The following comes from a May 2 story on the Catholic News Agency website.
The Vatican’s top official for interreligious dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, sent a message to all Buddhists urging a joint commitment to “unmask the threats to human life.”
In his annual letter for the feast of Vesakh, Cardinal Tauran highlighted the two faiths’ “noble teachings on the sanctity of human life” but lamented that “evil in different forms contributes to the dehumanization of the person” in society, “by mitigating the sense of humanity in individuals and communities.”
“This tragic situation calls upon us, Buddhists and Christians, to join hands to unmask the threats to human life and to awaken the ethical consciousness of our respective followers to generate a spiritual and moral rebirth of individuals and societies,” he wrote in his May 2 letter.
Vesakh is a major Buddhist holy day that commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha.
According to tradition, the historical Buddha was born, achieved enlightenment and passed away during the full moon of the month of May. This means that Vesakh is a movable feast, which this year falls on May 24 or 25, depending on the country it is celebrated in.
On those days, Buddhists visit local temples to offer the monks food and to hear the teachings of the Buddha, taking special care to meditate and to observe the eight precepts of Buddhism.
This year’s message is entitled: “Christians and Buddhists: Loving, Defending, and Promoting Human Life.” The letter is signed by Cardinal Tauran, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and Father Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, the council’s secretary.
Cardinal Tauran also recalled that Pope Francis believes in the importance of interreligious dialogue.
“Pope Francis, at the very beginning of his ministry, has reaffirmed the necessity of a dialogue of friendship among followers of different religions. He noted that: ‘The Church is … conscious of the responsibility which all of us have for our world, for the whole of creation, which we must love and protect. There is much that we can do to benefit the poor, the needy, and those who suffer, and to favor justice, promote reconciliation, and build peace.’”
To read original story, click here.
I cannot WAIT for the comments to follow here!
also Jim (because I didn’t get the point of your comment, you are usually so harsh to others but it’s OK if you start with those pun intentions and I still don’t get it so i ask??) you can’t wait because…….
A. you want to learn something
B. you want to see more people rationalize and use their ability to reason
C. you consider yourself high and mighty
D. you enjoy freedom of speech and not censorship or visa verso
E. you are looking for a good argument
F. you love starting a fight ( I noticed that you are the first comment to start that way, now see what you started oh shucks)
G. you hate free thinkers as the church permits especially if it helps one to reach the ability to form their conscience, to reason and visit the spiritual side of the outcome or visa verso etc
hey you asked for it….you did say and well hope this satisfies your curiosity just remember not all think like Jim and it is interesting to learn from good and different points of view…just pray to discern where the truth is? OK? Peace….
Excellent and insightful post Abeca! God bless you dear sister in Christ!
Matthew Chapter 20….. “Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Dictionary Definition of cutting someone off at the pass : Fig. to block someone’s effort to get away; to thwart someone’s efforts. They are ahead now, but we’ll cut them off at the pass. Try to cut off the bandits at the pass!
Abeca, We won’t mind if Jim McCrea is the last to make it into heaven by repenting of his cruelty to Christ. We just don’t want Jim to be the last one to lose his eternal life for being a worldly advocate for the devil. Jim is making very wrong choices with his God given gift of free will.
Yes Abeca, The father of lies is a very cruel bandit of Christ’s revealed truths. Poor lost and terribly misguided Jim McCrea thought he was the very first in line with his very mean spirited comment. Your very wise post exposes Jim for his extreme cruelty to those who do believe in obeying God’s Natural Laws. Let us continue to pray for all who are terribly deceived and misguided AND who are being terribly misused by the devil to actually taunt Christ by taunting the teachings of Christ’s Church. They are tragic examples of human puppets being forced to dance on strings that are bound and attached to the slavery of defending unnatural acts. As cruel as Jim McCrea’s posts may seem, how much CRUELER is Jim’s deceitful master for using Jim and others to show such extreme hatred for God.
See how they love one another?
YFC,
I see that you have not listened to the teachings of the Catholic Church so once again I will redirect you to the truth. This is not an anti-Catholic homosexual website that validates mortal sin and enables others with false charity.
“‘See how they love one another?”…..Yes YFC, God DID see how they
were loving one another in Sodom and Gomorrah and He completely annihilated them for also giving in to their perversions.
Those were two freakin’ weird reactions to a one sentence post.
yours was short and it too won the Nobel prize….for as you call it f weird
Catherine, please obey the rules of CCD in not being offensive or libelous and striving to be civil. Please obey the law of Christ by treating your neighbor as you would want to be treated.
Anony are you k? You sound like her from past experience she used the same tone of trying to silence her …..
Anony please stop bashing Catherine…follow your own advice!
What would CCD be without Catherine…and you?
“What would CCD be without Catherine…and you?”
Catholic Encyclopedia on Jealousy
Jealousy
Jealousy is here taken to be synonymous with envy. It is defined to be a sorrow which one entertains at another’s well-being because of a view that one’s own excellence is in consequence lessened. Its distinctive malice comes from the opposition it implies to the supreme virtue of charity. The law of love constrains us to rejoice rather than to be distressed at the good fortune of our neighbour. Besides, such an attitude is a direct contradiction of the spirit of solidarity which ought to characterize the human race and, especially, the members of the Christian community. The envious man tortures himself without cause, morbidly holding as he does, the success of another to constitute an evil for himself. The sin, in so far as it defies the great precept of charity, is in general grievous, although on account of the trifling matter involved, as well as because of the lack of deliberation, it is often reputed to be venial. Jealousy is most evil when one repines at another’s spiritual good. It is then said to be a sin against the Holy Ghost. It is likewise called a capital sin because of the other vices it begets. Among its progeny St. Thomas (II-II:36) enumerates hatred, detraction, rejoicing over the misfortunes of one’s fellow, and whispering. Regret at another’s success is not always jealousy. The motive has to be scrutinized. If, for instance, I feel sorrow at the news of another’s promotion or rise to wealth, either because I know that he does not deserve his accession of good fortune, or because I have founded reason to fear he will use it to injure me or others, my attitude, provided that there is no excess in my sentiment, is entirely rational. Then, too, it may happen that I do not, properly speaking, begrudge my neighbour his happier condition, but simply am grieved that I have not imitated him. Thus if the subject-matter be praiseworthy, I shall be not jealous but rather laudably emulous.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
PART THREE
LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
CHAPTER TWO
“YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”
ARTICLE 10
THE TENTH
You shall not covet . . . anything that is your neighbor’s. . . . You shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.317
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.318
I. THE DISORDER OF COVETOUS DESIRES
2535 The sensitive appetite leads us to desire pleasant things we do not have, e.g., the desire to eat when we are hungry or to warm ourselves when we are cold. These desires are good in themselves; but often they exceed the limits of reason and drive us to covet unjustly what is not ours and belongs to another or is owed to him.
2536 The tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit. It forbids avarice arising from a passion for riches and their attendant power. It also forbids the desire to commit injustice by harming our neighbor in his temporal goods:
When the Law says, “You shall not covet,” these words mean that we should banish our desires for whatever does not belong to us. Our thirst for another’s goods is immense, infinite, never quenched. Thus it is written: “He who loves money never has money enough.”321
2537 It is not a violation of this commandment to desire to obtain things that belong to one’s neighbor, provided this is done by just means. Traditional catechesis realistically mentions “those who have a harder struggle against their criminal desires” and so who “must be urged the more to keep this commandment”:
. . . merchants who desire scarcity and rising prices, who cannot bear not to be the only ones buying and selling so that they themselves can sell more dearly and buy more cheaply; those who hope that their peers will be impoverished, in order to realize a profit either by selling to them or buying from them . . . physicians who wish disease to spread; lawyers who are eager for many important cases and trials.322
2538 The tenth commandment requires that envy be banished from the human heart. When the prophet Nathan wanted to spur King David to repentance, he told him the story about the poor man who had only one ewe lamb that he treated like his own daughter and the rich man who, despite the great number of his flocks, envied the poor man and ended by stealing his lamb.323 Envy can lead to the worst crimes.324 “Through the devil’s envy death entered the world”:325
We fight one another, and envy arms us against one another. . . . If everyone strives to unsettle the Body of Christ, where shall we end up? We are engaged in making Christ’s Body a corpse. . . . We declare ourselves members of one and the same organism, yet we devour one another like beasts.326
2539 Envy is a capital sin. It refers to the sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly. When it wishes grave harm to a neighbor it is a mortal sin:
St. Augustine saw envy as “the diabolical sin.”327 “From envy are born hatred, detraction, calumny, joy caused by the misfortune of a neighbor, and displeasure caused by his prosperity.”328
2540 Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility:
Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother’s progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised.329
Anony you are so sweet, thanks for the compliment. : )
Catherine your comments from May 9, 2013 at 7:25 am are awesome. You described the spiritual side so well, it’s something beautiful to reflect on for many that just want the faithful to just up and leave. They succeeded to do that with USD University. I heard some in charge just couldn’t stand the heat from the dissenters so they left. Many probably felt betrayed when our Bishops did not act or remained silent.
Now look what those currently in charge are permitting in that school. What was suppose to be a Catholic University became a circus act and mocking of the faith. Those with disorders, those who advocate the gay agenda’s and those who are lukewarm etc….are suffering with some sort of spiritual envy or jealousy for the things that lead souls to heaven, they hate chastity and truth by what they advocate, they are angered deep inside for not being accepted as normal so they infiltrate and rule Christian identified organizations to mislead many etc. Excellent comments Catherine and awesome job at identifying what is really happening here as well with those who deceive.
Ommmmmmm
Skai gotta luv ya! LOL
This is modernist and syncretistic drivel. The mission of the Catholic Church is to preach the Gospel to all men. Prior to Vatican II, the Church believed all men must be Catholic to attain Salvation. Now, all religions are perceived as “good” and no attempt should be made to convert them to the True Religion (See Assisi gatherings I,II and III). There is no peace without the Prince of Peace. Interreligious ‘dialogue’ is pointless unless it points the way to conversion. Though Cardinal Tauran says
“Pope Francis believes in the importance of interreligious dialogue”, he should also remember Pope Francis said in his first homily : “He who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil. When we don’t proclaim Jesus Christ, we proclaim the worldliness of the devil, the worldliness of the demon.”
When was the last time the head of the Buddhist “faith” wished Catholics a Blessed Christmas? That’s all I NEED to say.
You know there is no head of the Buddhist “faith” right? That was a joke or something?
“Interreligious dialogue” sounds good, but this is what brought us the disaster called Vatican II. Vatican II was supposed to bring non-Catholics flocking to the Church, but it didn’t. Instead, many Catholics fled from the Church. Vatican II changed the liturgy and gave us the New Mass and the insipid hymns and folksy hand shaking. It was deemed too stringent to require Catholics to abstain from meat on Friday; it was too harsh to require us to fast more than one hour before receiving Communion. It was only after Vatican II that the priestly sex scandals began, driving even more Catholics from the Church. Where does Pope Francis stand on this? I pray he doesn’t plan to give us more of this, or worse yet, liberation theology. God help us!
Vatican II put a spotlight on the sex scandals, which were already underway, as much as being way under. Vatican II’s purpose is to cull out the deadwood, faithless chaff from both the clergy and the laity. And it is succeeding.
Why do so many Catholics believe, knee jerk reaction like, that the Church can force souls to be faithful, and to do it by A. hiding reality, and B. dressing up pigs to look pretty? Over half of the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels takes this Lutheran position to task. Faith is like a tiny seed that grows from the inside … Faith is not a poster plastered on the outside. I mean, this is a no brainer for anyone who has ever paid attention to the Gospel readings or actually … hold your breath, tighten your seatbelt … read the Gospels.
Jim here is goes…I don’t agree with this decision from the Vatican….hmmmm like it now…lol
You don’t think Bhuddists should be pro-life?
Anony anony no that is not it….but this is one battle that I don’t consider high on my list to give details about….all I gotta say is that Buddha is a cult
Support the good in the world’s religions and avoid the evil. Let’s combat the terrorists, not the humble followers of the world’s major religions. We share many of the same goals. Even Pope John Paul II created a record amount of outreach to other faiths trying to build on what we have in common. Can’t argue with that….
I suspect that the Pope is trying to recruit souls from among the Buddhist communities. You can’t do that without talking to them; and you can’t talk to them without them being close enough to hear you.
Buddhism is truly a defective spiritual experience…notice how they concern themselves for the suffering, i.e…the diseased, hungry and exploited. Their indifference and apathy is exampled in the communities they live in…with hungry children clamoring for bread, they don’t lift a finger!… zero emapthy or compassion… yet they will blithely go about chanting some pagan mantra and sinister mumbo-jumbo, as they seek “oneness” with their pagan deity…it is a broken, failed, pagan religion that is one of the many false religions in our world, has been for over a thousand years…Buddhism concerns itself solely with the “individual”, as they seek out self actualization through a series of contrived, mechanical chanting regimens…it does not concern, or involve itself with servicing the needy and the broken…”that alone” should tell you how blatantly false and narcissistic this pagan, false religion is!
That is why our beloved Pope Emeritus wants us to evangelize to the world Rhodesian. (St.Augustine said there are three things we must have to follow Christ…1. Humility 2 Humility 3 Humility…but I’m paraphrasing, sorry) We are called to be light to a dark world and these people are no different than the pagan Romans who became transformed once they heard the good news from our Catholic forbears. That’s why satan loves us to be critical of one another and concerned about the problems of the world ( a trap in which I have really been falling into lately) when we really need to see that people are starving to death…starving for the Word! I’m so ashamed for being so critical and condescending. Jesus asks us to love our enemies . Boy, is it hard! But we have the witness of the saints that it is not impossible, right?
From where and whom did Buddha receive enlightenment?
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
All decent human beings should abhor the murder of innocent unborn children, the murder of those who are ill, and the murder of the elderly.
From a political standpoint, we must join with all decent human beings to change society.
This also means that US Bishops, the LCWR and NETWORK must stop promoting or supporting the Party of Death. And Bishops must do their required jobs by enforcing Canon 915 and Canon 1399. -starting with heretical members of the LCWR, NETWORK and politicians.
Cardinal Tauran is an ultimate curial-type and a dangerous change-agent within the Catholic Church who seldom upholds Catholic tradition. Not long ago, Cardinal Tauran insisted on being the principal celebrant at a funeral for a former priest, a former Catholic U. full-professor of theology, who had publicly gotten married to his male lover in a big to-do in 2012. Cardinal Tauran could have arranged for a priest to conduct funeral and commendation services, and kept a low profile and attended quietly; but no, he wants you to know that the Church must change or die (as Episcopal bishop Shelby Spong claims). As for this situation, Tauran is utterly disingenuous about “interreligious dialogue” because he is presenting belief systems as equals, the very definition of relative truth. He knows it, he’s done it before (he had a big bash a year ago for Vesakh) and he of course is citing Pope Francis without alerting the latter and getting explicit permission, of course. You will never hear from Tauran that Jesus Christ alone is the “very imprint” of the Father (Heb. 1:3), because everything is all the same. This is the 1st man I would replace, were I Pope Bergoglio.
Interviewer: ‘There was a sense that Islam mustn’t monopolise the proceedings?’
Tauran:’ Yes, the people are obsessed by Islam. For example I’m going to India next month and I want to give this message that all religions are equal. Sometimes there are priorities because of particular situations, but we mustn’t get the impression there are first class religions and second class religions.’ From an interview with Terrasanta.net, a website of the Holy Land Review in 2008.
Just the kind of fellow we need to speak for the Church. Unlike St.Francis who wanted to convert muslims, the Cardinal sees we’re all equal in the eyes of God. One is tempted to ask him why Jesus died on the cross if He knew muhammed was going to pop along 400 yrs. later and have equality with him without even dying…or as Robert Spencer proves, there’s no evidence that muhammed even existed, but hey, why does there even need to be a real muhammed if he’s given equal respect by a Catholic cardinal. Who are we to quibble? The fact that muslims relegate the Son of God, Third Person of the Trinity, The Word, the Alpha and Omega, Prince of Peace to being a meer prophet of no greater importance than their own imaginary prophet is no impediment to a Cardinal chosen by Pope JohnPaul II. He’s in an illustrious line of Bishops chosen under JPII…Joseph Bernardin, Todd Brown, Roger Mahoney, Bernard Law et al. Check it out. Unbelievable, when seen in the light of the role these and many others played in the incredible cover up of homosexuality and pediphelia in the Church and costing us untold losses of Catholic faithful, vast sums of money that should have gone to charities, missions and evangilization, and yet they all carry on as though all was just hunky dory. I don’ t get it. I just do not get it at all. Can anyone explain it?
I do recommend Robert Spencer’s book “Not Peace but a Sword”. He is the director of the “Jihad Watch” website. Spencer is a Melkite Greek Catholic and was a deacon but might be a priest now.
‘To seek to reconcile the faith with the modern spirit leads much further than people think, not only to the weakening of the faith, but to its total loss.’
Pope St. Pius X, May 27th A.D. 1914
Dana, The answer is easy but most aren’t going to like it. The answer is written in the New Testament, in prophecies of some saints, and especially in some Marian apparitions. The answer is simply the Great Apostacy, the simple fulfillment of the recorded prophecies. Few want to believe it is here upon us now, we are living in it today. When else in the history of the Roman Catholic Church has such a great percentage per captia i.e. millions and millions of souls left the Roman Catholic Church having individually lost the true Roman Catholic Faith? Never before, and the disintegration is only increasing over time. Fortunately Jesus said He will be with Holy Mother the Church always, even to the end of the world; however to see what He means by this in todays modern day and age, we need sanctifying grace from the Holy Ghost and open and contrite hearts. Pray that He will show us His Way to His Holy Roman Catholic Church, and put on your suit of armor for Christ to defend Him and His Roman Catholic Church from the wickedness and snares of the devil. Let the dead bury the dead.
Thanks Bruce. You’re probably right, and it’s very sad the way we tend to be so apathetic about it. I am deeply concerned about those who have left the faith or who have not left but are luke warm, or for those who are such good and kind people (the majority of muslims and buddhists are good and loving people) who will never hear the good news…but I’m so afraid I’m going to offend someone I remain silent. sigh
Glad to see that the Vatican is dialoging with the Buddhists on respect for life. There are many nationalities and many religions on this planet, and just because our is the best, it does NOT mean we should ignore other people.
We need the help of atheists, agnostics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists to try to defend those values that people of good sense care about: human life, war, poverty, disease, justice, virtue, compassion, civil rights.
Me ichael, You sound like one of those pro-ecumenical COEXIST people. Dream on with John Lennon in his Immagination. I wonder where it got him in the end? It is foolish to think we need their help, no they truly need the help of the Roman Catholic Church to save their souls. Our Lord said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one could come to the Father except through Him. Jesus our omnipotent and all-knowing Savior did not mention anything about getting help and advise from Pagans like Alah, Mohammed, and Buddha. People would only meet God the Father through Jesus Himself. If we really love our protestant and jewish brethern, and the Pagans we would do our best for them to pray for their conversions, because it is only by the grace of the Holy Ghost that they will see the light. Islam is the religion of death. It is obvious you know nothing practical about the inner world of Islam that would just as soon convert you to Islam or kill you. Those infidel would be your only two choices if they captured and had control over you. Why are people so blind from seeing the truth, even after all the countless slayings of their own Muslim women, children, jihadists and suicide bombers. Something tells me that Muslims and other pagans can’t COEXIST with Christians as they are not the same. Allah again is not God. His character in the Koran in no way mirrors the character of God the Father in our Holy Bible. Wake up and smell the coffee please before you find yourself in anguish and a cruel bloody death or a traitor to the Christian religion!
Beautifully said, Bruce. Amen! I wish more people would read or listen to Robert Spencer brilliant work on Islam. Wake up and smell the coffee indeed! In the parable of the ten virgins, the five wise virgins lamps were full and they were ready when the bridegroom came, but the five foolish virgins had just a little oil and by the time they returned from trying to buy oil they were too late and he said to them, “Be gone, I never knew you” The lamps are faith, and the oil is the works we accomplish through faith. If we don’t spread the good news, I’m afraid our lamps are going to be too low to shed much light. Can you imagine Jesus telling you at the gate, Be gone, I never knew you? The biggest lie satan tells us is all religions are equal. The lamp parable is really speaking to me lately, Bruce. Jesus told us throughout the New Testament to spread the good news…it was a command. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, and spread the good news. It’s late and I’m probably not making sense, but I got what you said, anyway. ;o)
Bruce, if a soul has sufficient faith, engaging non believers is not a danger, but a command by God. Reflect on the Great Commission.
And the S.S.P.X. are treated like space aliens!
Janek you are so correct on that….sometimes things are just so crooked?
Being a native Californian and having gone to public school as as child, I have had many good Buddhist friends during my lifetime. They do try to follow the noble Eight Fold path, which discourages many of the same sins we do, and try they try to follow the some of the Ten Commandments without knowing that that is what they are doing. Pope Benedict is talking to Buddhists who are not Catholic through no fault of their own and to encourage them to see the sin of abortion and to help them understand Christianity more fully. Many Buddhists have wished me a Merry Christmas and even given me Christmas cards and gifts. Although some do not undertands what Christianity is really all about, dialoging with them can certainly help them to understand what true Christianity really is sot they might learn to love the one, true God. Real Buddhists are not New Agers who often combine witchcraft, Buddhism, Christianity, etc., so New Agers really do not have a good moral foundation to their beliefs, but pick and choose from each and adhere to none. Let us pray for the Buddhists. Many have become Catholics. Most do not worship Buddha, but just consider him an enlightened leader. Some do practice certain superstitions, such as astrology, but most live good moral lives as much as possible.
Sorry for the typos.
Anne T you are forgetting that they bring in forces from the spiritual world…you keep forgetting the spiritual side of what doors they open…
No, Abeca Christian, I am not forgetting that there are differences between Buddhists and Christians. I am just saying that many of the Buddhists I have known were very moral people according to Judeo-Christian morals, and these Buddhists seem to be open to the teachings of Christianity. This does not mean that I agree with with their beliefs in reincarnation, Nirvana, etc. but discussing religion and Judeo-Christian values with them cannot hurt as long as we are aware of our differences. I was surrounded with not only people of various Christian denominations and of the Jewish religion as a child and teen but with Buddhists, Confucians and Sikhs. A section of our Social Studies textbooks in high school included the main tenets of the main religions of the world. They did not indoctrinate us into other religions but just told us what each believed.
Nevertheless, Abeca, only those Catholics who are truly grounded and well versed in their own faith should be dialoging with those of other religions. I do see your point as to how dialoging with those of other religions can be dangerous to ones own faith. We must remember, though, that Buddhism is not like the pagan religions of the Old Testament that practiced serious moral sins as a part of their religious rituals, such as temple prostitution and child sacrifice.