Cardinal Peter Turkson shares his thoughts on integral human development


Cardinal Peter Turkson: "I've always believed that in life, you don't leave anything the same way you found it ... you always have to be able to change something for the better." Photo: ARCHPRODUCTIONS

The human being is endowed with the dignity that comes from God. And promoting this dignity and helping it develop in various aspects is the task of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said Cardinal Peter Turkson.

The Ghanaian cardinal was speaking in an interview with Mr Andre Ahchak, Director of the Archbishop’s Communications Office, on July 22. Cardinal Turkson, who heads the dicastery, was the keynote speaker at Caritas’ Social Mission Conference the previous day.

“The dignity of the human person is not given by a court of law,” said Cardinal Turkson. “It’s not given by the United Nations. It’s given by the fact that you were created in the image and likeness of God. That is the source of your dignity.”
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A number of clergy in the Archdiocese of Singapore have reported that they have been impersonated in fraudulent emails sent from unknown sources. These emails are addressed generically and seek considerable sums of money as a “personal request”.

These impersonations have included the Archbishop of Singapore (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and the Chancellor (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

The authorities are looking into the matter. In the meantime, the faithful in Singapore are advised not to reply to suspicious emails such as these and remain vigilant about improbable requests.

Clergy who find themselves impersonated in such emails should notify the Chancery. They may also wish to send a message to their church ministries and contacts to alert them of the fraud.

Fr. John-Paul Tan OFM, JCL
Chancellor
Chancery of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore
#07-01 Catholic Centre, 55 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187954
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.



Fr Luke Fong

When Pope John Paul II wrote his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Inuente (At the Beginning of the New Millennium) in early 2001, he stressed an important Christian principle in every Christian’s view of life, which is the primacy of grace.

This principle holds that in all our human actions that are noble, good, loving and true, and that glorify God, we are led by God’s grace to even desire them in the first place.

We need to be aware of this Christian principle in order for us to remain humble and not be inflated with our ego and pride in holding any view that we are the architects of our own goodness.
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Fr Terence Pereira speaking at the Lectors’ Study Day.

About 200 lectors from across the Archdiocese learnt about the importance of the Word of God in one’s life and how it is key to sustaining a deep and intimate relationship with God.

The lectors were participating in the Lectors’ Study Day held at the Catholic Archdiocesan Education Centre on Aug 4. It had the theme, “The Word in Communion”.

Fr Terence Pereira, Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelisation, explained the first six chapters of Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation.
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