Josep Masabeu: a life dedicated to social and labor inclusion

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Josep Masabeu: a life dedicated to social and labor inclusion

Omnes-July 2, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

Josep Masabeu is president of the Braval Foundation, a development and promotion initiative located in Barcelona's Raval neighborhood.

Text - Fernando Serrano

Josep Masabeu has a doctorate in pedagogy and has always worked in the educational world, in the area of local administration, in historical research, in the field of youth leisure and solidarity. It can be said that his whole life has been marked by others, from different fields and positions.

Since 2009, he has chaired Braval, a development and promotion initiative located in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona. This foundation seeks, through volunteering, to promote the social cohesion of young people and facilitate the incorporation of these adolescents into society. More than a thousand participants from 30 countries, speaking 10 languages and professing 9 different religions, have worked on this solidarity project.

We eliminate barriers

Within this mosaic that is the Raval neighborhood, where more than 49,000 people live in 1 square kilometer (3 times more than the Barcelona average), Masabeu develops his work. El Raval is a peculiar neighborhood, not only because 50 % of its inhabitants are foreigners, but also because, as he himself points out, "it's a very special neighborhood.the neighborhood has a large social network that provides hospitality and cohesion, which prevents the emergence of outbreaks of violence".

"Suppose we are in a castellet. When you are on the base, next to a Pakistani and a Congolese, there is no physical barrier.", explains Masabeu. "The physical barrier leads to a mental barrier. When I see that you are from another country, culture, color... I don't know what to say to you and you don't know what to say to me. It is necessary to create spaces to live together.s".

As Josep points out, stereotypes exist in all cultures and societies, but they are almost always false. As an example, he tells us about a situation that occurs in the capital city of Barcelona. "There are 12,000 Pakistanis in Barcelona. Of the 12,000, 6,000 have library cards. You go to the neighborhood library, you go in there in the afternoon and you have the feeling of being in a Pakistani city. You start talking to the people and it breaks your mind, because it turns out that they are consulting their country's newspapers on the Internet.

You also find that they have a university degree and are working in construction. It breaks many schemes, but to break these prejudices, you have to play, to mingle.".

If anyone is an expert in this field, it is Josep Masabeu. "I have always liked this world, the world of teaching and social work. I have a doctorate in pedagogy, I worked for 27 years in a school in Girona, from there I did many work camps with adolescents all over Europe.".

The origin of Braval

The origin of all that the Braval Foundation stands for can be found in a church in the neighborhood. "All this began in the church of Montealegre. From there we provided pastoral care and also primary family assistance: food, clothing, medicine, accompaniment....". The late 1990s was when the neighborhood underwent a demographic and social change. "In 1998 immigration exploded. When in Spain the percentage of immigrants was 1 %, in the Raval neighborhood we were at 10 %. Within months the neighborhood went from being an area with mostly elderly inhabitants to a neighborhood of immigrant families and streets full of children. The schools were overflowing".

To carry out the Braval Foundation's challenge, Josep Masabeu visited social care centers and foundations in the United States and the United Kingdom. "We went to the United States and England to see immigration centers, to learn, because we did not know what to do. From these trips we saw that we had to support ourselves in several points: we have to create spaces for coexistence, we have to continue with primary family care, school success and labor insertion are fundamental.". On this scheme, the foundation was created to carry out this work and the first multiethnic soccer teams were created, subsequently the work of school reinforcement, basic language, occupational, young talent, families, summer camp and volunteer training was carried out. According to Masabeu, "collective sport is the means we use to facilitate coexistence, and it is the resource to motivate them to study and assume the behavioral patterns of our society.".

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Theology at the crossroads of '68

Omnes-June 27, 2018-Reading time: 9 minutes

May '68 revealed a cultural crisis, and its repercussions had transcendence for the life of the Church and for theology.

Text - Josep-Ignasi Saranyana, Full Member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences (Vatican City)

Important theological controversies do not erupt suddenly. They depend on processes of long duration and of great theoretical depth. We see this, once again, in the theological crisis of 1968, which I will describe schematically in the following paragraphs. I will first speak of the remote antecedents and then of the theoretical developments of that prodigious decade.

Remote antecedents of the theological 68

Five doctrinal lines delimited, in my opinion, the theological space of 1968: the absolutization of individual freedom, the autonomy of moral conscience in the face of heteronomous instances, the critique of historical reason, Freudo-Marxism and Marxism with a human face.

a) On the absolutization of freedom

The theological analysis of freedom became more complicated at the beginning of the 16th century. Martin Luther, drawing on late medieval sources, problematized the relationship between grace and freedom, as witnessed in his essay De servo arbitrio ("Slave Freedom"), published in 1525, in response to Erasmus of Rotterdam's De libero arbitrio, which had appeared the previous year. Freedom, according to Luther and other theologians of that time, had been so deteriorated by original sin that it was no longer properly free, but a slave. The Council of Trent took action on the matter, condemning the fact that free will (or the capacity to choose) had been extinguished by original sin.
In the second half of the sixteenth century, the analysis of freedom became the star topic of theoretical discussion. After Michael Bayo, the auxiliis crisis broke out and, as a consequence, the Jansenist binary "free in necessity" and "free in coercion" burst forth in the middle of the 17th century, exaggerating the unqualified identification of freedom with will.

Thus, and by the law of the pendulum, in the face of a continuous negation or, at least, an ablation of freedom, the reaction could not be other than an absolutization of freedom. The evolution of ideas was one step away from considering freedom as an independent faculty, and no longer as the interior and deliberative moment of volition; or, in other words, it was one step away from considering that every inclination of the will is necessarily free, without any deliberation or choice.

On the walls of La Sorbonne and during the events of '68, one could read a graffito, taken from the Marquis de Sade (†1814), which read: "La liberté est le crime qui contient tous les crimes; c'est notre arme absolue!" ("Freedom is the crime that contains all crimes: it is our absolute weapon!"). The second part of the graffito takes us directly to Friedrich Nietzsche (†1900), who considered freedom as the absolute weapon for total emancipation. The German philosopher understands that social norms, although just, are always an obstacle to freedom. Submission to rules dwarfs us, enslaves us, makes us mediocre. Only the superior and aristocratic spirits can emancipate themselves from these restrictive circles, by the use of an unlimited freedom.

b) The autonomy of the moral conscience

According to the neo-Kantian Wilhelm Dilthey (†1911), the "fact of conscience" determined the origin of modernity. If previously moral judgment was considered to presuppose a law that I have not given myself, "inscribed in my heart" according to St. Paul, that is, a succession from the outside to the inside, from modernity onwards the process was reversed, from the inside to the outside, in search of certainties. The methodical formulation of this path corresponded to Descartes. In the religious field, the Reformation was responsible for this process.

In fact, the primacy of the "fact of conscience" as a catalyst for religious change in the 16th century can already be traced in Luther's commentary on the Pauline letter to the Romans, in the passage that speaks of the moral conscience (Rom 2:15-16). Luther understands, in commenting on this pericope, that God cannot modify the verdict of our conscience, but only confirm it (WA 56, 203-204). In this way, and exaggerating the Reformer's claims, he points to the absolute priority of self-examination. An unbridgeable disjunction between hetero-judgment and self-judgment is affirmed, the latter prevailing. I am not judged; I judge myself. It is I, in short, who decides on the goodness or badness of my own actions and the sanction they deserve.

c) The critical limit of historical reason

The third coordinate of the theological space of '68 has its roots in the three Kantian critiques (of pure reason, practical reason and judgment) and, above all, in Friedrich Schleiermacher's (†1834) critique of historical reason. When Immanuel Kant (†1804) left God, the soul, and the universe outside the scope of metaphysical knowledge, he opened the door to theological, psychological, and cosmological agnosticism. As metaphysics failed in its supreme attempt, theology was left at the mercy of feelings and emotions. With Schleiermacher's critique, historical facts also moved away from the human spirit. The hermeneutical circle closed the way to the origins of the Church and to the essential continuity between yesterday and today, and opened an unbridgeable gap between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith.

d) Freudian-Marxism

We must also refer to Sigmund Freud (†1939), who discovered those zones of indeterminacy of freedom, swinging between dream and reality, the conscious and the subconscious. The Freudian therapeutics of psychic discharge and the "discovery" of the masked and repressed sexual drive contributed to the Freudian-Marxist formulations of Herbert Marcuse (†1979) and other representatives of the Frankfurt School.

Marcuse pointed out that all historical facts are restrictions that entail negation. It is necessary to free oneself from such facts. In some sense the sexual repression, pointed out by Freud, is concomitant with the social repression we detect historically. However, the repressed classes are not conscious of being exploited and, therefore, cannot react. Consequently, revolutionary consciousness has to emerge in minority groups outside the system, not objectively exploited, who understand that tolerance is repressive and rebel against it.

e) Marxism with a human face

It remains to point out one last inspirer of '68: the communist Antonio Gramsci (†1937), who elaborated the doctrine of "hegemony" by the cultural route. If a social class seeks hegemony, it must impose its own conception of the world and win over the intellectuals. If this group does not achieve its purpose, another bloc emerges to displace the dominant one, by means of a revolutionary phenomenon. The historical dialectic manifests itself, therefore, between the domination of a hegemonic class, which is unable to impose its project, and the emergence of a subaltern class that becomes dominant by implementing a more satisfactory alternative project. In any case, the conquest of political power requires the prior conquest of cultural hegemony.

Theology in the 1960s

The theological generation of the sixties suffered from the influences mentioned above, which questioned fundamental aspects of the Christian tradition. As in any debate, there was a bit of everything, although, due to their notoriety and media coverage, the less fortunate syntheses sounded more than those that reached a successful conclusion.

Three far-reaching controversies remain as testimony of those convulsive and complex years: the response to the encyclical Humanæ vitæ; the polemic on the eschatological character (or not) of the "kingdom of God"; and the diatribe on the "death of God".

a) The encyclical Humanæ vitæ and its reply

On February 15, 1960, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Enovid as a contraceptive in the United States of America, and from that moment its use spread throughout the world, raising numerous questions for moral theology. John XXIII set up a "Commission for the Study of Population, Family and Birth", which was confirmed and expanded by Paul VI. The conclusions of that commission came in the form of a document (Documentum syntheticum de moralitate regulationis nativitatum). Since not all the members of the commission agreed with this opinion, the text became known as the "report of the majority", as opposed to another "report of the minority", that is, of those who disagreed with the authorization of the Pill.

The main argument of the majority report was based on the "principle of totality," according to which every moral action must be judged within the framework of the totality of a person's life. If a person ordinarily conforms to the fundamental moral principles of the Christian life, even if in isolated acts he or she does not behave according to those fundamental principles, such acts cannot be considered immoral or sinful, because they do not alter the fundamental choice made. Each one can build his own life path, at his own will, according to the autonomous opinion of his moral conscience and with full and absolute freedom. Thus formulated, the "principle of totality" was (and is) alien to the tradition of the Church, because it forgets that the principal source of morality is the work itself. It must be maintained, always and in any case, that there is room for intrinsically evil works, whatever the intention of the agent and whatever the circumstances.

For this reason, and based on the minority report, Paul VI promulgated the encyclical Humanæ vitæ on July 25, 1968. The encyclical established two principles, one of a general nature and the other relating to the topic under discussion: 1) that the authentic interpretation of the natural law belongs to the magisterium of the Church; and 2) that in married life the union of the spouses and openness to procreation are inseparable.

Twenty years after Humanæ vitæ¸ and after a spectacular "response" in which Bernhard Häring (†1998) and Charles Curran stood out, the important instruction Donum vitæ (1987) on respect for nascent human life and the dignity of procreation appeared. However, the Christian faithful were waiting for a more comprehensive and far-reaching magisterial reflection. This finally came in the form of an encyclical, published on August 6, 1993, under the title Veritatis splendor. This document points out the essential contents of Revelation on moral behavior, and has become an unavoidable reference for Catholic moralists.

b) From the theology of hope to the theology of liberation

The question posed by the theology of liberation (how the temporal task influences the advent of the kingdom of God) was already being debated in Europe since the 17th century, especially in late Lutheran circles. Its modern version is due to the Calvinist theologian Jürgen Moltmann, in his book entitled Theology of Hope, published in 1964. Moltmann's own thing was to articulate eschatological theology as a historical eschatology. In other words: to offer a secularizing vision of the "kingdom of God", so that the kingdom of God is "the humanization of human relations and human conditions; the democratization of politics; the socialization of the economy; the naturalization of culture; and the orientation of the Church towards the kingdom of God".

This presentation of the kingdom contrasts with that offered by Paul VI, in 1968, in his splendid Creed of the People of God: "We likewise confess that the kingdom of God, which has had its beginnings here on earth in the Church of Christ, is not of this world, whose figure is passing away, and [we confess] also that its growth cannot be judged identical with the progress of culture and humanity or of the sciences or of the technical arts, but consists in the ever deeper knowledge of the unfathomable riches of Christ, [...] and in the ever more abundant diffusion of grace and holiness among men."

It is undeniable that Moltmann and Metz influenced liberation theology. However, liberation theology had not yet acquired in 1968 the notoriety it achieved after 1971. And it should also be noted, contrary to what has been written, that the General Conference of Medellin in 1968 is foreign to the origins of liberation theology. Its theme was, rather, the reception in Latin America of the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes, of Vatican II, in the context of the crisis of the hierarchical apostolate and the politicization of the Christian grassroots movements, and in the context of the dialectic developmentalism-dependence.

c) The theology of the death of God

And so we arrive at the third critical stage of theology, in the sixties. In 1963, the book Honest to God, signed by the Anglican bishop John A. T. Robinson, had appeared in England and had a huge impact.

Honest to God was the result of the fusion of three currents, or if you will, the point of arrival of three Protestant lines: Rudolf Bultmann (†1976), with his well-known demythologizing of the New Testament, and the radicalization of the gap between the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith; Dietrich Bonhoeffer (†1945), who elaborated the most extreme presentation of Christianity, that is, an a-religious Christianity (only Christ and I, and nothing else); and Paul Tillich (†1965), who had popularized his concept of religion as an anthropological dimension that is everything and, at bottom, is nothing determined (a faith without God). From such premises, Robinson set out to reinterpret faith to make it accessible to modern man. His theology posed the problem of "how to say God" in a secularized context and the result was not at all satisfactory.

In those years, the category "world" was also being discussed in Europe and "political theology" was taking its first steps. This current, led by the Catholic theologian Johann Baptist Metz, also sought to present the faith in harmony with the cultural horizon of the time. For Metz, the "world" was historical becoming. According to Metz, when the incarnate Word takes on the world, God accepts that creation is filtered by the work of man. Thus, when we contemplate the world, we do not see the vestigia Dei, but rather the vestigia hominis and, in short, not the world projected by God, but transformed by man, behind which man himself beats.

In both cases, there is a notable deficit of metaphysical rationality. Kant's shadow is very long. Both Metz and Moltmann succumb to a supposed impossibility, on the part of reason, to transcend the phenomenological level and enter the noun. They postulate, without further ado, that reason can say nothing about God and supernature. The problem is, for them, how to speak of God to a world that supposedly no longer understands what God is.

Although the three controversies described above did not have a direct impact on the development of Vatican II, they did so rarefy the theological and ecclesial atmosphere that they negatively conditioned the reception of the great conciliar assembly. But this is a different matter, which would require a specific, long and detailed treatment.

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ColumnistsJosé Rico Pavés

Teachings of the Pope: For the Greater Glory of God

The main document of the month of April was the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, with which the Pope wishes to recall the call to holiness that the Lord makes to each one of us.

June 25, 2018-Reading time: 4 minutes

The month of April, as an early fruit of Easter, brought us the publication of the Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, on the call to holiness in today's world. With it, Pope Francis wants us to "the whole Church is dedicated to promoting the desire for holiness". The document is not intended to be a treatise on holiness, but its aim is to "to make the call to holiness resound once again, seeking to incarnate it in today's context, with its risks, challenges and opportunities....". The new Exhortation is in continuity with previous teachings, especially with the Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. If in the latter the Pope revealed what he wanted to be the inner thread of his pontificate, he now reveals the deeper orientation of his actions. Near the end of Evangelii gaudium, we read: "United with Jesus, we seek what he seeks, we love what he loves. Ultimately, what we seek is the glory of the Father." (n. 267). Now, in the conclusion of Gaudete et Exsultate, the same motive reappears: "Let us ask the Holy Spirit to instill in us an intense desire to be saints for the greater glory of God and let us encourage one another in this intent.o" (n. 177). When we notice this interior motivation in the Pope's gestures and words, it is easy to perceive, as a guiding thread of his teachings, the desire to make the call to holiness resound forcefully in the present moment, pointing out risks and opportunities.

Disciples of the Risen Lord

The Easter season helps us to rediscover our identity as disciples of the Risen Lord. The meditations prior to the recitation of the Regina Coeli and the liturgical preaching of recent weeks highlight the features of this identity. As on the morning of the first Sunday in history, we too must allow ourselves to be surprised by the proclamation of the resurrection and we must be in a hurry to share this proclamation. Like the Apostle Thomas, we are called to overcome unbelief and move from seeing to believing. We can "see" the risen Jesus through his wounds, for in order to believe, "...we must see the resurrection.we need to see Jesus touching his love". At Easter time, we ask for the grace to recognize our God, to find our joy in his forgiveness, to find our hope in his mercy. The answer to all human questions is to be found in Jesus Christ's revelation of Himself: "...".I am the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep".

Missionaries of Mercy, new priests and Benedictines

Francis has once again met with the "missionaries of mercyHe reminded them that their ministry is twofold: "The mission is twofold: to renew the mission that they have received since the Jubilee year. He reminded them that their ministry is twofold: "... to renew the mission they have received since the Jubilee year.at the service of people, so that they may be reborn from above and at the service of the community, so that they may live the commandment of love with joy and coherence.".

To the new priests, ordained on the fourth Sunday of Easter, Francis asked them to always keep before their eyes the example of Christ the Good Shepherd, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to seek and save those who were lost.

On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Benedictine Confederation, the Pope wished that this Jubilee year would become for the entire Benedictine family a propitious occasion to reflect on the search for God and his wisdom, and to transmit more effectively its perennial richness to future generations.

Pastoral visits

Visiting the Roman parish of St. Paul of the Cross, the Pope asked his faithful to form a joyful community, with the joy that is born of "touching the risen Jesus"He was a luminous example of all this through prayer, the sacraments, forgiveness that rejuvenates, meeting the sick, the imprisoned, children, the elderly and the needy. Tonino Bello, whose witness of holiness prompted Francis to visit the cities of Alessano (Lecce) and Molfetta (Bari), where he carried out his pastoral ministry.

Catechesis on baptism

Having completed the cycle of catecheses dedicated to commenting on the celebration of Holy Mass, the Pope has begun a new one focusing on baptism. As in the previous one, Francis offers a mystagogical commentary on each of the elements that make up the rite of the celebration of baptism. Thus, he has insisted on the baptism of infants and has been explaining the different elements of the ritual: the dialogue with parents and godparents, the choice of the name, the signing, etc. "Baptism is not a magic formula, but a gift of the Holy Spirit that enables the recipient to fight against the spirit of evil.".

Pastoral concerns

In the last month, the Pope has expressed his deep concern for the world situation: the armed conflicts in Syria and other regions of the world, the revolts in Nicaragua, the meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas. But the same concern has been made manifest in the face of the results of the investigations in charge of clarifying the cases of abuse and cover-up that are shaking the Church in Chile, or the dramatic outcome of the British child Alfie Evans. The Pope is not unaware of so many painful situations in the contemporary world and wishes to project upon them the hopeful light of the Risen Christ. Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, has the power to heal the wounds of humanity because he knows his sheep and gives his life for them.

With our eyes always fixed on Mary

As we invoke Mary in the Easter season with the title Queen of Heaven, we look at our world with hopeful concern. Celebrating Christ's triumph over sin and death reminds us once again that we are called to a holy life.

The authorJosé Rico Pavés

Pope Francis

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Movies: Wonder

Omnes-June 21, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

Chbosky achieves a smooth ride, with surprises, metaphors for life in the science classroom, humor, and the depth that the natural tensions of the plot allow. Those who haven't turned the page on their childhood and put kindness before rationalized justice will enjoy the film.

Text -José María Garrido

Title: Wonder
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Screenplay: Steve Conrad, Jack Thorne
United States, 2017

Five years ago Stephen Chbosky tackled some murky issues of adolescence and friendship in The Perks of Being an Outcast. Now he turns the camera on the difficulties of acceptance, his own and others', of a boy with a deformed face who starts school.

Auggie (Jacob Trembley) has everything but an admirable face. His small family, father included, gravitates around him. The bold mother (Julia Roberts rules) has homeschooled him until he was ten years old. The boy is sharp and happy, though he still wavers in the ambivalence of being an astronaut and hiding his face: he likes to wear the space helmet. When the time comes for him to go to high school, his parents decide that he should go to school with his face uncovered.

The script adapts with good rhythm the juvenile book La lección de August, by Raquel Jaramillo Palacio. A lot of things happen in a school year: classes, slogans of the day, recess, lunchroom, sly glances, inchoate friendships, Halloween, Christmas, well-meaning lies, reconciliation... Some viewers find it hard to get used to a child being the main narrator, and even more so with dubbing. But the credibility of the story grows because of the successful performances of the cast and because the film -following the novel- recounts those months also from the point of view of other characters.

For those who want another educational story, with less budget and in a husky key, there is La vida y nada más, by the Spaniard Antonio Méndez. They are the antipodes of the Wonder miracle: a poor, unstructured black family, a hard-working and foul-mouthed mother, two children in her care because the father is in jail, while she tries to redirect the teenage son who flirts with delinquency in search of his full identity, that is, his paternal bond... Almost theater, without music, cut by the fades to black and its silences, filmed in English. Also in this film, the characters learn to look with more understanding at the one closest to them.

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Experiences

Life Teen: a contemporary youth ministry

Omnes-June 18, 2018-Reading time: 5 minutes

Life Teen is a catechetical methodology from the United States, which is beginning to be implemented in some parishes in our country. Since Barcelona, where the groups started, more and more dioceses are showing interest in applying this method.

Text - Laura Atas, Parish of St. Cosmas and St. Damian, Burgos

At the beginning of the school year, we were faced with a growing group of teenagers who met every two weeks in the parish. These evenings were organized with a structure of FOrmation, PRAYER and CEna (FORCE), in an environment where the kids could make friends and continue with their Christian formation after Confirmation, a time when many abandon almost all contact with the Church and their parish. However, we noticed that we lacked a continuity that did not depend exclusively on our imagination, put into action every fifteen days, to prepare the meetings.

A way to revitalize the parish

In view of their increased interest (they themselves asked for weekly meetings), we felt the need to look for a proposal that would help us to form them in a complete and coherent way as Christians.

At the same time, we wanted this group to be in communion with the parish, being its point of reference and enriching the life of the parish. We wanted to be able to dedicate our time and efforts to these young people, who often find themselves without sufficiently stable and attractive references within the Church. In this search process, the Life Teen proposal appeared. It aims to bring young people closer to Christ through two axes: dynamic catechesis and an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist. Coincidentally, at that time, a meeting had been organized in Madrid. We returned enthusiastic, having found a method with which we could catechize our young people in a close way, with a response that adapted to their way of being. With Jesus as the center of our sessions, we began to implement these attractive catecheses, now weekly. The first challenge was to find a team to support the priest in charge of the sessions. This group was gradually formed to give rise, today, to people committed to the education and accompaniment of the children, for whom the work dedicated to the preparation and development of the sessions has become a rewarding opportunity to understand and transmit Christ. We are composed of five young people and two nuns who, together with the parochial vicar, prepare the meetings with great affection.

We began the new course full of hope and strength, not knowing exactly where this new adventure would lead us. The young people's response was almost immediate. In a few weeks, with the diffusion made by the participants themselves, every Friday night an average of more than 30 young people come to the parish halls, being about 50 in total who make up this group. It is their enthusiasm and their desire to participate in each session and in the experiences that accompany the itinerary such as volunteering, excursions or camps, which encourages us to continue with this precious evangelizing journey.

Scenographies, music and spaces for conversation

To understand what Life Teen is like, let's take an example of one of the sessions we have done. The first thing to do is to be clear about our training objective, and to establish agile times to develop the different activities with order, imagination and the participation of everyone.
Last January it was our turn to talk about the miracles of Jesus, emphasizing that the great miracle is the resurrection, and its consequence on earth, the Eucharist. The team had prepared a mountain, in which the Holy Sepulcher was "excavated" with its rock removed, all prepared in half an hour with brown continuous paper, and leaving it hidden behind a large sliding door. As the young people arrived, we welcomed them with our usual smile and joy, while we shared some of the things they had brought for dinner, with ambient music of the kind they like. Then, we always prepared an action; in this case, they had to discover some evidence to identify true and false statements, in a team game. After discovering our mountain, they began the fifteen minutes on the reality of Jesus' miracles and his great miracle in the resurrection.

Another twenty minutes were spent sharing in teams, by age, the miracles they had witnessed in their lives. Then we returned in front of the mountain and went into adoration, bringing the Blessed Sacrament and placing it in the tomb, thus showing the connection between the resurrection and the Eucharist. There, with some songs, they were able to write to Jesus, thanking Him for the miracles He had done and entrusting to Him the miracles they hoped to receive in the future. At eleven o'clock at night we ended the session. For us, adoration has undoubtedly become the most awaited moment of the whole week.

Promising results

After these six months of work, this is the result. From a parish where there were hardly any young people left after confirmation, we found ourselves with a group of more than forty young people between 14 and 20 years of age, including monitors and companions, enthusiastic about their faith. Several of them, sharing their experience, after a time of distance from the faith, serious doubts about the Church and even having abandoned religious practice, now say that they have met Jesus and are happy to have rediscovered him with strength. The young people themselves are taking it upon themselves to bring their friends from school, the university or the neighborhood. They feel they are missionaries who, in time and out of time, insist on their proposal to "come and try". They are convinced that there could be many more who could take advantage of living a Christian life, and even the older ones are already dreaming that, in a few years, we could send catechists to other parishes that wish to multiply this initiative in other parts of the city.

We currently have a session on Fridays, at nine o'clock in the evening, which ends (in theory) at eleven o'clock. The insistence of the older members of the group has forced us to extend the meeting, in order to continue sharing their concerns. This has meant that those over sixteen can stay until almost one o'clock in the morning, dealing with another subject of their interest, and accompanied by the priest, in a session they call LifeTeen2.

We send parents a whatsapp every week so they can know what their children have discussed in the session. The families are deeply grateful to see that their children are becoming more and more comfortable in the parish. They find that several of the children have started as catechist assistants, have joined the catechetical Mass choir or are collaborating as monitors in the games organized, since this course, at the end of the celebration of the Eucharist.

The parents of the confirmation children have already shown their interest in the initiative. Before the end of the school year, we will introduce this format in a version aimed at the 1st and 2nd years of secondary school, on Fridays at 7:30 pm. In this way, they will get to know how they can continue to feel at home when they come to the parish, once they have finished their Christian initiation formation. This Life Teen group will also have a group of leaders.

As a project, we want to deepen the personal accompaniment of each of the participants. We see ourselves with the strength to try to reach in a short period of time one hundred percent of those who come to Life Teen.

The thirst of these young people is so great that we are always looking for enough food. This is why, during the year, we were able to participate in a volunteer experience in the social and health center of the Sisters Hospitallers of Palencia or in the European meeting of Life Teen leaders in Montserrat. These experiences, and those we hope to carry out during Easter and summer, are also ways to respond to their growing concerns. These concerns are shown by the fact that even questions about vocation are already arising among some young people. It is not at all strange that some of them are publicly expressing their openness to vocations of special consecration.

With the parish as a place of reference, these young people are getting closer to Jesus Christ, discovering what it really means to be His disciples and how to bring the joy of a life with Him to the people around them.

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Committed

Omnes-June 17, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

The word "commitment" means, on the one hand, binding or binding, and invites to fidelity. But there are also "compromising situations", which call for prudence. Our times require a lot of loyalty, which strengthens the "good" commitment.

Manuel Blanco -Pastor of Santa María de Portor. Media Delegate of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela.

The term "committed" refers mainly to two meanings that could appear on the same coin as its two sides. On the one hand, the reviled "commitment" consists of that almost "frightening" idea, because it is frightening, of tying oneself or binding oneself to something.

In the case of Christians, out of pure love. When a priest commits himself, he puts his powers at stake (after a healthy reasoning, he implies to the maximum his will to love with exclusive dedication). He begins a path of service and fidelity to God and to his cause of salvation. Obligations are contracted; word and honor are put at stake; fulfillment is sought; etc. A "me feel like it"healthy. The pastor of a village defined his commitment as an offering of his whole life. To God in the first place. And from there, also, as an identification with Christ in living for others. "This means that I have to pray a lot to the Lord." (he said), "to support the needs of the elderly, children, young people, couples, etc..". Mothers and grandmothers, professionals of commitment, reason in the following way when they have entered old age: "I don't want to bother"; "I'm giving you a lot of work". Those who have the joy of caring for them know that it is a pleasure to take care of them, even if it means a lot of effort. Jesus doesn't want to bother either, but he knows that we grow up with these responsibilities.

"Compromise" takes on another meaning: to meddle in something bad, difficult, dangerous, delicate. Compromised situations" are like the flowers of a carnivorous plant: in an instant they turn into devouring jaws. For example: should a priest, like any other parishioner, work on the making of the Nativity Scene until 3:00 a.m., or go to bed?

Prudence has always recommended to married couples to take good care of their love. During a preparation for this sacrament, a paradigmatic case was told: married man picks up married woman by car to go to their jobs. Couple's problem at the woman's home; unburdening during the trip. Understanding on his part, very nice. Broken marriages in both cases. A parish priest is exposed to situations where his heart can also falter like that of any other couple. Crises also knock at his door and the deadly sins nestle in him as in others. "Today I'm free, Don Fulano, I go alone to your house and you invite me for a coffee."Maybe not, but the master could be compromised.

A brief story of a good commitment: During a trip to Rome, some fellow priests and several lay people were taking a cab to the airport. They were returning to their country. One of the laymen forgot something in the lodging and decided to return; the others decided not to wait, as the flight was approaching. The priests waited and that person did not know how to thank them. They did not miss the plane; they had made a commitment; and they joked victoriously: "we did not leave".

The beginning of the 21st century requires a lot of loyalty, a precious word for good commitment. Logically, the Galician drug lords, like any other mafia, will have valued the unwavering adherence of their collaborators; but that is not where true loyalty lies. Nor do we owe them loyalty to our passions and miseries, which demand ever higher tributes from us, if we pay them the miserable homage of abandoning ourselves in their bewitching arms.
Our condition of loyalty to the Church does not frighten. She liberates. Of course, she gladly receives the surrender we wish to entrust to her. As she received that of the Son of God. The difference is that the Church invests this surrender in liberating funds. She descends into the dungeons and unhooks the shackles of selfishness; she puts them one after the other so that the human being can go up, as a family, towards the heaven of the free. Thus he inaugurates a new chain, that of solidarity, in which we support one another and where we are also supported by true friendships.

Authentic commitment does not burden: it protects. It rescues the world from the "egos" that have climbed onto the throne or the chair. It finds the "voiceless" and the discarded and treats them as brothers and sisters. When it says "yes" or says "no," it offers safe harbor in which to cement values and truth.

Priests

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Koki Ruiz, author of the portrait of Chiquitunga

Omnes-June 15, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

Artist Koki Ruiz works on the portrait of Chiquitunga that will be exhibited at her beatification. A portrait made with rosaries. Pope Francis has donated the rosary he used in Paraguay.

Text - Federico Mernes, Asunción (Paraguay)

The name of Koki Ruiz and his work are linked to the cultural rescue of the beautiful religious tradition of Holy Week in the town of Tañarandy, in San Ignacio Misiones, Paraguay. A land evangelized since ancient times by the Jesuit missionaries in their extraordinary experience of the colonial era in South America.

Koki Ruiz's creativity and hard work with the community where he lives, in the interior of the Guarani nation, has turned that region into a tourist attraction, where every year thousands of people come on pilgrimage to appreciate the representations of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. He is now working on a portrait dedicated to ChiquitungaMaría Felicia de Jesús Sacramentado, the future first Paraguayan Blessed, which will be exposed next to the altar at the beatification ceremony, which will take place on June 23 at the Cerro Porteño stadium.

Koki Ruiz was the author of the famous altarpiece that aroused the admiration of pilgrims during Pope Francis' visit to Paraguay in July 2015. The altarpiece prepared by Koki for the Mass of that Sunday, July 12, in Ñu Guasu (Campo Grande, in Guarani) had a base of 40 meters by about 20 meters high and was decorated with agricultural products of the country. Thirty-two thousand ears of corn, 200,000 coconuts and 1,000 pumpkins were used.

Messages in the coconuts

In addition, all the people who came days before the Mass had the opportunity to write messages on the coconuts on the altar. Many of those requests were for the beatification of Chiquitunga, the beloved Carmelite Sister, whose brain is incorrupt and to whom many Paraguayans have great devotion. The artist begins by pointing out that "Tañarandy began as creative art in 1992 and now it seeks to reach popular piety... In the past, ideologies were discussed and Marxism, liberation theology were mixed with religion... The priest used to say: if it makes you a better person, it is good for you. But today what is sought to express is religiosity, which is believing for the sake of believing without the need for reflection. I am concerned that Tañarandy is lived with spirituality and that it is not just a question of tourism... Popular piety is transmitted from parents to children and grandchildren, that is what we must take care of.".

This is how he met the Carmelite nun

He is now working on the portrait of Chiquitunga, which is made from rosaries. "My first contact with Chiquitunga was a lady who was very devoted to her. When I was making the Pope's altarpiece she came to put names on the coconuts of 20,000 people, she wrote and we had to close and she kept writing and asking for the beatification of Chiquitunga; in the end she gave me two books of Chiquitunga that I kept.

Then they called me from the Carmelites asking me to do something for the beatification, I remembered those two moments: the lady who was writing and the nun who wanted to kiss my hand. I read the books and I was impressed, I fell in love with Chiquitunga, the sublimity of that love, she became very close to me. I read her intimate diaries and that surrender to always pray for others and sometimes that dialogue with God of 'I still love Him but I give everything to you God', it is the surrender, it is to go through that human love and make it more sublime for Him, for God and that's how I fell in love with Chiquitunga.".

Behind every rosary, a story

"Behind every rosary there is a lot of history." -adds the artist-."I remember one who, when he brought his rosary, said that this rosary saved two lives: that of my wife who had cancer and mine, that if my wife died, I would die. My daughter died 20 years ago and I asked Chiquitunga, but she never left, she always hugs me, and she came with several friends to make 700 rosaries.".

"In Tañarandy this year's Holy Week celebration around Chiquitunga was more spiritual.", comments Koki Ruiz. "The people kind of came looking for something and asking for something. Chiquitunga was an instrument of God to bring people closer to God. I remember my mom telling me once when I was in the second year of TañarandyYou have a lot of talent, that is a gift from God and the danger is vanity. Your daily prayer must be one of humility.

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Cinema: Summer of a Tokyo Family

Omnes-June 13, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

Text - José María Garrido

Summer of a Tokyo family
Director: Yôji Yamada
Screenplay: Emiko Hiramatsu and Yôji Yamada
Japan, 2017

Yôji Yamada is a veteran Japanese director, prolific and internationally acclaimed. For two decades, 1969 to 1989, he released two films a year with the sentimental adventures of the kindly vagabond Tora-san. He did not stop until the death of the lead actor, Kiyoshi Atsumi. At 86, Yamada continues to direct at an almost annual pace and knows how to exploit stories with similar plots. In the latest film, Summer of a Tokyo Family, he prolongs the comedy of Wonderful Tokyo Family (2016), repeating actors and characters, although the action is triggered and muddled by a seemingly anodyne affair: the grandfather of the Hirata family is no longer fit to drive... and he doesn't want to quit!

While grandma goes off with some friends to Northern Europe to see an aurora borealis, grandpa enjoys his free time plans, driving happily, but also bordering on recklessness and the car's bodywork. The three sons want to take away his license and don't dare. Between doubts and failed attempts, the curmudgeon feels misunderstood and makes it known with all kinds of fuss. The story gets complicated when the children call a family meeting to settle the problem, because the house where three generations live together will become something like the Marx Brothers' cabin.

Although the general tone is humor (Japanese, then different, sometimes untranslatable), there are also tears and love: Yamada distills with sake the melancholy of the passing of time, and strains and loosens family ties and old friendships, with memories and feelings that make life more interesting and beautiful. We see the nuances in each couple, more or less mature or excited about life, and the reward of ties. As for the performances, apart from the grandmother - almost absent due to the imperative of the script - and the two little pizza-snackers somewhat caricatured, the rest of the characters open their hearts to us well in the course of the dialogues and that oriental calm that when accelerated is more unusual. In the meantime, perhaps a conversation sows a seed for the next season of the Tokyo family.

Just a final clarification: the two films mentioned above are not a continuation -despite the coincidences of title, actors and characters- of the temperate plot of A Tokyo Family (2013), a beauty by Yamada that many compare to Ozu's classic Tokyo Tales. All are worth seeing.

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EvangelizationGreg Erlandson

Parishes are restructured

June 12, 2018-Reading time: < 1 minute

The Catholic parish in the United States has played a powerful role in maintaining the presence of the Church in a majority Protestant country. The parish was a haven for Catholic immigrants, a place of volunteerism and a source of Catholic identity.

For more than a century, the largest number of Catholic parishes were logically located where the Catholics were: in the Northeast (New York, Boston, Philadelphia) and in the Midwest (Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee).

Now, however, the Catholic parish is undergoing a radical change. A new work by five Catholic researchers, entitled 21st Century Catholic Parishes, explains this change. One of the biggest developments is its geographic location, with more and more Catholics moving south (Raleigh, Miami, Atlanta, Houston) and west (Denver, Los Angeles).

In fact, the Catholic population is now almost evenly divided between the Northeast, Midwest, South and West of the country, due, on the one hand, to the migration of people within the territory, seeking employment or a lower cost of living; and, on the other hand, to immigration.

The challenge, the authors point out, is that "people move, but parishes and schools don't." The Northeast and Midwest are left with shrinking parishes. The Archdiocese of New York recently underwent a massive reorganization, and 20 percent of its parishes were closed or merged. At the same time Houston and Atlanta are noticing the need for more parishes.

On the other hand, about four out of ten Catholics are Hispanic. And there are more and more parishes that have Hispanic ministers and Mass in Spanish.

The Catholic parish in the United States is clearly going through a historic transition, but there are many signs that this transition will lead to its revitalization.

The authorGreg Erlandson

Journalist, author and editor. Director of Catholic News Service (CNS)

Parishes

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A book to renew parishes: James Mallon

This recent book has touched many readers, priests and lay people. Although it has very "American" aspects, it can help in Spain to renew Christian life and its missionary impulse.

Jaime Nubiola-June 11, 2018-Reading time: 4 minutes

Text - Sara Barrena and Jaime Nubiola

Last Sunday I went to Mass at my neighborhood parish. We were the usual crowd. A sea of gray heads, in dark trench coats and overcoats. I was probably the youngest, minus one brave mother who came in a little late with a baby in her arms and a toddler clutching her leg. People looked at them as if they were specimens of a dying breed. When the time came I gave peace to the elderly couple in front of me and the lady behind me, who uses a cane. We almost always occupied the same benches, but we never spoke. On the way out, people dispersed; some stopped at the bakery to buy dessert and went home with their duty done. It was just another Sunday.

The Church "is" mission

How right he is, I said to myself when I read the book that priest James Mallon has written, entitled A Divine Renewal. From a Maintenance Parish to a Missionary Parish (BAC, 2016). Mallon, pastor in Nova Scotia, Canada, has developed different programs and activities to promote faith and spiritual growth, such as Alpha courses, a help to face the big questions accompanied. Mallon argues that parishes need to remember who they are and what their mission is. That mission, he says, is not to take care of those who are already there to keep them happy and satisfied, but to make disciples. For parishes not to die, evangelization is needed, not self-preservation. It is not a matter of giving drink to those who are not thirsty, but rather of remembering that we Christians are by definition sent to spread the good news. The Church is designed to go, to walk. It is time to leave comfort behind, to get out of the usual. It is time to remember that - as Mallon affirms - the Church is mission.

And this mission, contrary to what one might think, does not correspond only to the parish priests or to the priests. It is up to all of us. They are not the only ones responsible for the fact that there are no new people in the parish and that those who are there do not seem to have the heart of celebration for having found God. Mallon's book succeeds in getting something inside us and shakes our souls. A task only for parish priests? Not a chance. The Church belongs to everyone and for everyone, and every person who claims to be Catholic should be engraved deep inside with the great light that this book presents. We cannot be satisfied with just surviving, with doing maintenance gymnastics. It is not enough that we pray sometimes, that we go to Mass. That may seem a lot in these times, but it is not enough when we remember the mission that Christ entrusted to all of us. Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. He did not say go to the parish priests. We have no excuse.

How can it be that our faith is sometimes so gray, so unwelcoming, so boring? How can it be that so many Catholic people are still content with the faith and arguments of when they were children? How can it be that we grow in so many aspects of life, in our knowledge, in our profession, in our affections, and yet we do not grow in the most important things? It is a serious cultural problem. Whoever does not grow, whoever does not have that plasticity is in many ways dead. And more than in any other area, this is true in the spiritual life: it is not enough to keep up. One must always be willing to go further, to give one's all for everything. To do otherwise is to die slowly.

Examples

James Mallon gives many concrete examples of things that can be done, from welcoming teams in parishes to family catechesis to a variety of non-sacramental events for the far away. Some examples have to do with North American culture and in the lands where I write are foreign to us, but they are only examples that spur us to creatively find our own ways to advance the mission. We cannot be passive spectators. We must learn that we have been given good news, understand it with our hearts and rejoice until we can do nothing else but share it. And good news is not transmitted with a long face. This is perhaps the easiest way to get going: change the face. "An evangelizer cannot permanently have a funeral face".writes Pope Francis (Evangelii Gaudium, 10). If Jesus is in your heart, please let him know it to your face, Mallon also writes. We cannot leave the heart at the door of the church. "The experience of God"he adds (p. 219).make us more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind and generous.".

We have something to offer

It is not enough to believe or trust, you also have to act. You have to be proactive and not just reactive. And that is not merely passing on information. Get moving. Don't live your faith "in bank mode". Each of us will know how to bear witness, whom we can help, with whom we can be hospitable, whom we can console, embrace and welcome unconditionally; each of us will know whom we can touch, how to show the face and the smile of God, his beauty. Each one will know how to transmit the interior joy of the good news and make it possible for other people to experience God.

In his book Mallon argues that in parishes everyone can find formation and companionship. It is a call to parish priests, but also to individual Catholics. We have something to offer. If only the world knew what has been made known to us! If you are devoured by zeal to tell, even if you realize that you are weak and foolish, Mallon concludes, then you are ready and God can use you to reach the ends of the earth.

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Chiquitunga will be Paraguay's first Blessed

Omnes-June 9, 2018-Reading time: 6 minutes

Maria Felicia de Jesus Sacramentado, a Discalced Carmelite nun who died in 1959, will become the first Paraguayan blessed on June 23. Pope Francis is closely following the beatification of Chiquitunga.

TEXT - Federico Mernes, Asunción (Paraguay)

I travel 223 kilometers to meet with Koki Ruiz. The Pope's and now Chiquitunga's artist.. We cross paths. He is going to Asunción. This is the capital of the Heart of America, as our country, Paraguay, is known. It turns out that on April 28, 1959, a month before I was born, an aunt of mine, a Carmelite nun, died; 59 years later she will be elevated to the altars. Reading her biography, I learned that my grandfather was her godfather at her baptism! The process of beatification of Chiquitunga was opened in 1997, and she was declared Venerable in 2010 by Benedict XVI, who proclaimed her heroic virtues.

Chiquitunga (María Felicia Guggiari, 1925-1959), received that name from her father because she was a little petite. She was the eldest of seven siblings and came from a traditional, well-to-do and well-educated family. As a child, she stood out for her piety and inclination towards charitable works. As a young girl she joined the Catholic Action, being very active. A biography speaks of her as "formed and formed in Catholic Action". Indeed, first learn and then give. She joined at the age of 16 and left this association only to enter Carmel.

T2Os was their motto. It sounds like a chemical formula, but it was a reminder of "I offer you everything, Lord". Today this phrase is posted on the internet and refers to the future Blessed, who wanted to give herself fully to God. She worked in Catholic Action for more than ten years. Although confused about whether her path was marriage or consecrated life.

Responds to the vocation

And a story of human love takes place. She fell in love with a doctor, also a member of Catholic Action, whose father was an Arab -surnamed Saua-, of Muslim religion. A very spiritual courtship. Praying, chatting and crying, the two made the decision to give themselves fully to God: she in the Carmelite monastery and he in the seminary to become a priest. With this separation, their desire to give everything to the Lord, as she herself had wished, was once again fulfilled: "How beautiful it would be to have a love, to renounce that love and together immolate ourselves to the Lord for the ideal!".

Chiquitunga encountered great opposition from her father. Although she was of age, she did not go to the convent until she was 30 years old, so as not to displease her father. She commented before entering: "I do the opposite of Jesus: I lived thirty years of public life and now I begin my hidden life.". Indeed, it was not until she was 34 years old that she would fulfill her desire to become a cloistered nun.

She sought holiness on this new path. She adopted a new name for her new mission: Maria Felicia de Jesus Sacramentado. On one occasion, she said to her mother superior: "I am a mother.If I am to be mediocre, intercede for me and make me die!".

The current Superior speaks of what the beatification of Chiquitunga means to her and to the community: "It is a very big commitment, because with the beatification of our Sr. Maria Felicia, the Church once again confirms the value of the contemplative life within the Church. It means that today we can be saints in whatever place and circumstances in which we live. For the community it is a reason for joy, for gratitude for choosing one of its members to be a Light in the midst of our Church, and that fills us with immense gratitude.".

"I yield to you."

She spent four quiet and very happy years in the cloister. Two nuns who knew her still live there. They tell us that "She was very nice, she made jokes, very cheerful and very spiritual. When we both wanted to do the same things, she would say: 'I yield to him'. She had a lot of charity; she was very helpful, she wanted to help everyone; she said she wanted more time to help".

Mother Teresa Margaret, for her part, gives her testimony about her: "SHer novitiate year was spent as was to be expected of her generous soul towards her God: denying her nothing of what the Lord asked of her; so there was no difficulty for our Community to admit her to simple profession, which took place on August 15, 1956.".

From her life in the world and in the convent we can see that she was a woman of her time: very much of the world and very much of God. But in the last year, when she was 34 years old, she was faced with the ordeal of illness. An affection of the liver that later became complicated with blood led her to a fatal outcome.

Abandonment in God

She lived her last days with total abandonment to the will of God. Before surrendering her spirit to the Lord, she asked to be read the poem of St. Theresa "I die because I don't die". He listened with a very cheerful face and repeated the refrain: "That I die because I don't die". He would turn to his father and say: "Daddy dearest, I am the happiest person in the world; if you only knew what the Catholic Religion is!"He added, without wiping the smile from his lips: "I'm not a man of the world.Jesus, I love you! What a sweet encounter! Virgin Mary!".

As a consequence of the beatification, there is much more movement than usual around the friary. The Superior explains that the event "requires extra activities, so to speak, such as attending to people who come to share their testimonies, or to the media who want to know more about it, or sporadically to groups of young people who knock on our door to know about it.". It must be said that the Carmelite convents are full in Paraguay. There are young vocations. They are in five cities of the country.

Pope Francis admires Paraguayan women and often refers to them as "glorious". I ask the Superior: "Does Chiquitunga embody that figure?". "Of course, Chiquitunga embodies this figure." -he replies-, "because from her being a woman who knew how to love, to donate herself, to forget herself, she knew how to sacrifice herself for others without giving up anything for a greater good: the salvation of souls, like the glorious Paraguayan women, as the Pope says".

The ideal of Christ and surrender

Chiquitunga is close in time and in her activities, that is why her figure and upcoming beatification can mean a lot for the country. I continue with the Superior: "What does the figure of Chiquitunga say to Paraguayan society?". "Chiquitunga tells us that today we can become saints if we live with passion an ideal, in her case her desire that everything be saturated with Christ: Christ, his Church, the brothers and sisters were her ideal. She tells us that we can be happy by giving ourselves to others. Forgetting ourselves for the sake of others. It tells us that it is worth it: to offer everything, even the most precious. It tells us that we can be happy in a simple, joyful life, and by giving ourselves at all times.".

The Pope's new Apostolic Exhortation has just been published, Gaudete et exsultateon the holiness of the ordinary faithful. How opportune to speak of holiness and to have a figure. Countless initiatives have arisen on the occasion of the beatification. The most important is that of the artist Koki Ruiz. I have just received a whatssapp from Renato, a classical guitarist, who tells me that they are preparing a documentary about Chiquitunga.

The miracle

A married couple of deaf-mutes; she becomes pregnant: they arrive at the Health Center in a remote part of the country, very precarious. Coincidentally, there is a nurse who understands sign language. The obstetrician, upon seeing the baby's situation, attended her: "I am very happy.I leaned against the wall, opened my arms, closed my eyes and asked with great faith for Chiquitunga's intercession before God.".

After all the resuscitation work and prayers for the health of the newborn, finally after 30 minutes the baby began to have his first cardiorespiratory response with deep breathing, which was his first vital sign. I was able to see and hear it, a few months ago, at a Mass in honor of the future Blessed. At the age of 15, he is totally normal, without any disability. He is in the 9th grade of school, the one corresponding to his age. But it doesn't end here.
Chiquitunga's remains were in the family cemetery. After some time it was decided to move them to the convent. They were in a place until Dr. Elio Marín was called to attend a nun. He was told that they had the remains of Chiquitunga. He examined them and found the brain petrified. From the medical point of view, that brain should have disintegrated in the first days, taking into account the disease and the heat we have in these lands. Sister Yolanda, who knew her, commented: "... she was a very sick woman.I heard Mother Teresa Margaret say, when she learned that the body of Sister Maria Felicia had remained incorrupt longer than usual, that perhaps God wanted to glorify her, for she had been a very virtuous nun.".

Pope Francis

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ColumnistsXiskya Valladares

Digital evangelical branding

June 6, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

Jesus' invitation was clear: Be salt of the world, leaven in the dough. Neither salt nor yeast stand out, but without them the end result is catastrophic.

Xiskya Valladares -Religious of the Purity of Mary Congregation
@xiskya

It's true that we're almost halfway through 2018, but out of curiosity I went to Google Trends to consult the major trends of 2017. My concern was, above all, along the lines of knowing how significant we Catholics, the Church and the Gospel, are being in Spain and the world. I have to say that we are not leaving any evangelical mark in the digital world.

This reality could discourage us. But also the opposite, to be a revulsive that awakens us and challenges us to change what is necessary. Jesus' invitation was clear: Be salt in the world, yeast in the dough. Neither salt nor yeast stand out, but without them the end result is catastrophic. It happened to me recently with a cake that did not rise enough because it lacked more yeast and we ended up throwing it away.

I am convinced that trends would change if we were more often aware of this. Why Eurovision, HBO, the Oscars, Survivors and La Sexta Directa are trending topic of 2017 and there is nothing related to the Church? The truth is that I may be wrong, but it doesn't occur to me to associate any of those themes with our values. However, what makes them so interesting to so many people, perhaps it does have a lot to do with what we are missing.

Arousing curiosity, connecting with the audience's interests, being attractive, using narratives that dazzle, arousing expectations, questioning realities, changing points of view about something, moving, inspiring a way of life, posing challenges, are, among others, some of the actions that provoke those five trending topic of 2017. And aren't these actions one hundred percent evangelical? Perhaps we have left the Holy Spirit aside. We have stopped believing that with his strength we can turn the world around. Perhaps we lack conversion, prayer, trust. But we have the responsibility before God to leave an evangelical mark in this digital world.

The authorXiskya Valladares

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The Vatican

Synodality, central to the life and mission of the Church

Giovanni Tridente-May 31, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

On June 28 will be the Consistory for the creation of 14 new cardinals, among them two Spaniards: the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the former Superior General of the Claretians. The canonization of Paul VI and Oscar Romero will take place on October 14.

Text - Giovanni Tridente, Rome

It has passed somewhat in silence, perhaps because of the characteristics of this type of text, but in recent weeks an important document has been made public, the fruit of years of work, which deepens the theological meaning of synodality in the Church and offers some useful pastoral guidelines. It is entitled Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church, and was prepared by the International Theological Commission with the approval of the Pontiff. It was Pope Francis himself, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops at the request of Blessed Paul VI, who emphasized the centrality of such a dynamism for the life of the Church, especially in our time.

From a theological point of view, this document clarifies what, since the Second Vatican Council, has been expressed as a reality that is as old as the Church's journey. Among the most interesting aspects, perhaps, is the demand to take more account of the local Churches in the convocation of the Synod of Bishops, allowing them to discuss in advance what the Synod Fathers will then debate in Rome. Pope Francis is already moving in this direction; suffice it to recall that the next assembly in October dedicated to young people was already preceded, last March, by a pre-synod involving those directly concerned.

Among the other demands of the document is that of making mandatory the institution of diocesan councils and a series of structures necessary for synodality.

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Cultural and religious tourism gaining importance in Spain

Omnes-May 30, 2018-Reading time: < 1 minute

Tourism in Spain continues to grow and one of the reasons is religious tourism. The pastoral care of tourism is becoming increasingly important in the country.

Text - Fernando Serrano

Spain offers different types of tourism thanks to its geographical and cultural variety. Tourists come to the country in search of different things: good weather, beaches, mountains, leisure, relaxation, culture...

Other types of tourism

Spanish tourism beat its record number of international visitors in 2017 with the arrival of 82 million tourists. This represents an increase of 8.9 % compared to 2016. This figure means that almost twice the Spanish population visited the country.

Most of these tourists come looking for sun, beach, rest... Since most of them come to the Levante area (Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Valencian Community) and the Canary Islands. However, the autonomous communities that grew the most with respect to the previous year are: Extremadura, Castilla y León and Galicia.

But, among all the offers, the cultural and religious ones are the most important. At present, three of the five main holy cities in the world are Spanish. Alongside Jerusalem and Rome are Santiago de Compostela, Caravaca de la Cruz and Santo Toribio de Liébana. In total, Spanish pilgrimage destinations welcome around 20 million visitors a year.

Holy Week, which is celebrated throughout the country and in many cities has earned recognition as a festival of international tourist interest, the great cathedrals, the monasteries, the Jubilee destinations ... are some of the reasons why tourism related to culture and religion has a great weight in Spain.

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South Sudan: Humanitarian emergency fails to reach agreements

Omnes-May 30, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

Urged by the great famine and the massive exodus to neighboring countries, the government and opposition groups in South Sudan have met in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) with the Intergovernmental Authority (IGAD) to bring positions closer, but little progress has been made.

Text - Edward Diez-Caballero, Nairobi

UNICEF's figures from a year ago are outdated. Nearly 1.8 million people, including more than a million children, have had to flee their homes in South Sudan for neighboring countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda because of the civil war that began in 2013.

In addition, another 1.4 million children live in IDP camps inside the country. "The future of a generation is really at stake," Leila Pakkala of the United Nations Children's Fund said last year. "The horrific reality that nearly one in five children in South Sudan have had to flee their homes illustrates how this conflict is devastating for the weakest in the country," she added.

A couple of weeks ago, the UN Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, stated that the conflict (civil war) in South Sudan has caused the displacement of some 4.3 million people, almost a third of the country's population, while seven million are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

Lowcock called on the warring parties to immediately cease hostilities, speaking to reporters in the capital, Juba, at the end of a two-day visit to South Sudan. The UN representative stressed that "the conflict in South Sudan has entered its fifth year, the population continues to suffer in unimaginable ways and so far the peace process has not borne fruit." "The economy has collapsed and the fighters are pursuing a scorched earth policy, with killings and rapes in violation of international law," he added.

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Interreligious dialogue: More collaboration between Christians and Muslims

Omnes-May 30, 2018-Reading time: < 1 minute

The Holy See has congratulated the Islamic community for the month of Ramadan. In the same vein, the Focolare Movement and numerous Islamic communities have expressed in a congress a closeness that "goes beyond dialogue".

Text - Fina Trèmols i Garanger

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has congratulated the Islamic community around the world on the occasion of the beginning of the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, Ramadan, known internationally as the period in which they practice daily fasting from dawn to sunset.

"Mindful of the gifts that flow from Ramadan, we join you in thanking the merciful God for his benevolence and generosity," the communiqué states, "sharing some reflections concerning a vital aspect of Christian-Muslim relations: the need to move from competition to collaboration."

The message refers to the fact that, in the past, relations between Christians and Muslims have been, in most cases, marked by a spirit of competition, giving rise to negative consequences such as jealousy, recriminations and tension.

Ecumenism

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"Dublin is set to become the capital of families."

Giovanni Tridente-May 30, 2018-Reading time: 8 minutes

"Everything is ready for Dublin to become the capital of families". Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who has been at the head of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life for almost two years, tells in this interview for Word the latest preparations for the World Meeting of Families, to be held in Dublin from August 21-26 with the participation of Pope Francis.

Text - Giovanni Tridente, Rome

He also offers us a calm and reasoned reflection on various aspects of the Exhortation Amoris laetitia, on how families have an impact on today's world and on what contribution can and should come from the "feminine gaze" in the Church. Of Irish origin, she studied at the University of Salamanca, in Spain, and at the Gregorian and the Angelicum in Rome, obtaining a Master's degree in Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame (United States).

In 1966 he joined the Legionaries of Christ and carried out his pastoral activity in Mexico and Washington, in whose diocese he was incardinated in 1984. In 2001 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Washington, and in 2007, before being called to the Vatican, he was promoted to bishop of Dallas. Pope Francis created him a cardinal on November 19, 2016, during the closing of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

Your Eminence, the big World Meeting of Families in Dublin is already two months away. How are the preparations progressing?
-The World Meeting is always an occasion of grace. A time to proclaim and celebrate the joy of the Gospel of the family. Work is proceeding at great speed in this final stretch. Registrations are still open and many people continue to register. Official delegations from many countries of the five continents have confirmed their participation and are preparing for the Meeting by receiving and imparting the preparatory catecheses that were prepared for the occasion. Everything is practically ready for Dublin to become the capital of families.

With the August meeting, these meetings are celebrating their "silver jubilee", 24 years after the first convocation desired in 1994 by St. John Paul II. In your opinion, what has changed since then?
-It is evident that the situation of families has changed in recent years. For this reason Pope Francis wanted two synods to be held, preceded by a 360-degree consultation on the family. Although there are many situations in contemporary culture that do not favor the stability and solidity of families, the original vocation of people to love and the desire for family remain unchanged. This is precisely why Pope Francis' post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which so strongly emphasizes the via caritatis and the pulchrum, is having such a resonance and helping the Church to renew her pastoral commitment to all families, without excluding any.

Thinking precisely about Amoris laetitia, what, in your opinion, is the true secret of a Gospel of the family that is joy for the world?
-The key is to proclaim the joy of love that loves the other for what he or she is and seeks his or her true good (cf. AL 127). Amoris Laetitia sees authentic human and Christian love as the only force capable of saving marriage and the family. Hence the Pope places love at the center of the family (cf. AL 67), giving it great importance throughout the Apostolic Exhortation, especially in chapters IV and V, where he describes some characteristics of true love and applies them to family life on the basis of St. Paul's hymn to charity from 1 Cor 13:4-7 (cf. AL 90-119).

As we know, many libertarian initiatives obscure the "prophecy" embedded in the first cell of society. How to overcome these serious world crises, and what attitude to adopt towards the world?
-Christians must be open to listen to the questions that our contemporaries ask about fundamental questions of existence. Our attitude cannot be that of those who condemn "a priori" any new proposal or those who, in seeking solutions, make mistakes. The Pope invites us to be attentive to the action of the Holy Spirit who, in his own neologism, "precedes us". We must be attentive to offer doctrine, but above all the witness of charity and the joy of Christian family life. Thus, for example, it cannot be denied that people always seek love, even if, given our fallen nature, we can be mistaken in the object and in the way we love. The Pope reminds us that conjugal love is authentic when it is an oblative and spiritual love, which includes at the same time affection, tenderness, intimacy, passion, erotic desire, pleasure that is given and received (cf. AL 120; 123), openness to procreation and to the education of children (cf. AL 80-85).

On the other hand, in social dialogue it is important to know how to offer valid reasons from the point of view of the common interest and not always repeat the "should be". It is necessary to show the reasons that advise in view of the common good, of the general interest, and to support families so that they can carry out their important social task, distinguishing what belongs to the private sphere of affection from what also has an irreducible social function. This is especially the task of the laity, of the families themselves, united with others who, while not sharing their faith, share the same concern for the well-being of society and of families.

Continuing with Amoris laetitia, the fruit of two important synodal discussions, it is well known that in some circles it has not been well digested. From your point of view, what are the most relevant points of this document, which are worth assimilating well?
-Amoris Laetitia is a document of great pastoral richness. Pope Francis offers us a pedagogy, understanding that the couple's relationship is a journey that lasts a lifetime (cfr. AL 325) and that, therefore, it is a journey that knows both the beauty and joy of being loved and of loving as well as the defects and sins, the difficulties and sufferings. It must therefore be considered with realism and confidence, as a progressive growth and development that is carried out together, step by step, with practical, patient and persevering exercise (cfr. AL 266-267). The Pope uses a very eloquent expression to refer to this reality, he says that "love is a craft" (AL 221). This is also true for the education of children (cf. AL 16; 271; 273).

This whole journey needs the accompaniment of the Church. I am referring to the Christian community, not only to the clergy. I believe that this accompaniment is one of the most original things in the pastoral proposal of Amoris Laetitia, and something that we must strive to understand better and to find adequate ways to carry out.

Within the local Churches many initiatives have been born in the field of accompaniment of families in the various stages, from the wedding to the arrival of children and up to the age of maturity, as requested by the Exhortation. What role has the Dicastery played in this field, and what is it doing to continue to promote new initiatives?
-The Dicastery's mission is to collaborate with the Holy Father's ministry of communion. Therefore, we are fundamentally at the service of the particular Churches, listening to their experiences and concerns. In this sense, we are a great observatory that gathers valuable experiences and tries to circulate them so that the whole Church can benefit from them. We also encourage the reflection of university family institutes and take advantage of their work. Another field to which the Dicastery is especially dedicated is the reception of Amoris Laetitia and its catechetical translation.

We are also interested in the development of an adequate premarital pastoral that, in a catechumenal way, prepares our young people to live spousal love. This is why we are working on a platform that brings together a community of people from all over the world who work to support parents in the emotional formation of their children, through courses, didactic materials and pedagogical resources of various kinds.

Pope Francis speaks in various tones of a Church going out. Can we say that there are also "families going out", according to this logic of the Pope, and what would that mean?
-The Pope's invitation to be a "Church going forth" is an invitation addressed to each and every one of the baptized, since by reason of baptism all the faithful are called to the apostolate, to extend the Kingdom of God according to the ecclesial position that each one occupies in accordance with his or her specific vocation and personal circumstances. A "Church going forth" is thus a Church in a permanent state of mission. Therefore, families are also called not to be closed in on themselves. This is inherent in the Christian vocation. They must remain open to the needs of others, especially to those persons and families who find themselves in difficulty for various reasons, both existential and material. Families that contribute in solidarity to the building up of the common good.

Also as active and co-responsible subjects of the mission, Christian families are called to participate according to their possibilities in the different pastoral services they can perform, from the mission "ad gentes", to the catechesis of Christian initiation, the accompaniment of young couples, family consultancies, etc.

With regard to life, what initiatives is the Dicastery working on, and how does it collaborate with the Pontifical Academy of the same name?
-Our Dicastery has the task of promoting respect for the dignity of the life of every human person and of all human life, from conception to natural death, with a transcendent perspective that looks at the human person integrally destined for eternal communion with God. In this sense, our greatest commitment is to promote an integral and transversal pastoral care of human life, which is not reduced only to the necessary pro-life commitment and its legislative, political and cultural implications.

It is necessary to develop a holistic perspective of pastoral care, with its formative (catechesis, formation of consciences, bioethics), celebratory (days of prayer, rosaries, vigils, feasts of life) and service (centers for the support of life, accompaniment of women with unplanned pregnancies, accompaniment of post-abortion trauma syndrome, accompaniment of bereavement, etc.), and taking care of the different ages of man. Hence, we are concerned with the care of the elderly, the integral promotion of fertility, not only in terms of openness to procreation, but also in terms of spiritual, moral and solidary fertility in the care of the less favored, in adoption, in the custody of children, etc.

By the will of Pope Francis, there are two women at your side as Undersecretaries of the Dicastery. How important is the role of women in the Church and in society?
-We are becoming more and more aware of how much energy we lose when the contribution of the feminine genius is not recognized and promoted, on a par with the contribution of men. Jesus Christ, our Lord, was in his historical existence one of the greatest promoters of the dignity and equality of women; then, for historical reasons whose analysis exceeds the scope of this conversation, perhaps the Church has lacked the "parresia" to draw all the consequences of Christian Revelation about women. However, at this time there is much reflection on this.

I am pleased to recall here, for example, the interesting reflection that the Pontifical Commission for Latin America carried out in its last Plenary Assembly. It is a reflection that recognizes the richness, complementarity and reciprocity of sexual difference, thus going beyond certain feminisms and fully vindicating the equality and difference of men and women. Our office, besides counting on the contribution of these two new Undersecretaries, also counts on several officers, married and single, consecrated and lay, who day by day contribute their richness and feminine charism to our mission, and we also count on a department that is in charge of promoting women, so that they can contribute their feminine approach to the different situations and choices that must be made to encourage the mission and build communion at the different levels of decision making.

The feminine gaze is necessary today more than ever to develop a Church with maternal attitudes, as the Pope continually invites us to do: the revolution of tenderness, the bowels of mercy and the pastoral approach of care and accompaniment, which takes charge of the concrete situations of people.

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ColumnistsRamiro Pellitero

The heart of holiness

May 30, 2018-Reading time: 4 minutes

The beatitudes They are, in fact, as the Pope has said, "the Christian's identity card".

Text - Ramiro Pellitero

The Bishop of Vitoria has written, Juan Carlos Elizaldethat the heart of Pope Francis' exhortation (Gaudete et exsultate) on holiness is the discourse on the beatitudes and the parable of the final judgment. This is so, not only because they occupy the central (third) chapter of the document, but also because they show the face of Christ and therefore, the face of Christian holiness.

In his book "Happiness where it is not expected", Jacques Philippe maintains that the text of the beatitudes "contains all the novelty of the Gospel, all its wisdom and its power to deeply transform the heart of man and renew the world" (J. Philippe, Happiness where it is not expected: Meditation on the Beatitudes, Rialp, Madrid 2018.

The new heart

In them," says Francis, "the face of the Master is drawn, which we are called to make transparent in our daily lives" (n. 63). He adds that the beatitudes propose a lifestyle "against the current".with respect to many trends in today's environment. An environment that propagates hedonistic consumerism and polemics, easy success and ephemeral joys, post-truth and its subterfuges, the primacy of the self and relativism. On the other hand, the beatitudes," observes Philippe, "propose a new way of life. "unexpected happiness"coupled with a "God's surprise"a free gift of the comforting Spirit"...

The Beatitudes, the Pope warns, are not an easy or flattering proposition: "We can only live them if the Holy Spirit invades us with all his power and frees us from the weakness of selfishness, community and pride" (n. 65).

J. Philippe also underlines this role of the Holy Spirit to make us live the beatitudes, in the framework that the Triune God offers us and gives us to participate. By depicting the face of Jesus, the beatitudes also show us the face of Jesus. the face of God the FatherHis mercy, his tenderness, his generosity which transforms us interiorly and gives us a new heart. "The beatitudes are nothing other than the description of this new heart which the Holy Spirit forms in us, and which is the very heart of Christ".

This is why, as this author recalls in his introduction, medieval theologians relate the beatitudes to the seven gifts of the Spirit. In this sense, the beatitudes are Jesus' answer to the question: how can we welcome the work of the Holy Spirit, the action of divine grace? They are at the same time fruits and conditions of the action of the Spirit. In their coherence and profound unity, the beatitudes are personal way of human and Christian maturity, and at the same time, the necessary framework for family, social and ecclesial life, way and pledge of the Kingdom of God.

A program that is always up to date

Francis underlines some aspect of each beatitude. The Gospels link "poverty of spirit" as a virtue (which leads to inner freedom) to the poverty The "simple" life, which implies "an austere and stripped-down existence" (n. 70) and sharing the life of the most needy. We are invited to be meekto reject conceit with humility and to bear with the faults of others, not to be scandalized by their weaknesses" (n. 72).

They invite us "not to conceal reality" (n. 75) by turning our backs on suffering; on the contrary, they propose to us to cry and to understand the profound mystery of suffering, to gaze upon the Cross, to console and help others. Live justice in particularAs was already called for in the Old Testament: with the oppressed, the orphans and the widows. Acting with mercyWe are all "an army of the forgiven" (n. 72).

The Gospels ask us to take care of the desires and intentions of the heartrejecting "what is not sincere, but only shells and appearances" (n. 84). They impel us to seek to resolve conflicts, to be artisans of peaceThis requires "serenity, creativity, sensitivity and skill" (n. 89). They encourage us to overcome some of the "problems" that the path of holiness brings: mockery, slander and persecution.

The "protocol" of mercy

All this is beautifully expressed by the "grand protocol by which we will be judged. It is a detailed explanation of that beatitude that represents them all: mercyFor I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me" (Mt 25:35-36). The parable of the Last Judgment, writes St. John Paul II, "is not simply an invitation to charity: it is a page of Christology, which illuminates the Mystery of Christ". Francis notes that it "reveals the very heart of Christ, his deepest sentiments and choices" (n. 96). And he insists that mercy is the beating heart of the Gospel (n. 97).

For this reason, Bishop Elizalde opportunely emphasizes that it is It is a harmful mistake to dissociate charitable action from a personal relationship with the Lord, since it turns the Church into an NGO (cf. n. 100). But also that it is an ideological mistake to be systematically suspicious of social engagement of others, "considering it as something superficial, worldly, secularist, immanentist, communist, populist" (n. 101).

Indeed. As his predecessors, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, had already pointed out, Francis declares it necessary to keep alive the promotion and defense of life together with social sensitivity for the needy.The defense of the innocent unborn, for example, must be clear, firm and passionate, because the dignity of human life, which is always sacred, is at stake here, and love for each person beyond his or her development demands it. But equally sacred is the life of the poor who have already been born, who struggle in misery, (...) and in every form of discarding" (n. 101). Migration is no less important than bioethics (cf. n. 102).

Coherence in daily life

The third chapter of the Gaudete et exsultate with a call to the Christian coherence. Worship of God and prayer should lead us to mercy towards others, which is, as St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, "the sacrifice that pleases him most" (S. Th, II-II, q30, a4). On the other hand, as St. Teresa of Calcutta said, "if we are too busy with ourselves, we will have no time left for others".

The Pope concludes with these words: "The strength of the witness of the saints lies in living the beatitudes and the protocol of the Last Judgment. They are few words, simple, but practical and valid for everyone, because Christianity is primarily to be practicedand if it is also an object of reflection, this is only valid when it helps us to living the Gospel in daily life. I strongly recommend rereading these great biblical texts frequently, remembering them, praying with them, trying to to make them meat. They will make us well, they will make us genuinely happy" (n. 109).

Text published in: iglesiaynuevaevangelizacion.blogspot.com, 21-V-2018

The authorRamiro Pellitero

Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Professor of Ecclesiology and Pastoral Theology in the Department of Systematic Theology at the University of Navarra.

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Chiquitunga: cheerful and helpful

May 30, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

Chiquitunga tells us that today we can become saints if we live with passion an ideal, in her case her desire that everything be saturated with Christ: Christ, his Church, the brethren were her ideal.

I met the Servant of God Mary Felicia of Jesus in the Sacrament of the Blessed Sacrament (Chiquitunga) when I was a teenager, when I was a member of the Pequeñas section of the Catholic Action of San Roque Parish and she was the archdiocesan delegate of Pequeñas. I saw her perform at Pequeñas rallies and at some Catholic Action meetings. I entered the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites of Asuncion two years after her death. Here I was surprised to see how her memory remained so vivid within the community. I was struck by the frequency with which the sisters spoke of her, recalling her exquisite fraternal charity, her joy, her self-denial. They related her innumerable anecdotes, impregnated with healthy humor. I did not live with her, but I heard the sisters say that she was obedient, very charitable, humble, helpful and always cheerful, trying to cheer up the community at all times, using the natural gifts with which the Lord endowed her. She was always there for everyone, knowing how to forgive, to excuse, to welcome, etc.

I spoke with her on the eve of her admission to Carmel. She was serene, with her usual smile, and among other things I remember her saying to me: "I do the opposite of Jesus: I lived thirty years of public life and now I begin my hidden life.".

I attended a few of the Catholic Action Girls' gatherings that she organized. She was full of joy and enthusiasm. Many memories remain of her evenings in the Community.

Chiquitunga tells us that today we can become saints if we live with passion an ideal, in her case her desire that everything be saturated with Christ: Christ, his Church, the brethren were her ideal. She tells us that we can be happy giving ourselves to others, forgetting ourselves for the sake of others.

The authorOmnes

Youth

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ColumnistsMauro Leonardi

Fried egg and sanctity

May 28, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

Holiness anchors among pots and stoves. With Gaudete et ExsultatePope Francis, we are all called to cook our fried egg extraordinarily well, which thus becomes a true metaphor for holiness.

MAURO LEONARDI - Priest and writer
@mauroleonardi3

With Gaudete et ExsultateThe Church of the field hospital becomes the kitchen of the MasterChef. We are all called to be five-star cooks. We are all called to cook our egg extraordinarily well, the most difficult of the easy dishes, the one that reveals whether you really have the makings of a chef or are just an amateur.

The fried egg is the true metaphor for holiness. "A woman goes to the market to do the shopping, meets a neighbor and starts talking, and the criticism comes. But this woman says insideNo, I will not speak ill of anyone. This is a step towards holiness. Then, at home, her son asks her to talk about her fantasies and, even if she is tired, she sits beside him and listens with patience and affection. This is another offering that sanctifiesa" (Gaudete et Exsultate, n. 16).

Many saints had said it, a council had proclaimed it, now Francis puts the definitive seal on it: holiness leaves the sacristy and drops anchor among pots and stoves. Holiness, like cooking well, is a simple and profound experience, in which small things are treated with care, not for money, but for love. There was a time when the scholars were the philosophers, today they are the cooks: that is why we see numerous television personalities who are no longer behind desks, but in the kitchen.

Some time ago, one of them, I don't remember who, said on television that those who cook well give back to people the lost time, the time that has been wasted during the day. Very different from Marcel Proust. Whoever cooks does nothing by himself: he needs the store, the one who grows, the one who prepares the recipe, the one who prepares the table and then serves.

As Jesus bears witness to the Father by doing all that the Father wills, so too the cook creates a dish that bears witness to the work of many. The saint knows that he is not good himself, but that he is a witness to the goodness of God in his life. And it is something he does with his hands, with his eyes and with his mouth. With his mouth, yes, made for "ad-orar"to God. Which means "to carry God in our mouths".

The authorMauro Leonardi

Priest and writer.

Pope Francis

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Cinema: Three Ads on the Outskirts

Omnes-May 23, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

The drama moves ambiguously between the noble desire for justice and the vengeful impulse of a mother whose daughter was raped and murdered by who knows who.

Text -José María Garrido

Movie: Three Ads on the Outskirts
Direction and screenplay: Martin McDonagh
UK-US, 2017. USA, 2017

The film has been the most rewarded at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards, and has seven Oscar nominations. Martin McDonagh (1970), has been triumphing for years in the United States as a playwright with exuberant stories of violence. His assault on the seventh art was undertaken in the last decade, with reds and mockeries a la Tarantino and Cohen brothers. But in his latest feature film he consolidates his own skill, and harvests, among others, the Golden Globe for best dramatic film and best screenplay.

The drama moves ambiguously between the noble desire for justice and the vengeful impulse of a mother (Frances McDormand) whose daughter was raped and murdered by who knows who. Months after the crime, she drives past the lonely back road leading to her home on the outskirts of a small Missouri town and notices the usual three large, abandoned and useless billboards. Suddenly, he stops the car (he's read something on a billboard), and puts the car in reverse to look at the previous one. In the remains of the last advertisement he finds "the opportunity... of a lifetime". With the reflux of resentment, he calculates a plan of justice. And he rents the three billboards to stamp incendiary phrases asking the local police chief why he has not yet caught the murderers.

The story twists and turns and progressively unveils a deeply tragic picture with bits of outlandish jokes and implausible situations that underscore the character of each character and heighten the drama. The passionate tone of the whole allows the "unbelievable" moments (director's tricks) to be enjoyed as if they were precisely what they could not be otherwise.
The abundance of close-ups gives Sam Rockwell (Golden Globe) and Woody Harrelson the alibi to fill the screen, while the protagonist, Frances McDormand (also Golden Globe), comes out at all four corners, with the sobriety of a minimal wardrobe and as many silent glances as merciless words. By the way: I don't know how the film has turned out in Spanish (I've given in to the V.O. so common among Latin American viewers), but the original sharp-tongued dialogue has no shortage of basic four-letter interjections. They are the counterpoint to a neat soundtrack, by Carter Burwell, who has composed fifteen times for the Cohens.

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The city of Seville celebrates the Murillo Year

Omnes-May 21, 2018-Reading time: 4 minutes

Murillo and the Capuchins of Seville is the exhibition that pays tribute to one of the great Spanish Baroque artists and the most important within the Sevillian school of painting.

Text - Fernando Serrano

400 years after the birth of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, the Junta de Andalucía, together with the Museo de Bellas Artes of Seville, pays tribute to the artist by bringing together the group of paintings he painted for the Capuchin convent in Seville.

Objective of the sample

"This exhibition makes possible the reconstruction of the entire series, which for the first time, since the Napoleonic invasion caused their dispersion in the 19th century, have been reunited", explain the organizers of the exhibition. Most of the works on display belong to the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville since the confiscation of ecclesiastical property carried out in 1835. As the organizers explain, "generous loans from Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and the cathedral of Seville have been added". Of all the contributions, of particular relevance is the transfer of the most significant work of the set, The Jubilee of the Portiuncula, "due to the large format of the painting and the length of the loan period". Those responsible for the exhibition explain that, "ehe agreement between the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Seville is an exceptional example of collaboration between European cultural institutions.". The Minister of Culture of the Junta de Andalucía, Miguel Angel Vazquez stressed during the presentation of the exhibition the importance of the same: "The exhibition will be held on the occasion of the presentation of the exhibition.For the first time in two centuries, we will be able to see all the paintings that Murillo did for the Capuchin convent in Seville together.".

The exhibition Murillo and the Capuchins of Seville contains a part dedicated to showing the author's creative process through drawings and works related to his work. This part is complemented with additional information on the restoration processes, as well as on the history of the works on display. About that history of the paintings, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, María Valme Muñoz, highlighted: "Despite the eventful history suffered. Fortunately, most of the paintings returned to the city where they were created. Where they became the most famous collection of the Fine Arts Museum of Seville.".

"Because of exhibitions like this, we are now in the spotlight, worldwide, as a city '....ideal destination'. to be visited in 2018"explained the mayor of Seville, Juan Espada, ".and not only because of the heritage and history that this city already offers, but also because of the commitment we have made to culture and the quality of the Murillo Year, which is an additional attraction.".

Beyond the exhibition

The celebration of this Murillo Year has a special impact in Seville. Over the next 16 months, the city of Seville will host a wide range of cultural activities to highlight the figure of Murillo: from concerts and musical cycles to cultural and tourist itineraries, as well as lectures and conferences.

One of the main activities carried out on this anniversary is the tourist and cultural itinerary In the footsteps of Murillo. It covers up to twenty emblematic places that allow first-hand access to the life and work of the Baroque painter. This tour is done through 50 original paintings and more than 80 reproductions of his most important works. Enrique Valdivieso, coordinator of the tour, shows his interest in these initiatives to last in time: "We are very pleased to see that the tour will last".The objective of the Murillo Year is to expand the city's heritage with these routes, which are intended to last beyond the anniversary and will enrich the capital's tourist and heritage offer.".

The mayor of Seville, Juan Espada, also emphasizes the importance of these events for the city: "With the start of this Murillo Year, Seville is at the center of the Spanish capitals. From this moment and throughout this year, is one of the most powerful cities at the cultural level.".

In addition to this tour and the exhibitions, the Sevillian Association of Tourist Companies has launched the Murillo in Seville program. It seeks to carry out different activities such as dramatized visits, workshops, gastronomic routes... The association is formed by 24 companies and institutions of the city of Seville.

Murillo in Seville

In the city of Seville there are 21 points related to the baroque painter. The center of this artistic map is Murillo's house, where you can purchase an audio guide that will help you to explore the painter's mark on the city. The audio guide costs 11 euros and does not have to be returned, but visitors can keep it and extend their visit as many days as they wish. In this way, the itineraries related to the artist are not a passing fad on the occasion of this anniversary, but the organizers aim to keep it over time.

The proposed tour includes stops at the cathedral, the Alcázar, the Archivo General de Indias and the Hospital de la Caridad. Each of these places has a special relationship with Murillo. The cathedral was the nerve center of the artist's Seville. The painter worked for the chapter between 1655 and 1667, producing some of his most important works during this period, many of which can be seen in the cathedral in the places where they were originally intended. The Alcazar has a posthumous relationship with the artist, Murillo did not make any painting for him. In 1810 the building was home to the Napoleonic Museum, a gallery that housed nearly a thousand works plundered from the religious institutions of the city, among them, 45 were by Murillo.
With the current Archivo General de Indias, a building with which Murillo had a close relationship, since it was here that he installed the Academy of Painting, founded by the artist and by Herrera el Joven in 1660. During this Murillo Year, the Archive displays in its interior reproductions of drawings by Murillo and the painters who trained in this academy, such as Arteaga or Iriarte.

Another stop on this tour is the Hospital de la Caridad. Murillo had a personal and professional relationship with the Hermandad de la Santa Caridad. The artist joined the institution in 1665, and between 1667 and 1870 he made some of his paintings. Currently, there are seven original paintings by Murillo in the building.

In short, this important event offers the opportunity to see as a whole one of the most significant cycles of the Spanish Baroque. The result of these activities is the historical, material and aesthetic recovery of Murillo's legacy, to which is added the unique opportunity and the emotional value of being able to enjoy the figure and work of Murillo in his city, Seville.

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Czech "Lourdes", a symbol of reconciliation

Omnes-May 17, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

The Marian shrine of Filipov in the Czech Republic, called the "Lourdes" of the Czech Republic, is a symbol of Our Lady's solicitude and of the reconciliation of Czechs and Germans. The number of pilgrims is growing.

Text - Gustavo Monge, Prague

The Czech shrine of Filipov recently celebrated 150 years since the apparition of Our Lady, in a place that bears witness to the special solicitude of the Mother of God for those suffering from illness or persecution.

Filipov is a Marian shrine located in Jiřikov, a village of 3,700 inhabitants in the north of the Czech Republic, in the Sudetenland region, a few meters from the German border. As a result of an unprecedented event, the apparition of the Virgin Mary to a terminally ill woman, a church for pilgrims was consecrated here at the end of the 20th century. The place soon became a focus of Marian devotion, with processions of up to 6,000 people, and came to be known as "the Lourdes of northern Bohemia".

After several decades, Filipov has also been a symbol of the rapprochement of two nations, the Czechs and the Germans, very much at loggerheads in the 20th century as a result of nationalism. Like the rest of the Sudetenland, Filipov was annexed by Adolf Hitler in 1938 and, after World War II, was recovered by Czechoslovakia, and all its former inhabitants were expelled.

Maria Kade's story

At the origin of the shrine is the story of Maria Magdalena Kade (1835-1905), a weaver who, like the vast majority of the inhabitants of this corner of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, belonged to the German-speaking minority. Many worked in the textile factory across the border in the neighboring town of Ebersbach-Neugersdorf.

Kade, in poor health since the age of 19, was eventually diagnosed with pneumonia and meningitis. She began to suffer spasmodic seizures, and her entire body was covered with ulcers. At the age of 29, she became bedridden, where she received the Anointing of the Sick, and doctors said her days were numbered.

On the night of January 12-13, 1866, at four o'clock in the morning, Our Lady appeared to Kade, who was very devoted to the Mother of God, and, as she later told, said to her in German: "My daughter, from today on you will be healthy". She, who was thought to be dead, jumped out of bed and, from that day on, began to live a normal life, to the astonishment of the neighbors. The doctors certified that this was inexplicable.

A small chapel was built on the site of the Kade house, which, after its enlargement, has been incorporated into the present Minor Basilica of Mary Help of Christians. This place has experienced moments of great prosperity, but its activity was silenced during the communist persecution in the second half of the 20th century (1948-1989). Despite the efforts of the totalitarian regime to prevent the arrival of pilgrims, they always managed to keep the flame burning. A flame to which the religious communities made a decisive contribution.

The truth is that "the chain of Masses on the anniversary of the apparition was never interrupted," said Marketa Jindrová, who explains how the communists blocked the church door and left the site within a specially guarded border strip, which required many obstacles to be overcome to reach the shrine, including police interrogations.

Our Lady's intercession, especially felt in Filipov, has also inspired initiatives for the spiritual renewal of the Czech nation. Today this place receives numerous faithful from both sides of the border, with Masses celebrated using German and Czech. In addition, Filipov is a favorite place of pilgrimage for Catholics from Serbia-Lusatia, a minority of Slavic origin who live in German Saxony and continue to preserve their Roman faith. During the Marian festivities in May there is a large influx of German believers. The Candlemas procession is very typical.

Bishop Jan Baxant of Litoměřice, explains to Palabra that "leaving home in winter at midnight to go to this frozen basilica in Filipov is, for us, like a mini-Compostela or mini-Everest. "We very often receive German bishops," adds Jozef Kujan, Salesian parish priest and rector of the basilica.

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Guidelines for action if someone is suffering from violence

Omnes-May 15, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

The patterns of behavior with people who are suffering from this violence can be summarized as follows:

Immediate support. Support him first. Do not question the veracity of his story, his experience or his feelings. It is not up to you to judge, the judge will judge. You have the opportunity to be supportive, to help and validate the emotions. This is already an essential help to become aware of the problem, not to minimize it and to intervene as soon as possible.
Do not interfere. It is very necessary to maintain boundaries in the relationship with that person, allow him/her the necessary time to make decisions, and respect the decisions he/she makes. Listen, without pressuring them to answer or reveal information. She may have told you only part of what is happening. You do not have to decide anything for her unless she explicitly asks you to or unless there are people at serious risk.
Listen to what they want to tell you. It is not necessary for you to know all the details of the story, the corresponding professionals will listen to them. Listen to how they feel, how they have experienced it, how they are feeling. Offer comfort and help relieve or reduce their anxiety.
Provide information. Specific information on services to which he can turn to and information on resources and social support: 016, duty court, specialized doctors, shelters, foster homes, etc. If he/she wishes, you can accompany him/her to facilitate the procedures and help him/her. Do not do what corresponds to the health professional.
Assess whether she or others are at risk of being violently assaulted or abused. There will be cases in which it will be necessary to intervene urgently to avoid very probable damages, with much more necessity if they are minors. It will be necessary to make urgent reports, and at the same time seek sufficient means to ensure that people are safe and that the attempt to help does not promote even more violent situations. Prioritize safety and do not cause more damage: assess the risk-benefit balance of each step to be taken.
Confidentiality. Assure him/her that you will be discreet, that if you discuss it with someone you will tell him/her, that you will be prudent in the use of the information, so that the person will be protected and so that you do not spoil any plans he/she may have.
Support. Ensure that the relationship is supportive, collaborative, and promotes the woman's autonomy. Even if she needs help, do not annul her or repeat the pattern of making her feel incapable. Try to let her make the decisions, to make her the protagonist of her recovery.
Action plan. If you are going to accompany him/her in the process of resolving the situation, try to design an effective plan, with realistic short-term goals and expectations, with the hope of long-term freedom.
Follow-up. Keep asking the person about what she told you, so she has a chance to move forward. Make them feel really cared for. It is not pleasant and we may tend to ignore or give up unconsciously.
Pay special attention. Especially to people with disabilities or low economic means, who may be being assaulted. It also occurs in high social classes, with sufficient economic means and education; do not rule it out for these reasons.
Ask in the absence of the aggressor. If you attend to couples and suspect violence, give them the opportunity to be able to talk about it alone, perhaps with another person who accompanies you and serves as a witness, so that they can talk without suffering bad consequences.

Text - Inés Bárcenas, María Martín-Vivar and Carlos Chiclana

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Gaudete et exsultate, heart and freshness

May 9, 2018-Reading time: 4 minutes

On April 9, Pope Francis' new apostolic exhortation on holiness in today's world was made public. Gaudete et exsultate. The Bishop of Vitoria presented it, emphasizing that it is a reference for Christian life and pastoral action.

Juan Carlos Elizalde - Bishop of Vitoria

Heart and freshness ooze from this simple apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, making a universal call to holiness. Holiness for all God's people, holiness "next door," "the middle class of holiness" (n. 7).

But at the same time a demanding, fulfilling holiness, which can free us from "a mediocre, watered-down, liquefied existence" (1). We walk accompanied, supported and guided by the company of all the saints (4). In each saint, God speaks a word to the world (22). "You also need to conceive of your whole life as a mission." (23), and the conclusion is not long in coming: "May you be able to recognize the word, the message of Jesus that God wants to tell the world with your life." (24).

There are two falsifications of holiness. One is to conceive it as an abstract wisdom, theoretical and without concreteness: "I am not a saint.A God without Christ, a Christ without the Church, a Church without the people" (37); and the other, a holiness only in our own strength: "There are still Christians who insist on following another path: that of justification by one's own strength, that of the adoration of human will and one's own capacity, which translates into an egocentric and elitist self-indulgence deprived of true love." (57).

The heart of the document is the discourse of the Beatitudes, "the Christian's identity card". "In them is drawn the face of the Master, which we are called to make transparent in our daily lives." (63). And the "great protocol"by which we are to be judged, mercy: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me."(Mt 25:35-36). It is a harmful error to dissociate charitable action from a personal relationship with the Lord, since it turns the Church into an NGO (100). But it is also an ideological error to be systematically suspicious of the social commitment of others, "..." (100).considering it as something superficial, mundane, secularist, immanentist, communist, populist, etc." (101). And the Pope concretizes this tension in the Church. "The defense of the innocent unborn, for example, must be clear, firm and passionate, because the dignity of human life, always sacred, is at stake here, and love for each person beyond his or her development demands it. But equally sacred is the life of the poor who have already been born, who are struggling in misery [...] and in every form of discarded life." (101). Migration is no less important than bioethics (102).

The notes of holiness in today's world are particularly concrete and suggestive. Contemplating the first Christian community of Jerusalem during this Easter season, we can see some attitudes that accompany the holiness that the Pope proposes. Endurance, patience and meekness are the first notes. They resist persecution with hope. They return good for evil. "Christians can also be part of networks of verbal violence through the Internet and various forums or digital exchange spaces."(115), the Pope warns. Joy and a sense of humor are also prominent notes, a thermometer of the hope that the Church spreads. "Boldness, enthusiasm, speaking freely, apostolic fervor, all these are included in the word parresia, a word with which the Bible also expresses the freedom of an existence that is open, because it is available to God and to others." (129). These attitudes always take place in community. The last note of holiness is constant prayer: "..." (129).The saint is a person with a prayerful spirit, who needs to communicate with God. He is someone who cannot bear to suffocate in the closed immanence of this world, and in the midst of his efforts and dedication he sighs for God, goes out of himself in praise and expands his limits in the contemplation of the Lord. I do not believe in sanctity without prayer, even if it does not necessarily involve long moments or intense feelings." (147).

The last chapter of the exhortation dedicates the Pope to combat, vigilance and discernment. We cannot be naive because the devil "let us not think that it is a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure or an idea. This deception leads us to lower our arms, to neglect ourselves and become more exposed. He does not need to possess us. He poisons us with hatred, with sadness, with envy, with vices. And so, while we let our guard down, he takes advantage of it to destroy our lives, our families and our communities, because like a roaring lion, prowling about, seeking whom it may devour' (1 Pet 5:8)" (161). From Mary's hand we can give the best response at every moment. Her closeness is a guarantee of our holiness.I want Mary to crown these reflections, because she lived the beatitudes of Jesus like no one else. She is the one who trembled with joy in the presence of God, who kept everything in her heart and let herself be pierced by the sword. She is the saint among the saints, the most blessed, the one who teaches us the way of holiness and accompanies us." (176).

Thank you, Pope Francis, for offering a horizon for Christian life and a starting point for pastoral action.

The authorOmnes

Pope Francis

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Dear Equis

May 9, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

The author reflects on the position of some people in the digital world. About how these users are "corseted" in a single thought and do not want to reflect on other ways of seeing the world.

Álvaro Sánchez León - Journalist
@asanleo

Dear friend, you don't get past the book covers:

I am glad to hear from you from time to time, even if you come back with the shotgun of your deafness loaded. How are you? Are you still so comfortable in the past between longings and wishes that twist your gestures into gray? Take courage to discover the beauty of our times, to step on the same street as everyone else, to cure yourself of that allergy to reality and that fear of futures that are not as your scholastic manuals say they are.

I remember you often when I read the comments in the digital press. I imagine you disguised behind a pseudonym pouring gasoline.

You know, there is such an exciting world outside your schemes that I feel sorry for you to miss it. After all, we are friends and I'd rather not have friends who are bitter about the impossibility of saving the planet from all the evils that your medicine cabinet attacks. You know where I'm going and I know where you come from.

Sometimes I wonder if the preceding milestones in your biography were that constricting or if you didn't understand them well. We'll talk about it over drinks, if you don't mind putting a gin and tonic between our ways of thinking.

Do you still see everything new as a provocation? Do you maintain this obsession with reading only people who think like you? Maybe your world is more Matrix than you think when you look out the window between the blinds of your mature and demoralizing pessimism.

I hear the ironies with which you communicate with the world. Have you thought of writing a self-help book to pull us all out of the pit of this adolescent optimism that you judge as a frivolous philosophy of escapism?

How many people have you sent to the wall today? Do you continue to steer the ship with the remote control of your fragile responsibility?

I don't blame you. I understand you. That's why I'm writing to you.

See you whenever you want. Huge hug and happy spring, my friend.

The authorOmnes

Youth

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Osip Mandelstam, genius poet condemned by Stalin

The centenary of the Russian Revolution of 1917 is a good occasion to read those who, like Osip Mandelstam, fought against the empire of terror with all the means at their disposal: in his case, poetry.

Jaime Nubiola-May 9, 2018-Reading time: 4 minutes

The first time I heard about Osip Mandelstam was from a well-known Spanish politician who had read him during his years in prison. There are many literary works that were born in captivity: just think of Cervantes in Algiers, Solzhenitsyn in the Siberian Gulag or many others such as St. John of the Cross or Nelson Mandela.

The great poet Osip Mandelstam, born in Warsaw in 1891 in a Jewish-Polish family and educated in St. Petersburg, Paris and Heidelberg, would be arrested in May 1934 and sentenced to exile for writing a short Epigram against Stalin of only sixteen verses. Apparently, in Russian it is a most beautiful poem and in it Mandelstam mentions Stalin's thick fingers, greasy as worms, and his cockroach whiskers. "His example moves me and makes me reflect on the truth and the value of the word in a society where charlatans rule and information has become a spectacle. I too am not free from this kind of spectacle.l", wrote journalist Pedro G. Cuartango a few months ago. His wife Nadiezhda remembered what Mandelstam said about Russia: "This is the only country that respects poetry: they kill for it. Nowhere else does that happen".

Osip Mandelstam died in a transit camp near Vladivostok in May 1938. We owe to his wife Nadiezhda the preservation of many of his texts and the shocking book Against All Hope, in which she recounts the tragic experiences she lived with her husband during the years of terror. I only want to bring up here two passages from that book.

The first one -referring to 1934- is this: "Seventeen years of conscientious [communist] education had been to no avail. The people who collected money for us and those who gave it violated the whole code established in the country of relations with those repressed by the power. In periods of violence and terror people hide in their shells and hide their feelings, but those feelings are indestructible and no education can get rid of them. Even if you manage to uproot them in one generation - and in our country this has been achieved to a large extent - they resurface in the next. We have convinced ourselves of this more than once. The notion of good is probably inherent in the human being, and violators of humanitarian laws will sooner or later have to realize this for themselves or for their children." (p. 55). Eighty years have passed and the Soviet empire has fallen: communism has not succeeded in eliminating the human soul and its natural yearning for goodness and solidarity, although it has painfully crushed many spirits.

The second text of Nadiezhda -which expresses well the function of the poet- reads as follows: "At the beginning of the Second Notebook, Mandelstam wrote his poem The Mermaid. 'Why The Mermaid?' I asked. 'Maybe it's me', How could such a persecuted man, living in total isolation, in emptiness and darkness, feel that he was in the dark? 'the siren of the Soviet cities'? From his total non-existence, Mandelstam made it known that he was the voice that spreads through the Soviet cities. He felt, probably, that reason was on his side; without that feeling one cannot be a poet. The struggle for the social dignity of the poet, for his right to a voice and his position in life is, perhaps, the fundamental tendency that determined his life and his work." (p. 249). Many mornings, if I have the window slightly open, I hear the siren of a distant factory announcing at one o'clock the noon break or the change of shift. I always think of Osip Mandelstam and the function of the poet - or the philosopher - in our consumerist society: "Poetry" - Mandelstam wrote - "is the plow that unearths time, uncovering its deepest layers, its black soil".

The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), a friend of Osip and Nadia, writes in the prologue to the Voronehz Notebooks (1935-37):"Mandelstam has no teacher. It is worth thinking about that. I do not know of such a fact in universal poetry.". In those notebooks -written in exile on the Ukrainian-Russian border- Mandelstam distilled his poems from his painful daily experience. It is a "anti-war poetry, defense of art against power, of the dignity of man and the value of life in the face of oppression and terror. In this sense, it is a tragic work, but not nihilistic, because it leaves a trace of greatness and hope."wrote the poet Luis Ramoneda.

Mandelstam's poetry is not easy to read, but as a sample of his work I have selected a poem from the second notebook dated January 15-16, 1937. Its initial title was The Beggar Woman and it referred to his wife, who accompanied him in the exile in which they find themselves in a situation of absolute misery, but it may also refer to poetry itself:

You are not dead yet. You are not alone yet.
With your friend the beggar
you enjoy the grandeur of the plains,
of fog, cold and snowfall.
Live in peace and comfort
in opulent poverty, in powerful misery.
Blessed are the days and nights
and the sweet and sonorous fatigue is innocent.

Unhappy he who, like his shadow,
fears the bark and curses the wind.
And miserable he who, half dead,
begs alms from his own shadow.

Upon completion of the centenary of the russian revolution It is worth remembering Osip Mandelstam, a frontier poet, who died in Siberia at the age of 47, victim of disease and deprivation. His poems - in the words of his Spanish translator Jesús García Gabaldón - constitute "...".one of the most powerful and complex creations of the Spirit of the twentieth century.".

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Spiritual motherhood for priests

Omnes-May 3, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

When Pope Francis was in Mexico in February 2016, he asked to be alone with the Virgin of Guadalupe for a few minutes. He later explained that he had asked her that priests be true priests. It was the request of a son who knows better than anyone the situation of the Church, and sees it as a priority of our time that we priests fulfill our mission well, and respond to what God expects of us.

P. GUSTAVO ELIZONDO ALANÍS - Priest.
Mexico City

A few months after that trip I had the opportunity to write for Palabra (January 2017, pp. 68-69) an article about a group of women in prayer for the holiness of priests, which had formed in my parish to second that request of the Pope to Our Lady. Very soon they began to speak of "spiritual motherhood for priests". Without knowing the seriousness of this real vocation, I realized that there is in women an instinct of motherhood which, when one has faith, is channeled directly towards the Christs, who require the close assistance of the Mother of God, like Jesus on the Cross, in order to be able to give their lives, sustained by the strong presence of the one who also gives her life for her son, with one heart and one soul.
It helped a lot to consolidate this prayer group of spiritual mothers that it all began in the Year of Mercy, since it was not only about praying for the holiness of priests, but also about living with them, as mothers, the 14 works of mercy. The Pope recently said that "whoever truly wants to give glory to God with his life, whoever really longs to sanctify himself so that his existence may glorify the Holy One, is called to become obsessed, worn out and tired trying to live the works of mercy" (Gaudete et Exsultate, n. 107). Many of them have commented that they felt this strong call to the spiritual motherhood of priests, but did not know how to live it, until they came across "The Company of Mary", which is the name by which it is now known, according to the local bishop, and which makes it clear that it is about accompanying the priest, sharing the divine motherhood of Mary, to serve the Church, as the Church wants to be served.

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Differentiated education: A fully constitutional choice of freedom

Omnes-May 3, 2018-Reading time: < 1 minute

The Constitutional Court has made it clear in a ruling that coeducation should not be the only option offered by the Administration. Both models, mixed and differentiated, have the same right to the educational agreement.

TEXT - María Calvo Charro
Professor at the Carlos III University. President in Spain of EASSE (European Association Single Ssex Education).

In recent years, countries such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia have experienced the resurgence of gender-differentiated education with the support of politicians of very different tendencies, educators, parents, certain feminist sectors, as well as associations for the defense of rights and freedoms. This trend, which especially affects public schools, has generated a heated debate in academic, legal and political circles. Gender-differentiated education is probably one of the most current issues in the struggle for equal opportunities in the field of public education in these countries, as shown by the extensive academic, scientific and informative literature that is constantly coming to light in this regard.

Today's differentiated education has equal opportunities as a priority objective. It is a school that considers that the differences between the sexes are always enriching and that what must be eliminated are discriminations and stereotypes, overcoming social inequalities and cultural hierarchies between men and women. In this sense, the differentiated school is teleologically coeducational: its aim is to guarantee a real possibility for boys and girls to achieve the same objectives and goals in the professional and personal spheres, giving them all the relevant tools to freely choose their own path.

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Gaudete et exsultate: Joy and holiness, a challenge for everyone

Giovanni Tridente-May 3, 2018-Reading time: 5 minutes

A new document shows every Christian the path to incarnated holiness in today's context, "with its risks, its challenges and its opportunities".

TEXT - Giovanni Tridente, Rome

In the fifth year of his pontificate, Pope Francis has delivered to the Church a new apostolic exhortationThe third, on the call to holiness in the contemporary world. An agile and concrete document that seeks to respond to the many limitations of today's culture. Gaudete et exsultate

The third apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis presents itself as a somewhat atypical document, being the first - after a long time - to deal with a theme that has not been discussed previously in the course of a Synod of Bishops. This had happened, instead, for Evangelii gaudium (Synod on evangelization, convoked by Benedict XVI in 2012), for Amoris laetitia (Synods on the family in 2014 and 2015) and for the four exhortations of the Pope emeritus (Eucharist, Word of God, Africa, Middle East).

It is true that with Francis the exhortations have abandoned the title "post-synodal" also when they were the fruit of the bishops' assemblies, as if to underline the conviction that it is not a question of something administrative or bureaucratic (a sort of summary of the assembly), but of the synthesis of a true movement of the Holy Spirit, which calls upon the whole Church in her mission at the service of mankind.

Another aspect that stands out in this further initiative of the Pope is the continuity of the concept of "joy" with the other exhortations ("gaudium", "laetitia"), typical of the preaching and vocabulary of the Argentine Pontiff since his election. His invitations to not have a sad, frowning face are frequent, because the Love of God that saves does not admit "sadness".

And now a curiosity: the document bears the date of March 19, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the day on which the Holy Father began his episcopal ministry in 2013. But it is also the same day on which, two years ago, Francis published Amoris laetitia, an exhortation that has undoubtedly had greater resonance than the first and this one.

But it must be said that this concomitance fits well with the essence of the document, given that on a careful reading it seems as if the Pope wants to propose a balance sheet of his first five years of pontificate, calling for a verification of what he had already proposed to the universal Church with Evangelii gaudium.

The current context

The common denominator of all the documents is, in fact, the current context. While remaining unchanged in the doctrine that the Church has been transmitting for centuries and explicitly confirming it, Francis proposes concrete ways for the contemporary world so that every Christian can concretely incarnate his or her call to holiness. He thus places himself in continuity with the general task of evangelizing (first exhortation) and with that of showing the beauty of the Gospel of the family (second exhortation).

It is also noteworthy that, unlike other pontifical documents, this latest document was not presented to the press by a cardinal or an official of the Roman Curia, but by a simple bishop - Bishop De Donatis, recently appointed Vicar of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome - and two lay people, the journalist Gianni Valente and the educator Paola Bignardi, who has long been involved in the field of Catholic associations and is a former national president of Catholic Action.

For those who, during the various papal trips abroad, have followed the conversations that the Pope has held on each occasion with the local communities of his Jesuit confreres, will also note a certain familiarity with the contents proposed in Gaudium et exsultate. It is no coincidence that it was precisely Civiltà Cattolica, directed by the Jesuit Antonio Spadaro - who was present on all the pontifical trips and in charge of transcribing the dialogues with the Pope - who, at the very moment when the exhortation was made known to everyone else, published a detailed analysis of it, presenting its "roots, structure and meaning", thus demonstrating that he had long been familiar with its genesis.

Basically, the document is not too long, and it was certainly not conceived, as Pope Francis himself writes in the introduction, as a treatise on holiness with definitions or analyses. Rather, it is like a father's caress, which seeks to stimulate in everyone the desire to exercise holiness. A spur, in short, so that the world can change its face and experience the joy that comes from the Lord.

Saints next door

Its 177 points are organized in 5 chapters. The first aspect to highlight is that of the "saints next door", the "middle class of holiness", images that Francis uses to explain that it is a universal call for everyone and a path that, despite the difficulties it encounters, is absolutely practicable. The important thing is not to be afraid to experience it.

The second chapter presents the two masked enemies of holiness, which are a reproposition in our time of Gnosticism and Pelagianism. That is, those attitudes that, on the one hand, seek to reduce Christian teaching "to a cold and hard logic that seeks to dominate everything" and, on the other hand, want to make people believe that man can be saved by works alone, without the life of grace.

Today's Beatitudes

The remedy is presented in the third part, where, read in the light of contemporary history, the beatitudes contained in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, which the Pope has already defined on other occasions as "the Christian's identity card," are unpacked. Poor of heart, meek and humble, knowing how to mourn with others, being on the side of justice, looking and acting with mercy, keeping one's heart clean from whatever stains it, sowing peace in our surroundings, accepting even the most subtle persecutions, all "this is holiness," writes Francis.
In the following chapter, the Pope highlights five great manifestations of love of God and neighbor, combating the risks and limits that today's culture brings with it.

Endurance, patience and meekness against nervous and violent anxiety "that disperses and weakens us"; joy and a sense of humor against negativity and sadness; audacity and fervor to overcome "comfortable, consumerist and selfish acedia"; community life as a barrier against individualism and so many forms of false spirituality; constant prayer.

The protagonist of the last chapter is the devil, whom the Holy Father has repeatedly referred to as a constant danger in the life of the Christian. And he writes expressly about Satan -also silencing false speculations that had appeared in some media in this regard-: "so let us not think that he is a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure or an idea", because this is only a deception that leads us to reduce our defenses. On the contrary, we must fight, and do so constantly with "the powerful weapons that the Lord gives us": prayer, meditation of the Word, Mass, Eucharistic adoration, confession, works of charity, community life and missionary commitment.

To know what comes from the Holy Spirit and what comes, instead, from the spirit of evil, the only way, says the Pope, is discernment, which is also a gift to ask for and which is nourished by the same "weapons" of prayer and the sacraments.

The conclusion, obviously, is reserved for Mary, she who "has lived the beatitudes like no other", "holy among the saints, the most blessed", who shows the way to holiness and accompanies her children.

All that remains is to read this precious document and assimilate it, little by little, for everyday life.

Pope Francis

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The myth of May 1968

Omnes-May 3, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

The events of 1968 have become a myth, for which various interpretations are offered: was it a "revolution" or just another phenomenon in a broader crisis?

TEXT - Onésimo Díaz
Researcher and professor of "History, culture and Christianity in the 20th century" at the University of Navarra.

The 68th has been the subject of all kinds of interpretations. The events have become a myth, and it does not seem easy to analyze coldly what happened and why what happened around May '68.

In the 1960s, Western youth were uncomfortable with their parents' way of life. The baby boom generation, born in the post-World War II era, rebelled against a dull and outdated value system. These young people, educated in the economic welfare and with access to the University, declared themselves anti-conformist and contesting against all power and authority. The boys abandoned blazers and ties, and dressed in jeans and military-style jackets, while the girls exchanged high heels and long dresses for pants and miniskirts.

This generation was attracted by leftist and anti-capitalist ideas. Their main points of reference were Marx, Freud, Mao and Marcuse. Of these four, the most influential was the Jewish philosopher Herbert Marcuse, who had left the Frankfurt School after Hitler's rise to power. This professor, expelled from several American universities on charges of being a philo-communist, urged students, racial minorities and workers to fight against the established power. In 1967, he received applause and praise during lectures in Germany and France. His message, in favor of sexual liberation, found an echo in a restless sector of university students around the world. From the spring of 1968 onwards, demonstrations against the imperialist, warmongering and capitalist society followed one after the other in various Western universities. Marcuse's ideas had spread and popularized to the point of coining the slogan: sex, drugs and rock and roll. In those days, countercultural movements (hippies and rockers) incited a rebellious stance against traditional culture. Young people identified with Marcuse's nonconformist message and wanted to change everything, driven by a desire to experiment without barriers or rules.

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New campaign to promote the subject of religion

Omnes-May 2, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

The Spanish Bishops' Conference launches a new campaign to promote the subject of Religion, especially focused on young people between the ages of 12 and 17.

Text - José Ávila Martínez; Religion Teacher at Las Tablas-Valverde

On April 9, the Spanish Bishops' Conference (CEE) presented the campaign I sign up for ReligionThe program is aimed especially at young people from 12 to 17 years old, so that they can question themselves about choosing the subject of Religion for the 2018/19 academic year.

It is evident that in primary school it is the parents who decide, for the most part, whether or not their children will take the subject of Religion, while students in secondary and high school usually make this decision themselves.

The slogan used "If you question everything, why not go to religion?"is very attractive and appealing. It has no imposing overtones, on the contrary, it helps young people who do not or have never attended religion classes to reflect in a free and personal way.

In spite of the numerous channels of communication existing today, complete and truthful information is not always received, so that the receiver appears as a castaway in the face of so much information, often incomplete, without rigor and with opinions, more or less questionable and with little criterion. In fact, one of the objectives of education is to train people with criteria.

The campaign provides several sentences, which despite their brevity, contain great depth in their content, and serve to argue why a student chooses religion: to know the culture of others and to respect it. Religion transmits knowledge about history, art, customs of peoples and civilizations, culture, etc.

to have a space for dialogue and reflection. No one doubts that there is a lack of dialogue in our society, an enriching dialogue that allows us to understand others, and that is the fruit of personal reflection. to know in order to choose freely. Those who do not know, or only partially know, find it very difficult to make the right decisions.

Because an education with religion is complete. The subject of religion addresses many issues, which directly concern the person himself.

A clarification to keep in mind, although it seems that some people are determined to maintain the confusion, is the difference between religion classes and catechesis. The subject of religion is taught by persons with a university degree and knowledge (cultural, historical, artistic, etc.) is evaluated, while catechesis is the preparation for the reception of the sacraments (communion, confirmation, marriage, etc.). In both cases, attendance is free, but a minimum of faith is required to attend catechesis, since the person wants to receive a sacrament to strengthen his or her life of grace. Catholic religion classes may be attended by students of other religions and religious beliefs, or without any belief.

The day after the presentation of this campaign, the Constitutional Court reaffirmed the importance of the subject of religion. Among other things it says in its ruling on the LOMCE and Religion of April 10, 2018: "Religion underlies human or humanistic values that are the same as those that today we call constitutional. In this sense, the STC of February 13, 1981, invoked by the STC 77/1985, came to affirm, in synthesis, that the necessary neutrality of public schools does not prevent the organization of free follow-up teaching to make possible the right of parents to choose for their children the religious and moral formation that is in accordance with their convictions. And the freedom of choice established by the LOMCE between Religion and Social and Civic Values in all cycles of education is in line with this principle.".

As a religion teacher, I think this campaign is a great success and I congratulate the EEC for the effort it has put into reaching out to young people, so that they are really the main protagonists of the subject of religion. At the same time I encourage my colleagues in the teaching of religion, some 30,000, to continue with enthusiasm in this exciting educational mission, which requires the same professional level as in other subjects.

Youth

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French bioethics law: Upcoming presidential test

Omnes-May 1, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

The bill on bioethical issues that President Macron will bring to Parliament in the fall will unveil his model for dialogue.

Text - José Luis Domingo, Marseille

The so-called "General States of Bioethicsa" are open until June in France. This wide-ranging consultation organized by the National Consultative Committee on Ethics (CCNE) aims to "to gather a broad overview of society's views on the issues that concern it". The exchanges will extend over several months and should feed into the next bioethics law expected in Parliament in the fall.

Among the major topics to be discussed and debated (shelters for the disabled, end of life, organ donation, artificial intelligence, neurosciences...), the opening of medically assisted procreation (MAP) to single women and female couples, to which Emmanuel Macron is in favor, will figure prominently in the debates. The bishops have expressed their reservations to some bills included in Macron's campaign.

Bishop Pontier, president of the Bishops' Conference, expressed to the president his concern about the issues discussed. "Should we now allow the law to deprive children of a father? This recognition would produce inequality among children, would open a great risk of commodification of the body and would question the current therapeutic criterion, guarantor of the rejection of the formation of a large market of procreation.". At the same time it affirmed the duty of vigilance for the defense of the weakest, ".from the embryo to the newborn, from the handicapped to the paralyzed, from the elderly to the dependent in all things. We cannot leave anyone alone".. It also excluded the legitimization of hopelessness: "We cannot be content with the loneliness or abandonment of those who see death as an enviable way out.".

The Church and ethical issues

While Emmanuel Macron, unlike the secularist groups, considers that the State should not engage in dialogue considering that it is always right, and imposing itself by force on civil society, in particular on religious society, he did not fail to consider the attitude of the Church on ethical issues. This was perhaps the weak point of the speech at the Bernadirnos. In his opinion, in this area, the word of the Church should be "the Church's word".questioner" and not "injunction".

This phrase has been understood as a way of keeping the Church at a certain distance, defending its vision and the action of its government carried out in the name of a "...".realistic humanism"The company has to adapt to society. "Beware that realism does not turn into fatalism."Martin Choutet of the Association for Friendship (APA) warns, fearing a complacent attitude towards social aberrations.

"He flattered his audience with a speech of great quality and beautiful references, but the basic message was: 'don't give me lessons, in any case I will decide in the end.'", analyzes Nicolas Sevillia, secretary general of the Jérôme-Lejeune Foundation. This skepticism seems to be shared by many Catholics, especially on social networks, worried that the presidential process is just a communication operation.

Of course, it is well understood that statements should not preclude dialogue and questions. But it is also the mission of the Church and of Catholics to remember that there are "red lines" in ethics, fundamental ethical reference points that cannot be questioned or negotiated. Otherwise, these "dams of humanity"will weaken.

When the chairman of the National Advisory Council on Ethics explains that "does not know what is right or wrong" or that "everything is relative"It is a duty to clearly affirm and defend these benchmarks that protect the most fragile or the smallest. It could also be said to Emmanuel Macron that France does the same when it defends human rights in the world. There are rights that are not questioned. France's word is then not "questioning" but "urging". It is its strength and its duty. It is also the duty of the Church.

A procreation market?

In order to warn of the dangers of the emergence of a procreation market in France, which through the acceptance of PMA would open the doors to gestational surrogacy, Alliance Vita opened a "fake" shopping center on April 17 in a luxurious neighborhood of Paris. On the front of the store, one could read: "Rent - Womb - Buy" or "Custom Conception". Pushing open the door, you'd think you were entering a fashion store. Nothing of the sort. Inside, on the displays, we discover a score of baby-dolls labeled with bar codes. To their left, models of pregnant women emerge from cardboard boxes marked "GPA". To their right, three mannequins of men have their heads covered with cardboard, each with a letter: "P", "M" and "A".

Tugdual Derville, general delegate of the association, explains: "We expose in the store, with supporting evidence, the full range of an unbridled procreation market that we want to avoid.". He assures us: "It is not a fantasy, but a reality that is already present and in full expansion.". And he warns the president: "This is the last call before the general mobilization.!".

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Was the pre-synodal meeting useful?

Omnes-May 1, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

The author, a Mexican participant in the pre-synodal youth meeting in Rome, evaluates the meeting and reflects on the impetus received.

Text - Roberto Vera, participant in the pre-synodal youth assembly

Only a few weeks have passed since the conclusion of the presynod for young people in Rome, in which I had the good fortune to participate as a representative of the students of the Pontifical Universities. The most visible fruit of those intense days, in which a little more than three hundred young people from all over the world were engaged in dialogue and work, is the so-called "Final Document of the presynodal meeting". The fifteen pages of this text contain the most salient points of the conversations we held in Rome between March 19 and 24, and those of us who contributed to its drafting are excited that it will become one of the fundamental bases for the work of the bishops during the assembly convened for next October.

But I am convinced that the final document is only a small part of the fruits of the presynod. Many of us young people who coincided in Rome are still in touch, mainly through WhatsApp, and so we have learned of other positive consequences of our work around the world. Several of the participants, for example, have shared with the bishops of their dioceses what we talked about and experienced at the pre-synodal meeting and this has led the pastors to consider concrete actions to better serve the young people in their local churches. Other young people have had the opportunity to address pastoral commissions, constituted at different levels, and, after their interventions, the decision has been taken to study ways of making young people protagonists of pastoral action and ways of reducing the distance between the local hierarchy and young people. In several countries, sessions are also being organized with young people to inform them about the presynod and activities similar to the meeting in which we participated.

There is no doubt that other fruits of the days in Rome are maturing within each of the participants. The time that has passed since Palm Sunday, when the final document was placed in the hands of Pope Francis, has only confirmed an intuition I had during the course of the presynod: I have lived an experience that has marked me forever. Undoubtedly what impressed me most deeply was being able to speak with young people from different countries and, in this way, get to know the realities that fill them with enthusiasm and those that cause them concern, the stories of their vocations, their commitment to the Church, their desire to change the world... Many of these conversations have enriched me and changed my vision of reality. I had the opportunity to deal with people who participated in the meeting representing their local Churches, the seminarians of their countries, their religious families, communities, movements or associations; there were also people dedicated to formation and experts in different areas (youth ministry, pedagogy, psychology, sociology, etc.). I was able to speak with young non-Catholics, non-Christians and non-believers: I learned from each one and sincerely appreciated their participation in the meeting.

The meeting with Pope Francis, with whom the presynod began, was one of the most special moments. His closeness and simplicity impressed us very much. The Holy Father encouraged us to listen to others and to speak courageously, without fear of disturbing or making mistakes. And that was precisely what we participants tried to do during the moments of work in linguistic groups.

As a Mexican, I was part of one of the four Spanish-speaking groups: we were eighteen people from fourteen different countries and with diverse life experiences: some worked in diocesan pastoral work, others were involved in the lives of their parishes and others represented movements or seminarians or religious. In the large spaces of dialogue that we had, we all participated and exchanged ways of seeing things, problems, difficulties, experiences and proposals. I think we were all greatly enriched. Moreover, in a natural way, a great friendship has arisen among us.

One of the ideas that I believe is shared by all the participants in the presynod, and which is included in the final document, is the importance of this type of meeting for the life of the Church: we hope that there will be many similar experiences at various levels (universal, national and local) aimed at listening to the voice of the recipients of pastoral actions, favoring dialogue among them.

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Millennials defend life

Omnes-May 1, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

More than 500 associations and organizations participate in the day on the occasion of the International Day of Life.

Text - Fernando Serrano

"Young people care about important things. It is not a problem of political ideologies, it comes from within us.", said Marta Paramo, spokesperson for the March Yes to Life 2018, which took place in Madrid on Saturday, April 15.

This defense of life that Marta Páramo calls for is not only for those who have not yet been born, but also for "the dignity of all people, regardless of their physical and intellectual abilities, must be upheld, since all people contribute to the lives of others and contribute to the betterment of society.".

The president of Fundación Más Vida, Álvaro Ortega, emphasizes that "Millennials are waking up, we do not want to imitate the previous generation. We will defend life from the moment of conception.".

Marta Páramo emphasizes the fundamental role of young people in today's society and the need for "all those committed to life to show it and show their faces, not only on the day of the march, but also in their daily lives, defending the dignity of all people. We want to make everyone aware that life is something that really matters to us. We young people are committed to society in the defense of life.".

The first of the rights

The president of the Spanish Federation of Pro-Life Associations, Alicia Latorre, explained that this act seeks to defend the first of these rights: "The march celebrated the first of human rights, which is the right to life.".

In this social call in favor of life, Latorre has explained that ".We seek the commitment of science, politicians and society as a whole not to allow any human being, of any age and condition, to be destroyed, undervalued or commercialized".

Amaya Azcona, general director of the REDMADRE Foundation, has also pointed in the same direction: "The lack of protection of life in our legislation and the indifference to it on the part of society urge us, on the one hand, to publicly manifest the dignity of all human life beyond their capacities and specific situations and, on the other hand, to call on all the actors involved to work for the defense of life.".

Educating to accept the gift of life

"Educating to accept the gift of life"is the motto with which the Day for Life was celebrated on April 9, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. The Episcopal Conference's Episcopal Subcommission for the Family and the Defense of Life recalled in its message that "the Church's commitment to the family and to the defense of life is a fundamental element of this day".the Magisterium of the Church invites us to receive the gift of life, to become aware of it. We cannot take it for granted, but rather ponder its meaning and welcome it responsibly. We must reflect on life as a gift in order to understand how we guide our own lives.".

Youth

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Guest writersOmnes

Invitation to be missionary disciples

April 25, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

Being missionary disciples is not only a message addressed to Hispanics, but in reality to all the baptized. The V Meeting pushes us to go out to the peripheries and to share God's love.

Text Ernesto Vega, Los Angeles (USA) Coordinator of the V Encuentro in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Coordinator of Adult Faith Formation Ministry.

The V Encuentro is an initiative of the Bishops of the United States inviting the People of God to participate in a reflection rooted in Luke 24:13-15, and affirmed by Pope Francis in The Joy of the Gospel (EG). In these texts, we find the model of Jesus, the love of God who primes us, involves us, accompanies us, makes us fruitful, and makes us celebrate.

These five steps show a methodology of accompaniment and movement in going out, in involving ourselves in daily life with those who are in need in our context, those who are on the peripheries. In the peripheries we find people pushed by social forces and others by existential factors.

With gestures and attitudes we are called to accompany the poor in our contexts and to offer them the presence of God's love through our attitudes and the journey of life together.

Accompany

All this sense of going out and accompanying those on the peripheries builds a fresh ecclesiology, which starts from our personal encounter with Jesus and that his love impels us to go out to others. The V Encuentro therefore makes us more aware of being missionary disciples, disciples who follow Jesus and are sent (mission) in his love to share God's love, especially with those most in need. By virtue of baptism we are all missionary disciples (EG, 120).

The V Encuentro has its platform in the Hispanic ministry in the United States; the spanish-latin ministry is the tool, the box and the wrapping that carries this reflective gift of the V Encuentro, but in reality being a missionary disciple is not only for Hispanics but for all the baptized.

Five sessions

The V Encuentro has a reflective structure of five sessions: Priming, Engaging, Accompanying, Fructifying, and Celebrating. During these reflections, parish group or apostolate participants are invited to analyze who in their context is on the periphery, identify one or two persons or families to go and visit during this process. The initiative to visit is taken and then a journal of questions regarding the visit is filled out. This information is collected, discerned and emptied to create a parish summary.
or apostolate as a document that enlightens pastoral initiatives or affirms existing ones.

Eventually the parishes and groups participating in the V Encuentro are invited to come together to share, learn from each other, and discern the priorities emerging from the parish reports. Responses to these priorities will also be mapped out.

These processes of the V Encuentro, which are being carried out at the ministerial, parish and diocesan levels, will also be done at the regional and national levels, creating documents at each level respectively, documents that will illuminate the pastoral care of the Church in the United States.

Getting out of comfort zones

The most beautiful thing about the V Encounter is to deepen the awareness of being a missionary disciple, developing a fresh perspective of building the Church, going out of our comfort zones to the peripheries of our contexts to go to the most needy and share the love of God in Christ Jesus through making presence, with gestures and attitudes, accompanying our brothers and sisters in the peripheries.

As Pope Francis points out in his Message for the V Encounter, "our great challenge is to create a culture of encounter that encourages every person and every group to share the richness of their traditions and experiences, to break down walls and build bridges. The Church in the United States, as in other parts of the world, is called to "come out" of its comfort zone and become a leaven of communion. Communion among ourselves, with our fellow Christians and with all those who seek a future of hope.".

The authorOmnes

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Process of reunion, a way to live priestly communion

Omnes-April 23, 2018-Reading time: 4 minutes

The Archdiocese of Valencia is carrying out the Process of Priestly Reunion, a project that seeks to "achieve a dialogue among priests".

TEXT - Fernando Serrano

The Archdiocese of Valencia has proposed a program called Process of priestly re-encounter. It is an action that began in September and will end in May 2018. Throughout these months, retreats, conferences and seminars are held that seek to address priestly identity, evangelization and worship.

This formative project has three steps. The auxiliary bishop of Valencia, Bishop Javier Salinas, explained in an interview to Palabra that, "in the first step we review all the elements that are part of the life of a parish. From the aspect of the person of the priest, to the actions of how to welcome those who come to the parish, the catechesis, the collaboration of the laity".

The second step concerns the organization of the parish and the diocese and the final objective is to see how to face the future. "I hope that after all this journey we will at least arrive at some fundamental points that will allow us in the future to face, if necessary, the rethinking of how we have to offer the Gospel to others with the means we have," says the auxiliary bishop.

Priestly reunion as communion

This initiative, promoted by the Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, aims to "achieve a sincere dialogue among priests" in view of the celebration of a Priestly Assembly in the fall of 2018. The Process of Priestly Reunion was born from the need to talk and share the problems of the priests that were raised in the Council of the Presbyterate. In this way, these meetings are intended as a reunion of each priest with himself, with the Lord and with his ministry, as well as a reunion with other priests and with the bishops.

"To achieve this," explain the professors of the Faculty of Theology, José Vidal and Santiago Pons, "we want to initiate a dialogue that clearly raises the problems and differences that we see in our priestly and pastoral life, that allows us to talk about the processes to achieve the conversion of our parishes into evangelizing and missionary parishes, and that helps us to discover how to share responsibilities in the dioceses and parishes."

"It is called a reunion because it is a way of recognizing that, sometimes, along the way, some of the priests have disengaged from the relationship, they have become isolated. And it is about looking for ways to live the priestly communion": this is how the auxiliary bishop of Valencia, Bishop Javier Salinas, explains the formation action that is being carried out in the archdiocese of Valencia.

The intention of this training project is to support priests in the difficulties they encounter in their pastoral work. "The feeling of the priest on some occasions is that he is offering something to someone who has no interest in it, that he is doing a religious service that later does not take root in a continuity of life," explains Bishop Salinas. This feeling leads the priest to fall or may fall into discouragement when he sees that his work does not develop as it should. "In the Episcopal Council we have perceived that and we want to give a new impulse to priests," he stresses. "We see a certain weariness, a bit of not knowing what to do. We (the bishops' council) are taking the step of offering this reunion". Not only the bishops of the archdiocese intervene, but also the Faculty of Theology with a series of initiatives for the ongoing formation of the clergy. "So, from that perspective, we see that we have to come up with another way of dealing with this issue. We have to touch more the heart in the lives of priests and it is from that dialogue that the initiative arises."

In relation to the formation carried out in this project, Bishop Salinas emphasizes the importance of personal listening: "All the talks, all the contributions, touch on that fundamental point that appeals to the personal listening of the priest. Faced with the difficulties we are experiencing, we have two attitudes: defeatism, or that of an opportunity to offer a new response. But this requires a personal contribution.

Periodic training

The Priestly Reunion Process is another way for priests to participate in formation. To be a priest one must be formed and study, as in any profession. But this formation does not remain in the seminary, but every year, periodically and systematically, the priest receives classes, lectures or seminars to develop his pastoral work in the parishes.

"All dioceses see to it that their priests have spiritual attention and ongoing formation of an academic nature taken care of. The diocese offers resources and means so that this formation can take place", emphasizes the director of the Secretariat of the Episcopal Commission for the Clergy, Juan Carlos Mateos, in conversation with Palabra. In each region they are carried out in different ways. "Each diocese has a plan, perhaps more modest, of formation. There are academic formation days of several days. Others combine formation and living together. There are dioceses that hold one day a month. There are others that do it by vicariates".

Not all dioceses organize them in the same way. "Some have specific actions for younger priests and others for those who have been there longer. In other places they do it without differentiating," says Mateos. It is important that "the formation be systematic, in the sense that the theme that is approached is done in an overall vision and in the totality and over a period of several years".

Attention to priests often revolves around the events of diocesan life. "Many dioceses take advantage of the pastoral plan that is approved as a way of evangelization and put ongoing formation in that key", explains Mateos, "they articulate it around liturgical feasts, beatifications or canonizations... This is so that they can live well the event that is taking place. It is usually brought forward to be able to see a particular theme during the academic year".

Evangelization projects

The director of the Secretariat of the Episcopal Commission for the Clergy emphasizes that this year many dioceses are focusing on youth ministry on the occasion of the upcoming Synod of Youth. "Taking advantage of the fact that this event is going to take place, they will train their priests to have a better experience and benefit from this event." "The Church is very concerned that the Gospel can reach the hearts of young people," explains Mora, and stresses that the parishes are taking care of the attention to young people, both those who participate in the activities and those who do not.
In the same way, he emphasizes the need for parishes to have an evangelizing character in order to reach everyone. "The pastoral care of maintenance, of worship, is not enough. What is needed is to evangelize and form mature Christians who can reach the fullness of life".

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Fabrizio Caciano "Every week we come back with more than we left with."

Omnes-April 18, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

Fabrizio Caciano is the founder of Emergency Doors, that accompanies families, patients, doctors, nurses and hospital workers in Lima during the nights.

TEXT - Fernando Serrano

"The important reason for continuing in social support work is my commitment as a father to Valentino, my 7-year-old son."Fabrizio Caciano points out. He is one of the founders of Emergency Doorsa non-profit organization that seeks to support and accompany the families of the sick in hospitals in Lima, Peru. "Although we also share with janitorial and security workers, nurses, social workers.".

A conversion story

Fabrizio Caciano was born in Lima. During his childhood and adolescence he grew up in a practicing Catholic family and studied at a Marianist school. But at the age of 20, his life took a turn: "Following the death of my mother and my best friend within a short period of time, I entered a crisis of faith that lasted more than 20 years.".

She studied Marketing and Business Administration. Since he was young, his life has been linked to solidarity and social awareness work. "I was a street educator and administrator of an NGO that developed a program to rehabilitate children who used drugs." explains our protagonist; "in this way I got to know a part of reality quite different from what I was used to". For 14 years he traveled the streets of Lima, but this activity also allowed him to visit other countries. "These experiences allowed me to travel several times to Europe as an exhibitor and I participated in several international congresses on the subject of street life.".

A more personal encounter with God took place in 2013. "In November 2013 I participated in an Emmaus retreat at Mary Queen Parish. Here I understood two things: that God existed and that he had always been by my side." thus explaining what his conversion consisted of. "Since that date, my outlook on life has revolved around being a good father, brother and citizen."and actively participates in the Emmaus community. "From then on I have helped to promote these retreats and communities in 5 other parishes in Lima. My life revolves around serving other people through the teachings of my religion.".

Emergency doors

¿Y Emergency Doors? He explains: "The origin of Emergency Doors comes from a personal anecdote. I spent one night in the waiting room of the intensive care unit of a hospital outside Lima. I was accompanying my father who had been run over. During the day it was very hot, but at night the temperature dropped a lot and I didn't know it. I was wearing very light clothes for the night. A lady who was next to me, with her 3 children, lent me a blanket and another man lent me a blanket. a piece of cardboard for me to lay on the floor.". This experience of solidarity in the midst of pain left a very deep impression on him, and planted in him a sensitivity towards a reality that is almost invisible to the rest.

On that basis, when 2016, the year of mercy, arrived, Fabrizio wanted to do something with two companions from Emmaus, so without giving it much thought, one day, after the meetings, they decided to make 60 sandwiches, bought refreshments and went to the Maria Auxiliadora hospital, south of Lima. "That was the first time, and since then we have gone out every Wednesday night. Sometimes we come back at midnight, but we have never stopped going out.". At present, "is a Catholic action platform that serves the families of patients treated in hospitals in Lima"..

Sharing bread

"The premise of the team is simple: sharing. From the point of view of our faith, sharing bread is the most meaningful thing there can be." Fabrizio emphasizes when we asked him about the objective of Emergency Doors. They want to evangelize, but "we don't go directly to talk about God with people, we show it to them".

The time elapsed, although still short, allows him an assessment of the experience. "I have learned many things in these two years. Above all, the value of belonging to a community made up of people called together by the love of Jesus. I have learned the value and power of prayer. I have seen people with terminally ill family members continue in faith until the end. People have approached me to ask for prayer for their daughter, their mother, aunt... every week we come back having received with more than we went out.

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ColumnistsGreg Erlandson

A Pentecostal moment for the whole Church, not just Hispanics

April 17, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

The Church in the United States has embarked on an ambitious multi-year process aimed at highlighting the priorities, needs and gifts of Hispanic Catholics. It is called Encuentro, and it is intended to be an effective encounter among the diverse Hispanic communities in this country, as well as among their faith partners, non-Hispanic Catholics.

Hispanic (also called Latino) Catholics have been a presence in North America since the first missionaries arrived in Florida and what are now Mexico and California. It has not always been a warmly welcomed presence. Older Latino Catholics still remember the humiliations they suffered at the hands of their co-religionists, as well as society in general.

Today the story is different: about 40 % of Catholics in this country are Hispanic, and among Catholics under the age of 18 they reach 60 %. In some archdioceses like Los Angeles that number is as high as 70 %. Dioceses offer bilingual resources, and U.S. bishops are open to issues affecting this community.

Not only for Hispanics

That said, there remains a persistent lack of awareness among many non-Hispanics about the blessing this community is to the life of the Church, and a similar lack of awareness about the significance of the V Encuentro.

However, any discussion of the future of the Catholic Church in the United States is impossible without considering the priorities and concerns of this huge Catholic population. It is from here that the Church will draw its future priests and bishops, its catechists and parishioners. It is here that it will struggle with the challenges of neglect and lack of religious identity among the young.

"V Encuentro", as the fifth Meeting is known, reflects a process that originated in the Church in Latin America, which is familiar to Pope Francis and where the formula of "see, judge, act" was integrated in assemblies such as those of Medellin and Aparecida.

Development

The preparation process for the V Encuentro began with meetings in small groups and Christian communities, and then in parishes.

At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, there have been a series of diocesan meetings, where the reflections and concerns perceived at the local level were shared by the delegates.

Dioceses are now meeting in each of the 14 Episcopal regions, where they are comparing their concerns and priorities, finding common ground and making recommendations regarding issues to be addressed at the National Encounter next September in Texas. The theme of the national meeting in Grapevine is Missionary Disciples: Witnessing to God's Love.

It is still too early to anticipate conclusions, but it is clear that Hispanic Catholics in the United States are finding in this process a powerful expression of solidarity. It will become an even greater success if all Catholics come to discover and appreciate this moment of Pentecost for their Church.

The authorGreg Erlandson

Journalist, author and editor. Director of Catholic News Service (CNS)

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Experiences

A catechesis for after Confirmation

Omnes-April 16, 2018-Reading time: 4 minutes

A The usual reason for reflection is the way to lead young people forward after the sacrament of Confirmation. It is frequent that in this period of human maturation they stop responding to the formation calls or move away from religious practice. Some parishes linked to the Neocatechumenal Way are putting into practice a post-confirmation initiative, with good results.

TEXT - Gabriel Benedicto, Parish Priest of Virgen de la Paloma (Madrid)

The pastoral care of adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age is a challenge for the Church today. What to do with them? How to give them the possibility of touching Christ as an existential response to their desires and problems? How to make the Word of God illuminate this important time of growth in their lives?

At 11-12 years of age, they stop being children and move towards adulthood, facing new challenges: What do I want to study? What friends should I choose? How to mature and express my sexuality? How to relate properly with my parents' authority? How to have fun without hurting myself? How to overcome my complexes? How to overcome the mystery of selfishness? How to be able to love?

A possible answer

If a young person is not offered a youth ministry that responds to these questions, it is very likely that sooner or later he will leave the Church... we could say that out of pure coherence, because he has not perceived that faith in Christ can give fullness to his life.

Post-Confirmation is a response of the Neocatechumenal Way to the challenge of transmitting the faith to adolescents. This pastoral is a service open to all the young people of the parish, who after receiving confirmation in 1st of ESO (high school), begin an itinerary in small groups to grow in a personal experience of faith.

Each group is assigned a couple, whom we call "godparents," who will be responsible for helping them grow and live in the faith of the Church. Why a couple? Because teenagers are saturated with words; if anything truly attracts them, it is the gratuitous love of a man and a woman who witness to the truth of God.

Godparents open their home to them, share dinner with their children, take them home and this gradually makes them feel loved. As Dostoevsky said, "beauty will save the world"In this case, the beauty of the Christian family is capable of saving adolescents. When young people are touched by an experience of love made flesh that is placed at their service, a relationship of trust is created that allows an intimacy to talk and listen. The family is joined by the figure of the priest who accompanies the group, attending and presiding over the meetings whenever he can.

Rediscovery

In the Virgen de la Paloma parish we currently have 13 post-confirmation groups, and I can say that it is turning out to be a fantastic experience. The young people discover, throughout a 6-year program, the richness of the 10 commandments as ways of life, and they learn that there are seven adversaries who want to destroy the image of God in them: pride, envy, anger, greed, lust, laziness and gluttony. There is a spiritual battle that Christ has won for them, and they are taught how to fight back by discovering the power of the cardinal and theological virtues in the Christian's life and how they can extend the Kingdom of God through the 14 works of mercy.

It is impressive to see the power of the Word of God in their lives, which makes them discover that to be Christians is to live in the grace of a God who takes the initiative, and who in Christ makes a covenant with us. When they scrutinize, or especially in the summer camp where they receive a word for the whole year, we contemplate how a change is taking place in them by grace and not by mere moralism. The Word helps them to be able to ask their parents for forgiveness, to know how to say no to their friends when they need to, to get up when they stumble and to get out of difficult situations.

In the summer camp we do a nightly rosary at 4:00 a.m. that concludes with a Eucharist at dawn on top of a mountain. Many speak of how in the silence and darkness of the night they have a profound experience of that God hidden and manifested in the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ. It is a moment in which the children can pray and find the peace that they have not had during the whole course. This camp helps them a lot to start the summer by putting God in the middle of their vacations.

One great thing is that not only does it help all the young people in the parish, but many others, far from the faith, join the groups out of friendship and discover the treasure of seeing God's love in their lives. Some have not been confirmed, others have not made their first communion or even been baptized.

Approach

This pastoral takes place in some parishes where the Neocatechumenal Way is present on Friday afternoons, and is structured in 4 celebrations.

The first meeting is held at the home of the sponsors, where the topic to be discussed at the next meetings is presented and the young people can speak freely about what they and their environment think about it.

In the second meeting, the theme in question is illuminated in the light of the Word through a scrutiny of the biblical text, which ends with a sharing of what this Word says in the concrete life of each young person. This meeting ends with a small agape to foster communion among the young people and with the sponsors.

The third meeting, which is held in the parish, the presbyter discusses the theme with the Magisterium and Tradition of the Church, followed by a penitential act and concludes again with an agape.

In the fourth and last meeting, the theme that has been deepened is sealed, sharing the experience received throughout the month, and a special dinner is held, called Covenant, in which each boy accepts that the Grace of God fulfills in him the word that has been dealt with.

Finally, after the six years of post-confirmation, a pilgrimage is made with the parish priest, as an act of thanksgiving and blessing to God for so many gifts received. Three vocations are presented: religious life, receiving the experience of a consecrated woman; the priesthood, with the testimony of a seminarian; and marriage, deepening the experience of the godparents.

Youth

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Unity in Diversity: A New Momentum for the Church in the U.S.

Omnes-April 11, 2018-Reading time: 8 minutes

Mar Muñoz-Visoso points out that the growth of the Hispanic community in the United States is making parishes culturally diverse. Ethnic and cultural diversity, always a challenge, is a richness for the Church in that country.

TEXT - Mar Muñoz-Visoso
Executive Director of the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Catholic Church in the United States has always been very diverse. Since Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed in Florida in 1565 in the enclave known as St. Augustine and established the first Catholic parish in continuous existence in what is now the United States, successive waves of Catholics from diverse backgrounds and cultures, some immigrants and others born here, have kept the flame of faith alive and passed the torch to new generations.

Historically, geopolitical and social changes have influenced and, at times, determined who should take the lead in establishing local Churches, missions and dioceses, or creating the structures necessary to make possible the work of the Church in a given period. While that remains true today, the Catholic Church in the United States is at a crossroads, a time of transition or, as it were, in a "crisis of growth."

Transformations

In terms of numbers, Catholics have become in recent years the largest religious group in the country compared to what used to be a Protestant majority. Paradoxically, the second largest group is not another church or Christian denomination but the "unaffiliated". These are not necessarily in all cases atheists, but individuals who do not identify with a particular religious group or "denomination," although some of them claim to believe in God or to be spiritual people. A significant number of them are Catholics who have drifted away from the Church, according to recent surveys. And among them are a growing number of Latinos.

On the other hand, the Church's leadership in this country has also realized that its demographic base-those who are affiliated, whether or not they are practicing members-has changed considerably, both in its ethnic and cultural composition and in its geographic location. On the one hand, the Church is growing in the south and west of the country, where there has been a significant increase in population in recent years due to immigration and job opportunities. In these places the Church has a young, dynamic, and very diverse face, with a growing Latino flavor. At the same time, some dioceses and religious communities are closing or merging parishes and schools in places where the population is decreasing or the community that the parish originally served has disappeared. The lack of vocations and ministers to pastor such parishes is also an important reason.

New models

In some cases, the parish model has also changed. For example, with the disappearance of mass immigration from Europe, the model of "national parishes" led by clergy from the same countries of origin of the communities (Irish, Italians, Germans, Poles, etc.) fell into disuse in the middle of the last century, and although some still remain, they are rare. The integration of successive generations and their emigration to the suburbs has relegated them to nostalgic structures to which they return on special occasions, for patron saint festivals and other special moments. In many cases, these temples were within walking distance of each other and it does not make sense administratively or financially today to keep them all open because it is not a sustainable model. The basis that originated them has simply disappeared and the pastoral and spiritual needs of Catholics residing in the area today can be met from one of them.

In some cases, however, lacking the missionary spirit that once characterized most American parishes, simply no effort has been made to meet, invite and evangelize the new inhabitants of the neighborhood. In other words, the parish that has not evolved with the neighborhood has seen its social and economic base gradually disappear. However, parishes, schools and missions have also been closed, in some cases inexplicably and with great public outrage, in areas of high Catholic and Latino immigration, as well as in poor neighborhoods.

Today, in addition to the normal territorial parishes, some "ethnic" parishes are still established to gather, strengthen and serve some communities - mainly of new Catholic immigrants such as Vietnamese, Koreans and Chinese - when they need services in a language that the local clergy cannot offer, and where the base is large enough to make them sustainable. However, the vast majority are integrated through multicultural parishes that have opened spaces for the pastoral care of a diversity of cultural and linguistic communities. This model is the one that best accommodates the growth and pastoral needs of an already diverse Hispanic community, with a growing presence in both large cities and rural areas of the country. But also to smaller ethnic groups that need specialized attention and would not be able to sustain a parish on their own. It is also, at the end of the day, and despite the complexity that characterizes them, the parish model that best reflects the universality of the church, where that catholicity is embodied and lived in the daily interactions of its parishioners, who reflect the many faces of God's people.

Cultural diversity

The massive growth of the Hispanic community, but also the influx of immigrants from many other parts of the world, is transforming once monolithic and monolingual North American parishes into culturally diverse communities that come together under one roof and share pastor, space, structures and resources. And where they also learn to share responsibility for the facilities, resources and support of the parish. Certainly the diversity of experiences requires education processes for all communities, and particularly for parish staff and leadership.

Living together is sometimes challenging, as mutual acceptance and integration of communities does not happen overnight. The vision, ecclesiology and expectations of different cultural groups regarding the functioning of the parish and the role of the pastor and his team can vary significantly and cause serious differences or at times bring them into conflict. However, where an integrative and inclusive - not "assimilationist" - process based on welcome and reconciliation has been put in place, the different ways of working and expressing faith and "being Church" are seen as an expression of the universality of the Church, reflecting the deeply ecclesial and Trinitarian concept of "unity in diversity", where a spirit of communion, solidarity and mission prevails.

Training

Faced with the growing reality of multicultural parishes, the U.S. bishops have taken on the difficult task of promoting intercultural training for clergy, religious and the many lay people who, in this ecclesial reality, occupy leadership positions (directors of evangelization and catechesis, youth ministry, liturgical music, social services, parish administration and others).

Interculturality" refers to the ability to communicate, relate and work with people from a culture different from one's own. These intercultural skills require the development of new knowledge and skills, and new attitudes of openness, listening, patience and curiosity towards what the other has to offer. These abilities are not random, nor external to the mission of the Church, but intrinsic and necessary to the process of evangelization and catechesis. It is understood that one cannot properly preach, teach and form others in the faith without attending to the ways in which faith and identity are embodied in a culture.

Ethnic and cultural diversity has always been a richness for the Church in this country. The Hispanic presence is by no means a new phenomenon. Hispanics have been present and have been protagonists in the evangelization of many peoples in territories such as California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, coastal Louisiana, and Florida, even before these were territories of the American Union. Although the Spanish and Mexican influence waned over the years and geopolitical changes, the new migratory waves of the second half of the 20th century - largely from Mexico and Latin America - refocused attention on the needs, but also the contributions of the Hispanic people to the North American Church and society.

Today, the undeniable weight of numbers makes the Latino presence felt strongly throughout the U.S. Today, the undeniable weight of numbers makes the Latino presence felt strongly throughout the U.S. Today, the undeniable weight of numbers makes the Latino presence felt strongly throughout the U.S. today. With respect to the Church, Hispanic Catholics have been responsible for 70 percent of the growth of the Catholic Church in this country over the past three decades. Originally, much of this modern growth was due to the influx of immigration, but in recent years that trend has changed. Today, the growth of Hispanic communities is due more to fertility than to immigration. Thus, 60 percent of U.S. Catholics age 18 and under are already of Hispanic origin. Nearly 90 percent of these young people were born here. Many have inherited religious and cultural practices from their parents, but their first language may no longer be Spanish, and they have grown up with U.S. cultural influences.

Next generations

The Church seems to be reaching out more easily to the immigrant generation, but is having difficulty attracting the next generation. Beyond the Latino community, this phenomenon is also observed with other ethnic groups. Among non-immigrants, African-Americans and Native American Indians are a peculiarly painful case, as the historical-social and racial isolation of these groups in American society also partly dictated the evangelizing model of the Catholic Church with these groups. It is truly impressive, and certainly a work of the Spirit, the perseverance of these communities in the faith despite marginalization, pastoral neglect and, frankly, the racism that has sometimes also infected religious ministers and institutions. And also in spite of the lack of acceptance of some of their traditions and signs of cultural identity as legitimate expressions of the faith and spirituality of these peoples. Given this reality, we are not surprised by the lack of vocations and pastoral leadership coming from these communities, with notable exceptions.

At this historical moment, the Catholic Church in the United States is also seeing its Anglo-Saxon and Eurocentric base aging and shrinking proportionally, while at the same time having difficulty connecting with a very diverse younger generation that the Anglo-Saxon model of youth ministry has not been able to or has not been able to reach.

The strong process of secularization and the relegation of religion to the private sphere make a new evangelization of North American society more urgent and pressing than ever, one that forms disciples who take seriously the missionary mandate: "Go and make disciples of all nations".

Change of mentality

Aware of all this complex reality, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States is trying to accompany clergy and faithful to help them understand the necessary changes in mentality, strategies and structural adjustments that will allow the Church to carry out its evangelizing mission in today's reality and with a renewed missionary spirit. This is where Pope Francis' call to be a "church going out", poor and for the poor, intersects with the historical moment of the Church in the United States, now called to its Fifth National Meeting (V Meeting).

Traditionally, as processes of consultation and pastoral discernment with strong Latin American roots - drawing from the sources of Puebla, Medellín, Santo Domingo and Aparecida - the successive national Encuentros nacionales de pastoral hispana have been moments of grace that have oriented and given impetus to "Hispanic ministry" in this country over the past 50 years. The process of this V Encuentro finds its inspiration in number 24 of the apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium), in which Pope Francis describes the characteristics of a community of missionary disciples. The V Encuentro seeks to promote this culture of encounter in the U.S. Church and society, while at the same time making a direct and specific call to Hispanic Catholics to "get their act together," to take up the torch, to take personal and communal responsibility for the new evangelization in the United States.

Moment of grace and blessing

Judging by the response of hundreds of thousands of Catholics, Latinos or not, who are participating in the local processes of reflection and consultation, and who have lived missionary experiences going out to the peripheries encouraged by the Encuentro, and also given the high participation of the great majority of the dioceses of the country -with very few exceptions-, the V Encuentro promises to be another moment of grace and blessing not only for the Hispanic community, but for the whole Church in the United States and beyond. This is a Church that strives to walk united in faith and in one Lord, but also embracing and valuing the diversity of gifts, charisms and expressions that characterize it.

The theme of the V Encuentro is "Missionary Disciples: Witnesses of God's Love". We count on the sustained and supportive prayers of all of you and of many brothers and sisters so that the fruit of the V Encuentro Nacional de Pastoral Hispana/Latina may be lasting and abundant for the good of the Church. May it be so.

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Sprouts of a new spring among the youth of the V Encuentro

Omnes-April 11, 2018-Reading time: 7 minutes

Gustavo Garcia-Siller has the double value of, on the one hand, being his diocese of San Antonio one of the most marked by Latino inertia and, on the other hand, because the archbishop is the chairman of the Committee for Cultural Diversity in the Church of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

TEXT - Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS
Archbishop of San Antonio (Texas)

In proclaiming the final message of the Second Vatican Council 52 years ago, Blessed Paul VI announced to the young people of that time that they would be "living in the world at a time of the most gigantic transformations in its history" (December 8, 1965). Today it is not difficult to see that in recent decades important changes have taken place that can be compared with those that have served in the study of history to divide it into epochs.

In fact, our Holy Father Francis has pointed out that "this epochal change has been brought about by the enormous qualitative, quantitative, accelerated and cumulative leaps in scientific development, in technological innovations and in their rapid applications in various fields of nature and life" (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 52). Notwithstanding these positive aspects, the Pope also points out that "some pathologies are on the increase", such as "an economy of exclusion", "the new idolatry of money", "inequity that generates violence", "attacks on religious freedom", "new situations of persecution of Christians", as well as "a diffuse relativistic indifference, related to the disenchantment and crisis of ideologies provoked as a reaction against everything that seems totalitarian" (ibid., nn. 53-60).

Changes in the United States

It is clear that in the United States, as in the rest of the world, the consensus on the traditionally accepted values that had governed social coexistence has to a greater or lesser extent fractured. Cultural sources of certainty are crumbling; new ones are emerging and others are being renewed. Among other things, this has resulted in an inability to reach solutions to many social problems at all levels, which in turn has generated distrust, indifference or indignation towards all authority figures as well as institutions, including the Church. In addition, outrageous scandals have acted as catalysts in this process of decomposition of the social fabric.

In the last 26 years alone, religious non-affiliation in the United States has increased from 3 % to 25 %, highlighting a marked increase in the number of people who claim to believe in God, but reject any institutional religion. A widespread tendency is seen to overvalue and exalt sensory experiences and emotionality over reason, scientific knowledge over the search for the meaning of existence, expression for its own sake over its contents, and individuality over collectivity. "Fear and despair take hold of the hearts of many people... The joy of living is often extinguished, disrespect and violence are on the increase, inequality is ever more evident" (ibid., n. 52). Faced with this reality, the Pope exhorts us to recognize "that a culture in which everyone wants to be the bearer of his or her own subjective truth makes it difficult for citizens to wish to be part of a common project beyond their own personal benefits and desires" (ibid., n. 61).

Situation of young people

At the same time, we are seeing the emergence of a generation of young people who lack confidence in themselves and their abilities. Many have suffered the absence of their parents, largely because both have been forced to work to sustain a decent standard of living. Others have been overprotected from the hardships of a world full of threats and uncertainty.
Both phenomena result in fragility of character. It is a hyper-connected and hyper-informed generation, but with little formation of ethical criteria and whose prolonged use of new information technologies has hindered the development of its relational capacity. There is a generalized pessimism and a tendency to hyper-opinion as an attempt at self-affirmation, as well as a widespread attitude of protest, but without sufficient competence to make proposals, turning individuals into easily manipulated pieces by the interests that drive ideological colonizations. Especially today, young people are eager for close, credible, congruent and honest reference figures.

Demographic transformation

This already complex global scenario has combined in the United States with a profound demographic transformation, particularly in the Church, which presents a major challenge. Thankfully, the number of Catholics in the country is growing and Hispanics account for 71 % of the increase in the Catholic population since 1960, even though some 14 million Hispanics in the United States no longer identify themselves as Catholic. Just half a century ago, of every 20 U.S. Catholics, approximately 17 were white, English-speaking Euro-Americans, while today more than 40% are of Hispanic origin, primarily from Latin America; about 5 % are Asian, 4 % are African-American and a quarter of all U.S. Catholics are immigrants. Most Hispanics are adults, but only one-third are migrants. In other words, a large proportion of the Hispanic population was born in the United States and is very young.

About 58 % of Hispanics are under the age of 33, 60 % of Catholics under the age of 18 in the country are Hispanic and more than 90 % of Hispanics under the age of 18 were born in the United States. All this indicates, on the one hand, that the Church in the United States is in the process of diversification and, on the other hand, that its new face is predominantly Hispanic. This new cultural diversity is reflected, among other things, in the fact that 40 % of the country's parishes celebrate Mass in languages other than English. We are also moving from having abundant material resources to being a relatively poor Church.

Signs of hope

Undoubtedly the panorama seems threatening, but feeling the almost crushing weight of problems and responsibility, we wanted to follow the example of the Apostle St. James and St. Juan Diego, to be docile messengers, confident that being sent by our Heavenly Mother, we will enjoy her protection within the folds of her mantle. Our faith in the Risen Lord allows us to recognize, above all, positive aspects in our present circumstances and to see in them signs of hope. Such is the case, for example, of a re-evaluation of affectivity and human love, a growing sensitivity to the "other" and a new spiritual openness.

Many young people have a great and transparent thirst for God, but at the same time a great fear of being disappointed. They want proposals expressed in new and attractive ways, intellectually profound and coherent, that imply a radical commitment capable of giving meaning to their lives, but above all that are demonstrated by the witness, self-sacrifice and sincere friendship of those who propose them. In this sense, the young people of today are not very different from those of the past, but they have lived in a context that hinders their sense of belonging and therefore, although it is not easy to persuade them, they are capable of surprising us with their capacity for dedication.

Thirty-five years ago, St. John Paul II called the Church, from Latin America, to an evangelization "new in its ardor, in its methods, in its expression", coining the term "....New Evangelization"(Address to the CELAM Assembly, March 9, 1983, Port-au-Prince, Haiti). Pope Francis, formed in that Latin American Church, with renewed fervor has relaunched this call to missionary commitment that has its origin in the encounter with Jesus Christ and is nourished by him. It is not re-evangelization, but missionary discipleship that begins with personal and pastoral conversion, again and again, sustained by the mercy of the eternal Father, whose face is Jesus, our Savior.

A historic opportunity

This is the dimension of the challenge we decided to venture into the V National Encounter of Hispanic/Latino Pastoral MinistryWe recognize that we are facing an historic opportunity to rejuvenate the Church in the United States, to make her more clearly visible in the radiant face of her eternally youthful founder. We recognize that we are faced with an historic opportunity to rejuvenate the Church in the United States, so that the radiant face of her eternally youthful founder may be more clearly visible in her. We have chosen to do so in response to the call of Pope Francis and in keeping with his captivating pastoral zeal, style and approach to today's challenges.

We have understood that in this new era it is no longer enough to preach from the pulpit, expecting the faithful to abide by the authority of the pastor or the bishop. It is no longer enough to make known a series of obligations and rules, with the expectation that they will be fulfilled. It is necessary to go out and seek the sheep, to "graze" with them, until we feel comfortable smelling like sheep. We are doing our best as Church to meet the Risen One in the peripheries, like the disciples of Emmaus, to let ourselves be moved by the tender mercy that the Lord has lavished on us and then to go out with burning hearts to meet everyone where they are.

In this way, the V Encuentro has gathered thousands of missionary disciples in parish and diocesan meetings. The last report received on the celebration of the V Encuentro at the diocesan level totals 135 dioceses. The voices of all the participants are now being heard at the regional level and later will be heard at the National Encounter.

Among the programs specifically aimed at young people, the National Colloquium on Youth Ministry was held, which brought together diocesan leaders, bishops, academics, religious, researchers, parish leaders, philanthropists and heads of national organizations. We also had a Catechetical Sunday, which motivated the commitment of parents and the whole community to support together the catechesis of our children and youth, and accompany them on their journey in joyful and meaningful ways. We also had a viral video contest, as well as other initiatives.

Renewal

During my time as Chairman of the Cultural Diversity Committee of the Episcopal Conference, I have witnessed the presence of the Holy Spirit in this process. I have found that this experience has been uplifting and good for many of our brothers and sisters in the faith. With God's favor, we are overcoming outdated customs to make way for the irresistible compassion of Jesus. The Lord seems to be inspiring new expressions of spirituality, as well as a renewed theological and pastoral understanding of some realities that we may have neglected. Many new leaders have emerged, especially lay leaders, who are assuming with renewed passion their missionary responsibility in the Church and in the world. New ways of expressing the truth of Christ in a beautiful way, mobilizing the hearts of the new generations to authentic love, are emerging.

Once again, Hispanics are being historic instruments for the spread of the Gospel message. We are rediscovering the beauty and richness of our faith and traditions, while our warmth, joy and vitality are encouraging the unity in the diversity of a society which has an enormous need to heal wounds. Halfway through this great undertaking and hand in hand with Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization, today I can echo the words that our Holy Father addressed to the young people in Rio de Janeiro: "I will continue to nourish an immense hope in young people... through them, Christ is preparing a new springtime throughout the world. I have seen the first results of this sowing, others will rejoice in the abundant harvest" (Address during the Farewell Ceremony, July 28, 2013).

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Cinema: Paul, the Apostle of Christ

The life of St. Paul is a filmic vein that can always be exploited. On this occasion, Andrew Hyatt makes a film for contemplative palates, modern in style, but slow in pace. There is no abundance of tension, which only occasionally drives the external action.

José María Garrido-April 11, 2018-Reading time: 2 minutes

DirectorAndrew Hyatt

ScriptAndrew Hyatt

Year: 2018

InterpretersJames Faulkner, Jim Caviezel, Olivier Martinez

In the Rome of 64 A.D., Nero blames the Christians for the great fire in the city. He catches the followers of Christ, sacrifices them in the circus or burns them in the streets to light up the night. In the midst of the persecution, Luke, the Greek physician and author of the third Gospel, enters the troubled capital with the intention of visiting Paul, imprisoned in the Mamertine jail.

The evangelist wants to compose an account of the origins of the new Way, the Acts of the Apostles, and for this he turns to Paul as a privileged source. Luke stays in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, who have generously converted the courtyard and its rooms into a Christian refugee camp on the verge of collapse.

A contemplative film

The life of St. Paul is a filmic vein that can always be exploited. On this occasion, Andrew Hyatt The film is a film for contemplative palates, modern in style, though slow in pace. There is no abundance of tension, which only occasionally drives the external action.

Younger people, accustomed to speed, could become disengaged from the story, which expresses above all the moral dilemmas and sufferings of the protagonists: Aquila and Priscilla confronted over the fate of their home; Luke, who has helplessly watched his Christian brothers burn like torches in the street; the family tragedy of Maurice, the Roman prefect of the prison and, of course, the pain of Paul himself, whose sting - the memory of his young anti-Christian delinquency -, sticks deeper into him during imprisonment.

Narrow visual fences

Paul being a traveler, the adventures of this film condemn us (along with him) to narrow visual enclosures: the courtyard of a Roman house, the Mamertine prison, the garden of the villa where the apostle preached freely until he was martyred, or the hypogeum of the circus before a group of Christians became the meat of wild beasts. Not even the martyrdom of St. Stephen or the belligerence and subsequent conversion of Saul on his way to Damascus offer scenes for the eyes to enjoy.

The budget imposes fasting on the pilgrim and maritime Pauline life. However, the scenic narrowness is compensated for by the fictitious threads, with several successful subplots, careful photography and nocturnal lighting.

Ln expert interpretations of Jim Caviezel, James Faulkner y Olivier Martinezthe music of Jan KaczmarekThe depth of the dialogues between Paul and Luke, and an ending that, by glossing this apostle, gives meaning to the present sufferings.

The authorJosé María Garrido

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Bishop Gomez: "Hispanics have a great potential for evangelization".

Omnes-April 11, 2018-Reading time: 9 minutes

Archbishop José Horacio Gómez, Archbishop of Los Angeles since 2011 and vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since 2016, was born in Mexico (Monterrey). In the Los Angeles metropolitan area more than 70% of the Catholic population is of Hispanic origin.

TEXT - Alfonso Riobó

The Latino presence is perceptible in any corner of Los Angeles, and in places like "La Placita", where the birthplace of the city founded under the patronage of Our Lady of Los Angeles in 1781 is located, the warmth of the Hispanic character is poured into a festive gathering. A high proportion of Latinos is also found in any celebration in the modern cathedral, a work of the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo.

Bishop Gomez receives us there on a very bright day. Many people come to greet him or ask for his blessing or prayers. He likes to be with the people. Then he gives us all the time we need.

The theme of the V Encuentro, to be held in Texas in September, is: Missionary Disciples, Witnesses of God's Love. It seems to echo the Aparecida document, and the priorities of Pope Francis....
-The national meeting of the Fifth Encounter will be held in Grapevine, a town near Dallas, Texas, from September 21-23, 2018. Indeed, the theme of the Fifth Encounter coincides with a spiritual flow that comes from Aparecida and the Holy Father Francis' encyclical Evangelii Gaudium. We seek to extend the powerful vision of Jesus for all the baptized in the United States that will surely reverberate beyond our continental boundaries. Pope Francis calls us to step out of our comfort zone and share God's love with our brothers and sisters, especially those most in need.

What has been the significance of the previous editions of this Meeting?
-The previous Encuentros sought to raise awareness of the importance of Hispanic ministry in the Catholic Church in the United States. Their method encouraged a grassroots pastoral approach that consulted, listened, observed and then discerned and proposed pastoral priorities and strategies that responded to these concerns, seeking the good of the Church. Such proposals were presented to the bishops, who began the dialogue with the people of God to build the Church together at the local and national levels.

Latino culture and the Catholic religion belong to the roots of the United States. You proclaimed, at the opening of the V Encuentro in Los Angeles, that Latinos "are not newcomers, not last minute arrivals, not upstarts. The first Catholics in this country were Latinos from Spain and Mexico! What role does that root play today?
-Latino Catholics have been in this country since before the political formation of what is now the United States. Their roots are very strong, especially throughout the southwestern part of the country. City names like San Diego, Our Lady of the Angels, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Santa Monica, Corpus Christi or San Antonio are just a sample of a whole chain of missions that paint the geography of Catholic fervor. Their living history can be admired in their architecture, enjoyed in their food, rejoiced in their music.
The Catholic culture of this living people is old and new; it is of the past and present, but also of the future. Latinos are the fastest growing and thriving minority in this country. The influence of the Latino in the United States is extremely significant, because its great socio-cultural and religious richness continues to influence and shape all the social and existential dimensions of these United States.

The weight of the Hispanic or Latino community is growing among Catholics in the U.S. What problems and opportunities does this evolution offer?
-This lively flow, old and new, of people who came to the call of a society wounded by depopulation in exchange for better living conditions, has provoked a political situation that has not wanted to be solved. Some see in them opportunities for voting, and others for slavery. But those who suffer are the families who fear division and deportation, especially the young people who have grown up here with the dream of full integration after being brought here as children.
These problems obscure the immense opportunities that the Hispanic population offers to the future of this country: its culture of hard work, of constructive effort, its powerful tradition of family and solidarity, its spirituality rooted in optimistic trust in the provident God... can be threatened by the lack of training and equal working conditions that force this people rich in perennial values to continue living an under-culture that prevents them from flourishing. The children of Catholic immigrants are growing up in a bilingual and bicultural world that has the potential for evangelization if they opt for Christ and overcome the mirage of a hedonistic and agnostic culture.

How do Pastors face the challenge of a consumerist lifestyle, or even the attraction of other religions? In particular, are they concerned that young people in the Latino community may drift away from the Church?
-Consumerism and materialism are great temptations and risks to all of society in the United States. All children and young people in this country, with their growing and developing minds, are exposed to what is shown on social media, which not only influences the mind of the young, but also that of adults. We well know that technology used well builds us up, but mismanaged it destroys us.
Pastors offer the people of God, through parishes or diocesan and inter-diocesan activities such as the Fifth Gathering, the opportunity to participate in various ministries where service, prayer, dialogue and formation support families in the face of these influences.

One of your convictions is that Latinos are called "to be the leaders of our Church". Such leadership requires formation, whether we think of the laity or of priests and religious. How do we form these leaders? Is that an objective of the V Encuentro?
-One of the gifts of the Fifth Encounter is the spirituality and methodology of accompaniment. Just as Jesus accompanied the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we are also called to accompany those most in need. Today's leaders are called to accompany emerging leaders, to pass the torch of faith as facilitators so that others learn to share their faith, to plan their ministry, to visualize the mission, to share their resources. In short, to take the initiative or "primerear" as Pope Francis says, and to go ahead to accompany the brother. The key is accompaniment and, as pastors, we have to strengthen our brothers so that they become apostles of Christ. This is one of the priorities in this Archdiocese.

Vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life are an essential support point. Are priestly and religious vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life among Hispanics on the rise?
-We must give many thanks to God our Lord, who continues to call and enthuse many young people who do not quench their thirst for happiness in our society of consumerism and pleasure. They seek the living water offered by the Lord Jesus, the enthusiasm of the disciples of Emmaus whose hearts burned with the words of the mysterious "companion" on the road. Yes, the Hispanic community has given new impetus to the generosity required to follow the Lord closely and care for his needy people, who wander like "sheep without a shepherd". The challenge is to educate these generous young people, to make them well-formed priests and religious. Here the seminaries, the professors, the formative magazines that they can read, like "Palabra" of course, play a determining role.

Are the activities and messages of the V Encuentro intended only for Latinos, and what about non-Catholics?
-The Fifth Encounter began in the Latin ministry, but it is not only for Latinos. Being a missionary disciple is for all the baptized and Pope Francis tells us clearly in Evangelii Gaudium number 120: "By virtue of baptism, we are all missionary disciples". Therefore, the activities and messages of the V Encounter are intended to forge missionary disciples for all the baptized for the service of the whole Church and humanity.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is a reminder and a living reminder that the United States is a nation of immigrants. To what extent is immigration a problem for the country today?
-As we have said, this country is a country of immigrants who have made it great and powerful. Immigration is a great opportunity for positive growth, sociological studies show us that countries grow and are enriched in the exchange of ideas, ways, and customs, and that is given in the social exchange between peoples.

Some of the government's decisions on immigration are very controversial, such as the elimination of the DACA program for young immigrants (the "dreamers") or the TPS program for Salvadorans. The Catholic bishops, and you in the front line, are defending them with energy. Is there any hope of reaching a "just and humane solution", as they are asking for?
-With my brother bishops we are fighting for a just and complete immigration reform. I pray to God and the Virgin of Guadalupe that it becomes a reality as soon as possible. We are defending the dignity of every human being and we seek a prompt resolution. Our voice is clear and constant on this issue so vital to our society. One of the things we bishops do is to encourage conferences, gather letters of petition in favor of immigration reform to send to political representatives in Congress, and educate people about the issues that affect them directly and indirectly. We have to be vigilant about what happens and speak out for a just and humane solution.

Although you specify that it is not a question of adopting a political position, you do come down to the field of a major social and personal problem... What do you mean when you ask for permanent solutions to the problems of immigration?
-We do not want families to suffer from changes in laws every presidential term, but rather to be able to count on clear laws that allow for growth in legality, a basic security that is the foundation for planning the future with confidence and optimism, leaving behind the fear of uncertainty and political gamesmanship. The suffering families should not be played with.

The great cultural diversity in Los Angeles is striking, and the number of languages and rites in which people can attend Mass in the archdiocese is impressive. One of your priorities is to foster it, while strengthening Catholic identity. Can you tell us about that experience?
-Catholics from all over the world, with their particular ways of expressing their faith, have immigrated to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It is a blessing that they bring their riches and share them here with us. Here in the Archdiocese you experience a microcosm of what the universal Church is. We seek to strengthen each ethnic group in its particular expression, and at the same time, to strengthen its universal Catholic identity so that each one does not become closed in on its own. It is a great blessing to be in this Archdiocese where we can learn from each other and live together in the Love of Jesus Christ, from which is born a Church that we could call heavenly "because they have come to her from all nations".

You were born for greater things: this is the title of a pastoral letter that he recently wrote and that he is applying. The very scope of the letter shows that it is not an occasional text. What does he propose in the letter?
-The world in which we live offers us different paths, which are not always projects for a son or daughter of God. We are sons and daughters of God. His plan of divine love invites us to do greater things than the world proposes to us. The God who gave us life calls us and urges us to share the love of being his children with all humanity, with those closest to us and with those most in need. Our gestures, our attitudes, must be a reflection of the fact that we are his sons and daughters, and that our heart will not be satisfied with the ephemeral and immediate, because we were born for greater things.

The text reminds us that Christians are responsible for the progress of the world and future generations. And it ends with an invitation to be missionaries, addressed to all. To what extent can Latino Catholics, particularly in Los Angeles, fulfill this invitation?
-It is true, we Christians are responsible for the progress of the world and we are also responsible for future generations, and for this reason, our condition as children born for greater things impels us all to "go out" of ourselves. We are "sent", which means to be missionaries: sent by Jesus to our brothers and sisters. Latino Catholics in Los Angeles can be missionaries if they allow themselves to be found by Jesus and overcome the temptation to think of themselves as Catholics only because they were born into a Catholic family.

What is the current state of the family in the United States? How do you approach family ministry in the country?
-The pastoral means used, such as seminars, formation workshops or retreats, should complement the attention that families should find in their parishes to "be accompanied" in a solid human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation that allows them to remain united despite the counter-cultural and counter-familial difficulties of this country. Young people must be strengthened and accompanied so that when they reach high school or university, they can face the temptation to think that Catholicism is "something of their parents" and that they are called to "secularize" according to the fashionable model. The Church must accompany them so that Christ touches their lives and they do not want to separate themselves from Him or from His friendship. It is necessary that the proposed means touch the most everyday aspects of their family life, of which Pope Francis is a model: the Pope of everyday life.

In many parts of this nation, devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the "Queen of America", is evident. How does she accompany them in the current situation of the nation?
-The Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe is the mother of the family in this Archdiocese, where she is loved dearly, where the people feel her very close in their daily lives. She solves and consoles the personal, family and social problems of her suffering people. She is the Empress of America and the Philippines, the "Mother of the True God for whom one lives". She visited this continent when its borders had not yet been built, and from that little hill she promoted and promotes the unity of all her peoples and the evangelization of all her children. We have begun the annual pilgrimage to her blessed shrine, to place at her feet the projects that her Son inspires in us. May she deign to bless the Fifth Encounter so that we may accompany more and more brothers and sisters in the knowledge, love and imitation of her Divine Son in this country that was born for greater things.

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ColumnistsRamiro Pellitero

Gaudete et exsultate: Holiness for All

April 11, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

In the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate ("Rejoice and be glad"), on the call to holiness in today's world (19-III-2018), Pope Francis explains the Christian path to holiness. A path that is proposed for everyone and of which we Christians must be especially aware.

TEXT - Ramiro Pellitero

After explaining the meaning of holiness, he warns of some misinterpretations. Then he shows the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels. Next, he presents some manifestations or characteristics of holiness. He concludes by highlighting some of the means available to Christians to collaborate in their own holiness. In a first and quick reading, it is important to point out a few points.

Holiness: Christian way

The first chapter ("The Call to Holiness".) presents the protection and closeness of the saints. The saints are people of the people, of the holy faithful people of God, with an expression pleasing to Francis. Many of them have lived and live close to us (it is holiness "from next door"). The call to holiness is addressed to every believer. "All -writes the Pope, echoing the Second Vatican Council. we are called to be saints, living with love and offering our own witness in our daily occupations, wherever we find ourselves". "Every saint is a mission." which is lived by reproducing in one's own life the mysteries of Christ's life. And this mission makes life fuller, more joyful, more holy.

Francisco highlights "two subtle enemies of holiness." (chapter two), relying on the statements of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Letter Placuit Deo, 22-II-2018): current Gnosticism and Pelagianism. They are - he affirms - two forms of anthropocentrism, disguised as Catholic truth. Salvation cannot be sought by reason or will alone, because God alone saves man. Instead, these paths lead to a superiority complex that forgets the primacy of God's grace and the importance of mercy towards one's neighbor, the recognition of one's own sins and attention to the material and spiritual needs of others.

Holiness for all, today

"In the Light of the Master". (chapter three) we see that Christians are called to be happy by seeking God's love and service to those around us. This is clear in the Beatitudes and in the parable of the Last Judgment (cf. Mt 25:31-46). St. Teresa of Calcutta said: "If we take too much care of ourselves, we will have no time left for others.".

Like "notes on holiness in today's world." (chapter four) Francis points out: endurance, patience and meekness; joy and a sense of humor; boldness and fervor; the communitarian dimension of holiness; the need for constant prayer (together with the reading of Sacred Scripture and the encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist).

Exit from ourselves

Finally (chapter five), to advance towards holiness he proposes three means: spiritual combat (among other things because the devil exists); examination of conscience (to avoid corruption and lukewarmness); and discernment (to know how to walk where God leads us with freedom of spirit, generosity and love, and keeping in mind the "logic of the cross").

"Discernment -writes Francisco. is not a self-absorbed self-analysis, a selfish introspection, but a true going out of ourselves towards the mystery of God, which helps us to live the mission to which he has called us for the good of our brothers and sisters"..

Its clear and direct language makes this exhortation an incisive proposal, which can bring about many fruits of Christian life and evangelization. The path to holiness is to seek union with Jesus Christ. Holiness, in fact, does not require special abilities, nor is it reserved to the most intelligent or educated. It only requires letting oneself be made by the Holy Spirit: "Let him -The Pope advises may it forge in you that personal mystery that reflects Jesus Christ in today's world"..

The authorRamiro Pellitero

Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Professor of Ecclesiology and Pastoral Theology in the Department of Systematic Theology at the University of Navarra.

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What does meditation consist of? The Pope explains it in the audience

Father S.O.S

Can a Christian practice mindfulness?

The idea and practice of mindfulness, a technique of attention and relaxation, has become widespread. Is it acceptable and compatible with the Christian faith? How does it relate to prayer?

Carlos Chiclana-April 9, 2018-Reading time: 3 minutes

Esther wrote to me, bewildered: "On Sunday during the homily, the parish priest was very angry about mindfulness, he only had to say something bad about psychologists... I am going to explain to him that it does not come from the devil, that it is very effective and that it is not incompatible with the Christian faith". The Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on some aspects of Christian Meditation (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, October 15, 1989) admits that "Authentic meditation practices coming from the Christian East and from the great non-Christian religions, which have an attraction for today's man, alienated and troubled, may constitute a suitable means to help the person who prays to be interiorly relaxed before God, even if he is urged by external solicitations"..

There is confusion. Patients ask, "I am recommended to do mindfulness, but I read that the roots are Buddhist and its medium is Eastern meditation. As a Christian, I don't know if it is appropriate." Another: "Will my relationship with God be negatively conditioned by a technique that is not suitable for me? syncretistic? The polemic is false: mindfulness and prayer are two different activities. The first is a technical exercise that seeks mindfulness without judgment and with acceptance. And prayer is an intimate and profound dialogue, of a personal and communal nature, in which the human being opens himself freely to the transcendent God, and in which two freedoms meet.

There are those who do mindfulness at one time and prayer at another time, those who overlap the two because it focuses them to open themselves to God, or those who do only one of the two. Prayer can "to take from the various meditation techniques what is useful, provided that the Christian conception of prayer, its logic and its demands, are maintained.".

Mindfulness is not a substitute for prayer.

For the Christian, says the aforementioned Letter, the "The way of approaching God is not based on a technique [...]. Authentic Christian mysticism has nothing to do with technique: it is always a gift from God, of which the one who receives it feels unworthy....". Mindfulness is not a substitute for prayer, and can complement it. It can be misused, like someone who abuses a App to pray or replaces praying with relaxing experiences.

But it has shown its efficacy, in clinical experience and academic studies, in improving physical and mental health, by way of reducing stress and anxiety. Is this contrary to faith? There are those who think so and say: "How can you trust a technique that tries to suppress human pain? That goes against the way of the Cross!". I suppose they are also against ibuprofen.

Prayer with God is a good mindfulness practice

A baptized friend, with no Christian training or practice, doing mindfulness, heard without a voice inside her: "You have a temple inside you". Surprised, she asked two friends with faith. Both answered the same thing: "Of course, it is the Trinity that is looking for you". It seems logical that attending to the present can make it easier for you, if you want, to connect with the One who is always in the present.

Mindfulness can be a previous step before getting into the attitude of opening oneself to God, of waiting for him, of accepting him. It promotes acceptance, something that for a Christian can be a way of imitating God. fiat of the Virgin Mary or of Jesus Christ's acceptance of the Passion. It encourages non-judgment, which resonates with various New Testament passages. However, ask your spiritual companion if, for you, it can be a beneficial action prior to prayer.

The attitude of the person, the intentionality, the openness to a personal God, and to the presence of the Trinity, etc., are elements that can guide us to integrate mindfulness in the practice of Christian life and observe what fruits it bears, whether it helps us to love others more or makes us more self-absorbed. "All Christian contemplative prayer constantly refers to the love of neighbor, to action and passion, and, precisely in this way, it brings us closer to God."The Letter on Christian Meditation also says.

In the image and likeness of God

Being in the image and likeness of God may frighten some, who fear that the power given by God to man will confuse him and make him want to be God, but history has already shown us that repression of the truth - in this case, of the spiritual power of the human being - does not usually bring benefits. St. Ignatius of Loyola, who taught to pray with the breath, or St. John of the Cross, who knew how to get rid of the temporal and not become pregnant with the spiritual, have already opened the way to integrate body and spirit, without fear.

I encourage you to consider the benefits it can bring: reflection, acceptance, reduction of judgments, serenity, personal knowledge, etc. Each person will decide what to do with what he/she has achieved, whether to keep it for him/herself or share it with other human, angelic or divine persons.

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What does meditation consist of? The Pope explains it in the audience

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Bishop Jesús Vidal: "For the priesthood it is necessary to grasp grace".

Omnes-April 4, 2018-Reading time: 10 minutes

The number of major seminarians has increased in Spain by 9 % this academic year 2017-2018, according to data published on the occasion of Seminary Day. There are 1,263 aspirants to the priesthood, and 189 of them are in Madrid. We spoke with the rector of the Madrid Seminary, and since February 17 auxiliary bishop of Madrid.

TEXT - Alfonso Riobó

Jesús Vidal, a native of the Ciudad Lineal neighborhood of Madrid, has a degree in Economics and Business Administration, and is fond of reading and mountain walks. His episcopal ordination took place in February, but he is still rector of the Madrid Seminary. This conversation focuses, above all, on the question of priestly vocations and their promotion and formation.

First of all, congratulations on your episcopal ordination. What does this responsibility mean to you?

-For me it means a call within the call, as I told the seminarians when I told them that the Pope had appointed me auxiliary bishop for Madrid. And also a deepening in the love story that is the vocational story that God is making with me. This is how I would define it, in substance: a call within the call, to continue giving myself and unfolding the work that God is doing with me.

In this "vocational history", was there a specific moment when you became aware of your Christian vocation? And when did you discover the call to the priesthood?

-The awareness of the Christian call came especially in the process of formation for Confirmation, as I began to enter the Christian life. The Confirmation itself was a very beautiful moment, which helped me a lot; I was confirmed by the now Bishop of Granada. Then I continued collaborating in the parish as a catechist, participating in the Caritas groups... As it was a small parish, with few young people, it allowed me to collaborate in various places and from different areas. It was there, in the communion of the daily life of the Church, where the relationship with Jesus Christ became more alive. It was precisely at that moment that the first signs of a vocation began to appear in my heart. It took me a while to recognize it, and it was not until I was 21 years old that I surrendered to this call with which the Lord was insisting on me.

¿Did you have the help of a priest to accompany you?

-For me, precisely because of my own resistance, I was afraid to talk about these signs and the hints of God that I heard. That is why I must speak more of the presence of a priest than of accompaniment; or, at least, of an accompaniment that was very respectful of my freedom, of a distant following. I am sure that the priest saw in me traits of a vocation and was accompanying me from a distance: he invited me to accompany him somewhere, I was becoming close to him. But, apart from that, for me the accompaniment of lay people in the discovery of the priestly vocation was very important. They were lay people who lived a very deep faith, and they encouraged me to live my relationship with Jesus Christ with that depth, and then I discovered that the Lord was calling me to something else.

Shortly before your episcopal ordination, the Pope received you together with the other two new auxiliary bishops of Madrid. Did he give them any indication?

-What he did was to thank us for accepting this mission that he was entrusting to us, and he added the indication that we should help the Archbishop, Don Carlos Osoro: that we should be united to him and make communion with him alive; that is why he appointed us, to help the Cardinal in the evangelization of Madrid.

The Pope focuses on the peripheries, not only material, the call to evangelize. In Madrid, where is this priority need?

-The need of Madrid today is for the Church to be present everywhere. Madrid is such a big and anonymous city that it can happen that a person has no real contact with the Church, or with a priest. He could have it with Christians who are around him, at the university or at work, but who often live their faith in a somewhat hidden way: they go to Sunday Eucharist or have some relationship with the parish, but it is not made visible.

On the other hand, the presence of the bishop is a visible presence of the Church. Don Carlos rightly said in the homily of our ordination that he hopes that the episcopal ministry will spread throughout the diocese as visibility, together with the whole body of the Church: priests, consecrated and lay people. In this way it can become a capillary visibility of the Church in Madrid.

His two years as rector of the Seminary are undoubtedly a useful experience....

-I think it is an experience of all of us: as each one reads his vocation story, he sees how God has been spinning it. I truly believe that yes, it has been a grace to have spent these two years in the Seminary. It has helped me to deepen my understanding of the mystery of the Christian vocation and, in particular, of the priestly vocation, as well as to return to the roots of my vocation as a service. By forming seminarians in this service to the people of God, I have revitalized this call.

¿What is the current status of the Madrid Seminary?

-Thanks be to God, the Seminary of Madrid has lived a great vitality during the last 30 years. There have been no abrupt changes, but a beautiful evolution, with the signs of the times.

It is in a very good moment. There is a good atmosphere; there is confidence and a desire for holiness, to give one's life, to be holy priests for today's world, and at the same time priests who are close and simple, in line with what the recent Popes have asked of us.

It is a place where a good formation is given, where the relationship between the seminarians and the formators is cordial and positive, and where many young men approach, accompanied by the priests, to discern if what they are perceiving is a call to the priesthood.

How is the number of seminarians evolving?

-It is important to remember that the figures for a given year can be misleading. It is normal that in a Seminary there are ups and downs. The years in which many priests are ordained, the numbers of the Seminary go down, and the years in which few priests are ordained, the numbers go up; besides, the courses are very different from each other and not very homogeneous.

In Madrid there are currently 125 seminarians, counting all the stages, which is the same average of the last years. Thanks to God, in the last few years we have had many priests ordained. Last year there were 13, and this year 15.

The social background is very varied, and as far as age is concerned, there are three clear groups, each of which makes up approximately one third of the total: a large group of seminarians who come directly from high school; a second group who have studied at the University and have entered the Seminary in the last years of their career or after some years of professional experience; and, finally, a somewhat smaller but also significant group of people who have more work experience.

In light of these experiences, what aspect of seminarian formation should be given special attention?

-Today, human formation is of great importance, as the latest report on human development points out. Ratio Institutionis of the Holy See. Today it is necessary that the priest be a capable man, a free man, who can grasp grace and collaborate with it, so that God can form him.

Together with this human dimension, "integrality" is important, that is, that all the dimensions of formation-intellectual, spiritual, pastoral-are integrated in the person, in such a way that he or she becomes a balanced person, capable of entering into living relationships, relationships of communion, through which God reaches people.

In the process of implementing the Ratio in Spain, what should be highlighted?

-A first observation is that we are on the right track. When reading the Ratio similarities are found with what we already experience in the Seminars; moreover, I believe that most of the elements are already very well integrated in our Seminars.

One element that should perhaps be highlighted from the Ratio, and in which we must continue to deepen, is the preparation prior to the Seminary. The document encourages us to make a real preparation and not to be in a hurry to ordain priests. The age of maturity itself is greater, as is confirmed by the fact that young people, in general, face marriage and working life a few years later.

One should not be in a hurry, but neither should one delay ordination unnecessarily. What should be done is to lay the foundations well before entering the Seminary, so that the formation given in the Seminary can be well integrated in all the dimensions of the person.

Another feature that I think should be further deepened is the communitarian dimension of formation. Seminaries must be places sufficiently disposed for an intense community life among seminarians, and sufficiently wide so that the community experience is a good one. The priests will then have to be in the parishes men generators of communion. Therefore, I consider that these two traits, integrality and communion, are important.

The priest's responsibilities are very varied, and his formation must cover many aspects. Does the priest have to be able and know everything?

-No. It is not necessary for the priest to be a "Superman". He is a man called by Jesus Christ to be the father of a family, the ecclesial family.

You don't have to know everything. You can't learn everything at the Seminary, and you don't get out of it. The same way one does not leave the seminary knowing everything one needs to know to work, and it is very important to continue with ongoing formation. Then, in the different missions in which the Church entrusts them, priests can discover the necessary skills, taking care of them, fostering them, making them grow.

In addition, the co-responsibility of the laity is very important. There are many places in the parish, in the Church, in the diocesan life in which the laity have a fundamental role, because they are called for that. And the mission of the priest will be to be the presence of Christ and a place of communion so that the body of the Church is generated, in which the laity can develop all their capacities.

Even before the explicit question of vocation, there are the families....

-The work done in the family and in the school is very important. It is necessary that the young men have an experience of Christian life when they enter the Seminary, an experience of following Jesus Christ, so that this can be integrated with all the configuration for the priestly ministry. It is very important that all this can take place in the family and in the school.

What advice would you give to anyone who discovered in a son or grandson a sign of a priestly vocation?

-I would tell you three things. First of all, the first thing for vocations to arise in families is for families to bring their children to Jesus Christ. That they truly place them before Jesus Christ, in the confidence that what he wants for them will be the best. Secondly, that they try to be close to priests: that they invite priests to their homes for meals, that they have a normal relationship with them and that their children perceive the figure of the priest as close and accessible.

And, thirdly, they can approach the places in the diocese that are prepared to accompany these vocations: the minor seminary, the school for altar servers... There are different moments foreseen so that the young people can approach and discover that it is not something strange that they are perceiving, but that other young people also perceive it.

And your advice to a priest who saw signs of a priestly vocation?

-I would tell him that a lot of patience is needed, even though priests already know this. Patience is necessary for the young person to advance, to accompany him in the dialogue with his own vocation. We have to keep in mind that it is a somewhat countercultural vocation and, therefore, the young person who lives in a school or university context has to accept what this change will mean for him.

Perhaps I can recall that events such as World Youth Days are very important, because they tend to catalyze all the experience that the young person has accumulated. At the same time, however, they are not enough, because what has been experienced in that event must take root in the Christian life, enter deeply and fill the whole life. Otherwise, it could be a house built on sand, on a punctual experience, but then collapse in moments of difficulty.

With patience, I recommend trust in the Church, so that the seed of vocation that Jesus Christ has planted from within will take hold and embrace the whole life of the young person. In this way, vocation will not be like a suit that one puts on from the outside but where one does not feel comfortable, but like a seed that is planted inside and that grows from within like the tree in the Gospel parable, so that in the future many can nest in it.

Therefore, lay people and priests share a responsibility.

-The laity are not simply a support for the priest, but have their own place in the life of the Church. When St. John Paul II wrote the Christifideles laici, refers to the parable of the vineyard and the workers. We are all called to work in the same vineyard, in different ways proper to the priest, the consecrated and the lay person. But they all have their own value, which is the value of baptism.

Therefore, the laity have to participate, in the first place, in the reality of this world. It is they, as the salt of the earth, who have to make present the taste of the Gospel in companies, in education, in public schools, in politics, in the economy... Many times I say to the laity who, for example, are working in a company and do not know what they can do there, that they are the light that the Lord has placed and they have to enlighten all those around them. Along with this, they must also collaborate in the evangelizing mission of the visible body of the Church.

To combine and coordinate these two elements is fundamental so that in the life of the laity, through the vocation to work and the vocation to the family, the true secular vocation that they have is developed.

The presence of consecrated life is relevant in Madrid. What is its space today?

-The space of consecrated life is fundamental. After the Second Vatican Council, religious life is on a path of reflection and renewal. Its place is to make Christ's life present to men and women through the profession of the evangelical counsels and with an eschatological gaze, directed to the end of time, showing us what man truly is.

Therefore, rather than speaking of actions, we should speak of essences: what is consecrated life? And I believe that its role is fundamental. We need this form of Christ's life to be visible in the midst of mankind. All consecrated persons, whether they are in the cloister and in the contemplative life or in the midst of the world caring for the poor, make this form of Christ's life present in the different spheres of reality.

The Synod on Youth will soon take place, what do you expect and how are you preparing for the Synod?

-I am preparing myself by praying that it will bear fruit, because I believe it is important that we listen to young people, not just to see what they want, but to listen to their deepest longings. The Pope is insisting on the importance of listening to young people, not with the intention of finding practical solutions, but to listen to the longing for Truth, for Beauty, for fullness that is in the hearts of young people. In this way, we will be able to respond together with them, and they will find the promise of fullness that is in the following of Christ.

The new auxiliary bishops of Madrid will seek to be close to the priests, as they have said. What does this desire mean?

-It is concretized in a fundamental line that the Cardinal Archbishop has marked for us: the pastoral visits. We are designing a project to begin as soon as possible, which will allow us to approach the Christian community through them, especially the priest, our collaborator in this ministry, who are the ones who are there, serving the Christian community on the border. We want to encourage them to rekindle the spirit of dedication, of following and configuration to Jesus Christ.

And it also takes the form of absolute availability of our schedule. We must be clear that, if a priest calls us, responding must be the first thing on our agenda. n

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African countries seek stability

Omnes-April 4, 2018-Reading time: < 1 minute

Some African nations, such as Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa, have made responsible political decisions in recent weeks, observers say, that will provide the stability needed to prevent clashes and address agricultural growth.

TEXT - Rafael Miner

"Our prayers have been answered!". The Kenyan faithful, happy for the unexpected meeting between the president and the leader of the opposition. This was the headline of a few days ago's report from Nairobi by the agency Fides, of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

"The meeting between President Uhuru and NASA leader Raila Odinga is the fruit of the prayer for peace that Catholics and other Christians have been praying for during Lent. I believe that President Uhuru and Raila can be symbolic figures of the beginning of the healing of the nation." said Misericordia Lanya, a Catholic faithful in Nairobi's Umoja parish.

Another person, Eveline Shitabule, of Holy Angels Parish in Lutonyi, Kakamega Diocese, western Kenya, has pointed out: "This is the latest miracle to take place in Kenya; we have prayed for peace in our country and God has answered our prayers."

Working together

In early March, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta held a surprise meeting in Nairobi with his political rival, National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga. The two leaders appeared together before the nation and declared their determination to work together to heal the wounds and reconcile Kenyans.

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