Words that should be front page headline in every UK newspaper

The Jesuit Chaplain of St Ignatius College in Enfield has made a passionate plea to teenagers to surrender their knives. Father Tim Byron SJ made the appeal at the funeral of former student, Godwin Lawson, who was the victim of a stabbing in Stamford Hill in March. He was attacked along with two friends.

Preaching at the Requiem Mass at St Ignatius Church, Stamford Hill, Fr Tim said a decision to reject knives would be a far more fitting tribute to the 17-year-old than flowers on the pavement or messages on a social networking site. “There will be people today here in church who have carried knives or who are thinking of carrying a knife,” he said. “I say to you now – in the name of the Lord – Stop! If you really want to honour the name of Godwin: stop carrying knives!”

Fr Tim rejected the argument that knives provided protection, telling the congregation: “You are ten times more likely to be stabbed if you carry a knife – what type of protection is that? Many of those stabbed are stabbed with their own knives – they are turned against them – so it is not protection. So I tell you again – Stop!”

On leaving St Ignatius College, Godwin attended the Oxford United Football and Education Academy, and was hailed as a promising sportsman. “He was a normal human being like all of us here today – he made mistakes – like we all do,” said Fr Tim. “But he showed us at St Ignatius College how hard he was prepared to work to make his dream come true. That dream was cruelly taken away from him.”

The Jesuit Chaplain also urged young people to reject friends who carry knives and to stop hanging round with them. “Let us all commit ourselves to becoming part of the solution. And in memory of Godwin Lawson, let us pray for more faith and courage – and that we may help each other in making our streets safer.”

Source: Jesuit Communications Office/OUFEA

SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

“I feel as a priest my great inner hunger and neediness – let this Mass, which is the last supper, be my food and drink. I feel the force of those daily sufferings which belong to every human being and, not least, those which are also bound up in my own life as a priest. Let this Mass, which is Christ’s sacrifice/his cross –Calvary made present in our midst – give me the true context for my own personal share in that Cross of Christ. This Mass which I’m about to pray is, above all else, about Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. It is the celebration of his triumph at Easter. The Holy Communion which we share in this Mass, is the communion with the Risen Christ. And so this Mass, like every Mass, is the sure pledge that each sorrow, each suffering, born in union with his, will turn to joy. By this Mass we proclaim in faith that the last and best word in all our lives belongs to God. The final victory belongs to the crucified and Risen Christ.”
Bishop John Crowley

Bishop Luigi Padovese

From Clerical Whispers blog:-

Mgr Luigi Padovese, bishop of Iskenderun, in Anatolia, was killed today around 1 pm.

The prelate’s driver and aide, a Muslim who had worked for the prelate for some time, is thought to have attacked the bishop with a knife.

Eyewitnesses said that the driver appeared “depressed, violent and threatening” in recent days.
Mgr Padovese, 63, was appointed Apostolic Vicar to Anatolia in 2004.

Currently, he was the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Turkey.
He was closely involved in ecumenical work and in the dialogue with Islam as well working to revive Turkey’s Christian communities.
He had met Turkish authorities yesterday to discuss problems affecting Christian minorities.
He was supposed to visit Cyprus tomorrow to meet Benedict XVI who is visiting the island where he will issue the Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod for the Churches of the Middle East.
This is not the first time that the Catholic Church in Turkey is the subject of threats, violence and death.
In 2006, a Fidei Donum priest, Fr Andrea Santoro, was assassinated in Trabzon.
In 2006, during the memorial Mass for the murdered priest, Mgr Padovese said, “we forgive whoever carried out this act. It is not by destroying someone who holds opposing views that conflicts can be resolved. The only path that must be taken is that of dialogue, of reciprocal recognition, of closeness and friendliness. But as long as television programs and newspaper articles produce material that shine a bad light on Christians and show them as enemies of Islam (and vice versa), how can we imagine a climate of peace?” Always talking about Fr Santoro, he added, “Whoever wanted to erase his physical presence does not know that his witness is now even stronger.”
Fr Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said, “What has happened is terrible if we think about other examples of bloodshed in Turkey, like the murder of Fr Santoro a few years ago. [. . .] Let us pray that the Lord may reward him for his great service to the Church and that Christians not be discouraged,” but instead “follow his strong witness and continue to profess their faith in the region.”