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Portsmouth bishop halts regular Mass in Polish

Bishop Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth has dismayed Poles in his diocese by telling them that they cannot have weekly Polish-language Masses in their local church.

He said in a letter that priests were unanimous in opposing the idea of a Polish Mass celebrated each week.

Such a Mass has been held at St Swithun's Church in Southsea, Portsmouth, since June when an extra priest arrived from Poland.

But in a letter to members of the congregation Bishop Hollis said the Mass should only be celebrated once a month.

He was responding to one of the 20 or so letters sent to him by Poles upset by an earlier announcement from Canon David Hopgood, the cathedral dean.

Canon Hopgood said in a letter dated June 14 that a Mass in Polish every Sunday was likely to damage integration and so should not be established.

He said: "Some of the Polish friends I have consulted appreciate the occasional opportunity to keep in touch with their cultural roots, but they do not think that a separate Sunday liturgy would help in the important work of integration within the local Catholic community. This is also the view of the clergy in the area."

His comments reflect a wider concern that Polish migrants are failing to integrate into the English Catholic Church.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor caused controversy in December when he said Poles should join English parishes rather than create "a separate Church".

But Poles argue that integration takes place over generations and should not be imposed -- especially when their faith is so closely linked to national tradition.

They have accused the bishop of "social engineering" and are shocked that he has refused permission for Mass even though a priest is available to celebrate it.

The congregation, made up of about 50 Poles, have inundated the bishop with letters both in English and in Polish. Bishop Hollis replied to the Polish letters by saying he could not understand them and asking the sender to write again in English.

Lukasz Jurkowski said "no one expected" the bishop to refuse permission for Mass. "We can't understand what the problem is," he said. "We want to pay for the church and help to maintain it - we don't want it for free."

Katarzyna Dzwonkowska said it was difficult for some Polish migrants to go to English Mass because they did not understand English. The nearest Polish Mass is nearly an hour away in Eastney.

She said: "When you go to Mass you have to feel like you are talking to God and expressing yourself to God. You have to do that in your own language."

In particular Poles find it difficult to go to Confession in English. "You cannot take in a dictionary and translate the words," Miss Dzwonkowska said.

Another member of the congregation said the decision not to allow the Mass was a "shock" because in Poland churches were open all the time.

Jaroslaw Dzwonkowski said: "Asking for a weekly Mass is something basic and now we have to fight for it. Our religious life here is very basic - it's really the bare minimum. Many people in Poland go to church on a daily basis."

He stressed that Poles did not want to "argue" with the English Catholic Church. "We know we are in England, not in Poland, and we don't have to stay here," he said. "But we are here and if it's possible for us to have Mass then we would really appreciate it."

A spokesman for the Diocese of Portsmouth said the decision to stop the weekly Polish Mass was made after consultation with priests and lay Catholics. "Many people, including some Poles, felt it was becoming divisive," he said. "Some Poles felt that if there was Polish Mass they had a loyalty and they weren't sure whether to go to the usual English Mass.

"Poles were not getting the opportunity to get to know the Catholic community and the clergy weren't getting the opportunity to get to know the Polish people."

He said the diocese worked "very hard" to meet the pastoral needs of immigrants.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor visited Poland in March in an attempt to mend fences with the Polish hierarchy.

He promised that Polish-language Masses would continue to be provided in Britain and clarified his earlier comments about integration. He said he meant that Poles could "maintain their own traditions and at the same time keep in touch with the English Church". He also announced that a working party would be set up to advise on "appropriate structures" to accommodate Polish migrants.

It will be headed by bishops from both countries and may revise an agreement that allows the Polish Church to run parishes in England and Wales. It is expected to meet later this year

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Egyptian doctors’ union prohibits transplants between Muslims and Christians

The Doctors’ Union of Egypt, led by the “Muslim Brothers,” a extreme faction of Islam, has decided to prohibit the transplant of organs between those who profess the Islamic faith and Christians, generating a series of protests and unrest in both communities.

According to the EFE news agency, a spokesman for the Coptic Church said in response to the decision, “We all have the same Egyptian blood, and if the purpose of the measure is to prohibit the traffic of organs, we reject it because that could occur as well among the faithful of the same religion.”

The spokesman said the union’s decision was “very grave,” since it could lead to other steps such as the prohibition of blood donations between Christians and Muslims or prevent a doctor from examining a patient of a different faith. “We fear that in the future there will be hospitals for Christians and hospitals for Muslims,” he said.

The director of the union, Hamdi El Sayed, said the new norm aims “to protect poor Muslim from rich Christians who buy their organs and vice versa” and “to prevent any attempt to deceive the infirm and rob them of their organs, especially if this occurs between Christians and Muslims, because in this case it does open the door to a crisis between both communities.”

Abel Moti Bayumi, an expert with the Center for Islamic Studies of Al Azhar, said the norm is “discriminatory, since it violates human rights, the Constitution and national unity.” “If the union does not annul the decision, there will be more conflicts between Christians and Muslims,” he warned.

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Catholics who support abortion should not receive Communion, says Archbishop Burke

The prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, Archbishop Raymond Burke, said this week that Catholics, especially politicians, who publically defend abortion should not receive Communion, and that ministers of Communion should be responsibly charitable in denying it to them if they ask for it, “until they have reformed their lives.”

In an interview with the magazine, Radici Christiane, Archbishop Burke pointed out that there is often a lack of reverence at Mass when receiving Communion. “Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily is a sacrilege,” he warned. “If it is done deliberately in mortal sin it is a sacrilege.”

To illustrate his point, he referred to “public officials who, with knowledge and consent, uphold actions that are against the Divine and Eternal moral law." He then gave the example of politicians who "support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives. A person who commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life,” the archbishop said.

“If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege,” he added.

“We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist.”

He explained that when the person is allowed to receive Communion, a second form of scandal consists: “leading people to think that the public act that this person is doing,” a sin, “which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious.”

“If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think? He or she could come to believe that up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother’s womb,” he warned.

Archbishop Burke also noted that when a bishop or a Church leader prevents an abortion supporter from receiving Communion, “it is not with the intention of interfering in public life but rather with the concern of the spiritual state of the politician or public official who, if Catholic, should follow the divine law in the public sphere as well.”

“Therefore, it is simply ridiculous and wrong to try to silence a pastor, accusing him of interfering in politics so that he cannot do good to the soul of a member of his flock,” he stated.

It is “simply wrong” to think that the faith must be reduced to the private sphere and eliminated from public life, Archbishop Burke said, encouraging Catholics “to bear witness to our faith not only in private in our homes but also in our public lives with others in order to bear strong witness to Christ.”

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Baby girl ‘without a pulse’ comes ‘back to life’

Doctors in Israel are trying to save the life of a baby girl who was mistakenly pronounced dead in the womb of her mother, who was five months pregnant.

The girl’s 26-year-old mother, from a Western Galilee village, had undergone tests which discovered the mother was suffering from internal bleeding. The test results also showed no signs of life from her unborn child, the Jerusalem Post reports. At Nahariya Hospital the baby was removed from the womb without a pulse and was pronounced dead.

The baby girl, who weighed only 1.34 lbs, was then moved to a cooler. Five hours later the baby’s father came to the hospital to retrieve what he thought was the dead body of his daughter. The baby began to breathe when she was taken out of the cooler, which doctors believe brought the girl “back to life.”

She was taken to the intensive care ward where doctors were trying to save her life.