Year of St. Paul Power of Holy Spirit Can Transform World, Pope Tells
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Sister Parish Day Sulpicians Mission of Friendship to name superior hold fourth annual event in Corry, page 3. general Tab Father Ron Witherup, Franklin native, page 4. www.ErieRCD.org BI-WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN OF THE DIOCESE OF ERIE July 27, 2008 Church Calendar PowerP of Holy Spirit can transform Events of the local, American and universal church Feast days world,w pope tells young people By Cindy Wooden St. Ignatius Transfiguration Catholic News Service of Loyola of the Lord SYDNEY, Australia — July 29 St. Martha With prayer and openness, July 30 St. Peter Chrysologus young people can receive the power of the Holy Spirit and July 31 St. Ignatius of Loyola transform the world, Pope Aug. 1 St. Alphonsus Liguori Benedict XVI told partici- Aug. 2 St. Eusebius of Vercelli, pants at World Youth Day. St. Peter Julian Eymard “Do not be afraid to say Aug. 4 St. John Mary Vianney ‘yes’ to Jesus, to find your joy Aug. 5 Dedication of the Basilica of in doing his will, giving your- self completely to the pursuit St. Mary Major in Rome of holiness,” the pope told At the vigil, which began people of every race, nation Aug. 6 Transfiguration of the Lord them July 20 as he celebrated with the pope lighting a torch and tongue.” Aug. 7 St. Sixtus II and his companions, the Mass closing the six-day carried by a young indigenous Pope Benedict told the St. Cajetan youth gathering. woman and ended with eu- young people at the Mass that charistic adoration, the pope the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Aug. 8 St. Dominic Some 350,000 people at- power to strengthen and to in Christ, and it is the Spirit tended the morning Mass at unify people in love is as real that sustains the unity of the told the young people to open God’s love, “can only unleash Aug. 9 St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Royal Randwick Racecourse as the Spirit’s bond of unity church and its fidelity to tra- themselves to the energy of its power when it is allowed to (Edith Stein) and, police said, more than and love with the God’s love. change us from within.” half of them had braved Father and the Son. “A living community of love, “In accept- The world needs the trans- the cold and spent the night And when Chris- ing the power forming power of the Holy Assumption of the Blessed camping out at the track. tians are filled with embracing people of every of the Holy Spirit, the pope said. Virgin Mary (Holy Day of World Youth Day officials put the Holy Spirit they Spirit you, too, “In so many of our societ- Mass attendance at 400,000. can bring “the hope race, nation and tongue.” can transform ies, side by side with material Obligation) – Aug. 15 The campout followed the of peace, healing Pope Benedict XVI your families, prosperity, a spiritual desert is traditional World Youth Day and harmony” to communities spreading: an interior empti- “Finally the immacu- and nations,” ness, an unnamed fear, a quiet late virgin, preserved nighttime vigil. situations of con- Fulfilling another World flict, suffering and tension, he dition. he said. sense of despair,” the pope free from all stain of At the Mass, the pope said. original sin, when the Youth Day tradition, Pope said. Pope Benedict told the Benedict announced at the “Unity and reconciliation young people at the vigil that prayed that the World Youth But the Gospel message course of her earthly Day experience would be of salvation reveals how each life was finished, was end of the July 20 Mass that cannot be achieved through he knows many of them have the next World Youth Day our efforts alone. God has been or will be tempted to a new Pentecost for all the person was created in God’s taken up body and soul participants, marking a new image and made for love, into heavenly glory, and would be held in Madrid, made us for one another, and drift away from their faith, Spain, in 2011. only in God and his church but being true to oneself outpouring of the gifts of the he said, a love which “is not exalted by the Lord as Holy Spirit. greedy or self-seeking, but queen over all things, so At the July 19 vigil, the can we find the unity we seek,” means being true to the God pope said that understand- the pope said. who created each person. The celebration of World pure, faithful and genuinely that she might be more Youth Day, he said, has en- free, open to others, respect- fully conformed to her ing the Holy Spirit, “the ne- The Holy Spirit is the Spirit “God is with us in the re- glected person of the Blessed of creation, giving life to all ality of life, not the fantasy,” abled everyone to experience ful of their dignity, seeking son, the Lord of Lords the church as “a living com- their good, radiating joy and and conqueror of sin and death.” — Catechism of Trinity,” is not easy. that God made, he said. The he said. “It is embrace, not But, he said, the Spirit’s Spirit is the source of new life escape that we seek.” munity of love, embracing beauty.” the Catholic Church, No. 966 Year of St. Paul Pope says apostle should serve as model By John Thavis Catholic News Service ROME — Joined by other Christian leaders, Exhibition showcases Pope Benedict XVI opened the year of St. Paul and 2,000 years of said the apostle’s coura- geous witness to the faith Vatican art, history should serve as a model for contemporary Chris- By Mary Sirianni tians. FaithLife “Paul is not a figure of the past that we remember CLEVELAND — More than 200 items with veneration. He is also from the Vatican Museums connect the begin- our teacher, an apostle and nings of the Catholic Church from Christ and a herald of Jesus Christ for the apostles to their modern-day successor, us, too,” the pope said at Pope Benedict XVI. an evening prayer service CNS photo “Vatican Splendors: From St. Peter’s Ba- June 28 in the Rome Ba- Pope Benedict XVI walks near a statue silica, the Vatican Museums and the Swiss silica of St. Paul Outside of St. Paul as he arrives for an evening Guard” opened in May and will remain open the Walls. prayer service at the Basilica of St. Paul through Sept. 7 at the Western Reserve His- The liturgy had a strong Outside the Walls June 28. Joined by torical Society in Cleveland. ecumenical tone. Accom- other Christian leaders, the pope opened The large number of Catholics in Cleve- panied by Orthodox Ecu- the year of St. Paul, calling the apostle a land, as well as in surrounding areas such menical Patriarch Bartho- model for contemporary Christians. as Buffalo, N.Y.; Columbus, Ohio; Toronto, lomew of Constantinople Canada; Erie and Pittsburgh made Cleveland and representatives of Orthodox and Anglican churches, the pope lit an obvious choice for the exhibition. the first candle from a large lamp that will burn in the basilica’s portico “The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland’s sup- throughout the coming year. port was instrumental in bringing the exhibit Then the pontiff led a procession through the “Pauline door” into here,” said Emily Vincent of Landau Public the church, which was built near the site of St. Paul’s martyrdom and Relations. holds his tomb. It was the inaugural event of a jubilee year that will run The success of last year’s Princess Diana until June 29, 2009, in commemoration of the 2,000th anniversary of exhibit, as well as the 10,000 square feet of the apostle’s birth. museum space, helped secure Cleveland as an Seated near Patriarch Bartholomew, the pope said in a homily that exhibition site, she said. the Pauline year should send a strong signal of Christian unity. He The museum opens daily at 10 a.m. and warmly greeted the other Christian representatives, including many closes at 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday Photo courtesy of Evergreen Exhibitions who had come from areas where St. Paul evangelized — in the Holy and 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. One of the exhibition’s most dramatic rooms, the recreated environment of the Sistine Land, Syria, Greece, Cyprus and Asia Minor. “Attendance at the exhibit continues to Chapel exhibit, takes visitors onto the scaffolding near the chapel’s reknowned ceiling St. Paul understood the essential value of Christian unity because build, with at least 500 to as many as 1,000 to explore how Michelangelo painted his famous frescoes. he understood the church as the “body of Christ,” the pope said. In St. visitors each day,” said Angie Lowrie, direc- Paul’s time and in every age, repairing divisions is an urgent task, he tor of sales and marketing for the Western Lowrie said most people do not regard time, including “The Crown of Thorns” said. Reserve Historical Society. “Vatican Splendors” as a profound religious by Guercino, a 17th century portrait of “Who was this Paul?” the pope asked in his sermon. He cited the While tickets are still available daily at experience but still come out of the galler- Christ painted on silk. saint’s own self-description as a Jew who was educated in Jerusalem the box office, Lowrie encourages visitors to ies “subdued, reverent and reflective.” Relics of St. Peter are featured in a according to strict ancestral law, and who later became, through an en- purchase tickets in advance to make their trip “We’ve received nothing but positive reliquary shaped like the canopy that counter with Christ, the “teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth.” easier.