Holy
See Stops Use of 'Yahweh' in all Catholic Worship
Pope Laments Growing World Tensions
Benedict XVI Finds Guide in Elder Brother, Monsignor Ratzinger
Made Citizen of Castel Gandolfo
Biden on Obama ticket: a Catholic with mixed record on church
issues
Holy See Stops Use of 'Yahweh' in all Catholic Worship
The Vatican
has ruled that the word Yahweh must not “be used or pronounced”
in songs and prayers during Catholic masses. The decree is contained in a letter
to bishops from the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments
dated June 29 and addressed to Episcopal conferences around the world.
“By directive of the Holy Father, in accord with the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, this congregation... deems it convenient to communicate
to the bishops' conferences... as regards the translation and the pronunciation,
in a liturgical setting, of the divine name signified in the sacred Ttragrammaton,”
said the letter signed by Cardinal Francis Arinze and Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith,
congregation prefect and secretary, respectively.
The Tetragrammaton
is YHWH, the four consonants of the ancient Hebrew name for God. “As an
expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, it was held to be unpronounceable
and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the
use of an alternate name: 'Adonai,' which means 'Lord,” the Vatican letter
said. Similarly, Greek translations of the Bible used the word “Kyrios”
and Latin scholars translated it to “Dominus”; both also mean Lord.
“Avoiding pronouncing the Tetragrammaton of the name of God on the part
of the church has therefore its own grounds,” the letter said. “Apart
from a motive of a purely philological order, there is also that of remaining
faithful to the church's tradition, from the beginning, that the sacred Tetragrammaton
was never pronounced in the Christian context nor translated into any of the
languages into which the Bible was translated.”
The two Vatican officials noted that “Liturgiam Authenticam,” the
congregation's 2001 document on liturgical translations, stated that “the
name of almighty God expressed by the Hebrew Tetragrammaton and rendered in
Latin by the word 'Dominus,' is to be rendered into any given vernacular by
a word equivalent in meaning.”
“Notwithstanding such a clear norm, in recent years the practice has crept
in of pronouncing the God of Israel's proper name,” the letter said. “The
practice of vocalizing it is met with both in the reading of biblical texts
taken from the Lectionary as well as in prayers and hymns, and it occurs in
diverse written and spoken forms,” including Yahweh, Yahweh and Jehova
Pope
Laments Growing World Tensions
Recent tensions on the international scene are a cause for lively concern, says
Benedict XVI. The Pope affirmed this last Sunday after he prayed the midday
Angelus with crowds gathered at the summer papal residence at Castel Gandolfo.
The Holy Father did not refer to any particular conflicts, but seemed to allude
to tensions between Russia and the West, following the former's brief war with
Georgia.
"We must note, with bitterness, the threat of a progressive deterioration
in the climate of confidence and cooperation that should characterize relations
between nations," the Pontiff said. And he lamented the difficulty "with
which humanity strives to form that common awareness of being the 'family of
nations' that John Paul II indicated as the ideal to the general assembly of
the United Nations”
"We must deepen the awareness of being united by a common destiny, that,
in the final analysis, is a transcendent destiny, to avert the return to nationalistic
conflicts that in other historical periods have had such tragic consequences,"
the Bishop of Rome continued. "The recent events have weakened the confidence
in many that such experiences had been consigned to the past." Nevertheless,
Benedict XVI said that "we must not give in to pessimism." "We
must instead actively commit ourselves to reject the temptation to confront
new situations with old systems," he stated. "Violence must be repudiated!"
The Pope recommended transparent negotiation to settle controversies, fidelity
to the given word and pursuit of the common good as some of the "routes
to take, with tenacity and creativity, to build fruitful and sincere relations
and to guarantee to present and future generations times of concord and moral
and civil progress."
He invited the faithful to pray for this intention, "so that all the members
of the international community and those, in particular, who have been given
great responsibility, will work with generosity to re-establish the superior
motivations of justice and peace.”
Benedict
XVI Finds Guide in Elder Brother, Monsignor Ratzinger Made Citizen of Castel
Gandolfo
Benedict XVI says his elder brother is still a guide for him, just as he was
before his election to the papacy. The Pope spoke about Monsignor Georg Ratzinger
recently in a celebration to bestow honorary citizenship of Castel Gandolfo
on the elder Ratzinger. The title was given in recognition of Monsignor Ratzinger's
contribution to sacred music, particularly during his 30-year tenure as the
director of the Regensburg Cathedral Choir.
"From the beginning of my life my brother has always been not only a companion
to me but also a guide worthy of trust," the Holy Father said. "He
has been a point of orientation and reference with the clarity and the determination
of his decisions. "He has always shown me the path to take, also in difficult
situations." Georg Ratzinger was born in Marktl am Inn on Jan. 15, 1924,
three years before Joseph. He began to play organ pieces in the local church
as early as age 11. The Ratzinger brothers had a sister, Maria, who died in
1991.
Cathedral
music
As director of the Regensburg Choir -- a position Monsignor Ratzinger was given
in 1964 -- the elder brother conducted hundreds of concerts around the world
and did numerous recordings for various record companies. His music focused
primarily on works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Heinrich Schutz and Felix Mendelssohn.
The Pontiff recalled the years his brother directed the choir, years when he
also lived in Regensburg and taught theology. "The good music of the cathedral,
Sunday after Sunday, was a support, a consolation, a profound joy for me and
a reflection of God's beauty," the Holy Father said.
"My brother has mentioned the fact that we have arrived at the last stage
of our life, old age," he continued. "The days of life are reduced
progressively. […] But also in this stage my brother helps me to accept
with serenity, humility and courage the burden of each day. I thank him."
Benedict XVI also thanked the municipality of Castel Gandolfo, saying the gesture
of bestowing honorary citizenship on his brother, "is also gratifying for
me." For his part, Monsignor Ratzinger, 85, after expressing his gratitude,
said that music promotes the positive values of the human being, creating unity,
communion and joy.
Biden
on Obama ticket: a Catholic with mixed record on church issues
Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, announced Aug. 23 as Sen. Barack Obama's choice as
his running mate for the White House, puts on the Democratic ticket a Catholic
who supports legal abortion but on other issues has been an ally for the church
's public policy interests.
Biden, 65, has come in for his share of conflicts with some in the church over
his legislative support for keeping abortion legal. The National Right to Life
Committee gives him a rating of 0 for his positions on select issues, including
federal abortion funding and stem cell research as well as some relating to
lobbying by groups like the National Right to Life Committee.
But he's no darling of the "pro-choice" view, either, earning a score
of 36 percent once from NARAL Pro-Choice America for his votes on their select
issues. Obama has a score of 100 percent from NARAL. Biden has also talked frankly
about the importance of his faith in his life, maintains close ties with his
Catholic high school and isn't hesitant to show off elements of his Catholic
education in the Senate.
Biden was born in Scranton, Pa., to Joseph Biden and Catherine Finnegan Biden,
both of Irish-Catholic background. When young Joe was 10, the family moved to
Delaware, where his father was a car salesman. He attended Archmere Academy,
a Catholic prep school in Claymont, Del., but only after his mother told him
he couldn't go into the seminary, as he wanted, until after he had some experience
dating girls, his mother told a reporter in 2007.
He has maintained ties with Archmere, which sought to name a new student center
building for him in 2006. The plan was scrapped after Wilmington Bishop Michael
A. Saltarelli opposed it, citing Biden's votes on abortion. The bishop cited
a 2004 statement by the U.S. bishops about Catholics in political life that
says Catholic institutions "should not honor those who act in defiance
of our fundamental moral principles."
In a 2007 interview with the Christian Science Monitor, when he was a candidate
for president himself, Biden said he grew up in the church at a time of great
changes both in structure and in attitudes after the Second Vatican Council.
"I was raised at a time when the Catholic Church was fertile with new ideas
and open discussion about some of the basic social teaching of the Catholic
Church," Biden told the Monitor. "Questioning was not criticized;
it was encouraged."
The newspaper quoted Biden's recollection of a question to his ninth-grade theology
class. "How many of you questioned the doctrine of transubstantiation?"
the teacher asked, referring to the teaching that the bread and wine change
into the body and blood of Christ during Mass. No hands were raised. Finally,
Biden raised his. "Well, we have one bright man, at least," the teacher
said. Biden told the newspaper that the teacher didn't say criticizing the church
was good. "He led me to see that if you cannot defend your faith to reason,
then you have a problem," it quoted him as saying.
During the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas,
Biden, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was the one who engaged
Thomas in sometimes lengthy discussions about natural law and its application
to civil law. The church' s teachings about issues such as the right to life
of all human beings are based on natural law, the philosophy that individuals
have certain basic human rights that are based on universal moral principles
or on "a higher law" which is not limited by the letter of the law.
On issues including immigration, minimum wage, providing health care for all
children and reinstating the assault weapons ban, his positions have been close
to those of the church's lobbying efforts. Biden voted to authorize the invasion
of Iraq in 2002, but later became a critic of the war. Chris Korzen, executive
director of Catholics United, a nonpartisan organization that promotes the church's
social justice message in the political arena, called Biden's selection a positive
development.
He said Biden's commitment to his Catholicism "has inspired his advocacy
on issues such as genocide, universal health care, education, worker's rights
and violence against women." Korzen's statement said he's optimistic that
Biden might "help move our nation beyond the divisive, acrimonious and
unproductive debate" that has come to surround the issue of abortion. He
noted that Biden has said he accepts the church's teaching that human life begins
at conception and said Biden has a history of seeking practical ways of addressing
abortion in ways that a broad spectrum of people can support.
Alexia Kelley, director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, said Biden's
"Catholic and working class roots have been a source of solidarity for
him with hard-working American families who are suffering the most from the
current economic crisis." Phil Lawler, editor of the Catholic World News
Web site, said on a blog post the morning of the announcement that an Obama-Biden
ticket might be helpful to the pro-life movement. "Any public discussion
of (whether life begins at conception) can only help the pro-life cause, because
the scientific facts are hard to deny," Lawler wrote.
He said Biden's choice also ensures a fresh debate on whether Catholic politicians
who support legal abortion should be denied Communion. "On that issue,
too, the discussion can only be helpful," Lawler wrote, because of the
"powerful witness" of bishops who would refuse the Eucharist to such
politicians.