The Catholic Leader - 7 May

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The Catholic Leader, May 7, 2017
Conversations
No, because of our human nature.
But a greater promotion of humility and a love
for others would surely be a step in the right
direction.
Missing tabernacle
POPE Francis often speaks of our need to be
“close to the Eucharist”, and
in an address to the Eucharis-
tic Congress in Genoa in July
last year, he described the
Blessed Sacrament as “the
infinite love of Christ and
his mercy, preserved in our
churches”.
In November last year, the Holy Father said
in a public address that many Christians had
“somehow lost the sense of worship”, creating a
tendency to see our parish church simply “as a
place where we come together”.
The supreme manifestation of God’s love
is present in every Mass, and present in every
tabernacle in every church throughout the world,
and our revered Pope is tacitly voicing something
that most devout Catholics long for – the return
of the tabernacle, our God, to the position of
honour above the altar which it occupied before
Vatican II.
In nearly all Catholic churches today, the
Blessed Sacrament is banished to a side chapel or
out-of-sight recess.
While this does create a separate holy place,
where we can practise private devotions?
It robs the body of the Church of its most
treasured and important feature, and is a major
reason for the fall-off in devotion which has
tormented the Church for the past half-century.
May we appeal to our Archbishop – please,
bring back the tabernacle in our churches.
If we set the example, others are sure to follow
– and we can be sure that the Holy Father will
approve.
Christ our Light
CURRENT society seems brainwashed and in-
ured against historical truth.
Hence many push and
choose to believe, for exam-
ple, that the 18th century En-
lightenment liberated western
society from “the horrors of
religious oppression”.
Clearly, this is false.
It is closely associated with the bloody French
revolution with its supercilious ideals of “liberty,
fraternity and equality”, which still pollute our
society today.
Have your Say
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Poverty the problem
THE Page 16 of The
Catholic Leader of April 30
rightly condemns the poli-
cies of Philippine President
Rodrigo Duterte, in turning
a blind eye to “drug related”
executions in that country.
Duterte was earlier in
his career connected with the so-called “Davao
Death Squad” when he was mayor of the city of
Davao sanctioning murder of crime suspects.
Despite the actions of the “Davao Death
Squad”, Davao still ranks first among 15 cities in
the Philippines for murder, and second for rape,
according to police crime data from 2010 to
2015, so killing crime suspects has no impact on
reducing crime, perhaps even the reverse.
Even if one can excuse the death penalty, even
without trial, (extrajudicial killing), that is not
even the question here.
As the extrajudicial killings have gathered
pace in recent months, an increasing number of
people without involvement in the drugs trade
have died – including cases of mistaken identity,
unlucky bystanders, and the friends and children
of the apparent target.
As a person who regularly travels to the
Philippines as a foreign aid worker, to a squatter
camp, I am of the firm opinion that drug abuse
and drug dealing in the Philippines is created by
poverty.
Duterte would be far better tackling the cause
of drug abuse, which is poverty, rather than kill-
ing the victims.
If he would clean up places like Tondo in
Manila and re-house the people from this filthy
slum, he would clean out the drug problem also,
create employment in an impoverished area, and
most importantly, remove the national shame to
the Philippines, that squatter camps bring.
Tondo, and other squatter camps like it, are a
disgrace, humiliation and embarrassment upon a
proud nation like the Philippines.
The people in them should be properly housed,
and the camps demolished, and then the Philip-
pines can start to proudly hold its head high, like
Japan and Singapore, among the progressive
economies of Asia.
Duterte’s criticism of the Catholic Church is a
pathetic failure.
If it were not for the Catholic Church, there
would be no nation called the Philippines.
The Catholic Church is the foundational in-
stitution that holds the Philippines together, in a
society that sees government as a totally corrupt
joke.
Seeking humility
FOR some reason the letter
“Scapegoat meaning” (CL
30/4/17) brought to mind a
quote I recently noted – “Ar-
rogance is the habitual over-
estimating of one’s abilities
while underestimating the
abilities of others”.
As I look back over my life from childhood to
school days to friendships to relationships to em-
ployment history to retirement I see that I have
become more aware of the word “arrogance”.
Like “convenience”, arrogance can so easily
manifest itself in anyone’s life-span.
This, I believe, is because it lies at the root of
so many human sentiments such as envy, jeal-
ousy, possessiveness, greed, lust, competitive-
ness, self-pride and superiority.
How many friendships have been lost because
of one person’s feeling of envy and jealousy
towards another?
How many relationships have floundered be-
cause of one person’s unbridled feelings of lust?
How many workers have gone home at the end
of their day worn out not because of their work
demands but because of the over-competitive
environment within which they have to work?
How many school children have sunken into
serious depths of frustration and despair as vic-
tims of bullying and competitiveness?
Arrogance has been defined as “lordly” (Col-
lins Dictionary).
This description is a long way from “Lord-ly”
as we Christians know it.
Our Lord preached everything but lordliness
(in the secular sense).
Can arrogance be eliminated from our society?
From throughout the New Testament (cf.
John, Chapter 1) we know for certain that
“Christ is the true light that came into the
world”.
Hence, after Him, there can be no “Enlighten-
ment”, only false prophets who teach a different
gospel.
Marvels of Gothic architecture alone – Char-
tres as a prime example – give the lie to the
well-marketed nonsense that the great mediaeval
Ages of Faith might metamorphose somehow
into the “Dark Ages”.
Christianity alone had lifted the true horror
of paganism, which we now have largely fallen
back into – read, see, hear the daily news – to
magnificently focus on the Divine – truly, a very
blessed period producing many saints.
How many schools and universities these days
offer the truth that only “original-documents his-
tory” provide? Any?
To refute Mark Latham and others who say
Western civilisation arose from this false “En-
lightenment”, I suggest reference to prize-win-
ning historian Thomas E. Woods’ superb How
the Catholic Church Built Western Civilisation,
and similar authors.
The priceless pearl is Christ and the histori-
cally true and observed Catholic faith, not any
mythical so-named false “Enlightenment”,
which, much like Darwin’s unproveable theory
of evolution, has established itself in the modern
consciousness and thereby blinds society to real
goodness and unequivocal truth.
Name
withheld
Brisbane,
QLD
J. Loring
Taigum, Qld
Richard K.
Tiainen
Holland Park
West,
QLD
Cedric
Wright
Mt Warren,
Qld
No-name letters
THE Catholic Leader reminds writers to Have
Your Say that letters should carry a name,
address and contact telephone number.
We receive many letters from anonymous
writers requesting publication. Without your
name and contact details this is not possible.
We will not usually publish a letter that has
already appeared in another newspaper,
neither will we normally publish anything
which is more than 400 words.
We routinely edit contributions for defa-
mation, grammar, prolixity, coherence and
style.
Prayer List
This month
pope’s intentions
Christians in Africa – That Christians
in Africa, in imitation of the Merciful Jesus,
may give prophetic witness to reconcilia-
tion, justice and peace.
This week
North Korea – International tensions
continue around North Korean threats to
use long-range missiles.
Venezuela – Thirty people have died in
anti-government protests as the country
descends into chaos after years of food
shortages. Pope Francis has prayed for
those who have died in the protests and
for an end to the bloodshed.
Egypt – People around the world prayed
for the safety and protection of Pope Fran-
cis during his visit last weekend to Egypt,
and for the success of the visit. Now they
are giving thanks after he returned safely
to the Vatican.
Syria – At least 11 people have been
killed by barrel bombs dropped by Syr-
ian Government helicopters following a
weekend of violence and protests across
the country last weekend.
Pope prays for Venezuelan protesters
Mourning: People in Caracas, Venezuela, hold crosses on April 29 during a vigil for those killed during protests against President Nicolas Madu-
ro’s government there. Pope Francis has prayed for those who died during the protests. Photo: CNS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters