#apostolic church internationalism

[gokitetour]

7 interesting things you need to know about Armenia

With its rugged mountainous terrain and ancient heritage, Armenia has a unique blend of natural beauty and historical wonder. From being one of the oldest wineries in the world to being the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion, Armenia’s heritage is deep and fascinating. The capital city of Yerevan features a mix of Soviet-era architecture and modern development. This small country also has breathtaking scenery, including the iconic Mount Ararat, which, although located in modern-day Turkey, has medieval monasteries, ancient churches, and archaeological sites to its credit. The country of Armenia, which remains a great symbol of its supposed past, is famous for its. Here are seven fascinating things to know about Armenia that highlight its unique beauty and enduring spirit. A hidden gem in the South Caucasus region, Armenia is a country steeped in history and culture, offering rich experiences to those willing to explore its depths. Armenia’s seven fascinating aspects make it a place unique and exciting.

7 interesting things you need to know about Armenia

1. Practicing Christianity

Armenia adopted Christianity as the state religion in 1800 AD and retains the distinctive title of the First Nation. St. Gregory the Illuminator and King Tiridates III presided over this grand event. As a result, Armenia has ancient churches and monasteries, many dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. 303 A.D. Echmiadzin Cathedral, built in 1900, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world and is the spiritual center of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Visitors to Armenia can explore these historical and religious sites and learn about the spirituality of the country's deep heritage.

2. Ancient winemaking traditions

Armenia has one of the oldest winemaking traditions in the world, with evidence of grape production dating back more than 6,000 years. Discovered in 2007, the Areni-1 cave revealed the oldest known wine cellar in the world, complete with fermentation vessels, wine printing vessels, and storage vessels. This is an ancient practice even today, and Armenia produces wine varieties that reflect long-standing knowledge in grape production. The country’s internationally recognized wines, especially those made from indigenous grape varieties such as Areni Noir, Wine lovers visiting Armenia can visit the vineyards and taste some of the region’s best wines.

3. A wonderful landscape

Armenia’s diverse and beautiful landscapes range from rugged mountains to dense forests and arid deserts. The Lesser Caucasus Mountains dominate the country’s terrain, with Mount Aragats being the highest peak at 4,090 meters. Although Mount Ararat, a symbol of national pride on the Armenian flag, is located just across the border in Turkey, Lake Sevan, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, makes Armenian culture and history a major part of its personality.

4. Rich cultural heritage

Armenia’s cultural heritage is a testament to its storied past and vibrant present. The country is known for its unique Armenian architecture, including beautifully carved stone, khachkars (stone crosses), unique temple frescoes, and Yerevan museums such as the Matendaran (Institute of Ancient Manuscripts). Some of the oldest manuscripts in the world and some of the documents in literature and science are preserved. Showcasing the country’s historical contributions, Armenian music and dance, with their unique songs and rhythms, play a central role in the country’s cultural identity and preservation.

5. Armenian food

Armenian cuisine is an intriguing blend of flavors, reflecting the country’s geographical and historical influences. Specialties such as lavash (traditional flatbread), khorovats (barbecue), and dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) are an integral part of Armenian cuisine. Fresh herbs and spices combine with age-old cooking techniques to create delicious and nutritious dishes.

Visitors can enjoy a variety of traditional dishes, often including Armenian brandy, which is renowned for its quality and smoothness and is favored by celebrities such as Winston Churchill.

6. A resilient soul

Armenia’s history is resilient. The Armenian Genocide, in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died in 1915, is a poignant chapter in the country’s history. Despite such tragedy, the Armenian people showed remarkable strength and resilience. On April 24th, the genocide is commemorated every year, and the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan stands as a solemn reminder of the past and a testament to the enduring spirit of the Armenian people.

7. Warm hospitality

Armenians are known for their warm and friendly hospitality. Family and community play an important role in Armenian society, and this is reflected in the welcoming nature of the people. Travelers are often invited to share meals, celebrate festivals, and participate in local customs. This genuine hospitality makes a visit to Armenia a comprehensive and enriching experience, leaving a lasting impression on people exploring this fascinating country.

Conclusion

Armenia is a treasure trove of history, culture, and natural beauty, offering every traveler a unique experience. From its uniqueness as a leading Christian country to its ancient winemaking traditions to its stunning landscape and rich cultural heritage, Armenia captivates and inspires, and the resilient spirit of its people and their hospitality add to the beauty of this fascinating country. Whether exploring its historic monasteries or sampling its delicious cuisine, Armenia promises an unforgettable trip. Obtaining an Armenia visa is a simple process for those planning to visit, opening the way for an enriching journey in this amazing country.

[taruntravell]

The Vatican - The Holy City

The Vatican City, officially known as the Vatican City State, is an independent city-state enclaved within Rome, Italy. It is the smallest internationally recognized independent state in the world by both area and population. The Vatican City is the spiritual and administrative headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and is ruled by the Pope.

Here are some key points about the Vatican City:

Size and Population: The Vatican City covers an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres) and has a population of around 800 residents. It is located on the Vatican Hill, just west of the Tiber River in Rome.

Sovereignty: The Vatican City is an independent city-state with its own government. It has its own legal system, flag, and anthem. The Pope is the head of state and exercises complete executive, legislative, and judicial authority over the Vatican.

Religion: The Vatican City is the spiritual center of the Roman Catholic Church. It is home to important religious sites and institutions, including St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Apostolic Palace. The Pope, who is considered the successor of Saint Peter, resides in the Vatican and conducts religious ceremonies and events there.

Cultural and Historical Significance: The Vatican City is rich in art, history, and culture. St. Peter's Basilica, one of the largest and most renowned churches in the world, attractions millions of visitors each year. The Vatican Museums house a vast collection of art, including masterpieces such as Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.

Diplomatic Relations: The Vatican City maintains diplomatic relations with countries around the world. It has its own diplomatic corps, known as the Holy See, which represents the Vatican in international affairs and negotiates treaties on its behalf. The Holy See is also a permanent observer in the United Nations.

Tourism: The Vatican City is a major tourist destination, drawing millions of visitors each year. Tourists can explore the Vatican Museums, visit St. Peter's Basilica and climb to the top of the dome for panoramic views of Rome, and witness the Papal Audience or the Papal Mass in St. Peter's Square.

St. Peter's Square: St. Peter's Square, located in front of St. Peter's Basilica, is a large open space that serves as a gathering place for religious ceremonies and events. It is famous for its distinctive colonnades, which were designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The Vatican City holds significant religious, cultural, and historical importance for Catholics and visitors from around the world. It serves as a center of pilgrimage, a hub of religious activity, and a treasure trove of art and history.

[whatisonthemoon]

The following post came directly from the FFWPU and their research. That said, there’s a lot of interesting information on the formal connections between the early Unification Church and western Pentecostalism. The Apostolic Church International was known to have been affected by the William Branham-associated “Latter Rain Revival,” where a number of doctrines were pushed, including the British Israelism-influenced “serpent seed” doctrine (which claims the fall of Adam and Eve was sexual, and was also racialized). The early practices of the Unification Church were also much more openly pentecostal, with tongues and interpretation, prophecy, etc.

A Man with a Mission – Part 3

▲ Pictured: Pastor Joshua McCabe (seated, center) with True Father (left) and Young Oon Kim. Behind ar Church President Hyo Won Eu (light-colored suit) and Hyo Min Eu (hands on his belt), among others; Pastor McCabe recorded his impressions of Father and the early church in an article that was published in his own church’s magazine, and reproduced here.

In 1954, the year our church was formally registered in Seoul, David S. C. Kim traveled to Britain to study on a UN scholarship at the age of 38. Even though True Father did not personally assign him to do so at that time, David Kim took every opportunity to reach out to other churches and witness to the truth. The following account records a remarkable and little-known result of that investment. (click here if you wish to read Part 1 or Part 2)

David Sang Chul Kim’s Testimony:

Not long after the founding of HSA-UWC in Korea, I was selected by the Korean government to study in Britain for two years as a UN scholar, along with other under-developed nations’ representatives at Swansea College, Uni­versity of Wales. Externally I was a UN scholar, but internally I had a mission to spread True Father’s message to Chris­tians overseas and around the world.

While I was in Wales I never neglected my heavenly mission and duty. Whenever I had spare time, I vis­ited many churches and small groups to look for people, and spoke many times at churches as a guest speaker. On those occasions I would introduce our Korean group and preach based on the contents of Divine Principle, which was available only as handwritten notes exchanged among the early members. Near the end of my stay in England, I succeeded in contacting a conserva­tive Christian organization called the Apostolic Church International, which was holding a World Convention in South Wales at that time. I was allowed to speak for 30 minutes, appealing to 3,000 participants at the World Conven­tion about the situation of Teacher Sun Myung Moon, our movement and the Korean government persecution.

In 1956, the Apostolic Church Inter­national’s Australian mission headquar­ters sent one Pastor Joshua McCabe to our group in Seoul, Korea. He studied the Principle for eighty days and helped with Professor Young Oon Kim’s English translation of Divine Principle. Seven hundred copies were completed and distributed throughout the world even before the Korean edition was published. Mrs. Won Pok Choi, Miss Young Oon Kim and I, as a trinity, worked together to teach the depth of Divine Principle and take care of Pastor McCabe as a special guest of the church.

From our own research into Pastor McCabe:

One day, after speaking to a group at a Baptist church in a small town thirty kilometers from Swansea, a couple who attended the Apostolic Church (a Pentecostal denomination) met and befriended David Kim. This led to his appearance at their annual church convention. In a letter to his flock that was read out in churches a few weeks later, then president of the Apostolic Church, Hugh Dawson, mentioned “a Korean brother by the name of Sang-chul Kim,” whom he said, “made a strong appeal to us in the Convention to send a missionary to his land.”

In June 1956, the Apostolic Church dispatched Pastor Joshua McCabe in response to David Kim’s expressions of affinity between our church and theirs. McCabe was a Scotsman who had been sent by his church to Australia in 1932. He had been at the convention in Wales and remembered that while there David Kim had “received the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” Pastor McCabe flew from Melbourne and arrived in Seoul, a city that “still had lots of buildings reduced to rubble.” He stayed for nearly eighty days, lodging in the home of a member. He interacted with the English- speaking members, especially David Kim (1915-2011), Choi Won-pok (1916–2006) and Kim Young-oon (1915–1989). And he met and conversed with True Father. It has to be said that over time, Pastor McCabe found that our beliefs did not coincide with those of the Apostolic Church – though there were interesting parallels. For example, the Apostolic Church had a strong tradition of revelation plus a firm belied in the reality of Satan. Pastor McCabe returned to Australia with an early English translation of at least some of what would later be published as an early version of Divine Principle. However, it appears that no further contact between the Apostolic Church organization and our church ensued.

▲ Pictured: The cover of the November 1956 edition of the Apostolic Herald in which Pastor McCabe’s testimony appeared, which pictures David S. C. Kim with Pastor McCabe

Although Pastor McCabe’s later letters indicate slightly more jaded memories of his experience, he was certainly the first foreign observer of our church, and he witnessed the early, spirit-filled services that we have heard testimony of by our own elders.

The following is the major portion of the article Pastor McCabe wrote for the Apostolic Church’s own magazine some two and a half weeks after his arrival in Korea in 1956 (printed some months later):

From the Apostolic Church’s magazine Apostolic Herald, November 1956 Edition

Many of you will remember meeting Mr. Sang Chul Kim, who studied at Swansea University as a United Nations student and attended the Ammanford1 Assembly of the Church, later coming to the Penygroes Convention in August 1955.2 He sent an invitation for a representative of the Church to go and visit the group of Christians to whom he was attached and the invitation was passed on to the Australian Missionary Advisory Board. At our Quadrennial Council at Easter I was chosen to make the journey of 8,000 miles from Headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, to Seoul in Korea. I arrived here on June 22nd after three days’ journey by air…

On the following Tuesday I was warmly welcomed at a representative party, when leaders of the group, Mr. Moon and Mr. Yoo [Church president Rev. Hyo Won Eu], together with others arranged a Korean welcome and meal in honor of their Western visitor. Among the members who attended were two college professors, two doctors of medicine and lecturers, an ex-Minister of Labor, a colonel of the Korean Air Force, and a number of businessmen who are all members of the group. Speeches of welcome from various members were delivered, and Mr. Kim made the speech of the evening in English. Others welcomed me in Korean, and I spoke on behalf of the Apostolic Church in the Motherland and Australia. The group of Christians to whom I have come are not Pentecostal or Apostolic as we know it, and yet the Spirit of the Lord is manifest among them, as some have visions, others have tongues and interpretations, while a spirit of prophecy is exercised by others in private….

The fervor and sincerity of the worship, the soul stirring preaching of Mr. Moon, a born orator who stirs his congregation to response both in praying and preaching is wonderful. Almost without exception the members are there because they longed for something deeper.… To this hall come between 300 and 400 people. There are no seats as in other churches; everyone sits on the floor. Half an hour before the service is due to begin we have a time of singing, and the place is packed. Many parts of Seoul are bomb damaged and there is not sufficient money to repair the city. The result is that accommodation is at a premium, and the group here is glad to have their hall.

It is a hive of spiritual activity. Mr. Yoo, the lecturer, gives lectures on the “Principles,” as they term their beliefs, for four to five hours a day. He covers their doctrine in two lectures, and this he does three times a week to enquirers who number as many as thirty to forty, and sometimes as few as five or six. At the end of each half year an examination is held. One hundred and thirteen from four different centers sat the examination on Sunday, 1st July. Of these twenty-eight passed with 80% or more marks. Seventeen diplomas and eleven certificates were presented to successful students who ranged from High School students to older people about fifty years of age, and including a professor from a college and a medical doctor. This week a lady doctor and a congressman attended the lectures. There are eight centers stretching over the three hundred miles from Seoul to Busan in the south, and the total membership is variously quoted at 600 to 1,200. There are always about 300 at the Seoul service on Wednesday and between 300 and 400 on Sundays.

Their doctrines are divergent from ours on several points. I am studying their principles, and though I have been here for eighteen days I have only given one address, due to having met with a slight accident when returning from the welcome party. I have now recovered and hope to give other talks on our teaching. One thing is evident—the condition for salvation is receiving Christ through faith in Him. Satan is a real foe who has to be fought and overcome. They do not baptize in water or break bread on the Lord’s Day as we do. I solicit prayers of all your readers and the Apostolic friends in Great Britain that the Lord’s purpose may be wrought out between our groups in Australia, Great Britain and Korea. The people here are very kind and gracious and the personal stories of how they were led to come to the church are wonderful. Like the Apostolic Church in Great Britain they are sacrificing to make the building of a meeting place possible. There are difficulties, but God specializes in the impossible, so remember to pray.

https://familyfedihq.org/2017/06/a-man-with-a-mission-part-3/

[automatismoateo]

A list of Salvation Army controversies I dug up for you all (or more reasons not to donate) via /r/atheism

A list of Salvation Army controversies I dug up for you all (or more reasons not to donate)

I saw this post awhile ago and decided to do some digging into the Salvation Army. This is probably preaching to the choir in this subreddit, but here’s a list of controversies that I made for you all.

1986 - the Salvation Army tried to block legislation in New Zealand that decriminalized sex between gay men. (It ended up passing though.)

1988 - supported legislation in the UK to prevent "discussions of acceptance of homosexuality in schools and colleges".

1998 - refused to comply with San Francisco's domestic partners law. Instead they scaled back on three programs for senior citizens and the homeless so they wouldn't have to accept city money.

2000 - the Salvation Army of Scotland submitted a letter to Parliament opposing the repeal of section 28, which was a law prohibiting "the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality"

2001 - actively lobbied the White House to deny federal grants to states that had non-discrimination laws for LGBTQ+ people.

2001 - denied shelter to a Muslim family because they wouldn't participate in Christian bible study.

2002 - provided financial support to the New Apostolic Reformation in Uganda, a group that campaigns internationally to have homosexuality made punishable by death.

2003 - the Salvation Army of New York fired Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu employees who wouldn't sign a statement saying they'd uphold the organization's conservative Christian beliefs, including "faith in Jesus Christ" and the "Scripture of the New Testament".

2004 - after New York City passed a municipal ordinance stating employers had to provide spousal benefits to LBGTQ+ couples, the Salvation army threatened to close all of their soup kitchens and leave the city.

2004 - 18 current and former employees sue the Salvation Army in federal court for forcing them to sign forms revealing the churches they had attended over the past decade, name their ministers, and agree to uphold the SA's mission to "preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Many allege they were harassed to the point of quitting.

2006 - the Salvation Army pays Paul Cermak a settlement of $15 million after he claims he was abused by his SA swim coach as a kid.

2009 - trans woman Jennifer Gale is refused shelter unless she agrees to be housed with cisgender men. She later froze to death on a sidewalk outside the shelter.

2010 - had to be stopped by court order in New York for engaging in illegal proselytization of children in their government-funded foster care program.

2011 - Bil Browning gives an interview to the New York Times about trying to get shelter at a Salvation Army with his boyfriend in the early 90's . They were refused shelter unless they broke up and did not acknowledge each other while staying at the shelter.

2012 - invited Dinesh D'Souza to speak at their annual meeting and fundraiser in the US. Dinesh is a proponent of homophobia and misogyny who believes that 9/11 was caused by "images of homosexuals kissing".

2012 - fired case worker Danielle Morantez in Vermont after learning that she was bisexual.

2012 - Salvation Army spokesperson George Hood said the organization views gay relationships as sinful. "From a church viewpoint, we see that going against the will of God."

2012 - senior Salvation Army official Major Andrew Craibe went on an Australian radio show hosted by queer journalists Serena Ryan and Pepper Dillon to say that gay people should be put to death.

2012 - a bell-ringer in British Columbia, Canada gets pulled from his post because he was wearing a sign that said "if you support gay rights: please do not donate".

2013 - it was revealed that private settlements totaling $15.5 million had been made relating to 474 sexual abuse cases against children sheltered by the organization.

2013 - removed links to ex-gay programs from the Salvation Army website but the practice of referring LGBT people to conversion therapy privately still continues.

2014 - Mark Stiles gives an interview about being sexually abused by a Lieutenant at the former Gill Memorial Boys Home.

2014 - former members of a Salvation Army boys' home in Sydney, Australia allege that they were "rented out" to strangers who sexually abused them.

2014 - an internal document is leaked that says LGBT people can't be in leadership roles within the SA and are required to practice celibacy.

2014 - Jodielynn Wiley files a complaint with Dallas' Fair Housing Office after she's turned down for a two year housing program due to being trans.

2015 - an ex-Salvation army officer faced charges of sexually assaulting four women in the 1970's. The man was moved to another regiment as a cover up.

2016 - refused to back a Safe Schools initiative to combat anti-LGBT bullying.

2017 - the organization's substance abuse centre in New York City violated city laws by refusing to accept transgender people as patients, assigning rooms to trans people based on their assigned sex at birth, and requiring trans patients to undergo invasive physical exams to determine whether they were on hormone therapy or had surgery.

2018 - new social media guidelines are introduced for employees that ban them from posting their opinions about "anything political", such as gay marriage and abortion.

Sources:

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/12/16/21003560/salvation-army-anti-lgbtq-controversies-donations

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/us/beliefs-salvation-army-hears-dissent-over-gay-views.html

https://thinkprogress.org/transgender-substance-abuse-discrimination-salvation-army-6470b6abc397/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-salvation-armys-histo_b_4422938

https://thinkprogress.org/transgender-substance-abuse-discrimination-salvation-army-6470b6abc397/

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/15/us/salvation-army-kettles-lgbtq-stance/index.html

https://texascivilrightsreview.org/2010/07/21/jennifer-gale-death-caused-by-lack-of-shelter-for-transgender-homeless/

https://web.archive.org/web/20130208031118/http://archive.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/historic/x-lg/reports-00/lgr00-06-08.htm#3

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/salvation-army-official-gays-deserve-death/321193/

https://web.archive.org/web/20191209053033/https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-salvation-army-volunteer-tells-gay-rights-supporters-not-to-donate-1.1081136

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/25/nyregion/suit-claims-group-s-staff-is-pressured-on-religion.html

https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/settlement-in-salvation-army-suit-on-proselytizing/?_r=0

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/salvation-army-settles-sex-abuse-case/

https://web.archive.org/web/20140204224610/http://www.goulburnpost.com.au/story/2067793/royal-commission-torture-and-rape-at-gill-memorial/?cs=180

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-30/boys-rented-out-for-abuse-at-salvos-boys-home/5227854

https://www.queerty.com/heres-the-internal-document-the-salvation-army-doesnt-want-you-to-see-20141218

https://www.toddstarnes.com/show/exclusive-salvation-army-warns-officers-to-stop-posting-about-gay-marriage/

https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/05/04/trans-woman-claims-housing-discrimination-salvation-army

Submitted November 21, 2021 at 06:06PM by FUCK_INDUSTRIAL (From Reddit https://ift.tt/3DGWrX0)

[johnwagnerpastor-blog]

Interesting Facts About Pastor John Wagner

Acting lead Pastor at Epic Church International, John Wagner, has more than 30 years of experience in ministry, and he leads church along with his wife, Pastor Illena Wagner. His journey of career has been quite interesting, as, in 1987, he was ordained as a minister by Faith Fellowship Ministries. For four years thereafter, he held a position as a Youth Pastor at Faith Fellowship Ministries World Outreach Center. 

During his career as a pastor, John Wagner has led 1,000s of church members from a wide range of ethnic, generational, and cultural backgrounds. His sermons discuss inspirational topics such as faith, hope, love, motivation, priorities, and family. Recent sermon titles include “Rescued, Ransomed, and Redeemed,” "Supernatural Love," and “Fortify.”

Along with his duties in Church, Pastor John Wagner simultaneously teaches and ministers nationally and internationally through John J. Wagner Ministries, which he founded in 1991. As a community leader for more than 7000 regular attendees, he continuously casts vision, crafts relevant messages, develops vocational and volunteer leaders, and communicates creatively. Additionally, Pastor John Wagner trains and inspires other pastors and leaders through an active schedule of conference speaking.

Even aside from his dedicated ministry work, Pastor John Wagner has donated his time, finances, and efforts to both local and international communities. He led Turning Point Community Church’s contributions to Charitywater.org and Living Waters International, to fund the building of 34 wells to supply clean water to more than 6500 people. Additionally, John Wagner serves Covenant Ministries International as President and CEO, serving over 1,000 pastors and ministers in more than 90 nations.

Additionally, John Wagner acts as Apostolic Team Leader for Covenant Ministries International (CMI), a global Christian organization with a membership base of more than 1,500 spiritual leaders. Traveling regularly to deliver sermons before a worldwide audience, Pastor Wagner has shared his words, vision, and reverence for God’s teachings with more than 100 congregations in the United States, Italy, Austria, Germany, South Africa, and the Caribbean.

[pope-francis-quotes]

10th May >> (@ZenitEnglish) #Pope Francis #PopeFrancis Tells Religious Superiors: ‘No One Can Rob us of the Passion for Evangelization’. Speech to Meeting of the International Union of Superiors General.

The Holy Father on 10th May 2019, received in audience, in Paul VI Hall, the participants in the Meeting of the International Union of Superiors General, being held in Rome from May 6-10, on the occasion of the 21st Plenary Assembly entitled “Sowers of Prophetic Hope,” with the participation of some 850 Superiors General from 80 countries.

Here is a translation of the Holy Father’s address in the course of the audience.

* * *

The Holy Father’s Address

Dear Sisters:

I’m very happy to receive you today, on the occasion of your General Assembly, and to wish you a paschal time full of peace, joy, and passion to take the Gospel to all corners of the earth. Yes, Easter is all this, and it invites us to be witnesses of the Risen One by living a new evangelizing stage marked by joy. No one can rob us of the passion for evangelization. There is no Easter without mission: “Go and proclaim the Gospel to all men” (Cf. Matthew 16:15-20). The Lord asks His Church to show the triumph of Christ over death; He asks that she show His Life. Go, Sisters, and proclaim the Risen Christ as source of joy that no one can take away from us. Renew constantly your encounter with the Risen Jesus Christ and you will be His witnesses, taking to all men and women loved by the Lord — particularly those that feel themselves victims of the culture of exclusion –, the sweet and comforting joy of the Gospel.

Consecrated life, as Saint John Paul II affirmed in his day, like any other reality of the Church, is going through a “delicate and hard” time (Saint John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, 13). In face of the numerical decrease that consecrated life is living, particularly the feminine, the temptation is that of discouragement, resignation or “arrocamiento” [hardening] in “it has always been done like this.”

In this context, I repeat to you energetically what I’ve said to you on other occasions: don’t be afraid to be few, but be afraid of being insignificant, of no longer being light that illumines all those that are immersed in the “dark night” of history. Neither <must you> be afraid of “confessing with humility and at the same time with great trust in God’s love, your fragility” (“Letter to All the Consecrated,” November 21. 2014, I, 1). Be afraid, more than that, panic if you fail to be salt that gives flavor to the life of men and women of our society. Work tirelessly to be watchmen that announce the coming of dawn (Cf. Isaiah 21:11-12); to be ferment where you meet and with whom you meet, even if that seemingly doesn’t bring you tangible and immediate benefits (Cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 210). There are many people that need you and wait for you. They need your friendly smile which gives back confidence to them; <they need> your hands to support them in their journey, your word that sows hope in their hearts, your life in Jesus’ style (Cf. John 13:1-15), which heals the most profound wounds caused by loneliness, rejection, and exclusion. Never give in to the temptation of self-reference, of becoming “closed armies.” Neither should you take refuge “in a work to elude the charism’s operative capacity” (“The Strength of Vocation,” 56). Rather, develop the imagination of charity and live creative fidelity to your charisms. With them you will be able to “reproduce the holiness and the creativity of your Founders” (Saint John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, 37), opening new paths to take the breadth and light of the Gospel to the different cultures in which you live and work, in the most diverse ambits of society, as they did in their time. With them, you will be capable of re-visiting your charism, of going to the roots living the present suitably, without being afraid to walk, “without letting the water stop running [. . . ]. Consecrated life is like water: stagnant it rots” (“The Strength of Vocation,” 44-45). And so, without losing the memory, always necessary to live the present with passion, you will avoid “restorationism” as well as the ideology of whatever sign it is, which do so much damage to consecrated life and to the Church herself.

And do everything with your humble presence and service, always animated by free prayer and the prayer of adoration and praise. To pray, to praise and to adore is not to waste time. The more united we are to the Lord, the closer we will be to humanity, particularly suffering humanity. “Our future will be full of hope,” as the motto of this Plenary Assembly affirms, and our projects will be projects with a future, in the measure that we pause daily before the Lord in the gratitude of prayer, if we don’t want the wine to be turned into vinegar and the salt to become insipid. It will only be possible to know the plans the Lord has made for us if we keep our eyes and our heart turned to the Lord, contemplating His Face and listening to His Word (Cf. Psalm 33). Only thus will you be able to awaken the world with your prophecy, distinctive note and priority of your being religious and consecrated (Cf. “Letter to All the Consecrated,” November 21, 22014, II, 2). The more urgent it is to be de-centered to go to the existential peripheries, the more urgent it is to be centered on Him and concentrated on the essential values of our charisms.

Among the essential values of religious life is fraternal life in community. I see with great joy the great achievements that have been attained in that dimension: more intense communication, fraternal correction, the search for synodality in conducting the community, fraternal hospitality in respect of diversity . . . ; however, at the same time, it worries me that there are brothers and sisters that lead their life on the margin of fraternity; sisters and brothers that are illegitimately absent for years from their community, reason for which I’ve just promulgated a Motu Proprio Communis Vita, with very precise norms to avoid those cases.

In regard to fraternal life in community, I’m also concerned that there are Institutes in which multi-culturalism and internationalization aren’t seen as a richness, but as a threat, and they are lived as conflict, instead of living them as new possibilities that show the true face of the Church and of religious and consecrated life. I ask those responsible in Institutes to open themselves to the new — proper of the Spirit, which blows where it will and as it wills (Cf. John 3:8) and to prepare generations of other cultures to assume responsibilities. Live the change of your communities’ face with joy, and not as an evil needing conversion. There is no going back on internationalism and inter-culturalism.

I am worried by the generational conflicts when young people are unable to carry forward the dreams of the elderly to make them fructify, and the elderly don’t accept the prophecy of young people (Cf. Joel 2:28). As I like to repeat: young people run a lot, but the adults know the way. Necessary in a community are both the wisdom of the elderly as well as the inspiration and strength of young people.

Dear Sisters: in you, I thank all the Sisters of your Institutes for the great work they do in the different peripheries in which they live. The periphery of education, in which to educate is to win always, to win for God; the periphery of health, in which you are servants and messengers of life, and of a worthy life; and the periphery of pastoral work in its most varied manifestations, in which, witnessing the Gospel with your lives, you are manifesting the maternal face of the Church. Thank you for what you are and for what you do in the Church. Never stop being women. “It’s not necessary to stop being a woman to be equal” (“The Strength of Vocation.” 111). At the same time, I ask <you to> cultivate passion for Christ and passion for humanity. Without passion for Christ and for humanity, there is no future for religious and consecrated life. Passion will fling you to prophesy, to be fire that light other fires. Continue to take steps in the mission shared between different charisms and with the laity, calling them to significant works, without leaving anyone without the due formation and the sense of belonging to the charismatic family. Work on mutual relations with Pastors, including them in your discernment and integrating them in the selection of presences and ministries. The path of consecrated life, both masculine as well as feminine, is the path of ecclesial insertion. Outside of the Church and in parallel with the local Church, things don’t work. Pay great attention to formation, both permanent as well as initial and to the formation of formators, capable of listening and of accompanying, of discerning, of going out to encounter those that call at our doors. And, even in the midst of the trials we might be going through, live your consecration with joy. That’s the best vocational propaganda.

May the Virgin accompany you and protect you with her maternal intercession. For my part, I bless you from my heart and I bless all the Sisters that the Lord has entrusted to you. And, please, don’t forget to pray for me.

[Original text: Spanish] [ZENIT’s translation by Virginia M. Forrester].

© Libreria Editrice Vatican

10th MAY 2019 16:37PAPAL TEXTS

[andywannemacher]

Acts 13:1a Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers… “The Year of Bountiful Blessings and Turmoil” As we enter the year 2023, it is important to see the full spectrum of what the Holy Spirit is doing, both locally, and internationally. This year’s theme, Bountiful Blessings and Turmoil, may seem to be contradictory! How can we have both bountiful blessings and turmoil? The explanation is that we will see blessings in the midst of turmoil. As the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders, we have set our hearts to issue prophetic words, warnings, and admonitions, as well as calls for prayer. Prophetic intercession is an important part of our meetings as we both hear from the Lord and intercede. When we were founded twenty-three years ago, we agreed to release words that we have consensus about. Individual members may have their own prophetic take upon what they are hearing. However, we have chosen, according to the Acts 13:1-3 model, to only write in this record words that the “Holy Spirit” has said which we all agree upon. Looking back in our collective history, we see that the words we have issued have been remarkably accurate. One year it was that the European Union was going to fragment. This was before Brexit was announced and the United Kingdom left the EU. Another word was that a virus was coming upon the earth that would seemingly be incurable, and that, of course, was COVID-19. See how link in bio. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnQuF4Sr2w5/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[coghive]

Pastors Kent & Candy Christmas present The Christmas Family & Friends Christmas Special

Pastors Kent & Candy Christmas, Regeneration Nashville Church, invite you to celebrate the best gift of all - JESUS - this Christmas season with a very special television special. The Christmas Family and Friends Christmas special will feature Candy Christmas, The Isaacs, Higher Ground, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Jasmine Christmas Brady, Burton Gaar, and many more performing Christmas hymns, classics and worship songs. Additonally, Pastor Kent Christmas inspires with a very special Christmas message. “Jesus is the true reason for the season and we’re excited to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ with so many friends in Nashville and around the country through the power of television," said Pastor Kent Christmas. "We pray you'll enjoy this Christmas Special that we created just for you! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Regeneration Nashville!"  The Christmas Family & Friends Christmas Special will air in the local Nashville, TN area as well as internationally via Daystar Television Networks. In all, the show will air on six different networks throughout the Christmas weekend. Additionally, the program will be available for on-demand viewing at KCMI.tv and on the KCMI channel on Roku. Air dates, times and channels are as follows: Daystar Television Network: December 23, 2022 - 12 MIDNIGHT CT & December 23, 2022 - 11 AM CT WUXP MY30 Nashville: Christmas Day, December 25, 2022 - 12 NOON CT & 9 PM CT WTVF Channel 5 Nashville: Christmas Eve, December 24, 2022 - 8 AM CT WZTV Fox 17 Nashville: Christmas Day, December 25, 2022 - 10 AM CT WSMV Channel 4 Nashville: Christmas Day, December 25, 2022 - 8 AM CT WKRN Channel 2 Nashville: Christmas Eve, December 25, 2022 - 1:30 AM CT About Regeneration Nashville: Kent and Candy Christmas are the founding pastors of Regeneration Nashville in Nashville, TN. Kent Christmas has been in full time ministry for over 50 years, traveling extensively across the United States and abroad. His passion is to strengthen the local church body and to share prophetic insight. He is a man of prayer and carries an anointing to preach the word with the demonstration of apostolic power. Kent and his wife, Candy, of the southern gospel family, The Hemphills. have been married for 35 years. Candy has appeared on over 60 Gaither Homecoming videos and in 2004 founded The Bridge, Inc., an organization that ministers to the homeless and hungry of Nashville. Kent and Candy are blessed with two sons, a daughter, and five beautiful grandchildren. Read the full article

[clan-carruthers]

CLAN CARRUTHERS: Phoebe Traquair - Seraphim And Cherubim

CLAN CARRUTHERS: Phoebe Traquair – Seraphim And Cherubim

Mansfield Traquair Catholic Apostolic Church Cherabim, Mansfield Traquair Catholic Apostolic Church Mansfield Traquair Catholic Apostolic Church is situated in Edinburgh and is renowned for it murals painted and designed by the internationally renowned artist Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852-1936). Because of her artwork, it has been called the Edinburgh Cistine Chapel. Born in Dublin, Phoebe Anna…

[tramptravellercom]

St. Mary's Church Manarkad - Kottayam - Kerala - India. Manarkad Palli.

St. Mary's Church Manarkad, one of the most important parishes of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church.Manarkad is located in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is located at a distance of about 9 km from Kottayam. It is also a pilgrimage center dedicated to the Virgin Mary. St. Mary’s Church, Manarcad, most prominent parishes of the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church, has always upheld the faith and the allegiance to the Holy Apostolic Throne of Antioch and All the East. Spread over 12 Kara, the parish consists of 3000 families and it is the grace with the eminent and devoted service of nine priests; the Vicar and nine assistant vicars. St. Mary’s Cathedral is a very old church in India, and dates back to AD 950. The exact origins of the church are unknown, but there are stone inscriptions found in the church, that dates back to the 10th century. These stone inscriptions are written in the ancient scripts of Malayalam and Tamil. After the Portuguese acquisition, the church was rebuilt in their style, as was the case with all the other churches in the region.There is no place in the world where this holy temple of God and its blessed guardian, the Mother of Manarkad are not known. Year after year this holy shrine grows in glory. The multitudes who come and supplicate here with faith and devotion never fail to get its reward. By the prayers of the Holy Virgin, they receive the blessings of God and return spiritually contented. The Mother of Manarcad who needs to and blesses all who call upon giving remedy to the ailing and peace to the minds that are more. Where science and technology fail the grace of the Holy Mother comes in.The church is also known as Marthamariam Church and is an internationally acclaimed church.

Festival The practice of the ettu nombu between September 1–8 every year and the celebration of the Feast of Virgin Mary’s birth form part of an ancient tradition that continues to attract millions of devotees. Devotees from all over the world come here to seek the blessing of Virgin Mary.

St Mary’s Church Feasts January 15 – A feast invoking the blessings of the Virgin Mary on agricultural seeds February 26 – Sunero Feast May 6 – Commemoration of St. George August 15 – Virgin Mary’s Ascension Day September 8 – The Feast of the Virgin Mary’s birth.

The church receives a large number of devotees during the month of September. There are various hotels in Kottayam that one could choose from for a pleasant stay during the tour around Kerala.

[armeniaitn]

Azerbaijani side prevents the entry of Armenian pilgrims to Dadivank in an attempt to disrupt ordination of priests

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/society/azerbaijani-side-prevents-the-entry-of-armenian-pilgrims-to-dadivank-in-an-attempt-to-disrupt-ordination-of-priests-72653-27-04-2021/

Azerbaijani side prevents the entry of Armenian pilgrims to Dadivank in an attempt to disrupt ordination of priests

On April 25, the Azerbaijani side prevented the entry of 25 Armenian pilgrims to Dadivank where the ordination ceremony was foreseen by the servants of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Artsakh’s Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan informs.

“Preventing the entrance of the faithful to Dadivank under obviously false and idle pretexts, the Azerbaijani military aimed to overturn the significant sacred ceremony of the Armenian Apostolic Church,” he said in a Facebook post.

According to the Human Rights Defender, the Azerbaijani side thus violated the agreement reached through the mediation of Russian peacekeepers, according to which the Armenian faithful can freely enter and perform religious ceremonies in the Dadivank Monastery.

“Religious rights and freedoms are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other fundamental international documents, the violation of which is an encroachment to human dignity, rights and freedoms,” Gegham Stepanyan said.

“Azerbaijan, which has declared itself a country of cultural and religious diversity, disregards the internationally known norms, insults, desecrates and destroys the cultural values of the Armenian people in the occupied territories, purposefully cleans the Armenian inscriptions and traces and artificially prevents the entry of the Armenian faithful to sacred sites,” he added.

The Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Artsakh will inform the relevant international structures about this incident, urging them to implement clear mechanisms against the illegal actions of Azerbaijan.

Read original article here.

[expatimes]

France, US and Russia to meet on Nagorno-Karabakh: Live updates

France, US, Russia to hold talks in Geneva

Turkey says the Minsk Group should not be involved in mediating the conflict

Azerbaijan says city of Ganja shelled by Armenian forces, killing one civilian

Baku claims 30 Azeri civilians killed to date, but does not release military casualties

Nagorno-Karabakh says death toll among military rises to 350

14:55 GMT - Three journalists hurt in Azeri shelling: Karabakh authorities

Three journalists were hurt by Azeri shelling in the town of Shushi in Nagorno-Karabakh, one of whom has been hospitalised and is in a serious condition, authorities in the region said.

The journalist in a bad condition was a Russian national who worked as an editor for Segodnya.ru, authorities said. The other two were an Armenian national and an international media journalist who was not immediately identified, they said.

14:30 GMT - Russia says in talks to organization meeting with top Armenia, Azeri officials: Ifax

Russia's foreign ministry has said that it was in talks with Azerbaijan and Armenia to organize a possible meeting in Moscow with Russia and the two government foreign ministers, the Interfax news agency reported.

13:55 GMT - Azerbaijan denies shelling historic cathedral in Nagorno-Karabakh

Azerbaijan has denied its forces had shelled a historic cathedral in Nagorno-Karabakh's City of Shusha as claimed by Armenia.

“The information about the damage to the church in Shusha has nothing to do with the military actions of the Azerbaijani army,” the defense ministry said in a statement.

"Unlike the armed forces of Armenia… the Azerbaijani army does not target historical, cultural, or especially religious buildings and monuments."

13:45 GMT - Azerbaijan recalls its ambassador to Greece for consultation: Foreign ministry

Azerbaijan has recalled its ambassador to Greece for consultations after it alleged Athens had allowed Armenian citizens from around the world to transit through its territory to join the battlefront.

“We brought to the attention of the Greek Foreign Ministry information from open sources about the arrival of Armenian citizens from foreign countries, including from Greece, to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan to participate in military operations,” the ministry said in a statement.

Armenia denied the allegations and Athens had recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan on Wednesday after what it said were “unfounded and offensive” allegations by the Azeri government that Greece tolerated militants on its soil.

11:30 GMT - Historic Armenian cathedral damaged in Karabakh shelling

Armenia said that Azerbaijani forces had shelled a historic cathedral in Nagorno-Karabakh's city of Shusha, where AFP journalists saw the church had suffered serious damage.

A view shows Ghazanchetsots Cathedral damaged by recent shelling during a military conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh [Vahram Baghdasaryan/Reuters]

There was a gaping hole in the roof of the Ghazanchetsots (Holy Savior) Cathedral, an iconic site for the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Rubble was strewn about the floor, pews were knocked over and the interior was covered in dust from parts of the building's limestone walls that had been hit. A section of its metallic roof had collapsed and fallen to the ground outside.

10:10 GMT - Turkey FM comments on Nagorno-Karabakh

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the “status quo has to be changed” regarding the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia adding that Turkey respects the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Turkey has publicly backed Azerbaijan in the conflict and said it was ready to provide military assistance, should Azerbaijan request it.

Cavusoglu said Turkey believes in peaceful and negotiated solution for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict [Umit Bektas/Reuters]

Speaking at the annual Globsec forum in Bratislava, Cavusoglu also added that he was against any conflict in the Black Sea region, adding that Turkey is not flirting with Russia and supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

09:09 GMT: - Armenia dismisses head National Security Service

Armenia on Thursday dismissed Argishti Kyaramyan, the head its National Security Service, the Interfax news agency reported citing a presidential decree.

07:45 GMT - France, US and Russia to meet on Nagorno-Karabakh

France, the United States and Russia will step up efforts to end fighting between Azeri and ethnic Armenian forces in the South Caucasus by holding talks in Geneva, as fears of a regional war grow.

French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian said Russian, French and US representatives would also meet in Moscow on Monday to look at ways to persuade the warring sides to negotiate a ceasefire. The three countries are co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group that mediates over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey has accused the group of neglecting the conflict and said it should not be involved in mediation.

Le Drian hit back at Turkey, reiterating accusations - denied by Ankara - that it is involved militarily and saying this fuelled the "internationalization" of the conflict.

07:30 GMT - Fresh fighting erupts between Azeris, Armen ethnicians

Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces fought new clashes in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Azerbaijan said the city of Ganja was shelled by Armenian forces and that one civilian had been killed in the Goranboy region. It said other villages were fired on by ethnic Armenian forces.

❗️Late night and morning shelling of civilian settlements in Ganja, Barda, Aghjabadi, Aghdam, Tartar, and Goranboy by #Armenia's occupation forces. Casualties reported. #StopArmenianAggression#StopAttackingCivilians#KarabakhIsAzerbaijan

- MFA Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 (@AzerbaijanMFA) October 8, 2020

Azeri authorities have reported 30 civilian deaths since fighting broke out on September 27 over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountain enclave which under international law belongs to Azerbaijan but is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.

Azerbaijan also says 143 civilians have been wounded but has not disclosed information about its military casualties.

07:20 GMT - Nagorno-Karabakh says death toll among its military rises to 350 since start of conflict

The defense ministry of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, run by ethnic Armenians, said it had recorded another 30 casualties among its troops, pushing the military death toll to 350 since fighting with Azeri forces erupted on September 27.

The fighting has surged to its worst level since the 1990s when some 30,000 people were killed.

Good morning. Shereena Qazi in Doha and Anealla Safdar in London will be bringing you the latest updates on the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis today, Thursday, October 8.

Here's a quick recap:

Fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh has continued for a second week (we are now on day 12 of the clashes) as Armenia and Azerbaijan battle over the breakaway region.

So far, the two rivals are ignoring international appeals for a ceasefire and have accused one another of causing civilian and military casualties since clashing on September 27.

Almost 300 people have been reported killed overall, but the real death toll is believed to be higher.

The key news on Thursday, so far at least, is that France, Russia and the US will hold talks in Geneva aimed at de-escalating the situation.

More on that later.

#world Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=11586&feed_id=9121

[anastpaul]

Saint of the Day – 4 August – St Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney T.O.S.F. – The Curé of Ars (Parish Priest of Ars) – Priest and Tertiary – (8 May 1786 at Dardilly, Lyons, France – 4 August 1859 at Ars, France of natural causes)   His body is interred in the basilica of Ars.   He was Canonised on 31 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI.  Patronages – confessors, priests (proclaimed on 23 April 1929 by Pope Pius XI), Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, Dubuque, Iowa, archdiocese of, Kamloops, British Columbia, diocese of, Kansas City, Kansas, archdiocese of, Lafayette, Louisiana, diocese of, Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, archdiocese of.  St John Vianney’s body is incorrupt.

Vianney was born on 8 May 1786, in the French town of Dardilly, France (near Lyon) and was baptised the same day. His parents, Matthieu Vianney and his wife Marie (Belize), had six children, of whom John was the fourth.   The Vianneys were devout Catholics, who helped the poor and gave hospitality to St Benedict Joseph Labre, the patron saint of tramps, who passed through Dardilly on his pilgrimage to Rome.

By 1790, the anticlerical Terror phase of the French Revolution forced many loyal priests to hide from the regime in order to carry out the sacraments in their parish.   Even though to do so had been declared illegal, the Vianneys traveled to distant farms to attend Masses celebrated by priests on the run.   Realising that such priests risked their lives day by day, Vianney began to look upon them as heroes.   He received his First Communion catechism instructions in a private home by two nuns whose communities had been dissolved during the Revolution.   He made his first communion at the age of 13 (normal in those times).   During the Mass, the windows were covered so that the light of the candles could not be seen from the outside.   His practice of the Faith continued in secret, especially during his preparation for confirmation.

The Catholic Church was re-established in France in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, resulting in religious peace throughout the country, culminating in a Concordat.   By this time, Vianney was concerned about his future vocation and longed for an education.   He was 20 when his father allowed him to leave the farm to be taught at a “presbytery-school” in the neighboring village of Écully, conducted by the Abbé Balley.   The school taught arithmetic, history, geography and Latin.   Vianney struggled with school, especially with Latin, since his past education had been interrupted by the French Revolution.   Only because of Vianney’s deepest desire to be a priest—and Balley’s patience—did he persevere.

Vianney’s studies were interrupted in 1809 when he was drafted into Napoleon’s armies. He would have been exempt, as an ecclesiastical student but Napoleon had withdrawn the exemption in certain dioceses because of his need for soldiers in his fight against Spain.   Two days after he had to report at Lyons, he became ill and was hospitalised, during which time his draft left without him.   Once released from the hospital, on 5 January, he was sent to Roanne for another draft.   He went into a church to pray and fell behind the group.   He met a young man who volunteered to guide him back to his group but instead led him deep into the mountains of Le Forez, to the village of Les Noes, where deserters had gathered.   Vianney lived there for fourteen months, hidden in the byre attached to a farmhouse and under the care of Claudine Fayot, a widow with four children.   He assumed the name Jerome Vincent and under that name, he opened a school for village children.   Since the harsh weather isolated the town during the winter, the deserters were safe from gendarmes.   However, after the snow melted, gendarmes came to the town constantly, searching for deserters.   During these searches, Vianney hid inside stacks of fermenting hay in Fayot’s barn.

An imperial decree proclaimed in March 1810 granted amnesty to all deserters, which enabled Vianney to go back legally to Ecully, where he resumed his studies.   He was tonsured in 1811 and in 1812 he went to the minor seminary at Verrières-en-Forez.   In autumn of 1813, he was sent to the major seminary at Lyons.   Considered too slow, he was returned to Abbe Balley.   However, Balley persuaded the Vicar general that Vianney’s piety was great enough to compensate for his ignorance and the seminarian received minor orders and the subdiaconate on 2 July 1814, was ordained a deacon in June 1815 and was ordained priest on 12 August 1815 in the Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble.   He said his first Mass the next day and was appointed the assistant to Balley in Écully.

Curé of Ars In 1818, shortly after the death of Balley, Jean-Marie Vianney was appointed parish priest of the parish of Ars, a town of 230 inhabitants.    As parish priest, Vianney realised that the Revolution’s aftermath had resulted in religious ignorance and indifference, due to the devastation wrought on the Catholic Church in France.   At the time, Sundays in rural areas were spent working in the fields, or dancing and drinking in taverns.  Vianney spent time in the confessional and gave homilies against blasphemy and paganic dancing.   If his parishioners did not give up this dancing, he refused them absolution. Abbe Balley had been Vianney’s greatest inspiration, since he was a priest who remained loyal to his faith, despite the Revolution.   Vianney felt compelled to fulfill the duties of a curé, just as did Balley, even when it was illegal.   With Catherine Lassagne and Benedicta Lardet, he established La Providence, a home for girls. Only a man of vision could have such trust that God would provide for the spiritual and material needs of all those who came to make La Providence their home.

Later years Vianney came to be known internationally and people from distant places began traveling to consult him as early as 1827.   “By 1855, the number of pilgrims had reached 20,000 a year.   During the last ten years of his life, he spent 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional.   Even the bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him yonder”.  His work as a confessor is John Vianney’s most remarkable accomplishment.   In the winter months he was to spend 11 to 12 hours daily reconciling people with God.   In the summer months this time was increased to 16 hours.   Unless a man was dedicated to his vision of a priestly vocation, he could not have endured this giving of self day after day.

Many people look forward to retirement and taking it easy, doing the things they always wanted to do but never had the time. But John Vianney had no thoughts of retirement.   As his fame spread, more hours were consumed in serving God’s people.   Even the few hours he would allow himself for sleep were disturbed frequently by the devil, who physically attacked and tormented St John and kept him from sleeping.

Vianney had a great devotion to St. Philomena.   He regarded her as his guardian and erected a chapel and shrine in honor of the saint.   During May 1843, Vianney fell so ill he thought that his life was coming to its end.   Vianney attributed his cure to her intercession.

Vianney yearned for the contemplative life of a monk and four times ran away from Ars, the last time in 1853.  St John Vianney read much and often the lives of the saints, and became so impressed by their holy lives that he wanted for himself and others to follow their wonderful examples.   The ideal of holiness enchanted him.   This was the theme which underlay his sermons.  “We must practice mortification. For this is the path which all the Saints have followed,” he said from the pulpit.   He placed himself in that great tradition which leads the way to holiness through personal sacrifice. “If we are not now saints, it is a great misfortune for us:  therefore we must be so.   As long as we have no love in our hearts, we shall never be Saints.”   The Saint, to him, was not an exceptional man before whom we should marvel but a possibility which was open to all Catholics.   Unmistakably did he declare in his sermons that “to be a Christian and to live in sin is a monstrous contradiction. A Christian must be holy.”   With his Christian simplicity he had clearly thought much on these things and understood them by divine inspiration, while they are usually denied to the understanding of educated men.   He was a champion of the poor as a Franciscan tertiary and was a recipient of the coveted French Legion of Honour.

On 4 August 1859, Vianney died at the age of 73.   The bishop presided over his funeral with 300 priests and more than 6,000 people in attendance.   Before he was buried, Vianney’s body was fitted with a wax mask.

On 3 October 1874 Pope Pius IX proclaimed him “venerable”;  on 8 January 1905, Pope Pius X declared him Blessed and proposed him as a model to the parochial clergy.   In 1925 John Mary Vianney was canonized by Pope Pius XI, who in 1929 made him patron saint of parish priests.

In 1959, to commemorate the centenary of John Vianney’s death, Pope John XXIII issued the encyclical letter Sacerdotii nostri primordia.   St Pope John Paul II visited Ars in person in 1986 in connection with the anniversary of Vianney’s birth and referred to the great saint as a “rare example of a pastor acutely aware of his responsibilities … and a sign of courage for those who today experience the grace of being called to the priesthood.”

In honour of the 150th anniversary of Vianney’s death, Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of the Priest, running from the Feast of the Sacred Heart 2009–2010.   The Vatican Postal Service issued a set of stamps to commemorate the 150th Anniversary.   With the following words on 16 June 2009, Benedict XVI officially marked the beginning of the year dedicated to priests, “…On the forthcoming Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 19 June 2009 – a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the sanctification of the clergy –, I have decided to inaugurate a ‘Year of the Priest’ in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the dies natalis of John Mary Vianney, the Patron Saint of parish priests worldwide…” In the Holy Father’s words the Curé d’Ars is “a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ’s flock.”

There are statues and stained glass windows of St John Vianney in many French churches and in Catholic churches throughout the world.   Also, many parishes founded in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are named after him.   Some relics are kept in the Church of Notre-Dame de la Salette in Paris.

(via AnaStpaul – Breathing Catholic)

[tekmepikcha]

The International Bible Way Church of Jesus Christ, kicked off its 51st Annual Holy Convocation, with a free concert on Monday, April 22nd, featuring internationally acclaimed Gospel Artiste @nelsonjonathan. The event was held at the @eacsliperoad, on Slipe Road. 📸 @tekmepikcha #TekMePikCha #GospelArtiste #gospelmusic #christian #jamaica #Kingston #concert #Jesus #church (at Emmanuel Apostolic Church Slipe Road) https://www.instagram.com/tekmepikcha/p/BwnhzMiBuOs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jaip30q28wa6

[ftnbooks-blog]

Brian Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire, to Edward Ord Clarke, a coal miner, and Lilian Clarke (née Whitehead). In 1965, aged 12, he applied for a place as the last intake of an education scheme existing in the North of England to enable artistically promising children to leave their secondary school and become full-time art students, and was accepted into Oldham School of Arts and Crafts on a scholarship.[4][5] In 1968 he and his family moved to Burnley, where he attended Burnley Art School, and in 1970 he enrolled in an architectural stained glass course at the North Devon College of Art and Design, where he went on to receive a first class distinction in their Diploma in Design.

Paintings, stained glass, screenprints, mosaic and tapestry by Clarke can be found in architectural settings and private and public collections internationally, including the Tate, Victoria and Albert Museum, Seibu Museum of Art in Tokyo, and the Corning Museum of Glass, New York.[13]

Major works include the Foster and Partners-designed Pyramid of Peace and Accord in Kazakhstan, Al Faisaliyah Center in Riyadh, and Stanstead Airport; the Pfizer World Headquarters in New York; the Stamford Cone in Connecticut; windows for Linköping Cathedral in Sweden; the Papal Chapel of the Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain; the world’s largest stage sets (for Paul McCartney’s 1993 World Tour) and both the largest stained glass work in Great Britain and the largest in the world.

Other projects include ecclesiastical commissions in churches, mosques and synagogues (including the DarmstadtHolocaust Memorial) across Europe, the USA and the Middle East; the glass exterior of ‘Le Grand Bleu’, the Hotel du Department des Bouches-du Rhone, Marseille (with Will Alsop); the Lake Sagami Country Club, Japan (with Arata Isozaki); stage sets for the Dutch National Ballet, and sets for an opera of The Crucible directed by Hugh Hudson; King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Norte Shopping, Rio de Janeiro; the Spindles Shopping Mall, Oldham; the barrel-vaulted roof of Cavendish Arcade, Buxton;[22] the stained glass ceiling of Victoria Quarter, Leeds; windows for the 13th century Cistercian Abbaye de la Fille-Dieu, Romont, Switzerland; collaborations in stained glass with photographer Linda McCartney; and EP and album covers for The Human League, Paul McCartney, and EMI Classical

( the above text was copied from Wikipedia )

www.ftn-books.com has Brian Clarke titles available

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Brian Clarke (1953) Brian Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire, to Edward Ord Clarke, a coal miner, and Lilian Clarke (née Whitehead).

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HOLY SEE RUNNERS: Vatican launches track team to compete in Olympics

HOLY SEE RUNNERS: Vatican launches track team to compete in Olympics HOLY SEE RUNNERS: Vatican launches track team to compete in Olympics https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican launched an official track team Thursday with the aim of competing in international competitions as part of an agreement signed with the Italian Olympic Committee.

About 60 Holy See runners — Swiss Guards, priests, nuns, pharmacists and even a 62-year-old professor who works in the Vatican’s Apostolic Library — are the first accredited members of Vatican Athletics. It’s the latest iteration of the Holy See’s long-standing promotion of sport as an instrument of dialogue, peace and solidarity.

Because of the agreement with CONI, the team is now a part of the Italian track association and is looking to join the International Association of Athletics Federations. It is hoping to compete in international competitions, including the Games of the Small States of Europe — open to states with fewer than 1 million people — and the Mediterranean Games.

“The dream that we have often had is to see the Holy See flag among the delegations at the opening of the Olympic Games,” said Monsignor Melchor Jose Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, team president and the head of the Vatican’s sports department in the culture ministry.

But he said that was neither a short-term nor medium-term goal, and that for now the Vatican was looking to participate in competitions that had cultural or symbolic value.

“We might even podium,” he noted.

Vatican pharmacist-runner Michela Ciprietti told a Vatican press conference the aim of the team isn’t exclusively competitive, but rather to “promote culture and running and launch the message of solidarity and the fight against racism and violence of all types.”

Team members wearing matching navy warm-up suits bearing the Holy See’s crossed keys seal attended the launch. Also on hand were two honorary members of the team, migrants who don’t work for the Vatican but are training and competing with the team, as well as a handful of disabled athletes. The Vatican aims to sign similar agreements with the Italian Paralympic committee.

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CONI president Giovanni Malago welcomed the birth of the Vatican team, even though he acknowledged that it might one day deprive Italy of a medal.

“Just don’t get too big,” he told Vatican officials at the launch, recalling how an athlete from another tiny country — Majlinda Kelmendi — won Kosovo’s first Olympic medal when she defeated Italian rival Odette Giuffrida in the final of the women’s 52-kilogram judo event at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

In recent years, the Vatican has fielded unofficial soccer teams and a cricket team that has helped forge relations with the Anglican church through annual tours in Britain. The track team, however, is the first one to have a legal status in Vatican City and to be an official part of the Italian sporting umbrella, able to compete in nationally and internationally sanctioned events and take advantage of the Italian national coaching, scientific and medical resources.

While St. John Paul II was known for his athleticism — he was an avid skier — Pope Francis is more of a fan, a longtime supporter of his beloved San Lorezo soccer team in Argentina.

Vatican Athletics’ first official outing is the Jan. 20 “La Corsa di Miguel” (Miguel’s Race), a 10-kilometre race in Rome honouring Miguel Sanchez, an Argentine distance runner who was one of the thousands of young people who “disappeared” during the country’s Dirty War.

The choice is significant: Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was a young Jesuit superior in Argentina during the military dictatorship’s crackdown on alleged leftist dissidents.

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