Pope Francis to the University of Notre Dame
“The Church has the right to teach her highest moral values, and her educational institutions are expected to uphold her teachings and defend her identity.” Pope Francis said this on Thursday morning, 30 January, in the Clementine Hall to the trustees of the University of Notre Dame – a Catholic university located in the United States. The following is the English text of the Holy Father’s address.
Pope Francis with Notre Dame President John Jenkins, CSC
Dear Friends,
I am pleased to greet the Trustees of Notre Dame University on the occasion of your meeting in Rome, which coincides with the inauguration of the University’s Rome Center. I am confident that the new Center will contribute to the University’s mission by exposing students to the unique historical, cultural and spiritual riches of the Eternal City, and by opening their minds and hearts to the impressive continuity between the faith of Saints Peter and Paul, and the confessors and martyrs of every age, and the Catholic faith passed down to them in their families, schools and parishes.
From its founding, Notre Dame University has made an outstanding contribution to the Church in your country through its commitment to the religious education of the young and to serious scholarship inspired by confidence in the harmony of faith and reason in the pursuit of truth and virtue. Conscious of the critical importance of this apostolate for the new evangelization, I express my gratitude for the commitment which Notre Dame University has shown over the years to supporting and strengthening Catholic elementary and secondary school education throughout the United States.
The vision which guided Father Edward Sorin and the first religious of the Congregation of Holy Cross in establishing the University of Notre Dame du Lac remains, in the changed circumstances of the twenty-first century, central to the University’s distinctive identity and its service to the Church and American society. In my Exhortation on the Joy of the Gospel, I stressed the missionary dimension of Christian discipleship, which needs to be evident in the lives of individuals and in the workings of each of the Church’s institutions. This commitment to “missionary discipleship” ought to be reflected in a special way in Catholic universities (cf.Evangelii Gaudium, 132-134), which by their very nature are committed to demonstrating the harmony of faith and reason and the relevance of the Christian message for a full and authentically human life. Essential in this regard is the uncompromising witness of Catholic universities to the Church’s moral teaching, and the defense of her freedom, precisely in and through her institutions, to uphold that teaching as authoritatively proclaimed by the magisterium of her pastors. It is my hope that the University of Notre Dame will continue to offer unambiguous testimony to this aspect of its foundational Catholic identity, especially in the face of efforts, from whatever quarter, to dilute that indispensable witness. And this is important: its identity, as it was intended from the beginning. To defend it, to preserve it and to advance it!
Dear friends, I ask you to pray for me as I strive to carry out the ministry which I have received in service to the Gospel, and I assure you of my prayers for you and for all associated with the educational mission of Notre Dame University. Upon you and your families, and in a particular way, upon the students, faculty and staff of this beloved University, I invoke the Lord’s gifts of wisdom, joy and peace, and cordially impart my Blessing.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2014 (Rome)
The schedule of events that i could collect to be celebrated here in Rome for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This excludes several parishes which dedicate daily liturgy and/or devotions to the theme.
Settimana di preghiera per l’unità dei Cristiani
Has Christ Been Divided? Cristo non può essere diviso! (I Cor 1.1-17)
General information on the Week of Prayer can be found here.
Thursday, 16 January: Day of Jewish-Christian Dialogue and Reflection
18.00 Jewish-Catholic Dialogue Fifty Years after Nostra Aetate: A Latin-American Perspective
Rabbi Abraham Skorka at the Pontifical Gregorian University
Moderated by Cardinal Kurt Koch
Saturday, 18 January
16.30 Incontro di preghiera dei consacrati/e della Diocesi di Roma
Basilica San Lorenzo fuori le Mura
17.30 Vespers at Capella di Santa Brigida, Piazza Farnese 96
Cardinal Kurt Koch, Archbishop Leo (Chiesa di Finlandia), Bishop Makinen (Luterano),
Bishop Sippo (Diocesi Cattolica di Helsinki), and Bishop Brian Farrell
[invite] Vespers at Pontifical Beda College, Viale San Paolo 18
Very Rev. Ken Howcroft preaching
20.00 Ukrainian Catholic (Byzantine Rite) Divine Liturgy – Basilian Fathers, Santa Maria in Via Lata, Via del Corso 306
Sunday, 19 January
11.00 Catholic Eucharist with Archbishop David Moxon Preaching
Caravita Community, Via del Caravita 7
12.00 Angelus with Pope Francis, Piazza San Pietro
16.00 Celebrazione Ecumenica Finlandese
Bishop Teemu Sippo, SCI (Catholic), Bishop Kari Mäkinen (Lutheran), Archbishop Leo (Orthodox)
Santa Maria Sopra Minerva ,Piazza del Minerva 42
18.00 Incontro di preghiera del Gruppo Romano del SAE
Capella delle Suore Francescane di Maria, Via Macchiavelli 32
18.30 Celebrazione Ecumenica Tedesca with German/Hungarian College, S. Maria dell’Anima
At Christus Kirche Via Sicilia 70
20.00 Roman Catholic (Latin Rite) Eucharist– Archbishop Piero Marini, presiding
Santa Maria in Via Lata, Via del Corso 306
Monday, 20 January
18.00 Anglican Choral Evensong with Ven. Jonathan Boardman Preaching
Basilica San Paolo fuori le mura
18.30 Santa Messa at Parocchia di S. Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci
19.30 Conferenza “Il movimento ecumenico, la santità”, Padre Ciro Bova
20.00 Greek Catholic (Byzantine Rite) Divine Liturgy – Pontifical Greek College
Santa Maria in Via Lata, Via del Corso 306
Tuesday, 21 January
11:45 Anglican Center Eucharist, Piazza Collegio Romano 2
18.30 Santa Messa, Parrocchia S. Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci
19.30 Conferenza: L’ecumenismo, il punti di vista dei fratelli ortodossi”, P. Vladimir Zelinsky
20.00 Syro Malankara Catholic (Antiochene Rite) Holy Qurbana – Damascene College
Santa Maria in Via Lata, Via del Corso 306
Wednesday, 22 January
10.30 General Audience with Pope Francis, Sala Audienza Paolo VI
[Invite] Vespers at Pontifical Irish College, Archbishop David Moxon preaching
18:30 Venerable English College, Rev. Keith Pecklers, SJ, preaching
18.30 Santa Messa at Parrocchia di S. Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci
19.30 Confronto e dibattito sul tema della santita nell/’ecumenismo: P. Ciro Bova, P. Vladimir Zelinsky
20.00 Armenian Catholic (Armenian Rite) Divine Liturgy – Armenian College
Santa Maria in Via Lata, Via del Corso 306
Thursday, 23 January
16.30 Mixed Salad Ecumenism in the Caribbean: Is there a Future?
Archbishop Donald Reece, Archbishop Emeritus of Kingston, Jamaica;
Followed by a Celebration of the Word with
Rev. Willie McCulloch presiding, and Very Rev. Ken Howcroft preaching
At Centro Pro Unione, Via S. Maria dell’Anima 30 (Cosponsored by Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas)
18.30 Diocesan vespers at with Ven. Jonathan Boardman preaching,
SS. Martiri dell’Uganda, Via Adolfo Ravà 31
20.00 Maronite Catholic (Antiochene Rite) Divine Liturgy – Maronite Order of the BVM
Santa Maria in Via Lata, Via del Corso 306
Friday, 24 January
20.00 Gruppo Incontro at Chiesa Valdese, Piazza Cavour
20.00 Romanian Catholic (Byzantine Rite) Divine Liturgy – Romanian College
Santa Maria in Via Lata, Via del Corso 306
Saturday, 25 January
17.30 Papal Vespers, Basilica San Paolo fuori le mura (tickets required)
20.00 Ethiopian Catholic (Alexandrian Rite) Divine Liturgy – Pontifical Ethiopian College
Santa Maria in Via Lata, Via del Corso 306
Sunday, 26 January
16.00 Churches Together in Rome Unity Service
Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, Secretary General of Canadian Council of Churches
Basilica San Silvestro in Capite, Piazza di San Silvestro 17A
Monday, 27 January
14:30 Il concilio e ecumenismo: Lectio Conclusiva di ‘Il Concilio Vaticano II: Storia e Sviluppi‘
Bishop Charles Morerod, OP, bishop of Lausanne, Genève et Fribourg
at Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)
2013 in review (WordPress stats)
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
The Ecumenism Blog 