World Over - 2013-07-18 -- The Late François-Xavier Cardinal Nguyên Van Thuán with Raymond Arroyo

I believe the interview starts around the halfway mark.

ACN News - Rebels attacking South Sudan

"They abduct children, burn down houses and kill people. Many people are fleeing into the towns. In my diocese, there are many internal refugees." This is how a local Catholic leader described rebel attacks in South Sudan.

Edward Hiiboro Kussala, Bishop of the South Sudanese Diocese of Tambura-Yambio, made his statement when speaking to the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

In his diocese, which is located in the border region, the population is being attacked by rebels based in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The LRA, which was established in Uganda in1987 under the leadership of Joseph Kony and has since largely been driven out of Uganda, operates today primarily in the border areas of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. 

To improve the security situation in the region soldiers of the Ugandan and South Sudanese armies, the American contingent and the African Union Force had been stationed there, Kussala said.

"This military presence is not a solution,” he continued. “What's more, the international community lacks the will to arrest the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony."

"The politicians believe in the military, but all these efforts have been to no avail." He called on politicians to do more to start a peace dialogue.

The bishop described how the Church had an important role to play in the peace process because it was educating people in peace and reconciliation and was a "lobby" for peace, often acting through diplomatic channels to further the cause of peace.

South Sudan, the majority of whose population adhere primarily to Christian and animist religions, became independent from the mainly Islamic northern part of the country on July 9, 2011.

Between 1983 and 2005 a bloody civil war had raged, claiming more than 2 million human lives and making many millions of people homeless.

With pictures of children saying the Our Father in South Sudan and Bishop Eduardo

Hiiboro Kussala of the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio in South Sudan (© Aid to the Church in Need)

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need.  ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity,” the organization is now at work in over 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 43 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information contact Michael Varenne at michael@churchinneed.org or call 718-609-0939 or fax718-609-0938. Aid to the Church in Need, 725 Leonard Street, PO Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384.  www.churchinneed.org

The Brown Scapular - Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Blessed Sacrament Church, Paterson, NJ

The following is from the Pieta prayer booklet.

Mary's Garment

This is Mary's promise made July 16, 1251, to Saint Simon Stock.

On October 13, 1917, at the last apparition at Fatima, Our Blessed Mother appeared dressed as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.  Silently she held out to the world the brown scapular - the sign of personal consecration - the sign of eternal salvation.  Lucy of Fatima explained: 'The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.'

The devils revealed to Francis of Yepes, the brother of St. John of the Cross, that three things especially tormented them.
The first is:  The Name of Jesus;
the second is the name of Mary; and
the third, the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

'Take off that habit,' they cried to him, 'which snatches so many souls from us.  All those clothed in it die piously and escape us.'

Your SCAPULAR, then, should take on deep meaning for you.  It is a rich present brought down from heaven by our Lady herself.

"Wear it devoutly and perseveringly,', she says to each soul, 'It is my garment. To be clothed in it means yo are continually thinking of me, and I in turn, am always thinking of you and helping you to secure eternal life.'"

The following is from a little pamphlet I received when I received the Brown Scapulars made by the Sister of Carmel, a Carmelite order that make high quality woolen Brown Scapulars by hand.

Devotion

True devotion to Mary consists in three things:

Veneration
Confidence
and Love.

Without saying to Mary that we venerate her, love her, and trust in her protection, we tell her these things every moment of the day by simply wearing the Scapular.

The Scapular is a Silent Prayer

As Our Lord taught us to say the Our Father, Our Blessed Mother taught us the value of the Scapular.  When we use it as a prayer, Our Lady draws us to the Sacred Heart of Her Divine Son. It is good, therefore to hold the scapular in the hand.

A prayer offered while holding the Scapular is as perfect as a prayer can be.  It is especially in time of temptation that we need the powerful intercession of God's Mother.  The evil spirit is utterly powerless when a Scapular-wearer, besides his silent devotion faces temptation calling upon Mary. "If you had recommended yourself to me, you would not have run not such danger." was Our Lady's gentle reproach to Blessed Alan de la Roche, one of her devoted servants...

For Non-Catholics

Our Lady's Motherhood is not limited to Catholics:  it is extended to all men.  Many miracles of conversion have been wrought in favor of good non-Catholics who have been induced to practice the Scapular devotion.

Pope Benedict XV granted an indulgence of 500 days EACH TIME the Scapular is kissed. NOTE:  nowadays we earn partial indulgence.