{"id":1830,"date":"2014-04-26T21:26:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T21:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/en\/?p=1397"},"modified":"2015-02-04T14:08:46","modified_gmt":"2015-02-04T19:08:46","slug":"chevaliers-de-colomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/chevaliers-de-colomb\/","title":{"rendered":"Souper des Chevaliers de Colomb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Address of the Apostolic Nuncio, Msgr. Luigi Bonazzi<\/strong>
\nVancouver, April 26, 2014<\/p>\n

Dear Archbishop Miller,
\nMy dear Knights of Columbus,
\nDear Priests, Religious and Lay Faithful,<\/p>\n

I am pleased to be with you this evening, on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday when\u00a0our Holy Father, Pope Francis, will raise to the glory of the altars, Blessed Pope John\u00a0XXIII and Blessed Pope John Paul II. I imagine that many of you in this room this evening\u00a0have a vivid memory of the historic visit of Pope John Paul II to Canada in 1984, including\u00a0the time he spent here in Vancouver. Perhaps some of you served as Fourth Degree Honor\u00a0Guard or provided other services at the different venues during the course of his visit.<\/p>\n

I greet your esteemed Archbishop and thank him for the welcome he has extended\u00a0me since my arrival in Canada at the beginning of March.<\/p>\n

Situated as it is, on the great Pacific Rim, Vancouver is today the gateway through\u00a0which people coming to Canada from the nations of the Far East enter, as it is also the\u00a0point of departure for all who carry out business and trade with those nations. And so it\u00a0is a strategic and privileged place from which to undertake that evangelization which Jesus\u00a0commanded and which the Church invites all the faithful to make their contribution.<\/p>\n

Among the various ecclesial institutions, you too, the Knights of Columbus, have a\u00a0key role to play in this work, including as well, welcoming the stranger and making them\u00a0feel very much at home. For those who come to this country, it can be an unsettling\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n

In this context, it is helpful to recall the circumstances in which the Knights of\u00a0Columbus was established. At a time of a heavy influx of Catholic immigrants into the\u00a0United States, Catholic men suffered many disabilities and various forms of\u00a0discrimination. And so your founder, Fr. Michael McGivney, was determined to provide\u00a0a network of support, to help these men keep their Catholic faith and identity, to allow\u00a0them to overcome isolation by meeting other Catholic men in a social setting and to unite\u00a0in common purposes of benevolence and care for those in need.<\/p>\n

And so welcoming the stranger, establishing connections and ties of friendship,\u00a0strengthening the Catholic identity of men who are under many pressures including the\u00a0abandonment of the faith, and efforts to draw upon their nobler aspirations to participate\u00a0in works of charity and compassion, is very much a part of the tradition and heritage of\u00a0your Fraternal Organization.<\/p>\n

I would hope that in your endeavors, you never lose sight of supernatural\u00a0considerations. Philanthropy without reference to God fails to meet the deeper human\u00a0needs, for as Pope Benedict XVI reminded us, \u201cIf we do not give them God, we give them\u00a0too little!<\/em>\u201d (Message for 28th World Youth Day, 2013) That is why our Catholic tradition\u00a0has always insisted upon the Spiritual as well as the Corporal Works of Mercy.<\/p>\n

The Spiritual Works of Mercy require that the person extending that spiritual care\u00a0do their own \u2018homework\u2019 in this area of their lives. St. Gregory Nazianzus teaches us:\u00a0\u201cWe must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to\u00a0be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring him close to\u00a0others, be sanctified to sanctify\u2026<\/em>\u201d (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 2,71,74,73:PG\u00a035,480-481)<\/p>\n

As we prepare for tomorrow\u2019s celebration, let us rejoice in God\u2019s gift of mercy\u00a0especially as it was manifest in the lives of two great pontiffs: Pope John XXIII and Pope\u00a0John Paul II. Both were truly \u201cwitnesses of God\u2019s mercy<\/em>\u201d to the world. Through their\u00a0most powerful intercession, let us renew our efforts in the work of evangelization so that\u00a0in all we say or do, we will recall the words of the Lord: \u201cBlessed are the merciful, for\u00a0mercy they shall receive.<\/em>\u201d (Mt. 5:7)<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allocution du Nonce Apostolique, Vancouver, 26 avril 2014 (English only)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homelies-et-salutations","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1830"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3056,"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830\/revisions\/3056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nuntiatura.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}