The Bigger View: 10/25/07

Angelqueen.org

Posted:

Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:26 am (GMT -5)
Catholic-Russian Orthodox Split Decried

By MANSUR MIROVALEV
Associated Press
Ocrober 24, 2007
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1O9Yl9OXrCU5IVUfk64_EKUP4dg

MOSCOW (AP) — The outgoing leader of Russia's Catholics said Wednesday the problems souring Vatican relations with the Russian Orthodox Church should be overcome so the two faiths could work together to advance the word of Christ.

Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said the Orthodox "could have been better to us," referring to the Catholic community of about 600,000 in a country of 142 million.

The Russian Orthodox Church has accused Roman Catholics of improperly seeking converts in traditionally Russian Orthodox areas. The Vatican has rejected the claim, saying it only ministers to the country's Catholics, mostly of Eastern European and German origin.

"During my 16-year service here, I never aimed at luring people from other religions to Catholicism," said Kondrusiewicz, 61, who was leaving his post in Moscow to head a 1.5 million-member Catholic community in neighboring Belarus.

Tensions between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church have stood in the way of a meeting by the two churches' leaders, as well as a papal visit to Russia.

"We are trying to break this wall of problems, and we should put Christ in the center of our relations," Kondrusiewicz said at a news conference.

The Russian Orthodox Church has experienced a major resurgence after the 1991 Soviet collapse ended decades of state atheism, and claims about two-thirds of the country's population as part of its flock.

Russian authorities only issued one-year visas to foreign Catholic clerics or repeatedly denied them visas. Some Orthodox priests have openly opposed the presence of Catholics, Protestants and other denominations in the country.

Adherents of other faiths in Russia also have expressed concern about the attempts of the Russian church to set moral guidelines for society.

President Vladimir Putin met Pope Benedict XVI during a visit to the Vatican in March, but papal hopes of going to Moscow were thwarted by lack of agreement with the Orthodox church leadership.

Kondrusiewicz said the Vatican sees the Russian church as "a sister church" that has to unite efforts with other Christian denominations in the modern world "devoid of Christ."

During the Soviet era, Communist authorities persecuted Catholics, imprisoning priests and cracking down on adherents. Only two churches and a handful of chapels functioned in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and no priests were ordained in Russia between 1918 and 1999.

Kondruciewicz was instrumental in the relative revival of Catholicism in post-Soviet Russia. After his 1991 arrival in Moscow, he oversaw reopening and consecration of dozens of churches, where priests from Russia and 22 other countries serve their flock.

Kondrusiewicz will be replaced by Don Paolo Pezzi, 45, an Italian-born president of a seminary in St. Petersburg.

Russians were converted to Christianity by Byzantine Greeks in 989, and their relations with Catholics have been complicated by political and cultural tensions. The Roman Catholics and the Orthodox split in the Great Schism of 1054 amid.

Italy's Padre Pio 'faked his stigmata with acid'

Posted:

Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:31 pm (GMT -5)

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Italy's Padre Pio 'faked his stigmata with acid'
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 2:36am BST 24/10/2007

Padre Pio, Italy's most-loved saint, faked his stigmata by pouring carbolic acid on his hands, according to a new book.

The Other Christ: Padre Pio and 19th Century Italy, by the historian Sergio Luzzatto, draws on a document found in the Vatican's archive.

The document reveals the testimony of a pharmacist who said that the young Padre Pio bought four grams of carbolic acid in 1919.

"I was an admirer of Padre Pio and I met him for the first time on 31 July 1919," wrote Maria De Vito.

She claimed to have spent a month with the priest in the southern town of San Giovanni Rotondo, seeing him often.

"Padre Pio called me to him in complete secrecy and telling me not to tell his fellow brothers, he gave me personally an empty bottle, and asked if I would act as a chauffeur to transport it back from Foggia to San Giovanni Rotondo with four grams of pure carbolic acid.

"He explained that the acid was for disinfecting syringes for injections. He also asked for other things, such as Valda pastilles."

The testimony was originally presented to the Vatican by the Archbishop of Manfredonia, Pasquale Gagliardi, as proof that Padre Pio caused his own stigmata with acid.

It was examined by the Holy See during the beatification process of Padre Pio and apparently dismissed.

Padre Pio, whose real name was Francesco Forgione, died in 1968. He was made a saint in 2002. A recent survey in Italy showed that more people prayed to him than to Jesus or the Virgin Mary. He exhibited stigmata throughout his life, starting in 1911.

The new allegations were greeted with an instant dismissal from his supporters. The Catholic Anti-Defamation League said Mr Luzzatto was a liar and was "spreading anti-Catholic libels".

Pietro Siffi, the president of the League, said: "We would like to remind Mr Luzzatto that according to Catholic doctrine, canonisation carries with it papal infallibility.

"We would like to suggest to Mr Luzzatto that he dedicates his energies to studying religion properly."
_________________
IN CORDIBUS JESU ET MARIÆ

SECRETMAN

Vatican publishes 'ancient' 62 missal for study purposes

Posted:

Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:31 am (GMT -5)

Vatican publishes copy of 1962 Roman Missal as part of study series

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
October 24, 2007
Link to original

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As part of a collection of studies on ancient liturgical texts, the Vatican publishing house has published a copy of the 1962 Roman Missal, the book of Mass prayers used for the Tridentine Mass.

Published Oct. 19, the book is basically a scholarly commentary on the old Mass, but it includes in the back a copy of the missal the Vatican had issued 45 years ago, said Carmelite Father Edmondo Caruana, secretary of the publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

"We have inserted an exact copy of the 1962 text in the book together with the study. It is in the form of a small altar missal so it could be used for the liturgy," Father Caruana told Catholic News Service.

However, he said, it would be inaccurate to say the Vatican has republished the missal for liturgical use. Missals and other books of prayers and rituals designed exclusively for liturgical use have a special cover and binding and do not include commentary.

Father Caruana said the Vatican publishing house has received many inquiries about buying liturgical copies of the 1962 Missal, and those calls are directed to the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," which is responsible for matters concerning the implementation of Pope Benedict XVI's July decree authorizing wider use of the old Mass.

In his decree, the pope said the Tridentine Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal should be made available in every parish where groups of the faithful desire it. He also said the Mass from the Roman Missal in use since 1970 remains the ordinary form of the Mass, while celebration of the Tridentine Mass is the extraordinary form.

Pro-Life film this wkend-Passion producer/Catholic lead

Posted:

Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:21 am (GMT -5)

Can a Pro-Life Film Make its Mark at the Box Office this Weekend?

By Russell Shubin
Townhall.com
October 23, 2007
Link to original

The hotly debated question in politics right now is whether or not Republicans will nominate a pro-life candidate for president. But for those of us who bemoan the lack of healthy entertainment choices, there's a more immediate question that will be decided not at the ballot box but the box office this coming weekend. That question is: Can a beautifully-crafted film with an equally beautiful life-affirming message make it on the big screen?

The movie at issue is "Bella." It is a moving work of art that is full of heart. "The film shows there is a time in everyone's life when a moment will change your life forever and it will never be the same again. If it hasn't happened to you, it will," explains Eduardo Verastegui, who plays the lead role of Jose in the film. "It's a love story that goes beyond romance," he continues "about a man who had everything. He lost it all but losing it all he found all that matters in life which is family, true love, true friendship and a lot of beautiful things that you will see while watching the film."

Whether or not it is successful in general release will be decided—to a very significant degree—on opening weekend, beginning this Friday, October 26th. Only with strong opening numbers can the film gain access to the greater number of screens across the country so essential to box office success. And the decision will be made by moviegoers like you and like me. But if the past is an indicator of the future, "little 'Bella'" as Eduardo affectionately refers to this first project by Metanoia Films, may well make it big.

The sense that something special was happening with this film started to come clear last year when their entry was accepted at the Toronto Film Festival. "The film wasn't even finished and we sent it to the biggest film festival in the world and our hope was only to get in. We were thinking, could you imagine if we get in?—then we will have the little logo in our poster 'Official Selection of the Toronto Film Festival,' and that's the only thing that we were looking for."

Eduardo, along with Director Alejandro Monteverde and Producer Leo Severino, could not have been more surprised. Film Festival attendees packed the theatre and gave "Bella" the coveted People's Choice Award. This puts the film in good company: "Chariots of Fire" (1984), "Life is Beautiful" (1998) and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) were all similarly recognized with the People's Choice Award—and all went on to win at the Oscars.

But how can we explain the success of what is such a genuinely life-affirming film? "The only explanation is God. It seems like God is bigger than Toronto…. I think the people really received the message and it touched them," Eduardo says. "And I think when someone is moved and when somebody cries hard and laughs hard and when someone leaves the theatre moved and touched… That means a lot and I think that's what 'Bella' did to the audience in Toronto."

So, while Academy Award recognition would be nice, it's not the primary motivator for Eduardo, Sevorino and Monteverde. These "three amigos" as they've been labeled know all too well that so much of what is coming out from Hollywood is "poison"—and they wanted to start a company whose films have an uncompromising positive message. For Eduardo, "Bella" marks a very abrupt change of course. He has been described in a number of outlets as the "Brad Pitt of Latin America." Yet he became disillusioned and dissatisfied as his career led him down the path of the Latin lover. After a renewal of his Catholic faith, he now says, "I knew I was not born to be a movie star…. I was born to know and to love and to serve Jesus Christ, and that's my goal."

Eduardo recognized that "young people live according to the standards that they see in the media. We have this tendency and this inclination to copy and to imitate what we see in the media—and it's very sad because 90 percent of what is coming from the media is poisoning our society."

Through "Bella" the three amigos have set out to do something different, something decidedly non-toxic. "We're excited and we're just so passionate about this film because for us it's [not] just another film, it's a mission about using the media and film to elevate the dignity of the human person. [I wanted to do a film] that I can invite my grandmother and mother to and I don't have to cover their eyes in any scene." Through their film company, Metanoia Films, their mission is to serve others; they want the audience to leave the theatre "with a candle in their heart … with hope." Partnering with the three amigos behind "Bella" are financier Sean Wolfington and Executive Producer Steve McEveety from The Passion of the Christ.

Bella succeeds in its mission of lighting a candle of hope. It is full of laughter, full of tears, full of hope and full of life. The film is pro-life, yet in no way preachy—and certainly not political. In the film, Jose (Eduardo's character) comes alongside a young waitress, Nina (Tammy Blanchard) who is facing an unexpected pregnancy. Prior to filming, in an effort to understand what the character Nina was going through, Eduardo made a visit to an abortion clinic. "I wanted to build my character and do some research and investigation."

"I went there thinking that it was going to be something very simple and easy … stop the first lady and ask her a few questions, do my notes." He was not expecting the emotional experience of what followed. "I was in shock when I saw all these 16- and 17-year-old girls going in and I didn't know what to do. I forgot about the film and then I saw a few people outside trying to convince [a young girl] not to do it.

"I approached that group … introduced myself and I told them, 'I am here to help,' so they thought I was one of them. Next thing you know one of the young ladies from the group tells me: 'Eduardo this couple, they don't speak English, we don't speak Spanish, can you talk to them?' I said 'yes.'"

He was quickly recognized from his work on soap operas in Mexico—the telenovelas—and they started a conversation that quickly became a friendship. "We ended up talking for 45 minutes about everything: life, food, Mexico, dreams—and I gave her a little teddy bear and a little stroller and I showed her a little video called 'Dura Realidad' in Spanish and it shows what abortion really is. She cried and she left and she cancelled the appointment."

After they finished filling their cast, Eduardo and team moved on to New York for the shooting for the film. Then, "I came back to Los Angeles, and a few months later I received a call from the man who was with [the pregnant girl] that day and he tells me, 'Eduardo, I have great news for you. My boy, my baby was born yesterday. I want to ask you permission because I want to call him Eduardo.'

"It changed my life…. I didn't plan to do that. I was only doing my investigation as an actor. I never thought that, by the grace of God, I was going to be used as an instrument to save this baby to be Eduardito…. It was just amazing, to the point that I thought: Even if 'Bella' never comes out and nobody sees it I rejoice in the Lord for Eduardito's life."

This weekend, little "Bella" does come out. It is opening in 29 cities and the potential of many more in weeks to come. Eduardo and his friends at Metanoia films have dreams that their film can change the world. In a profound way, it already has.

Russell Shubin is Deputy Director of National News and Public Affairs for Salem Communications

The Bigger View

Thursday, October 25, 2007

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