faith – NZ Catholic Newspaper

Ignorance of faith risks creating cafeteria Catholics, Pope warns

Vatican City (CNS) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 23:05:15 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Ignorance of the faith puts Christians at risk of following a “do-it-yourself” religion, Pope Benedict XVI said.
People need to become more familiar with the creed because it is there that the “Christian moral life is planted and . . . . one finds its foundation and justification,” the Pope said on October 17 at his weekly general audience.
Before an estimated 20,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square, the Pope began a new series of audience talks to accompany the Year of Faith, which marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.
He said he hopes the series of instructional talks, which is expected to run until November 24, 2013, will help people “strengthen or rediscover the joy of faith and realize that it isn’t something foreign to or separate from everyday life, but is its soul”.
Pope Benedict said the widespread and dominant nature of today’s secularism, individualism and relativism means that even Christians are not completely “immune from these dangers”.
Some of the negative effects include faith being lived “passively or in private, a refusal to learn about the faith, and the rift between faith and life”, he said.
“Often Christians don’t even know the central core of their own Catholic faith — the Creed — thereby leaving room for a certain syncretism and religious relativism,” he said. Without a clear idea of the faith’s fundamental truths and the uniquely salvific nature of Christianity, “the risk of constructing a so-called ‘do-it-yourself’ religion is not remote today”.
“Where do we find the essential formula of the faith? Where do we find the truths that have been faithfully handed down and make up the light of our daily life,” he asked.
He said the answer is the Creed, or profession of faith, which needs to be better understood, reflected upon and integrated into one’s life.
Christians need to “discover the profound link between the truths we profess in the Creed and our daily life” so that these truths are allowed to transform the “deserts of modern-day life”.
The Christian faith is not a belief in an idea or just an outlook on life, he said, but a relationship with the living person of Christ who transforms lives.
That is why having faith in God isn’t merely an intellectual activity, but something that “truly changes everything in us and for us; it clearly reveals our future destiny, the truth of our vocation within history, the meaning of life and the pleasure of being pilgrims heading toward the heavenly home.”
Pope Benedict said faith doesn’t take anything away from one’s life, rather it is what renders life more just and humane.
Current cultural changes “often show many forms of barbarity, which hide under the guise of victories won by civilisation,” he said. However, “wherever there is domination, possessiveness, exploitation, treating others as a commodity”, and arrogance, humankind is “impoverished, degraded and disfigured”.
Faith shows that humanity won’t find its full realisation unless the human person “is animated by the love that comes from God”, he said. The gift of faith then finds expression in “relationships full of love, compassion, care and selfless service toward others”.
The Pope also marked International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, observed on October 17, to promote greater awareness of poverty and destitution worldwide.
The Pope encouraged those working to end poverty to “preserve the dignity and rights of everyone who is condemned to be subjected to the scourge of poverty”.

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Helping young people discover God in their lives

Michael Otto — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 04:16:28 +0000

by LYNDSAY FREER AUCKLAND — Logos was founded in 2000 by the Society of Mary as a Marist Youth Development organisation, and became a Charitable Trust in 2010. I did not know a great deal about this agency that works with young people in Auckland diocese, and was amazed when I heard that their 10

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Man of family and faith publishes memoirs

Michael Otto — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:00:00 +0000

HASTINGS A man of family and faith, Martin van den Berk, a parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish, Hastings, celebrated his 83rd birthday in November with the publication of his memoirs, Circle of Stones. A frank, funny and sometimes extraordinary account of his life begins in Holland and includes conscription to carry out post-war reconstruction in

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Pope: Co-operation between science, faith benefits humanity

Vatican City (CNS) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Galileo Galilei showed the world that scientists cannot discover the truth solely through empirical study, but that philosophy and faith are also necessary for revealing the true meaning of the universe, Pope Benedict XVI said. echo $variable;

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Church needs healthy debates, conducted with caution, Pope says

Vatican City (CNS) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) The Catholic Church needs healthy debates between theologians to increase the understanding of faith, but the debate must always uphold official Church teaching and must be conducted in a way that does not confuse the faithful, Pope Benedict XVI said. echo $variable;

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Understanding Bible requires faith, intelligence, Pope says

Vatican City (CNS) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Discovering the truth contained in the Bible about God and about each human person requires attentive reading and scholarship as well as a constant willingness to change one’s life, Pope Benedict XVI said. echo $variable;

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Faith, charity go hand in hand, Pope says at weekly audience

Vatican City (CNS) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) Being saved by faith in Christ alone and not by works does not mean that people can do whatever they want as long as they recognise Christ as their saviour, Pope Benedict XVI said. Faith in Christ "necessarily means conforming oneself to Christ" and being like him, especially in loving and helping

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Spain’s Supreme Court rules church can keep baptism records unchanged

Michael Otto — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:00:00 +0000

MADRID, Spain (CNS) In 2006, Manuel Blat Gonzalez renounced his Catholic faith and asked to have his name removed from the baptismal book at his Valencia parish. That same year, Jose Helguera Prado of Madrid also asked to be taken off church records. "I did not want to be listed as part of something I

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Priest talks about dialogue between faith and science

Michael Otto — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:00:00 +0000

CHRISTCHURCH Can philosophers and scientists work together in order to respond to a real search for wisdom? That was the question Fr Dominique Faure, a priest of the Community of St John, tried to answer in the annual Rochester Lecture at the University of Canterbury on September 10. His conclusion, at the end of a

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US Democratic Party courts Catholics, other faith-based voters

Michael Otto — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:00:00 +0000

DENVER (CNS) The Democratic Party has made a concerted effort to court faith-based voters and party officials are happy to see religion come out of the closet at the Democratic National Convention. "We in the Democratic Party don’t believe that you have to change your values to cater to people of faith," said Howard Dean,

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