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The Weekly News In
Review newsletter is a service
provided by Understand The Times that is a
compilation of the news articles
posted on our site during the previous
week.
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May 23 - Christianity is the most profound revolution in history, Pope declares
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
In his
homily, the Pontiff declared that
the
unity brought about in the
Eucharist shows that the Christian
revolution is the most profound
revolution in human
history.
Benedict XVI dedicated his
homily at St. John Lateran to
explaining how the significance of Corpus
Christi can be seen in the three
events of the evening. Firstly "our
coming together around the altar of the
Lord to be together in His
presence," secondly "the
procession, walking with the Lord," and finally
"kneeling before the Lord in
adoration."
In
these words," said the Pope, "we
feel the truth and the power of the
Christian revolution,
the most
profound revolution in human
history, which we may experience in the
Eucharist where people of different
ages, sexes, social conditions and
political ideas come together in the
presence of the Lord."
"The Eucharist can
never be a private matter," explained Pope Benedict.
"The Eucharist is public worship, which
has nothing esoteric or exclusive
about it. ... We remain united, over and
above our differences, ... we open
to one another in order to become a single
thing in Him."
"Walking with the Lord" was
the second aspect
of the celebrations that the Pope
discussed. The
chance to accompany Jesus in the
Eucharist allows us to reflect on how He in
fact, "raises us up again .. and puts us on
the journey with the power of
this Bread of life. ... The procession of
Corpus Christi teaches us that the
Eucharist wants to free us from all
distress and discomfort ... so that
we can resume the journey with
the strength God gives us in Jesus
Christ," the Holy Father said.
Moreover,
"Without the
God-with-us, the God Who is near, how
can we sustain the pilgrimage of life,
either individually or as a society or a
family of peoples?" asked
the Pope. "The
Eucharist is the Sacrament of the God
who does not leave us to journey alone,
but puts Himself at our side and
shows us the way.
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May 25 - Open up if you want more cyclone aid, Myanmar told
Article: Misc.
YANGON
(Reuters) - Western nations led by
the United States urged Myanmar on
Sunday to fulfill its promise to admit
all relief workers, saying outside
audits of the damage left by Cyclone
Nargis were needed before they promised
more aid.
In a gesture
of conditional goodwill to an
army-run country it deems an
"outpost of tyranny," Washington said it
was
ready to offer more than the $20.5 million
of aid sent after the May 2
cyclone that left 134,000 people dead or
missing and another 2.4 million
destitute. "However, in order to do
so,
the government
must allow international disaster
assistance experts to conduct thorough
assessments of the situation,"
U.S. envoy to southeast Asia Scot Marciel
told a cyclone aid conference in
the former capital.
Three weeks after Nargis pounded the
Irrawaddy delta, the United Nations
says
three in four of those most in need have
yet to receive any help -- and that
hunger and disease could send the death
toll soaring if the situation does
not change.
The
disaster,
one of the
worst cyclones ever to hit Asia,
has forced the former Burma's reclusive
generals to talk to the outside
world but they have managed only in part
to overcome their innate distrust
of anything foreign.
However,
aid workers said the overall picture
was still murky.
"So far it's been bits and pieces. We
don't even know what aid the government
has delivered, so we can't draw any
conclusions," one European
aid official in Yangon said.
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May 23 - The destiny of China and its Church are in Mary's hands, says Cardinal Zen
Article: Roman Catholic Chruch And The Last Days
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - The World Day
of Prayer for the Church in
China which we celebrate tomorrow is a great
day. We entrust the destiny
of China and its Church in the
hands of Our Lady on this day for
She likes us and is very
powerful. Since the situation in China
is not as optimistic as some
might believe,
Our Lady is our
only hope to tear down walls and touch
hearts.
Here in Hong
Kong we prepared ourselves for the Pope's
Day of Prayer with a novena in every parish church
dedicated to Mary.
There are about 15 across the territory and
each evening the faithful of
each parish and those from neighbouring
parishes met to pray.
Tomorrow we shall end the novena
by gathering in the church
dedicated to Mary, Help of Christians. Since
it is also the eve of the Corpus
Domini we shall also perform the
Eucharistic procession. These
are days of great participation.
It seems to me that these two
approaches come from
different levels. Positive signs come from the top
leadership; negative ones
come from lower down the hierarchy. The latter
fear that normalising relations
between China and the Vatican might cut
into their existing advantages
and so they do all they can to stand in
the way. The Lord and Our Lady
shall however
win.
What we are hoping for is
a spiritual victory that ultimately
benefits everyone. When Our Lady
wins, everyone
wins.
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May 26 - Ahmadinejad sure Syria will press struggle against Israel
Article: Wars And Rumors Of Wars
TEHRAN (AFP) - President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad
said on Monday that he remains confident Iran's
close ally Syria will keep up
the struggle against Israel despite its
announcement of renewed
peace negotiations.
"I am sure that the
Syrian leadership will manage
the situation with wisdom and will not
abandon the front line until the
complete removal of the Zionist
threats," Ahmadinejad told visiting Syrian Defence
Minister Hassan
Turkmani.
Ahmadinejad stressed
that Iran would continue its
longstanding policy of
supporting "the oppressed Palestinian
people."
Supporting the Palestinian
people means supporting regional security, as
the Palestinians are in the
front line of the Zionists' aggression,"
he said.
It "re-
emphasises
that Iran-Syria ties have not
faded or weakened despite the indirect
Israeli-Syrian
talks," said Mosayeb Naiemi, chief editor
of
Iran's Arabic-language
government newspaper, Al-Vefagh.
Naiemi recalled the military
cooperation agreement the
two governments had signed in 2006 and
insisted that the alliance was
"not going to be affected
by some seasonal winds."
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May 24 - Rick Warren and 1,700 Leaders Launch the Peace Coalition at Purpose Driven Summit
Article: Misc.
LAKE
FOREST, Calif., May 24 /Christian
Newswire/ --
Over 1,700 leading pastors,
business and Christian institutional leaders
from 39 countries and all 50
states gathered in Lake Forest, California,
May 20-22, to create The
PEACE Coalition, a new
international alliance of
churches, businesses, ministries,
universities, and other
institutions.
The launch of the PEACE
Coalition occurred at a three day Purpose
Driven Network Summit
hosted by Saddleback Church where Dr. Rick Warren
is the founding pastor. The coalition will
cooperate in a global mission
strategy called the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, which
is a massive, long range effort
to mobilize one billion Christians in
local churches around the
world to copy Jesus' model of ministry.
At a post-summit press
conference, Warren pointed out that the size
and complexity of the
P.E.A.C.E. Coalition's objective would likely take
decades to accomplish.
"We usually set goals too low and try to reach
them too quickly," he
said. "Instead we should set God honoring
goals in
faith, and then invest the rest
of our lives working toward them.
This
plan could take 50 years so it might not be
completed in my lifetime.
That's why I call the next generation the
Reformation
Generation."
During the summit,
Warren outlined how the
P.E.A.C.E. Plan is both a
framework and a network for global mission.
"The P.E.A.C.E. Plan just
follows the
instructions Jesus gave to his
70 'amateurs' in Matthew 10 and Luke 10
when he sent teams into
villages," Warren said. "It is
Jesus'
framework for ministry, not
ours."
"First and
foremost, the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is
about reclaiming the primacy
of the local church's role in global
missions; to me, that is worthy
of a reformation," Warren
said, "Those
other wonderful ministries do
incredible work, but their capacity is
miniscule compared to the
potential of a worldwide network of local
churches. Besides, in the New
Testament model, Paul, Barnabus and others
were sent out by a local
church."
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May 23 - Preaching 'Sound Doctrine' in an Age that Avoids It
Article: Misc.
Doctrine isn't a popular word among
Christians
today. Some
church leaders avoid the topic when preaching from
the
pulpit because it
tends to divide.
But the 37-year-
old pastor has his theological convictions and
wants both non-Christians and
Christians alike
to know the core
truth claims of Christianity.
Driscoll, who
recently opened a sixth Mars Hill Church campus,
says he is not a fundamentalist,
noting that
he's okay with a
believer smoking or getting a tattoo. His six
churches are also
largely adapted to the culture in Seattle in terms
of worship style,
casual dress and service times. But when a person,
especially an
influential Christian leader, questions or undermines
the essential
doctrines of Christianity, Driscoll "freaks
out."
"I get a nervous eye
twitch," he said this
week while
attending the Purpose Driven Network Summit at
Saddleback
Church in
Lake Forest, Calif. He's also
not pleased when
preachers leave out doctrine and Jesus from
sermons.
"So
much preaching today is about seven steps to this,
four steps
to that, 13 steps to
this. I'm totally fine if you want to have a
great marriage [or]
improve your business," Driscoll said.
"But at the end of the day, are
people
learning about
who Jesus is and what he's done?"
At Mars Hill
Church, attendants are
required to take
"Gospel Class," which teaches Christian
truths, in
order to become
members of the church. Driscoll admitted that half
the people that
have taken the class have gone on to become
members
while the other half
left over disagreements with various doctrines.
The current
sermon series on doctrine will replace "Gospel
Class" to
facilitate church
membership for thousands of
people.
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May 25 - Arab paper: Iran to give Hamas more arms, funds
Article: Israel And The Last Days
Iran has promised
Hamas new
rockets and more
funds, an expression of the Islamic Republic's
displeasure with
recent news of renewed Israeli-Syrian peace
talks,
the London-based
newspaper, Asharq Alawsat reported on
Sunday.
Mashaal reportedly
told his Iranian hosts that despite commitments
he was given by
Damascus that peace with
Israel would not
come at the expense of Syria's ties with Iran,
Hizbullah and
Hamas, he was still aware of the fact that
Syria would have
to make some concessions.
He
emphasized that he understood
that Syria
could not sign a
peace agreement with Israel, exchange
ambassadors,
end the state of
war and make the Golan Heights demilitarized and at
the same time
continue to allow Iran to use its territory to
transfer weapons
to Hizbullah, train Hamas and Islamic Jihad
terrorists and help
in the financing of those groups.
An Iranian
source told the paper that in light of Mashaal's
fears, Iranian
regime officials promised the head of Hamas's
political bureau
that Iran would continue
supporting Hamas
financially, materially and morally, even if Syria
would turn its back
on the organization for the sake of an agreement
with Israel.
According to
the source, the Iranians had even elaborated what
that support would
be: Newer, upgraded rockets
and an increase in
the budget allotted to Hamas to $150 million in
the second half of
2008.
Labeling Syria
a strategic ally of Iran, Defense Minister Mustafa
Mohammed Nejad
called on "Islamic states
to
strengthen their
relations in order to defend themselves against the
dangers which
threaten the region."
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May 26 - Jim Wallis: Faith Succeeding Where Politics Has Failed
Article: Social Gospel
LONDON - In an era of broken politics
and bad
religion, faith is making a
serious
comeback as a
force for social change, says Christian author
and speaker Jim
Wallis.
Speaking at the
U.K. launch of his new book, "Seven Ways to Change
the World," in
central London Sunday night, Wallis said
Christianity is reviving and that it is
time
for Christians to
answer the two great spiritual hungers of the
world today - the
hunger for spirituality and the hunger for
social
justice.The connection between the
two is the
one the world is
waiting for," he said.
Wallis painted a positive picture,
however, of
Christianity coming back from
the
margins as the
answer to some of the world's biggest challenges,
including poverty,
human trafficking, environmental degradation and
amoral
culture.
"Politics is broken. Politics is
failing to address
the great moral issues of the time. When that
happens, social
movements rise up to change politics and
the best social
movements always have spiritual foundations,"
he said.
In an age where
Christians no
longer hold power in society, Christians "are going to
have to
demonstrate faith," he continued.
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May 26 - Rick Warren Launches Coalition to Combat Five 'Global Giants'
Article: Social Gospel
LAKE FOREST, Calif. - Megachurch
pastor Rick
Warren recently
launched a global coalition of
pastors, business
leaders and other institutions that aims to tackle
what he deems as
the most pervasive problems in the world
today.
The P.E.A.C.E.
Coalition will be an
international
alliance of churches, businesses, ministries,
universities, and
other institutions who will work together
to address five
"Global Giants" that affect billions of
people
worldwide:
spiritual emptiness, lack of servant leadership,
extreme
poverty, pandemic
diseases, and illiteracy.
"I am confident about the
P.E.A.C.E. Plan
because it's not
my plan. It's not a Westerner plan. It's not a
megachurch plan.
It's Jesus' plan," he told 1,700 pastors
and
Christian leaders
during the May 20-22 conference.
Although the
initiative is known as a "plan," Warren
refers to it
as a "network of networks"
that links
public, private and
church sectors.
In the network,
the local church takes center stage in directing
participating
groups to produce a collaborative response to the
problems. It goes beyond the parachurch
ministry model
where people "pay, pray, and stay out of the
way,"
according to
Warren.
At the
conference last week, Warren said he
hopes around 500
churches will participate in the launch and
eventually train
others who enlist later on. Ultimately, said
Warren, the goal is to mobilize 1 billion
Christians
worldwide to participate.
Read More ....
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May 30 - Blair Launches Faith Foundation to Overcome Global Problems
Article: One World Religion
Former
British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched
a faith
foundation Friday to confront the growing
challenges of religious conflict
and to mobilize churches to tackle
global poverty.
Blair,
who converted to Roman Catholicism in
December, launched
the Tony Blair Faith Foundation at the Time
Warner headquarters in New
York. He said the
Foundation has three goals:
to promote faith as a force of good,
improve knowledge between
religions, and to tackle poverty and
war, according to
BBC. "In an era of
globalization, there is nothing
more important than getting people of
different faiths and cultures to
understand each other better and live
in peace and mutual respect;
and to give faith itself its proper place
in the future," Blair
said in a statement before Friday's launch.
As there
is more "inter-dependence" in the world
people need to co-
exist and work together to solve
problems,
he said.
In its first three years, the
Foundation plans
to give priority to interfaith
initiatives to tackle global poverty and
to improve understanding
between religious groups through
education,
according to Reuters.
"By stressing the values of
respect, justice
and compassion which the
great religions hold in common, he believes
faith can help unite
the world and shape its direction for the
better."
The foundation aims to build up a "war chest"
of hundreds of millions of
dollars to fund projects to tackle global
poverty, such as an anti-
malaria campaign, according to Time
magazine. It also seeks to support the U.N.
Millennium Development
Goals which seeks to tackle the world's biggest
problems, such as poverty and
lack of education.
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
In Jesus,
Roger Oakland
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