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| World Communications Day |
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This Sunday, 16 May, is the 44th World Communications Day and the Irish Catholic Church website is carrying a special feature, with reflections, films and articles including Pope Benedict's message for 2010 on: 'The priest and pastoral ministry in a digital world: new media at the service of the Word.'
The theme of this year's message coincides with the Church's universal celebration of the Year for Priests. The message focuses attention on the important pastoral area of digital communications in which Pope Benedict says: "priests can discover new possibilities for carrying out their ministry to and for the Word of God".
See: www.catholicbishops.ie
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| Progressio welcomes new ministers for international development |
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Christine Allen | | | Progressio today welcomes the new UK coalition government's international development team, led by Secretary of State Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP and Minister of State Alan Duncan MP, at a moment when delivering on the UK's vital commitments to the world's poorest people has never been more necessary.
Tim Aldred, Progressio's Advocacy Manager said: "We are delighted that the new coalition government has reiterated its intention to spend 0.7% of national income to help tackle the very serious issues of global poverty and marginalisation.
"At this time of global economic crisis, the poorest have been suffering most of all. We are encouraged that the new government is holding firm on its promise to the world's poor, looking beyond UK borders to support the hundreds of millions of people who, in countries like Malawi and Haiti, still struggle to feed their families and send their children to school.
"With funding tight, it is also vital that we ensure that aid is well spent and really makes a difference. As part of our work, Progressio helps poor communities around the world to hold their national and local governments to account for the way they spend their budgets. Empowering these communities helps ensure that aid is properly used to deliver what poor people really need."
The new ministerial team at the Department for International Development (DFID), arrives at a key moment. This September, a high-level summit will convene to chart progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These pledges by the international community, agreed at the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005, aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015 - which is also the expected lifetime of this coalition government.
Progressio's Executive Director, Christine Allen, said: "The new government will carry a heavy responsibility during this crucial 'crunch' period for the world's poor as we head towards 2015 - and millions around the world will look to the UK for leadership and support in this vital 5-year phase.
"Progressio looks forward to working with the new DFID team in a spirit of cooperation and partnership to deliver a better deal for the world's poor." |
| Israel introduces fishing ban in Sea of Galilee |
By: Dan Bergin
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Fishing boat on Sea of Galilee, 1898 | | | The Israeli government has introduced a two year fishing ban in the Sea of Galilee, in order to protect fish stocks there.
Scientists who study the freshwater lake say fishermen have been using nets with smaller and smaller mesh over the years, catching more small fish to match the tonnage of big fish they caught in past decades. In recent years, up to 80 percent of fish pulled from the lake were under legal size limits,PA reported.
While as recently as 2005 almost 300 tonnes of the local St Peter's Fish were caught here, last year that figure fell to just eight tonnes.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said fishermen would receive financial support during the ban.
Since Biblical times, the Sea of Galilee has supported fishermen and their communities along its shores. In the Gospels, when Jesus told Peter to cast his nets into deep water, "they caught fish in such large numbers their nets began to break".
The Israeli government have pledged to restore fish to the Sea and in future will enforce fishing regulations more strictly. The ban will not affect tourist boats. |
| Portugal: 500,000 attend Papal Mass in Fatima |
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Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia | | | More than half a million people gathered at the shrine in Fatima for the feast of Our Lady of Fatima and the tenth anniversary of the beatification of the child visionaries Francisco and Jacinta.
In his homily the Holy Father made it clear that he had "come to Fatima to rejoice in Mary's presence and maternal protection; ... to pray, in union with Mary and so many pilgrims, for our human family, afflicted as it is by various ills and sufferings; ... to entrust to Mary's maternal protection priests, consecrated men and women, missionaries and all those who do good works".
Referring then to "mystical confidences of the shepherd children", the Holy Father noted how "one might look at them with a touch of envy for what they were able to see, or with the disappointed resignation of someone who was not so fortunate, yet still demands to see".
But "the Scriptures invite us to believe", he explained. "God can come to us, and show Himself to the eyes of our heart. Moreover, that Light deep within the shepherd children, which comes from the future of God, is the same Light which was manifested in the fullness of time and came for us all: the Son of God made man. Henceforth our hope has a real foundation: ... Jesus of Nazareth".
"Faith in God opens before us the horizon of a sure hope, one which does not disappoint; it indicates a solid foundation on which to base one's life without fear; it demands a faith-filled surrender into the hands of the Love which sustains the world", he said.
The shepherd children "offered their whole lives to God and shared them fully with others for love of God", said the Holy Father, highlighting how "we would be mistaken to think that Fatima's prophetic mission is complete.
... Mankind has succeeded in unleashing a cycle of death and terror, but failed in bringing it to an end. In Sacred Scripture we often find that God seeks righteous men and women in order to save the city of man and He does the same here, in Fatima, when Our Lady asks: 'Do you want to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings which He will send you, in an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?'.
"At a time when the human family was ready to sacrifice all that was most sacred on the altar of the petty and selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups and individuals, our Blessed Mother came from heaven, offering to implant in the hearts of all those who trust in her the Love of God burning in her own heart", he added.
Benedict concluded his homily by expressing the hope that "the seven year which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions" may "hasten the fulfilment of the prophecy of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Blessed Trinity".
At the end of the Mass, the Holy Father addressed some words to the sick people present, and to those following the event by radio and television.
"In all human suffering", he said, "we are joined by One Who experiences and carries that suffering with us". In other words, it is possible to "overcome the feeling of the uselessness of suffering which consumes a person from within and makes him feel a burden to those around him when, in reality, suffering which is lived with Jesus assists in the salvation of your brethren".
"The divine Master, instead of explaining the reasons for suffering, preferred to call everyone to follow Him, saying: 'Take up your cross and follow me'. Come with me. With your suffering, take part in the work of salvation which is realised through my suffering, by means of my cross. As you gradually embrace your own cross, uniting yourself spiritually to my cross, the salvific meaning of suffering will be revealed to you. In suffering, you will discover an interior peace and even spiritual joy".
The Holy Father invited the sick to welcome the call of Jesus "and entrust to Him every setback and pain that you face, so that they become - according to His design; a means of redemption for the whole world. You will be redeemers with the Redeemer, just as you are sons in the Son. At the cross stands the Mother of Jesus, our Mother".
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