For Austrian cardinal, female deacons an ‘open question’

CNA Staff, Nov 7, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- On the eve of his 75th birthday, Cardinal Vincent Nichols cast his mind back to the day he was installed as the archbishop of Westminster. 

“I was told — and you know, when you’re a bishop yo… […]

Rome, Italy, Jan 20, 2017 / 10:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- One year after Pope Francis visited the Great Synagogue in Rome, the Hebrew Choir of Rome “Ha-Kol,” and the Choir of the Diocese of Rome joined together to give a concert Jan. 19 on the theme: “Sing to the Lord a new song.”

The Pope’s attention to Jewish-Christian dialogue continues to be welcomed by the Jewish community in Rome, and events such as the concert is one way they can contribute to that dialogue, Richard Di Castro, president of the Ha-Kol Choir Association, told CNA.

“I believe that music can speed up the dialogue between all cultures and among all religions, and is a common thread that is understood in all latitudes and in all parts of the world,” Di Castro said.
 
“All the more so, the privileged nature of the dialogue that Jews and Christians have at this time, events like this where we can share our traditions, our musical culture, helps considerably in the dialogue.”

The concert, which consisted of musical interpretations of the Psalms in both the Jewish and Christian traditions, took place just a few days after the one year anniversary of Pope Francis’ visit to the synagogue on Jan. 17, 2016.

Pope Francis was the third-ever Roman Pontiff to visit the Great Synagogue, following the example of his two predecessors. St. John Paul II visited in 1986 and Benedict XVI in 2010.

Di Castro said that he considers Pope Francis’ visit, as well as the visits of the other two popes, very important.

“All this is definitely welcomed with much attention, very welcomed by our entire community. Furthermore, I believe that Pope Francis has always shown a lot of attention to the dialogue between Jews and Christians, and this clearly was always perceived very positively by our community,” he said.

The reason the songs in the concert focused on the Psalms, he said, is because the Psalms are “something that binds us together, something common to the two religious traditions.”

This isn’t the first time the two choirs have collaborated on events, Di Castro pointed out, saying “there is nothing better than the dialogue of music that unites cultures” and helps people to know and understand each other better, and eliminate prejudice.

Jesuit Fr. Philipp Renczes, Director of the Centre for Judaic Studies and Jewish-Christian relations at the Pontifical Gregorian University, agreed.

Getting to know one another is the “first major step” to unity, he told CNA. “Because as Augustine says…we can only love what we know.”

It is essential, Fr. Renczes said, that “Christianity, being rooted in Judaism,” be in dialogue with Judaism. “It is a way for Christianity to be in continuity with itself.”

During his 2016 visit, Pope Francis referred to St. John Paul II’s reference to the Jewish people as the “elder brothers” of Christians, and said that “we all belong to one family, the family of God, who accompanies and protects us as his people.”

“Together, as Jews and as Catholics,” he continued, “we are called to assume our responsibility for this city, making our contribution, first of all spiritual, and favoring the resolution of our diverse problems.”

“I hope that the closeness, mutual understanding, and respect between our two communities of faith always continue to increase.”

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CNA Staff, Sep 1, 2020 / 05:02 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev, who has been blocked from returning to Belarus, said Tuesday that he was “very much surprised” by being stopped at the Polish border.

“I have been traveling often … so I was surprised very much yesterday when I was stopped at the border when I was coming back home from Poland,” the archbishop told CNA Sept. 1.

He added that such things “never happened”.

Belarus has seen widespread protests in recent weeks following a disputed presidential election. Protests began Aug. 9 after president Alexander Lukashenko was declared to have won that day’s election with 80% of the vote. Lukashenko has been president of Belarus since the position was created in 1994.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, who has been visiting Poland, was stopped by Belarusian border guards at the crossing between Kuźnica and Bruzgi Aug. 31.

In a message to the Catholics of Belarus, the archbishop said the decision to deny him entry to Belarus was “absolutely incomprehensible”, “unreasonable and illegal”.

According to the state-owned Belarusian Telegraph Agency, Lukashenko addressed the incident involving Kondrusiewicz Sept. 1, saying that he did not possess full information about the event. He suggested that the archbishop might be a citizen of more than one country.

“We are looking into the matter. I do not claim it. We want to study the issue. If everything is according to the law, we will act accordingly. It does not matter whether he is the main Catholic, the main Orthodox, or the main Muslim. He has to live by the law. If you mix church and politics and call for believers, Catholics, who are wonderful people, there is double responsibility for that,” Belta quoted him as saying.

Bishop Yury Kasabutski, an auxiliary to Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, said the archbishop’s citizenship status was clear.

“Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz has only one citizenship — Belarusian, and according to the law, his right to enter cannot be restricted in any way,” Bishop Kasabutski stated.

The archbishop was born in 1946 in Odelsk, in what was then the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (part of the USSR), to an ethnic Polish family. The Byelorussian SSR was succeeded in 1991 by the Republic of Belarus.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz told CNA that “In Belarusian law, a citizen of Belarus has a right to travel, has a right to leave the country and to come back. About leaving, it’s written they can stop sometimes, but to come back is a right without any restrictions. So I don’t know what happened.”

He added, “today I was accused that I received from Warsaw some instructions, or something, but I didn’t visit Warsaw.”

The archbishop said he visited eastern Poland to celebrate the First Communion of a relative; he is now in Białystok.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz wrote an email to Belarus’ special border committee Sept. 1 asking for an explanation of his refused entry, and is awaiting a reply.

The archbishop has spoken in defense of protests following last month’s presidential election.

He demanded an investigation last week into reports that riot police blocked the doors of a Catholic church in Minsk while clearing away protesters from a nearby square.

He met with Interior Minister Yuri Karaev Aug. 21 to express his concerns about the government’s heavy-handed response to the protests.

He prayed outside a prison Aug. 19 where detained protesters were reported to have been tortured.

Protests have taken place across Belarus since the August election, and thousands of protesters have been detained. According to the BBC, at least four people have died in the unrest.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the election “was not free and fair,” citing “severe restrictions on ballot access for candidates, prohibition of local independent observers at polling stations, intimidation tactics employed against opposition candidates, and the detentions of peaceful protesters and journalists.”

Electoral officials said that the opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, earned 10% of the vote. She was detained for several hours after complaining to the electoral committee, and has fled to Lithuania.

Archbishop Kondrusiewicz told CNA that “at the present time, we are asking for prayer, not only for the Catholic Church, but for a peaceful solution for the situation in Belarus because I’m very much afraid of civil war. The situation is very, very difficult, very critical.”

He expressed appreciation “to Catholics around the world for their solidarity, for their prayers, for their moral support in this very critical time for my nation.”

Luke Coppen contributed to this report.

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