Courtney McGrailPontifical council consider challenges for women
Violence against women, cultural pressures regarding women’s physical appearance, attitudes that subjugate women or that ignore male-female differences and the growing alienation of women from the Church in some parts of the World are themes the Pontifical Council for Culture is set to explore.
The council has chosen to discuss the theme, ‘Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference’, during its plenary assembly this week at the Vatican.
A discussion document, drafted by a group of women appointed by the council, looked at the continuing quest to find balance in promoting women’s equality while valuing the differences between women and men; the concrete and symbolic aspects of women’s potential for motherhood; cultural attitudes toward women’s bodies; and women and religion, including questions about their participation in Church decision-making.
The council said the theme was chosen “to identify possible pastoral paths, which will allow Christian communities to listen and dialogue with the world today in this sphere”, while recognising that in different cultures and for individual women the situation will be different.
While cautioning against generalisations, the document rejects the notion that there are no differences between men and women, and that each person “chooses and builds his/her identity; owns him/herself and answers primarily to him/herself”.
Don’t become ‘lukewarm Christians’ – Pope
Remembering that first encounter and that initial feeling of loving and being loved is as important in one’s faith life as it is marriage, Pope Francis has said.
“If we throw away the enthusiasm that comes from the memory of that first love,” he said, “the greatest danger for Christians draws near: tepidness. Lukewarm Christians.”
Preaching during Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae – where he lives – Pope Francis said remembering “the great joy” of knowing one was saved by Jesus and “the desire to do great things” for God and for others is necessary for keeping one’s faith burning brightly.
Pope Francis warned that when Christians do not keep in mind that original experience of grace and faith, they become “spiritually inert”.
Lukewarm Christians, he said, “have lost the memory of that first love. And they have lost their enthusiasm, but also they have lost their patience, that ability to tolerate things with the spirit of the love of Jesus,” and, especially, “to tolerate those things they must carry on their shoulders, those difficulties”.
Carmelite professor to lead Curia Lenten retreat
Pope Francis has chosen an Italian Carmelite professor of spirituality to lead him and top members of the Roman Curia on their Lenten retreat. Carmelite Fr Bruno Secondin (pictured), though listed as a “professor emeritus” at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, is still teaching in the university’s Institute of Spirituality.
He is the author of dozens of books, including a multivolume series of guides for lectio divina, the prayerful reading of the books of the New Testament and selected readings from the Old Testament.
The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported that Fr Secondin will preach on the theme ‘Servants and Prophets of the Living God’.
Pope Francis and some 80 Vatican officials will listen to Fr Secondin and reflect on his words from February 22-27 at the Pauline Fathers’ retreat and conference centre in Ariccia, about 20 miles southeast of Rome.