VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 092
DATE 19-05-2015
Summary:
- Statistics on the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- The Pope to the Italian bishops: denounce corruption, which impoverishes all -
Other Pontifical Acts
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Statistics on the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Vatican City, 19 May 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father will make an apostolic trip
to Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 6 June. The following are some
statistical data on the Catholic Church in this country, from the Central
Office
of Church Statistics.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a surface area of 51,197 sq. km. and a population
of
3,833,000 inhabitants, of whom 43,900 are Catholics - 11.5% of the population.
There are four ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 304 parishes and one parish
centre. The apostolate consists of six bishops, 624 priests, 14 men religious
and 537 women religious. There are 68 catechists and 120 major seminarians.
The Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina has 16 educational centres
including pre-school, primary, middle, secondary and high schools, and a
university. There are also six clinics, four rest homes for the elderly and
disabled, four orphanages and nurseries, six family counselling centres and
life
protection centres, three centres for social education or re-education, and six
centres of other types.
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The Pope to the Italian bishops: denounce corruption, which impoverishes all
Vatican City, 19 May 2015 (VIS) - "Our vocation is to listen when the Lord
asks
us: 'Console my people'. Indeed, we are asked to console, to help, to
encourage,
without discrimination, all our brothers who are oppressed by the weight of
their crosses, without ever tiring of working to lift them up again with the
strength that comes only from God", said Pope Francis yesterday afternoon to
the
bishops of the Italian Episcopal Conference, as he inaugurated the 68th
assembly, to be held in the Vatican to analyse the reception of the Apostolic
Exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium" (The Joy of the Gospel).
Proclaiming the Gospel today, a difficult moment in history, requires prelates
to "go against the grain: or rather, to be joyful witnesses of the Risen Christ
to transmit joy and hope to others", said the Holy Father, who went on to
illustrate the importance of the "ecclesial sensibility", which means assuming
the same sentiments as Christ, "sentiments of humility, compassion,
concreteness
and wisdom".
A sensibility that also involves "not being timid ... in denouncing and
fighting
against a widespread mentality of the public and private corruption that
shamelessly impoverishes families, pensioners, honest workers and Christian
communities, discarding the young, who are systematically deprived of any hope
for their future, and above all marginalising the weak and the needy. It is an
ecclesial sensibility that, as good pastors, makes us go forth towards the
People of God to defend them from ideological colonisations that take away
their
identity and human dignity".
This sensibility is also made tangible in pastoral decisions and in the
elaboration of documents "where the abstract theoretical-doctrinal aspect must
not prevail, as if our directions were intended not for our People or our
country, but only for a few scholars or specialists - instead we must make the
effort to translate them into concrete and comprehensible proposals",
emphasised
Francis.
The strengthening of the essential role of the laity is another of the
concrete
applications of pastoral sensibility, since "laypeople with an authentic
Christian formation should not need a bishop-guide ... to assume their own
responsibilities at all levels, political to social, economic to legislative.
However, they do need a bishop-pastor".
Finally, the ecclesial sensibility is revealed in a tangible way "in
collegiality and in the communion between bishops and their priests; in the
communion between bishops themselves; between dioceses which are materially and
vocationally rich and those in difficulty; between the periphery and the
centre;
between episcopal conferences and the bishops, and the Successor of Peter". He
remarked, "in some parts of the world we see a widespread weakening of
collegiality, both in pastoral planning and in the shared undertaking of
economic and financial commitments. The habit of checking the reception of
programmes and the implementation of projects is lacking. For example,
conferences or events are organised which promote the usual voices,
anaesthetising the Communities, approving choices, opinions and people, instead
of allowing us to be transported towards the horizons where the Holy Spirit
asks
us to go".
"Why do we let the religious institutes, monasteries and congregations age so
much, almost to the point of no longer giving evangelical witness faithful to
the founding charism? Why do we not try to regroup them before it is too
late?".
This is a global problem that, as the Holy Father stated, indicates a lack of
ecclesial sensibility.
"I will end here, after have presented to you a few examples of weakened
ecclesial sensibility due to the need to continually face enormous global
problems and the crisis that spares not even the Christian and ecclesial
identity itself", he concluded, asking the Lord to grant to all during the
Jubilee Year of Mercy "the joy of rediscovering and making fruitful God's
mercy,
with which we are all called to console every man and every woman of our time".
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Other Pontifical Acts
Vatican City, 19 May 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed:
- Rev. Fr. James Massa and Rev. Fr. Witold Mroziewski as auxiliaries of
Brooklyn (area 466, population 4,838,406, Catholics 1,403,137, priests 604,
permanent deacons 225, religious 1,053), U.S.A.
Bishop-elect Massa was born in Jersey City, U.S.A., in 1960 and was ordained a
priest in 1986. He holds a master's degree in theology from the Yale University
School of Divinity, New Haven, and a doctorate in systematic theology from
Fordham University, New York. He has served in a number of roles in the diocese
of Brooklyn, including parish vicar, chaplain and professor at the Kansas
Newman
College, professor at the Pope John XXIII national seminary and the seminary of
the Immaculate Conception, executive director of the ecumenical and
interreligious committee of the U.S.A. episcopal conference, consultor of the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, professor of the St. Joseph
seminary, moderator of the curia and administrator of the Holy Name Parish.
Bishop-elect Mroziewski was born in Augustow, Poland in 1966 and was ordained
a
priest in 1991. He holds master's degrees in theology and canon law, and a
doctorate in canon law from the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. He has
served in a number of roles, including parish vicar in the diocese of Lomza,
Poland, and in Brooklyn, parish vicar, administrator, parish priest, judge at
the diocesan tribunal, coordinator of the Polish apostolate, adjunct promoter
of
justice for criminal causes, member of the presbyteral council and defender of
the bond. He is currently parish priest of the Holy Cross parish in Maspeth.
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* Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)
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