Musical joy of love

adminonDecember 24, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

It has been much discussed, the pope's letter "Amoris laetitia" on marriage and the family. Soon to be heard as a spiritual cantata, it addresses the challenges and vocation of family, love and crises in marriage.

The much-discussed papal letter "Amoris laetitia" on marriage and family will soon be heard as a spiritual cantata. The first performance is scheduled for 26. April planned at Cremona Cathedral, reports Catholic press service SIR (Saturday).

"Great moments and abysses"

The work, "The Joy of Love – Great moments and abysses," was inspired by the letter Pope Francis published in April 2016 after two synods of bishops on the subject, it said. It was composed by Federico Mantovani based on a text by author Davide Rondoni.

The cantata is written for a soprano and a tenor voice, recitatives, choir and orchestra. "In 'Amoris laetitia,' Pope Francis reminds us that the Bible is just so populated with families, generations, with love stories and family crises," SIR quoted composer Mantovani as saying. Experiences from the attraction of the two sexes, through the ups and downs of family life, to the plea to God not to leave them alone, he wanted to trace in the cantata. The project is sponsored by the diocese of Cremona in Lombardy.

Controversial discussions

The roughly 300-page letter, "Amoris laetitia," is the subject of controversy among some primarily because it hints in a footnote at a possible path for remarried divorcees to confession and communion. Overall, however, it addresses the challenges and vocation of families, love and crises in marriage, education and pastoral care, as well as anthropological and theological foundations.

Symbolic image: Handing over money © Ponderful Pictures (shutterstock)

The system of recognition payments for abuse victims is still unclear. However, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Georg Batzing, does not want any further delay. It should be in place by the end of the year.

The president of the German Bishops' Conference, Limburg's Bishop Georg Batzing, wants no delay in recognition payments for abuse victims despite church tax losses caused by the Corona pandemic. "I don't want us to put this off any longer," he said in an interview with Bonn's General-Anzeiger newspaper (Friday).

"And I have the good feeling that we will keep the promise to clarify open procedural questions by the fall and that we will have a system by the end of the year so that those affected can also receive the recognition payments."

The bishops had further developed the system of recognition services for victims of sexualized violence in the area of the Catholic Church and had decided on principles for this, Batzing emphasized. "We want a uniform system, an independent determination of benefit levels, and for all aggrieved parties to have access to it."

The question of financing this system is secondary, he said: in his diocese of Limburg, the recognition payments are not financed from the church tax. "But not every diocese has this possibility. And, in the end, it must be said: all the money a diocese has belongs to the faithful of a diocese."

Batzing: difficult financial decisions

Batzing went on to say that the Bishops' Conference had already reckoned with declining church tax revenues prior to Corona. "But that's when we thought we still had ten years," said the bishop. "For quite a few dioceses, the tax losses now and in the coming year will be very significant."In his own diocese of Limburg, one expects a minus of three percent, in other dioceses the values are partly "considerably worse" and are in the upper single-digit range.

This would mean that "serious decisions" would now have to be made: "What do we spend the money that is available to us on? What are the resources with which we can effectively serve the proclamation of the Gospel and catechesis? How much real estate can we afford in the future and what makes sense pastorally??" This would mainly affect parish halls and also churches.

"Many things can be done," Batzing said, referring to the recent conversion of a Frankfurt church into a daycare center. "But we will also be faced with the question of whether it is not better to demolish churches and use the land in a new way."

Serious allegations by a newspaper: first the bishop molested young priests, then gave them gifts of money and finally had the expenses reimbursed by his diocese. Now his official residence is to be sold.

The former bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in the U.S. state of West Virginia, Michael Joseph Bransfield (75), allegedly used church funds over a period of years to finance cash gifts to young priests whom he sexually molested, according to media reports.

As the "Washington Post" reported on Wednesday (local time), cardinals in the U.S. and in the Vatican had also been considered. The newspaper cites church documents it has obtained.

According to the report, Bransfield, who retired in September 2018, had received checks worth up to

565 checks – including to cardinals

15.000 dollars signed from his personal account, the sums of which were subsequently reimbursed to him by the diocese, he said.

In total, the bishop is said to have ied 565 checks.

Among the recipients are believed to be 11 prominent clerics whose names were redacted from the investigation documents, said Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, who was appointed apostolic administrator of the diocese by Pope Francis after Bransfield's departure. Also he himself had received money from Bransfield.

Among the dignitaries said to have received checks are former Washington Archbishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl, New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan and former Vatican nuncio to the U.S. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.

Five lay investigators concluded, according to the report, that the cash gifts constituted abuse of power.

Official residence to be sold for compensation

Bransfield himself is suspected of sexually molesting adult priests and financial irregularities.

He led an "extravagant and opulent lifestyle," according to the investigation report. In his time as a bishop, he said, he had spent about $2.4 million in church funds on travel.

This reportedly included $100 a day for fresh flowers and 1.000 dollars a month for alcohol.

Archbishop Lori announced Wednesday that he has permission to sell Bransfield's former official residence. The proceeds should be used to compensate victims of abuse. The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston counts 78.000 Catholics.

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