy in support of Met. Longin with banners with similar messages.

A protest in support of Met. Longin was also held in Bucharest on November 17.

The rallies were timed to another session of the trial against Met. Longin, though it was again postponed due to the failure of the “victims” to appear. Speaking to the crowd gathered at the court house, the bishop’s lawyer noted that the “victims” never seem to appear.

Met. Longin noted that the state’s moves against him and the continual delay of his trial also prevents him from undergoing necessary chemotherapy after having a malignant tumor removed three years ago. His Eminence also suffered a severe stroke Ukrainian Metropolitan, father of 100s of orphans, victim of state oppression, suffers severe strokeOne of the most beloved hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church suffered a severe stroke and was hospitalized on Friday, July 21.

“>in July, amidst the state’s campaign against him and the Church.

His Eminence’s previous lawyer, Valentin Sukhari, died from poisoning last month.

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St. Nicholas of Myra was born in the late third or fourth century in Lycia, in Asia Minor. As a young man, he is said to have made a pilgrimage to Palestine and Egypt, studying at the school of the Desert Fathers. When he returned, he was ordained as Bishop of Myra, which is in modern day Turkey.

During the Diocletian persecution, Nicholas was imprisoned. After Constantine the Great came to power, and made Christianity the Roman Empire’s official religion, he was released.

The most well-known story about St. Nicholas is about his generosity. One night, he is said to have given bags of gold to a poor man whose daughters were going to be sold into slavery. The money, which was used to pay the girls’ dowry, was thrown in through the window of the man’s home, and is said to have landed in the family’s shoes, which were drying near their fire.

This story is the basis for our modern-day tradition of St. Nicholas Day — children leave their shoes by the door, or hang their stockings by the fire, hoping to receive a gift from St. Nick on the eve of his feast day.

St. Nicholas is also associated with Christmas because he is traditionally said to have given gifts to children. He also wore red robes, and had a long white beard — all tokens that have been used in the legend of Santa Claus.

St. Nicholas died on Dec. 6, 346. He is the patron saint of children and sailors. Those who are shipwrecked, or who are facing tough economic struggles, or have been victims of fire, seek his intercession.

Moscow, December 6, 2023

Photo: patriarchia.ru     

December 5 marked the 15th anniversary of the repose of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II, who presided over the Russian Orthodox Church from 1990 until his repose in 2008.

In commemoration of his repose, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny of Lipetsk and Zadonsk and His Eminence Archbishop Thomas of Odintsovo yesterday in the Theophany Cathedral in Moscow where His Holiness is buried, reports the Russian Orthodox Church.

Following the Liturgy, His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Voskresensk, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, Met. Arseny, Abp. Thomas, and other clergy celebrated a memorial panikhida at the tomb of former patriarch.

A number of monastics and laymen came to pray at the tomb of Pat. Alexei.

Before the panikhida, Met. Gregory, spoke about the reposed patriarch:

The revival of the Church is connected with the time of the primacy of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II. The Church had many opportunities in those years, and he was the driving force behind those processes. Churches that had been destroyed and desecrated in the past were reopened. Churches were built where there had never been any. New diocesan centers were established. Educational institutions were opened. The Church could once again testify to its faith with good deeds and social service developed, the care of military personnel began, and many other good deeds began, which previously were only a dream. Under His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II, a host of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, many saints of God, were glorified. Thanks to the tireless efforts of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, the estrangement that existed between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was overcome.

Many people remember His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II as a kind man, as a pastor who instructed, who admonished, who did everything to make our Church flourish, so that we, dear bishops, fathers, brothers, and sisters, would have the opportunity to sincerely turn to our God, the opportunity to embark on the path of God’s Kingdom.

A wreath from Pat. Kirill and bouquets of white roses were laid on Pat. Alexei’s tomb after the panikhida. ;

***

His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II was born on February 23, 1929 in Tallinn, Estonia to a deeply believing family. He served in the Church from early childhood, and as an episcopal subdeacon from the age of 15.

He graduated from the St. Petersburg Seminary in 1949 and was ordained as a deacon on April 15, 1950, and as a priest two days later, being appointed the rector of the Theophany Church in Jõhvi, Estonia.

He graduated from the theological academy in 1953 and was awarded the degree of candidate of theology for his thesis “Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow as a Dogmatician.”

He took his monastic vows on March 3, 1961 at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and was elevated to the rank of archimandrite on August 21. On September 3, he was consecrated as the bishop of Tallinn and All Estonia. He was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan in 1968.

In 1986, he was appointed as the Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, and it was during this time that St. Xenia of St. Petersburg was canonized and churches and monasteries and relics began to be returned to the Church.

He was elected as Patriarch on June 7, 1990 and enthroned on June 10 in the Theophany Cathedral where he is now buried. He reposed in the Lord on December 5, 2008 in his residence outside Moscow.

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