3 Minute Roundup

Call to conversion not about making people feel bad, says pope
VATICAN CITY — The Lenten call to conversion is not an attempt to make people feel bad about themselves, but to promote their true good, which is eternal life, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Celebrating Mass March 7 at the Rome parish of St. John of the Cross and reciting the Angelus at the Vatican afterward, the pope focused on the day’s Gospel story in which Jesus tells his followers they must convert or they will perish. At the parish, which was founded in 1989, the pope said Lent is “an invitation to the conversion of our lives and to doing appropriate acts of penitence.”
The crowd Jesus was addressing in the day’s Gospel story thought that people who met a sudden and violent death were sinners, while the fact that members of Jesus’ audience were still alive meant they had nothing to worry about, the pope said. But Jesus warned them that by not recognizing their own sins and not setting out on the path to conversion, they would not be saved, he said.
“During Lent, each one of us is called by God to make a change, thinking and living according to the Gospel, correcting things in our way of praying, acting, working and relating to others,” he said. (CNS)
 
St. Louis seminary exceeds goal in first capital campaign
ST. LOUIS — The first capital campaign in the history of St. Louis’ Kenrick-Glennon Seminary exceeded its goal by 21.7 percent, with $60.8 million in pledges. The goal had been set at $50 million to provide repairs, updates and physical improvements to a building that dates to 1931, while increasing its endowment.
St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, in a letter in the Feb. 26 issue of the St. Louis Review, archdiocesan newspaper, said donations to the “Faith for the Future” campaign are an expression of hope, especially during challenging economic times. The pledges are “a powerful statement of our hope in God’s providence,” he noted.
Archbishop Carlson also told the Review that the response to the campaign “shows the people’s belief that we have to form good priests for the future so we can be a eucharistic people.”
Frank Cognata, chief development officer of the archdiocese, said the seminary has formed more than 2,700 priests in the past, and the funds will help prepare even more in the future. He said it was especially noteworthy that the campaign was conducted in a down economy and that participation met expectations. More than 2,000 volunteers helped make the campaign possible, with many of them making personal visits to potential donors. (CNS)
 
Religious attacks by media must be rejected, say officials
VATICAN CITY — Anti-religious commentary distributed by media outlets can create tensions and incite violence and therefore must be rejected, said Vatican and Muslim representatives.
Attacking religion in the mass media especially via satellite television channels must be opposed considering “the dangerous effect” that these broadcasts can have on social cohesion and on peace between religious communities, said a statement issued after the annual meeting of officials from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and from al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. The Vatican released a copy of the statement to journalists March 2.
The Feb. 23-24 meeting in Cairo focused on the role religions can play in either causing or preventing religious violence. The al-Azhar meeting was chaired by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the pontifical council, and by Sheik Mohammed Abd al-Aziz Wasil, president of al-Azhar’s permanent committee for dialogue with the monotheistic religions.
The meeting’s final statement said greater attention must be paid to the fact that manipulating religion or religious beliefs for political or other interests can lead to violence. (CNS)
 

Love greater than trappings of traditional romance

Written by Karen Osborne
Sunday, 31 January 2010
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It’s almost time for Valentine’s Day — time for chalky candy hearts, singing telegrams and roses, right?

My friends think about Valentine’s Day in two ways. One group loves it, sends out cards to everyone they know, eats candy hearts by the bushel and takes their significant others out to dinner.

Other friends say the occasion was created by candy companies to sell things and that celebrating love just makes people who don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend feel like dirt warmed over.

They do have a point: Many people feel left out on Valentine’s Day, but they really shouldn’t feel that way.

It’s sad that society seems to have only one word for “love,” and that it’s usually wrapped up in the red-ribbon trappings of traditional romance.

Love is so much bigger than that. Love is so much wider.

The ancient Greeks recognized this fact and used three terms to describe the many kinds of love humans can feel: eros, philia and agape.

Eros is that feeling you get when you see a really gorgeous guy or girl in the mall and butterflies invade your stomach. It’s sheer attraction; it feels like a Britney video. Judging by advertisements, this is the kind of love that seems most connected to the modern Valentine’s Day.

Philia is the love that you find between best friends, that fuzzy, warm feeling you get when you’re having a great time with them.

But agape goes further than that. Agape is selfless love, the kind of love God has for everyone.

Agape is transcendent, unconditional, active and thoughtful. Agape is the kind of love that occurs when someone gives something without expectation of return.

We see this type of love in the works of Blessed Mother Teresa. Agape is true love.

Relationships based only on eros are pretty much doomed to fail. Once a campfire burns through all its fuel, it will die unless given more.

If eros is the spark, philia and agape are the fuel.

That’s what our modern Valentine’s Day doesn’t get. You can’t keep a relationship going with tacky teddy bears and roses that appeal only to our sense of eros. People need philia and agape too.

If you grimace at the garish pink and red hearts trimmed with lace and glitter that fill the stores this month, just remember the story of the real St. Valentine.

Valentine was a third-century bishop when marriage was outlawed by Claudius II, the emperor of Rome. Believing that people should be free to love and to marry, Valentine secretly performed marriages for young couples who sought him out. This was an act of agape, of selfless love for his people.

Captured by the authorities, Valentine was told to renounce God and his illicit marriages or be executed. He refused; his belief in love — agape — was too strong, and he was killed.

If you’re listening to St. Valentine (and some of those chalky candy hearts), the measure of Valentine’s Day is not how much you are loved, but how much you love others, and not just in a romantic-comedy, roses-and-dinner sort of way.

So ditch the teddy bears, chocolates and embarrassing classroom singing telegrams. Maybe a better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day could be to do something nice for your boyfriend or girlfriend, or for a sibling, parent or friend.

Try agape. You won’t be disappointed, and you definitely won’t feel left out.

Read 275 times
Published in Coming of Age
Karen Osborne

Karen Osborne

Karen Osborne is a syndicated columnist for Catholic News Service.

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Diocese of Springfield in Illinois