18 June 2008 - A good day!

"18th June, 2008 -
A good day!"

I received a kind message from Jean-Paul,
a Catholic in France,
regarding our canonical status.

He alerted me to this post:
and the response made to it by
Professor Luc Perrin of the Strasbourg University.

I made the following reply to Jean-Paul:

Dear Jean-Paul

Thank you for your kind email and your hope that our community will flower in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Thank you too for your concern and fraternal charity. Please thank Professor PERRIN on our behalf for his insights and expertise on these matters.

On Friday, 18 June, we will celebrate the second anniversary of our coming into undisputed Communion with the Holy See through his Eminence Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos. Professor PERRIN says that it is a long time to have waited without a canonical structure; a record. ("Bref deux ans sans statut, c'est à ma connaissance unique dans l'histoire des sociétés traditionnelles.")

Still, to all our friends we say that since we continue to rejoice in our decision of two years ago and have not the slightest regret for making such a good choice, and since 'patience hath a perfect work', I invite you to be glad with us this Friday, 'being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in' us 'will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus'.(Phil. 1:6)
To Whom alone be Glory, Praise and Thanksgiving for ever.

Devotedly
Fr. Michael Mary

P.S. I will post this also on our blog.

Help Bishop Coutts fight a Pakistani - Islamic law that permitted a 5 year old child to be burned to death for blasphemy.

Bishop Coutts has received death threats.
"We will not let ourselves be terrified by intimidation."

(Translation of the image)
Say No to the anti-blasphemy law of Pakistan
[Sign the petition] -Button
With Bishop Coutts and the AED (Aid to the Church in Distress)
let us denounce persecutions!

The French section of Aid to the Church in Need is urging people worldwide to sign a petition denouncing a "blasphemy law" that allows for grave injustices in Pakistan.

The aid agency explained on its Web site that 1,000 Pakistanis have been condemned because of their faith due to this law, such as a 5-year-old child who was burned alive for being a Christian, and is calling for support and worldwide prayer for the victims of this law as well as their families.

The petition, which was launched June 7, gathered more than 4,600 signatures in the first week. Supporters can add their signatures to the appeal against the blasphemy law and send messages of support, prayers and donations to the Catholic Church in Pakistan through the Web site.

The petition states: "We appeal to the government of Pakistan to repeal immediately the law on blasphemy, in particular paragraph 295 C of the criminal code, which establishes the death penalty for the offenders; we appeal to the government to guarantee the rights of all religious minorities of the country."

Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad, Pakistan, said that this law "has been used for some time to oppress and persecute the religious minorities in Pakistan, including Christians," who represent 1.6% of the population.

The prelate, president of the Pakistani bishops' conference Justice and Peace Commission, is calling for the withdrawal of the anti-blasphemy law.

According to the bishop, the problem of the law against blasphemy worsened dramatically in 2001, when anti-Western feeling increased in Pakistan, reaching its peak with recent American interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.



The law on blasphemy, which is included in Pakistan's criminal code, allows for imprisonment and even capital punishment for those who are seen as insulting or profaning the name of the prophet Muhammad or the Qur'an.

In 1927, paragraph 295 was added to the criminal code to address "deliberate and malicious acts with the intention to offend the religious sentiments of any group by insulting their religion or their religious belief."

General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

However, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani president from 1977 to 1988, introduced several amendments to the code, including life imprisonment for anyone who profanes the Qur'an and the death penalty for anyone who insults the prophet.

Since then, many Christians have suffered humiliations and persecutions as a result of false accusations of violating this law.
Marc Fromager, director of the French section of Aid to the Church in Need, said that this law is not precise in its formulation as it does not differentiate between a deliberate and a non-deliberate action.

Moreover, he said, according to this law, a person can be accused without proofs and the claimant has a status of impunity.

He noted that there have been an increasing number of sham trials and greater harshness in the punishments.

Arrests, murders and massacres have increased since the promulgation of these laws, Fromager said, and hundreds of places of worship have been destroyed.

The bishops' conference Justice and Peace Commission estimated that there have been 993 innocent victims of this law between 1986 and 2010, 120 of whom were Christians.

Loreto

Leaving Rome for two days, we have extended our pilgrimage to Loreto.


After a 5 hour train ride we reached Loreto at around 2 p.m. and climbed the hill with Mass kit and luggage, all this with the temperature at 35 degrees centigrade and dressed in our “Orkney weather proof” woollen habits.


Quite an exhausting climb overall in order to reach this “city on the top of a hill”.

The square in front of the Basilica of Loreto that holds the flying Holy House of Loreto, transported by angels first from Nazareth to Croatia and then to the top of the hill of Loreto.

The holy House of Loreto is encased in a beautifully carved marble structure that acts as a sort of giant reliquary for the Holy House.

The interior of the Holy House of Loreto. The stones on the walls are smooth from the touch of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims over the centuries. The darkness of the chapel and the prohibition of flash photography make it hard to get a clear picture.

In this picture it can be seen that the Holy House has remained standing for centuries without any foundations. The dimensions of the Holy House correspond exactly to that of the foundations of the House that remain in Nazareth.

In the evening there is a candlelit procession for the sick around the square with the statue of Our Lady of Loreto borne in procession. The procession may have lacked the numbers of the processions in Lourdes and Fatima, but certainly not the enthusiasm and devotion.

The next morning we were woken up around 5 a.m. to the sound of the Litany of the Saints over blaring loud speakers and the enthusiastic singing of 40,000 marching pilgrims! They had walked all night from Macerata to Loreto ,a distance of around 30 miles. The Macerata – Loreto pilgrimage is an annual event that takes place every year on the 2^nd Sunday of June and attracts a crowd of 40,000 to 60,000 pilgrims.

The square in front of the basilica and the basilica itself were packed with pilgrims for the next 2 hours.

It is quite fitting that Our Lady of the flying House of Loreto is the patron of aviators. Here She is borne on the shoulders of pilots with great solemnity through the streets of Loreto at the end of the procession.

Father Anthony said Mass in the chapel of the Sacred Heart which is right next to the Holy House.

We were privileged to join the long list of pilgrims and saints (including St. Alphonsus, St. Clement and St. John Neuman) who carved these deep ridges in the marble floor around the holy house with their knees.

- A pilgrim

More from Rome

Some more photos from our pilgrimage for the closing of the year of the priest.

A view of St Peter's prayer vigil before adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and benediction.


The exterior of the church of St. Cecilia run by Benedictine nuns.


Thanksgiving after Mass. We were very blessed to be able to say Mass in the beautiful crypt before the tomb of St. Cecilia on the feast day of the Sacred Heart. Directly behind the altar are the incorrupt relics of St Cecilia. Also found there are the relics of her chaste husband, St. Valerian as well as several other saints including St. Valerian's brother.


Some of the confreres in prayer before the tomb of St. Cecilia. The altar at which we said Mass is directly below, with the relics situated under the statue.


Today’s gruelling afternoon walk in the relentless Roman sun started off with a visit to the Basilica of St. Bartholomew situated on the Isola Tiberina, an island in the Tiber. The church is run by Franciscans and the body of St. Bartholomew, Apostle and martyr lies in the main Altar.


We visited several other churches, one of which was the Church of S. Maria dei Monti.


The side altar to the left had the body of St. Benedict Joseph Labre.


The Basilica of St.s Cosmas and Damian.


The eternal city!

- A pilgrim