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The News In Review newsletter is a service
provided
by Understand The Times that
is a compilation of the news articles
previously posted
on our site .
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May 31 - Pope Urges Learning from Mary to Follow the Spirit
Article: Roman Cathilc Church and The Last days
VATICAN CITY, MAY 31, 2009
(Zenit.org).-
Benedict XVI is encouraging Catholics to learn
from the Blessed Virgin how to follow the
Holy Spirit with docility and
recognize his voice in daily life.
"The
great Feast of Pentecost invites us to
meditate upon the relationship
between the Holy Spirit and Mary, a very
close, privileged, indissoluble
relationship," the
Pontiff affirmed.
Then, at Calvary, Mary
witnessed Jesus' "last words and his
last breath, in which he begins to
send out the Spirit" and "the
silent crying out of his Blood, poured out
completely for us," the Pope affirmed.
He added that
Mary "knew where
the blood came from: it was
formed in her by the work of the Holy
Spirit, and she knew that this
same creative 'power' would raise Jesus up,
as he promised."
The Pontiff affirmed that
in "Mary's school we too learn to
recognize the Holy Spirit's presence
in our life, to listen to his inspirations
and to follow them with
docility." He expressed the
hope that Catholics
will "walk with
Mary according to the
Spirit."
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June 1 - Reports: N. Korea Prepares Long-Range Missile
Article: Wars and Rumors Of Wars
SEOUL, South Korea - North
Korea is readying an
advanced missile designed to
reach the United States for a launch that
could come within weeks,
reports said Monday, ratcheting up tensions
after its second underground
nuclear test.
The reclusive communist
country also reportedly bolstered its defenses and
conducted amphibious assault exercises along
its western shore, near
disputed waters where deadly naval
clashes with the South have
occurred in the past decade.
Satellite images and other
intelligence indicated the North had
transported its most advanced
long-range missile to the new Dongchang-ni
facility near China and
could be ready to be
fired in the next week or so,
South Korea's Yonhap news agency
reported.
The
missile being prepared for launch was
believed to be an intercontinental
ballistic missile with a range of up to
4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers),
the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing
an unnamed South Korean
official. That distance would put Alaska and U.S.
bases on the Pacific island of Guam - along
with all of Japan - within
striking range.
Experts said North Korea's
nuclear capabilities, while improving, still
do not pose a direct threat to
its neighbors. The larger concern, they
say, is that
the North will try to sell its technology to
others.
Lee of the Sejong Institute
said the international community's options
were few.
"If North Korea is determined to become
a full nuclear state, there's
nothing the international community can do
about it," he said
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June 1 - Blair hopeful over Middle East peace process
Article: Israel And The Last Days
Tony Blair said he
expected the Middle East peace
process to find
"a way forward" in the next few
weeks. In a rare return to
Westminster, the former prime minister
said that the month of June
would be "critical" to efforts
to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
He claimed success in assisting
development in the Palestinian
territories since taking up his role in
summer 2007, but suggested
the recent political situation had been an
obstacle. He expressed
hope, however, that the commitment to peace
from US President Barack Obama, the
Israeli government and the Arab
world could bear fruit.
Mr Blair
predicted that Mr Obama would use a speech
in Egypt on Thursday
to signal the extent
of the new American
administration's "serious
undertaking" in the Middle
East.
Asked about his
achievements, he pointed to improvements in
housing, tourism, mobile telephones, and
access and movements for
the Palestinian people.
He added that
there was now a
"new sense of momentum
towards peace", with the
White House "fully committed" to
the region, a settled Israeli government
and the Arab world
demonstrating "a renewed
desire for
partnership".
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June 1 - Calif. District Creates Primary School Gay Curriculum
Artilce: Perilous Times
Elementary school teachers in
Alameda, Calif., will introduce lesson plans
to their educational curriculum beginning
next year that address gay
and lesbian issues, KCBS News in
San Francisco reports.
Kindergarten through
grade 5 students
throughout the county will be
exposed to same-sex
educational material aimed at promoting
tolerance and inclusiveness.
The curriculum --
which will include lessons to introduce
students to "LGBT" (lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transsexual) issues --
will be designed to
discourage bullying and teasing based on
gay and lesbian
stereotypes. The plan will be implemented
despite
objections by parents who complain
children are too young to be
exposed to the material.
Many parents are
condemning the lesson plan as sex
education in disguise and are
angered that
they will not be
allowed to exempt their children from the
lessons.
Opponents decry the curriculum plan as an
effort to advance the gay,
lesbian and transgendered agenda.
School Board Member Trish
Spencer, who voted against the plan, said
she worries that
its implementation could lead to the
harassment of students who have
religious objections to
homosexuality. She cited that
bullying due to religion is a bigger
problem for the district than
bullying based on homosexuality.
Also adamantly opposed to
the plan is Randy Thomasson, president of
the Campaign for Children
and Families. "This will be done whether
parents like it or not, and it shows the
hostility against parental
rights and traditional family
values," Thomasson, told CNS
New.
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June 9 - The launch of Face to Faith, a new global education programme
Article: One World Religion
In a world that is
opening up at an
astonishing speed, schools are recognising
the need
to equip young
people with the skills to
contribute to an increasingly global,
interdependent society.
Collaboration and communication skills,
information and media
literacy are all to be regularly found on
the syllabus, acknowledged
as vital tools for the 21st
century.
Yet in a world in which 4 billion
people - two thirds of the
population - are of faith,
can we be
sure that young people are equipped to
participate as global
citizens if they do not
understand much about the world's
major religions? How can we ensure that a
lack of knowledge does not
lead to prejudice, antagonism and
tension?
There some significant
opportunities at hand. We are already
seeing how new technologies
are stimulating radically new approaches
to teaching and learning.
Why not apply these technologies in such a
way as
to encourage students of different faiths
to learn directly with,
from and about each other to support
encounter, exploration and
exchange between students from different
countries and cultures?
A new global education programme
from the Tony Blair Faith
Foundation, Face to Faith, is designed to
do just that. The
initiative was launched formally on
Tuesday 9th June by Tony Blair
who took part in a video-conference
between three schools in the UK,
Palestine and India.
Developed by an
international group of educational experts
and piloted in more than
10 countries on three continents, Face to
Faith
uses video conferencing, an online
community and a course syllabus
to support exchange between young people
of different faiths.
Face to Faith also contributes to the
project component of the
'Global Perspectives' IGSCE from Cambridge
Assessment as well as to
a range of national RE, Humanities, Social
Sciences and Citizenship
qualifications and curricula.
The programme has already
been taken up by schools in India,
Singapore, Pakistan, Palestinian
Territories, Thailand, Indonesia, Lebanon,
the US, UK and Canada,
who have recognised
the programme's potential
to improve young people's religious
literacy. Young people
involved in the pilot are already
reporting how
their understanding
of the role of faith in
today's world has increased by learning
from those of differing
social, cultural and religious
perspectives
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June 8 - Saudi representative visits Vatican council for inter-religious dialogue
Article: Ecumenical Movement - Other Religions uniting with Roman Catholics
Vatican City, Jun 8, 2009 / 05:38 pm
(CNA).-
The Saudi Arabian minister for foreign
affairs paid a visit to the
Pontifical Council for Inter-religious
Dialogue last Friday to
discuss the best way
to follow up on a recent
gathering of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu,
Buddhist and Christian leaders.
According to a Vatican press release, His
Royal Highness Prince Saud
Al Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi
Arabian minister for foreign
affairs, along with his delegation,
visited representatives from the
Pontifical Council for Inter-religious
Dialogue on Friday.
During their meeting, they
exchanged ideas regarding the best way to
follow up on the Madrid Conference,
which took place July
16-18, 2008 at the request of King
Abdallah bin Abulaziz Al Saud.
The
meeting gathered together
religious leaders from around the world
urging them to find common
ground and peacefully reconcile with each
other.
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June 9 - N. Korea Warns of 'Merciless' Nuclear Offensive
Article: Wars and Rumors Of Wars
SEOUL, South Korea - North
Korea said Tuesday it
would use nuclear weapons in a
"merciless offensive" if provoked
- its latest bellicose rhetoric apparently
aimed at deterring any international
punishment for its recent atomic test
blast.
"Our
nuclear deterrent will be a strong defensive
means ... as well as a
merciless offensive means to deal a just
retaliatory strike to those who
touch the country's dignity and sovereignty
even a bit," said the
commentary, carried by the official Korean
Central News Agency.
It appeared
to be the first time
that North Korea referred to its
nuclear arsenal as "offensive" in
nature. Pyongyang has long claimed
that its nuclear weapons program is a
deterrent and only for self-defense
against what it calls U.S. attempts to
invade it.
The tough talk came as
South
Korea and the
U.S. lead an effort at the U.N. Security
Council to have the North punished
for its nuclear test with tough
sanctions.
Intensifying its confrontation with the
U.S., North Korea handed down
12-year prison terms to two detained
American journalists on
Monday.
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June 9 - 40 Hours Devotion Taken up in St. Mary Major
Article: Roman Catholic Chruch And The Last Days
Thousands of the faithful are approaching
Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament in the Basilica of St.
Mary Major,
where the age-old tradition of the 40
Hours Devotion has been taken
up in preparation for this
Thursday's feast of Corpus
Christi.
"If we want to be salt of the earth,
as Jesus tells us, we should be
light of the world; then our 'yes' should
be like that of Jesus," he
said in his homily. "Above all in the
Eucharistic mystery we encounter the 'yes'
of the Lord Jesus.
In his death, in his cross, we understand
the infinite love that God
has for us through the cross." With
this love, Cardinal Law added,
we "thus become the salt and light of
the world."
Dozens of groups and
religious communities
have taken an hour of adoration at the
basilica. Today, ambassadors
from various nations accredited to the
Holy See were among the
adorers.
His wife, Marķa Graciela, affirmed that
even though not all
of the ambassadors before
the Holy See are Catholic, prayer brings
them to find a "common
point among all religions."
Monsignor Adriano Pancelli, master of
liturgical ceremonies at St.
Mary Major, told ZENIT that the initiative
aims to remind Catholics of the central
role of the Eucharist.
"It's enough to look at the
lives of the saints," he said.
"The
Eucharist is the living rock of
the Church. It's about adoring the Blessed
Sacrament and feeling
that the Lord is present. The most
sublime, most high, most true and
effective
mystery."
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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a
blessing to you.
Sincerely,
Ron Pierotti
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