Pope: Church Must Be a Missionary Church

 Pope Francs said yesterda,y, "The Church cannot risk becoming 'static' but  must continue as a missionary Church that walks with her Lord through the streets of the world," the Cath. News website reports today (Oct. 27, 2024). 

"We cannot remain inert before the questions raised by the women and men today, before the challenges of our time, the urgency of evangelization, and the many wounds that afflict humanity." the pope said in his homily during the closing  Mass for the Synod of Bishops in St. Peter's Basilica yesterday. 

"A sedentary Church , that inadvertently withdraws  from life and confines itself to the margins of reality , is a Church that risks remaining blind and becoming comfortable with its own unease," he said.On Oct. 25, the pope received the final document of the Synod on Synodality approved by more than 350 members of the Synod. The document called for the increased participation  of lay men and women in all levels of Church life, including parishes, dioceses, and in seminaries. 

In his homily, the pope called on the Church not to remain in a state of "blindness" on the issues in the Church and the world, a blindness that can take the form of embracing worldliness, placing a premium on comfort or having a closed heart. 

"We do not need a sedentary and defeatist Church," he said, "but a Church that hears the cry of the world and a Church that gets its hands dirty to serve the Lord."

First Global Day of Prayer for Media Set for Oct. 27

The first--ever Global Day of Prayer for the Media will take place this Sunday, Oct. 27, the Christian Today website reports today (Oct. 26, 2024). 

Christians who work in and with media in all forms will be joining in an international live--streamed event to be shown on www.prayfor media.com, and on You Tube. 

The event is the brainchild of Co--operation between Christians in Media UK, Christian Media and Art Australia, the Christian Broadcasting Association of New Zealand, and the Hollywood Prayer Network in the U.S. 

In a joint declaration, they say: "Individually, we are organizations passionate about supporting those called to serve in the religious  and secular media, arts and entertainment industries. As Christians of all denominations, we feel called to stand for truth, integrity, and justice in a world crying out for God's love, grace, and compassion." 

Having Friends Is Rare Now in U.S.

 A recent survey shows that friendship has declined significantly in the U.S. in recent years, The Christian Post website reports today (Oct. 25, 2024). 

The Survey Center on American Life  reports that in 1990, almost 70% of men had five or more close friends. By 2021, just 40% reprted having that many. And the number who said they had no close friends quintupled.  Women haven't fared well, either, although their friend groups haven't shrunk as rapidly. 

Part of the challenge is that time together is the oxygen of friendship. Deprive it of that, and friendship tends to die or at least become more distant. And today, perhaps due to a faster pace of life and more "stuff" piled into our schedules, spending time with friends requires more effort and intentionality than in decades past. Research shows that Americans now spend half as much time with their friends (three hours a  week) as they did just a decade ago. 

The typical American, it seems, tests a bunch of people. "We should get together" before watching Tik Tok alone on the couch and then passing out.  That is, Americans have friends. We  just never see them.

It would be easy to lecture people to get off  their phones and go reconnect with someone over cofee. But Khazan doesn't think loneliness is entirely the fault of lazy or screen--addicted individuals. Instead, she blamed our rapidly growing isolation on the fact that we have so few regular opportunities to meet or spend time with our friends. 

Khazan pointed to the collapse of "unions, civic clubs, and religious congregations" as a major reason why people see less of each  other. These so--called "third spaces" (distinct from home and work) tend to "regularize contact" as one researcher told her. Showing up at the same time and place weekly or monthly with a lot of like--minded people makes it much more likely to form and maintain friendships. 

Pope Invokes Sacred Heart as Remedy to "Fanaticism"

 Pope Francis in a new encyclical stressed the social dimension of God's love, saying the ancient devotion to the heart of Jesus must translate into care of others. and is a remedy to "outdated" church structures and various forms of "fanaticism," the Crux website reports today (Oct. 24, 2024). 

"In a world where everything is bought and sold, people's sense of their worth appears increasingly to depend on what they can accumulate with the power of money," the pope said in his newest encyclical, published today. 

As a society, "We are constantly being pushed to keep buying, consuming, and distracting ourselves held captive to a demeaning system that prevents us from looking beyond our immediate and petty needs," he said. 

Christ's love, he said, "has no place in this perverse mechanism. Christ's love can give a heart to our world and revive love wherever  we think that the ability to love has been definitively lost." 

Likewise, Francis said the church is also in need of this love, "lest the love of Christ be replaced with  outdated structures and concerns, excessive attachments to our own ideas and opinions . and fanaticism in any number of forms. "

Francis said, "The acknowledgement of the human and divine aspects of Christ's love is a summons to a personal relationship of encounter and dialogue," which he said become more meaningful when Christ is contemplated in both His divinity and humanity.

Report: Global Persecution of Christians Worsens

 A new report shows that the persecution of Christians worldwide has "significantly worsened" in the last year, the Christian Today website reports today (Oct. 23, 2024). 

In the report published this week, Aid to the Church in Need said that Christians are living under an increased threat of violence, discrimination, and other human rights abuses. 

The report analyzed data across 18 countries of particular concern between summer 2022 and summer 2024. Key findings include a shift in the epicenter of militant Islamist violence from the Middle East to Africa, with  Christians being "terrorized" by "extreme violence" for their faith in places like Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Mozambique.

Christian children, especially girls, are living at increased risk of abduction, sexual violence, forced marriage, and forced conversion.

Christians are being imprisoned in several countries for their faith, including Eritrea, where around 400 have been imprisoned without a trial. In Iran, Christians detained for their faith rose from 59 in 2021 to 166 in 2023. The number of Christians estimated to be imprisoned in China ranges from the low thousands to around 10,000. 

In India, there has been an increase in recorded attacks and other instances of persecution against Christians, rising from 599 in 2022 to 720 in 2023

In Myanmar, the military has been accused of destroying 85 churches. 

Synod Spritual Adviser Urges Members to Be at Peace with Results

 The spiritual adviser to the Snod on Synodalirty said that even if some members of the Synod end up feeling disappointed by its results, "God's providence is at work in this assembly," the Cath. News website reports today (Oct. 22, 2024).

"The triumph of good cannot be frustrated," and "we may be at peace whatever the result" of the Synod's month--long second session, Cardinal-- designate Timothy Radcliffe said on Oct. 20 in the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall before members began reading , discussing, amending, and voting on the final document to be presented to Pope Francis on Oct. 26. 

The document will need to be read as something seeking rto bring deep renewal of the Church, not "through dramatic decisions, but by evoking  new ways of being a Church in which we relate to each other much more profoundly in Christ and to Christ much more profoundly with each other," he said at the afternoon briefing. 

Chicago Has More Rats Than Any US City

 For the 10th consecutive year, a popular pest control company has crowned Chicago the "rattiest city" in the  U..S., the USA Today website reports today(Oct. 22, 2024).  Orkin, an American pest control company  founded in 1901, announced the honor yesterday. 

"The streets of Chicago are a playground for rats. They chew constantly to explore new resources, contaminate  food, and damage property," John Kane, Orkin's national accounts entomologist  and quality manager, said  in a news release. "If we don't act, they'll keep growing in numbers. causing  bigger problems." 

Chicago beat out Los Angeles (second place) and New York (third place), according to Orkin.All three cities have faced "consistent rodent problems," and all have ranked in the top three since 2017, the company said. 

As colder weather approaches, Orkin warns that rats will search to find warm places to take shelter.