Mother Teresa: Exemplary charity
The life and work of Blessed Mother Teresa continues to inspire charitable work around the world, including Catholic Relief Services of the US. Sean Callahan of CRS recounts his personal encounter with Mother Teresa and her spirituality of service.
By Martin Barillas
Spero News Religion editor Martin Barillas conducted an exclusive interview with US Catholic Relief Services director for overseas operations, Sean Callahan. The publication of Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, compiled by the postulator for her sainthood – Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, has sparked widespread comment and even criticism of the Albanian-born nun who inspired millions with her charitable work that started in the slums of Calcutta and was spread to countries around the world. In the book, a compendium of letters, Blessed Mother Teresa expresses deep longing for God while struggling with the feeling of the absence of God that has been compared to “dark night of the soul” testified in the writings of St. John of the Cross.
Here, Sean Callahan recounts something of his personal acquaintance with Mother Teresa and her work with the Missionaries of Charity – the order that she started to respond to the mandate to Christians to feed the poor and clothe the naked.
Given that Mother Teresa reveals a kind of spiritual darkness in the forthcoming book based on her letters to her spiritual directors, can you provide any insight into her spiritual life? Did you have any inkling as to her abandonment by God?
As someone who worked alongside Mother Teresa as Country Representative for Catholic Relief Services in India during the mid-90’s, I can tell you Mother’s faith was visible everyday in the service she provided to those in need.
I remember a day when I was assisting at the Center for the Dying, one of more than a dozen houses run by the Missionaries of Charity in greater Calcutta. Here, you help patients by feeding them, bathing them, and tending to their wounds. One of the gentlemen I was taking care of on this day was in bad condition. At one point I came back to his bed, and he wasn’t moving. I went to one of the sisters and asked, ‘What do we do?’
Mother was there at the time visiting the center. She came over to me and asked, ‘How are things going?’ I said, ‘Well not too well today, actually. I just lost this gentleman right here.’ And she replied, ‘No you were lucky. You were with him when he went to God. You were with him at a time in his life when he was suffering. You were there and helped him go to God.’
How does the example of Mother Teresa inspire the work of CRS today?
Interview with exorcist Jose Antonio Fortea
In an exclusive Spero News interview, theologian and exorcist Father Jose Antonio Fortea speaks of the dangers of the occult arts, but also the Harry Potter series of books. He is travelling to the US for a series of conferences in August 2007.
By Martin Barillas
Trained by Vatican exorcist Gabriele Amorth, Father Jose Antonio Fortea is not only an exorcist, but also a writer, calligrapher and parish priest. He once thought he would lead what he has termed ordinary life as an attorney in Madrid, much as his father did before him, but sensed instead a vocation to the priesthood in his adolescent years.
A theology graduate of Navarre University in Spain, Father Fortea wrote a thesis there on exorcism. He has been a practicing exorcist for some twenty years. One of his cases, recounted in Spero News as "Marta: the possessed" in 2006, was of a seemingly normal young woman could go into a trance while possessed and writhe like a snake on the floor of chapel near Madrid. A session of her continuing exorcism was witnessed by skeptical Spanish journalists who came away shocked, shaken, and mystified.
Father Fortea’s efforts, with help from other professionals, have yet to bear fruit in her case. But others have been successfully relieved of demonic possession, while many have benefited from Father Fortea’s book and learned about the practice of exorcism. “”Interview With an Exorcist: An Insider's Look at the Devil, Demonic Possession, and the Path to Deliverance is available in English, while Father Fortea’s several novels and manuscripts are yet to be translated from Spanish.
Spero News Religion editor Martin Barillas conducted an interview via email with Father Fortea in which he answered questions about possession and ways to avoid it.
MB: May a possessed person receive communion? Why or why not?
FORTEA: Yes, it is not only licit but also quite necessary. In moments of crisis, the demon moves the body of the possessed even while possession does not diminish liberty. It is therefore that a possessed person may confess and be in God’s grace.
MB: What difference is there between a possessed person and a sinner who receives Holy Communion even when he is not well disposed? Are there cases when an ill-disposed person can or should communicate?
FORTEA: The difference lies in that a sinner has besmirched his soul. A possessed person may have a demon’s chains about his body, but his soul may be clean.
One must never communicate without having a clean soul. We must strive to purify our souls when we receive Jesus. Even in the final moments, in the queue of people who will receive communion, we can purify our souls a little more by making acts of repentance. People who communicate without having confessed grave sins are not conscious of what they receive. If they were, they would not do so.
MB: Father Fortea, with your long experience with exorcisms, can you give us a few specific details about some of those you have observed?
FORTEA: That is like asking a sailor who has made many voyages over the ocean to say something about what he has observed. There are so many things… But I can say that the power of the demon is much less spectacular that what people may think. Screams, writhing on the ground, insults, vomiting, physical assaults upon the priest, spewing thick sputum – these are what the exorcist sees habitually. More spectacular things are rare. Even so, I have heard screams impossible for a human being, surprising convulsions in the air, and knowledge of hidden things of which I alone and no one else knew.
MB: With reference to pornography, what danger do pornography addicts incur? And fans of black magic or the occult arts?
FORTEA: Pornography debilitates the spiritual strength of the soul but does not provoke possession. Black magic does provoke possession because it involves invoking the devil. The occult arts are quite varied; in my books, I analyze each one as to their harmfulness. For example, divination is a sin but does not provoke possession. However, voodoo is indeed a cause of possession for those who practice it.
MB: Is there evidence or observable signs of the possessed in terms of their behaviour or morale? Or do they appear to be “normal”?
FORTEA: What is specific to possession is that the person enters into a trance and it is another spirit that moves that body.
MB: What importance to you attach to the August 2007 meeting in Poland of exorcists? Is there a greater interest in the practice of exorcism on the part of the clergy or is there a greater number of possessed?
FORTEA: The ministry of exorcism has spread widely over the last twenty years because the practice of magic has grown in the United States and Europe. This is true even though magic may bear attractive names such as “New Age”.
MB: Father Fortea, would you tell us where you will go in the United States this year? Will you be giving conferences?
FORTEA: I will be going to two conferences, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Illinois, but they will be solely for priests who work in this ministry.
MB: What is the meaning of the fascination or obsession among some young people for the series of books by J.K. Rowling about Harry Potter the magician? Are they a danger to children? Can you present your ideas about the origins and effects of the Harry Potter phenomenon?
FORTEA: The books in themselves are not bad. They are merely literary fantasies in the manner of stories that have existed in Europe since the Middle Ages. I am neither in favour of condemning nor prohibiting them. To me, they are just unobjectionable stories. However, children are imitators by nature and tend to imitate what they read and what they see. It is therefore worrisome that reading these books may lead them to attempt the practice of magic or to believe that magic is not as dangerous as their instincts might tell them. It is therefore necessary for parents to warn their children of the dangers of magic.
MB: In closing, what prayer do you think is the most effective in combating demons, possession, and temptation?
FORTEA: People ask me which prayers are the most effective, but all of them are equally effective. There are prayers in which we beg God expressly to protect us from the snare of the Malignant One. But in reality, every prayer has the same power since in the end it is a petition to God, not a formula that has a power in itself. There are people who slowly repeat, over and over, the name of Jesus as an ejaculatory prayer in which is found everything they might ask. This is an example of how a single repeated word (as in the marvelous book “The Way of a Pilgrim” by an anonymous Russian author) can be better heeded than a long prayer; everything depends on the faith and the love that is directed to God. Sometimes we say long prayers, sometimes short ones, sometimes oral prayers, and sometimes mental prayers. But all of them protect us equally from the devil.
This article was orginally published at Spero News.
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By Martin Barillas
Trained by Vatican exorcist Gabriele Amorth, Father Jose Antonio Fortea is not only an exorcist, but also a writer, calligrapher and parish priest. He once thought he would lead what he has termed ordinary life as an attorney in Madrid, much as his father did before him, but sensed instead a vocation to the priesthood in his adolescent years.
A theology graduate of Navarre University in Spain, Father Fortea wrote a thesis there on exorcism. He has been a practicing exorcist for some twenty years. One of his cases, recounted in Spero News as "Marta: the possessed" in 2006, was of a seemingly normal young woman could go into a trance while possessed and writhe like a snake on the floor of chapel near Madrid. A session of her continuing exorcism was witnessed by skeptical Spanish journalists who came away shocked, shaken, and mystified.
Father Fortea’s efforts, with help from other professionals, have yet to bear fruit in her case. But others have been successfully relieved of demonic possession, while many have benefited from Father Fortea’s book and learned about the practice of exorcism. “”Interview With an Exorcist: An Insider's Look at the Devil, Demonic Possession, and the Path to Deliverance is available in English, while Father Fortea’s several novels and manuscripts are yet to be translated from Spanish.
Spero News Religion editor Martin Barillas conducted an interview via email with Father Fortea in which he answered questions about possession and ways to avoid it.
MB: May a possessed person receive communion? Why or why not?
FORTEA: Yes, it is not only licit but also quite necessary. In moments of crisis, the demon moves the body of the possessed even while possession does not diminish liberty. It is therefore that a possessed person may confess and be in God’s grace.
MB: What difference is there between a possessed person and a sinner who receives Holy Communion even when he is not well disposed? Are there cases when an ill-disposed person can or should communicate?
FORTEA: The difference lies in that a sinner has besmirched his soul. A possessed person may have a demon’s chains about his body, but his soul may be clean.
One must never communicate without having a clean soul. We must strive to purify our souls when we receive Jesus. Even in the final moments, in the queue of people who will receive communion, we can purify our souls a little more by making acts of repentance. People who communicate without having confessed grave sins are not conscious of what they receive. If they were, they would not do so.
MB: Father Fortea, with your long experience with exorcisms, can you give us a few specific details about some of those you have observed?
FORTEA: That is like asking a sailor who has made many voyages over the ocean to say something about what he has observed. There are so many things… But I can say that the power of the demon is much less spectacular that what people may think. Screams, writhing on the ground, insults, vomiting, physical assaults upon the priest, spewing thick sputum – these are what the exorcist sees habitually. More spectacular things are rare. Even so, I have heard screams impossible for a human being, surprising convulsions in the air, and knowledge of hidden things of which I alone and no one else knew.
MB: With reference to pornography, what danger do pornography addicts incur? And fans of black magic or the occult arts?
FORTEA: Pornography debilitates the spiritual strength of the soul but does not provoke possession. Black magic does provoke possession because it involves invoking the devil. The occult arts are quite varied; in my books, I analyze each one as to their harmfulness. For example, divination is a sin but does not provoke possession. However, voodoo is indeed a cause of possession for those who practice it.
MB: Is there evidence or observable signs of the possessed in terms of their behaviour or morale? Or do they appear to be “normal”?
FORTEA: What is specific to possession is that the person enters into a trance and it is another spirit that moves that body.
MB: What importance to you attach to the August 2007 meeting in Poland of exorcists? Is there a greater interest in the practice of exorcism on the part of the clergy or is there a greater number of possessed?
FORTEA: The ministry of exorcism has spread widely over the last twenty years because the practice of magic has grown in the United States and Europe. This is true even though magic may bear attractive names such as “New Age”.
MB: Father Fortea, would you tell us where you will go in the United States this year? Will you be giving conferences?
FORTEA: I will be going to two conferences, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Illinois, but they will be solely for priests who work in this ministry.
MB: What is the meaning of the fascination or obsession among some young people for the series of books by J.K. Rowling about Harry Potter the magician? Are they a danger to children? Can you present your ideas about the origins and effects of the Harry Potter phenomenon?
FORTEA: The books in themselves are not bad. They are merely literary fantasies in the manner of stories that have existed in Europe since the Middle Ages. I am neither in favour of condemning nor prohibiting them. To me, they are just unobjectionable stories. However, children are imitators by nature and tend to imitate what they read and what they see. It is therefore worrisome that reading these books may lead them to attempt the practice of magic or to believe that magic is not as dangerous as their instincts might tell them. It is therefore necessary for parents to warn their children of the dangers of magic.
MB: In closing, what prayer do you think is the most effective in combating demons, possession, and temptation?
FORTEA: People ask me which prayers are the most effective, but all of them are equally effective. There are prayers in which we beg God expressly to protect us from the snare of the Malignant One. But in reality, every prayer has the same power since in the end it is a petition to God, not a formula that has a power in itself. There are people who slowly repeat, over and over, the name of Jesus as an ejaculatory prayer in which is found everything they might ask. This is an example of how a single repeated word (as in the marvelous book “The Way of a Pilgrim” by an anonymous Russian author) can be better heeded than a long prayer; everything depends on the faith and the love that is directed to God. Sometimes we say long prayers, sometimes short ones, sometimes oral prayers, and sometimes mental prayers. But all of them protect us equally from the devil.
This article was orginally published at Spero News.
Click here to return to homepage
ARGENTINA: Priest Accused Of Murder And Torture
Rev. Christian Von Wernich is accused of complicity with the torture and murder of scores of fellow Argentines during a military dictatorship of the 1970s. Argentine president said the priest had "dishonored" the Church.
By Martin Barillas
A priest and former chaplain of Argentina's police forces was accused in court on July 5 of murders and torture committed during that country's right-wing military dictatorship (1976-1983).
Christian Von Wernich is accused of participation in seven homicides, 31 cases of torture and 42 abductions at five different detention centers in the Buenos Aires area.
Appearing at the Federal Oral Tribunal in the coastal city of La Plata, some 45 miles from the nation's capital, the priest appears to be the first such cleric in Latin America to be tried for human rights violations, according to journalist Hernán Brienza - author of the book "Maldito eres tú (You're damned): the Von Wernich case, the Church and illegal repression".
Argentine president Nestor Kirchner said in a statement in La Plata that this was an historic moment for Argentina as a priest who had dishonored the Church, afflicted the poor and violated human rights is being brought to justice.
Von Wernich appeared in court as a graying older man, wearing a bulletproof vest over his clerical shirt and Roman collar.
The prosecutor in the case accused Von Wernich of "primary complicity" in torture and murders, having had direct contact with those detained in the Argentine dictatorship's many detention centers.
In the city of Buenos Aires and the surrounding province of Buenos Aires, Von Wernich is accused of serving during the time when the feared General Ramon Camps had control of police and military facilities - such as the infamous Naval College - where scores of victims, including pregnant women, were detained, tortured, and killed at the hands of security forces.
In relation to the Von Wernich case, journalist and author Horacio Verbitsky - a frequent critic of the Catholic Church - told AFP that the paradox of the Church in Latin America during the 1970s was that even while many of the clergy supported right-wing dictatorships, there were many murders of priests and bishops and laity by the right-wing.
For example, the current cardinal of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio, has been accused by human rights investigators of "sinister complicity" in right-wing repression of the 1970s and early 1980s. The political and military leaders of that regime, such as General Leopoldo Galtieri, have been brought to book; until now, clerics had been apparently immune.
Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat and human rights observer who served in Latin America, Europe, and the US. He is Religion News editor for Spero News.
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Putin Oils The Waters In Guatemala
By Martin Barillas
After meeting President George W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, to discuss bilateral issues such as trade and defense, Russian leader Vladimir Putin left for Guatemala on July 2 for a three-day visit to the Central American republic.
Putin's government has been lobbying the International Olympic Committee to decide on the Russian city of Sochi as the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Russian government has reportedly promised an expenditure of over $1.5 billion dollars to ensure the success of the Games at Sochi, which is located on the Black Sea. It is expected that Russia will improve infrastructure such as airports and railways, as well as provide adequate sporting facilities for the 2014 Winter Games.
Sochi is among two candidates being selected by the IOC on July 4 in Guatemala. In the running are Salzburg (Austria) and Pyeongchang (South Korea). Austrian chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer will also be on hand in Guatemala City to lobby for Salzburg's bid. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's presence in Singapore during the 2005 IOC session in Singapore is widely seen to have cinched London as the site for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
But fun and games are not the only things on the agenda for the meeting of Putin with Guatemala's President Oscar Berger. According to Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal, the two are expected to toast a successful conclusion of some 12 years' trade negotiations between Guatemala and Russia, which are to expected to benefit Guatemala's coffee and sugar exports with favorable tariffs. The negotiations brought about Guatemala's support of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The two presidents met July 3.
In advance of Putin's arrival to Guatemala, Russian Vice Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov was quoted saying that "We hope to establish new economic, commercial, and cultural relations with Guatemala on this visit. There are large Russian petroleum companies that are interested in cooperating with technology transfer."
Zhukov reminded listeners that Russia is a completely different country from the defunct Soviet Union, saying "We are ready to invest in various areas, to cooperate economically. It depends on Guatemala's interest." Zhukov also made it official that Guatemala will soon have a Russian embassy, whereas relations with Guatemala are currently conducted out of Russia's embassy to Costa Rica.
Russia is the largest producer of petroleum in the world. Coincidently, Sheik Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait, the president of the Oil Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel (OPEC) is also to visit Guatemala in the coming week. Compared to Kuwait and Russia, Guatemala produces small amounts of petroleum and has little refining capacity. Exploration was conducted as early as the 1950s when Texaco commissioned a survey for a possible road and pipeline in the Peten region in 1959.
Guatemala is Central America's only oil producer, while the 30-year-long civil war, low oil quality, and poor infrastructure discouraged further investment. In 1981, new deposits of oil were discovered in the northern jungle region of Guatemala. A pipeline to the Caribbean coast was completed in 1981 but attacked more than a dozen times in 1991, ostensibly by Marxist guerrillas. Since the end of the civil war in 1996, oil concessions have been granted by the government and production has averaged 23,300 barrels per day in 2000. Guatemala also has modest natural gas reserves.
©Copyright, Martin Barillas 2007
Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat and human rights observer who served in Latin America, Europe, and the US. He is Religion News editor for Spero News and blogs at HispanoBizantino.
Click here to return to homepage
After meeting President George W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, to discuss bilateral issues such as trade and defense, Russian leader Vladimir Putin left for Guatemala on July 2 for a three-day visit to the Central American republic.
Putin's government has been lobbying the International Olympic Committee to decide on the Russian city of Sochi as the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Russian government has reportedly promised an expenditure of over $1.5 billion dollars to ensure the success of the Games at Sochi, which is located on the Black Sea. It is expected that Russia will improve infrastructure such as airports and railways, as well as provide adequate sporting facilities for the 2014 Winter Games.
Sochi is among two candidates being selected by the IOC on July 4 in Guatemala. In the running are Salzburg (Austria) and Pyeongchang (South Korea). Austrian chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer will also be on hand in Guatemala City to lobby for Salzburg's bid. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's presence in Singapore during the 2005 IOC session in Singapore is widely seen to have cinched London as the site for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
But fun and games are not the only things on the agenda for the meeting of Putin with Guatemala's President Oscar Berger. According to Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal, the two are expected to toast a successful conclusion of some 12 years' trade negotiations between Guatemala and Russia, which are to expected to benefit Guatemala's coffee and sugar exports with favorable tariffs. The negotiations brought about Guatemala's support of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The two presidents met July 3.
In advance of Putin's arrival to Guatemala, Russian Vice Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov was quoted saying that "We hope to establish new economic, commercial, and cultural relations with Guatemala on this visit. There are large Russian petroleum companies that are interested in cooperating with technology transfer."
Zhukov reminded listeners that Russia is a completely different country from the defunct Soviet Union, saying "We are ready to invest in various areas, to cooperate economically. It depends on Guatemala's interest." Zhukov also made it official that Guatemala will soon have a Russian embassy, whereas relations with Guatemala are currently conducted out of Russia's embassy to Costa Rica.
Russia is the largest producer of petroleum in the world. Coincidently, Sheik Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait, the president of the Oil Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel (OPEC) is also to visit Guatemala in the coming week. Compared to Kuwait and Russia, Guatemala produces small amounts of petroleum and has little refining capacity. Exploration was conducted as early as the 1950s when Texaco commissioned a survey for a possible road and pipeline in the Peten region in 1959.
Guatemala is Central America's only oil producer, while the 30-year-long civil war, low oil quality, and poor infrastructure discouraged further investment. In 1981, new deposits of oil were discovered in the northern jungle region of Guatemala. A pipeline to the Caribbean coast was completed in 1981 but attacked more than a dozen times in 1991, ostensibly by Marxist guerrillas. Since the end of the civil war in 1996, oil concessions have been granted by the government and production has averaged 23,300 barrels per day in 2000. Guatemala also has modest natural gas reserves.
©Copyright, Martin Barillas 2007
Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat and human rights observer who served in Latin America, Europe, and the US. He is Religion News editor for Spero News and blogs at HispanoBizantino.
Click here to return to homepage