Catholic Church in India ordains its first married deacons

Asia News ^ | January 24, 2006 | Nirmala Carvalho

[NYer]

INDIA

Indian Church ordains its first married deacons

by Nirmala Carvalho

Ordination ceremony takes place in the Archdiocese of Mumbai. Diocesan spokesman says the event was very important, enriching the mission of the Church.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) – The Catholic Church of India ordained its first married deacons. Last Sunday, Card Ivan Dias, archbishop of Mumbai, presided over the ceremony that saw Lyod Dias and Elwyn D’Souza, both 60, acquire the right to celebrate religious functions such as marriages, funerals, baptisms and administer the sacraments, except for mass and confession.

In an interview with AsiaNews Fr Anthony Charangat, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mumbai, explained that “this is first time a married person has been ordained deacon. No other diocese in India is known to have ordained a permanent deacon.”

For the clergyman, this is a “very important” event for “this ordination shows how the laity has its rightful place in the life of the Church.”

“The ordination of permanent married deacons brings back into use an old sacrament that had fallen into disuse. Today, however, it is something we need in these areas,” he said.

Deacons will be ordinary ministers of the Word of God. After the Second Vatican Council, the Latin Church restored the deaconate “as a proper and permanent order in the hierarchy [. . .] enriching the mission of the Church,” he said.

The ordination of married deacons has been practiced for decades in Europe and Latin America. The Indian Church was authorised to do the same in 1983, but it was never implemented till now.

This, Father Charangat explained, was largely due to the need “to prepare people to accept the novelty and set up programmes to train candidates.”
Fr Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of India, expressed similar views. “Married deacons have always been part of the Church's tradition, though at some points in its history their visibility declined.”

[MILESJESU]

Dear All,

I guess y'all know that today is the 250th Birth Anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart is one of my favorite composers along with Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, Gounod, and Liszt to mention a few.

I have a deep rooted interest in Classical Music and Sacred Choral Music. In Fact, both the genres of Music have been my first love from a young age.

Today, In Mumbai at the N.C.P.A. The Newman Choir performed a number of compositions of Mozart specially his sacred choral works and a couple of Masses. I did not attend the Peformance at the N.C.P.A. but there were two good writeups in the Times of India over the past two days.

I have discovered an excellent Sacred Choral Music Site on the Web, it is from a Parish website in minneapolis. It is http://www.stagnes.net/music-recordings.html.

If anyone is interested in the Life and works of Mozart they can also check out the following web page at www.mozartproject.org. I just love the Orchestral Masses composed by all these eminent Musicians.

In Jesus and Mary,



When Mozart Stunned Rome.

Wolfgang's Memory Caught a Pope's Attention

By Elizabeth Lev

ROME, JAN. 26, 2006 (Zenit.org).- As any good music aficionado knows, 2006 marks the 350th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Opera houses worldwide are featuring "Don Giovanni" and "Figaro," while Mozart biographies and boxed sets of concertos and sonatas proliferate in music stores.

Even Rome was enchanted by this great composer and, indeed, the child prodigy from Salzburg was warmly received in the Eternal City during his brief sojourn here in 1770.

Mozart is often associated with the Freemasons -- he joined the Masons of Vienna in 1784 -- and "The Magic Flute" is held by many scholars to be a Masonic opera. The most important moments of his life, however, took place in the Catholic Church.

Mozart was born on Jan. 26, 1756, and baptized Catholic with the name Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus. "Theophilus," which means "lover of God," was soon transformed into the more celebrated moniker "Amadeus." He married Costanza Weber in the Cathedral of Vienna, his children were baptized Catholic and he was given last rites by a Catholic priest.

In this light, the visit to Rome must have held great meaning for the 14-year-old Catholic Mozart. Immediately upon entering the city through the splendid Piazza del Popolo, the young Mozart and his father Leopold made their way to St. Peter's Basilica. Thanks to Wolfgang's fine clothes and Leopold's clever strategies, the two were allowed through the Vatican gates.

It was Holy Week in Rome -- Holy Tuesday to be exact. Pope Clement XIV was busy serving meals to the poor gathered in the Vatican, shortly before celebrating Mass in the Sistine Chapel. The two Austrian musicians managed to find their way into the papal presence and then accompanied the court into the chapel.

It was custom during Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel to sing the exceptionally beautiful piece of music known as the "Miserere," written a century earlier by Giorgio Allegri. The work, performed by two choirs of nine voices, was exclusive to the Sistine Chapel and could not be published, but was handed down from choirmaster to choirmaster.

The remarkable prodigy Wolfgang stunned everyone by returning to his lodgings and transcribing the music he had memorized during the liturgy. His proud father wrote to Wolfgang's mother Anna, "Perhaps you have heard of the famous 'Miserere,' whose publication is prohibited under pain of excommunication. Well, we have it. Wolfgang wrote it from memory."

Word spread fast throughout Rome of the child who could memorize music after hearing it once. The news eventually reached the ears of the Pope. Far from excommunicating the boy, Pope Clement received Wolfgang several times in audience, conferring medals and titles on him.

The Mozarts visited Santa Maria Maggiore and the Quirinal Palace in the Pope's company. Like good pilgrims, they acquired relics, including a piece of the Holy Cross. And, although perhaps not as salubrious for the soul, during that July in Rome, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart learned how to play bocce ball.

[Nihil Obstat]

Nice story. Liz Lev is great. God bless.