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All is grace. The last letter of Antoine CHATELARD

All is grace! We are welcomed to CHRISTMAS and the New Year at the same time as Covid 19. Édouard and Paul-François tested positive, Immanuel and I negative, last Monday night after the visit of a niece of Edouard’s who came from Paris for 16 and 17 December. That’s the reason why we are organising ourselves for a new situation without knowing what the day holds.

Thank you for your news and your best wishes. Almost all arrived after a long silence that is explained by the events of this special year, which has challenged usual habits and relationships. It is also a new way to share our story over years that have left traces with the celebrations of historical characters, who had not marked my story as I was far from France and without the possibilities of information that we have now.

To those who may have questions about my activities and my new book, I must tell them that, for obvious commercial reasons, it will not be published until the date of canonization is announced. It has been at the publishers for more than a year and will only speak about Charles de Foucauld in Tamanrasset, beginning with the story at the Asekrem, where he was only a few months in 1911, and which still poses questions about his true motivations. It will be followed by a chapter on his activities the following year (1912) in Tamanrasset typical of his conception of world affairs. Chapter 3 will be limited to his only pre-planned travels with a young Tuareg in Marseille in 1913, never before mentioned, not even in the most recent books. Finally, the last chapter, on January 12, 1913 in Tamanrasset will allow us to see him live out his various actions as we try to follow his revised and amended timetable.

This will be just an introduction to other topics that merit clarification and which can still reveal to us a form of holiness that is not always clear. I have just learned that Pope Francis, was not content to conclude his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, speaking about Charles, but has just offered a biography of this future saint to the members of the Roman Curia, without citing what book this is from. Concluding “Fratelli tutti” by mentioning our brother Charles, has encouraged me to continue my work to show in greater detail what his fraternal life was like with the men and women he loved, not only for a time, for a single day, but every day, during the last years of his life. Hundreds of people came to what he called “communion” when he was still dreaming of gathering disciples, but where he was always alone.

In the early years he only wrote down the names of the recipients of his alms and small gifts, on loose sheets that are not found in the edition of his notebooks. It is important because it lets us know that he knew hundreds of people, from the early years. On the other hand, during his last three years, he wrote down their names every day and we can tell that several came hundreds of times. These figures are important to understand the importance of these visits he received, and the subsequent contacts they had among themselves.

The one who in the early years did not go out further than a hundred meters, no longer hesitates to go miles to those who are sick, to visit his new house or see his garden, while busy with his linguistic work, his times of prayer and a very copious correspondence. I wish to show that he no longer does anything for their conversion, even if he often speaks about it, but he feels the duty of working for their salvation as his own, loving them as they are and as Jesus loves them. So, he expresses his concern for the salvation of all in the daily lists of his notebooks, in his rare personal writings or in his abundant letters.

So, I am learning to rely on these people, surprised to discover that many were still alive when I arrived in Tamanrasset and the Asekrem in 1955 and even much later.
Charles still has certainly something to say to our Church and to the world, even if it is not new. The official and universal recognition of his holiness will be a good support for all those who refer to him throughout the world, and especially among bishops, priests and lay people, religious both men and women who were inspired by him and who have died, after having played their part in the world. Especially, it will be a challenge to young people, those not interested in this testimony of another century.

Thanks to Pope Francis, who could have ended up quoting Francis of Assisi again, and who has spoken to us of Charles, as if granting him an important role for the future of the Church and of the world after the universal pandemic, which is delaying his canonization. We have never spoken as much about our Blessed Charles as recently with the death on his feast day of Bishop Teissier. Algeria’s ambassador to France spoke in prophetic language, describing him as a saint and above all as a compatriot. The Canonization will not contribute much to these ceremonies in Lyon and at Notre Dame of Africa. Many would have seen the magazine “En Dialogue” No. 14, about Charles of Foucauld and the Muslims, published just before these events.

I must admit that aging does not improve my chances of mobility, even indoors and despite outdoor physiotherapy sessions. The daily questions take up more time than my work about de Foucauld, and the too distant prospect of seeing my book come out does not encourage me to work, despite questions coming from all over, including Tamanrasset and other parts of Algeria, which oblige me to answer about small things that keep me in touch with his history.

A happy Christmas and a better 2021 to all.

PDF: All is grace. The last letter of Antoine CHATELARD

2020 Pentecostal Letter, Eric LOZADA

Come, Holy Spirit, send forth the heavenly radiance of your light! Come, Father of the poor; Come, Giver of gifts; Come, Light of the heart; Greatest Comforter, Sweet Guest of the soul… fill the inmost heart of Your faithful, cleanse that which is unclean; water that which is dry; heal that which is wounded; bend that which is inflexible; fire that which is chilled; correct what goes astray. (from Veni Sancti Spiritus)

Beloved brothers,
this prayer to the Spirit, I pray with you with greater intimacy and focus. The corona virus is compelling us all to stop and take a long, evaluative look at what have happened locally and globally that has led us to where we are now in order that the Spirit may lead us to new creative paths. The pandemic is teaching us that our world needs renewal or else we are all going to perish. Our regard for every human person, systems operative in the family, neighborhood communities, schools, churches, religions, politics, economics, technology, social media, our care for Mother Earth, they all need to be re-grounded on more universal, inclusive, equitable, less judgmental, adversarial, principles in order for us to thrive anew as a civilization of love and life.

We welcome anew the Spirit at Pentecost but we somehow forget that the Spirit was here from the very beginning at Genesis. (cf. Genesis 1:2) The movement of the Spirit has always been to bring order from chaos, to give life, to lead us to all truth, to teach us everything that we need to know. (John 16:13) But the same Spirit blows wherever it wills and we cannot tell where it comes and where it goes. (John 3:8). Our theologizing, our calculated thinking and planning cannot predict nor inhibit the way of the Spirit. It always surprises us, expanding our vision and freeing our hearts more and more from all encumbrances so that we are free for God in our world. Just as we cannot see air, silence, the Holy Spirit renews our world in ways beyond our seeing. We simply have to be present to Presence in every moment.

Our world including Mother Earth is in birth pangs about what is the future like after the pandemic. The great mystic Julian of Norwich, in his 13th Showing, says it, “All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” He explained this to mean, to be joyful in all circumstances, however adverse, for the reason that all things will ultimately be put right in Christ. We need to be careful about how to receive this message. Does this mean we simply fold our hands and leave everything to God? Is this some kind of soft theology that promises manna from heaven amidst our suffering?

The pandemic is teaching us to hope. Hope is our capacity to entrust the future in the hands of a loving God. Hope is not something soft; it is a struggle to hope. We struggle because it seems that evil, tyranny, violence, fear, death is more dominant than goodness, peace, unity, love, life. God’s response to evil is hidden in the risen Christ. He never rescued his Son at the crucible of suffering but he eventually validated him with new life after he passed through helplessness, fear, violence, death. God will ultimately vindicate us and will show the world and all its systems how wrong it was in many ways. (cf. John 16:8) But we need to decide. In the face of evil and suffering, shall we allow our hearts to be dominated by fear, hopelessness, indifference, bitterness, anger, disappointment or shall we be more open, responsive, loving, forgiving, life-giving? The Spirit renews our world and all of creation in more patient, gentle and humble ways. We are invited not to stand in its way but to flow with the agenda of God for our world.

So, what is ours to do to? What are the possibilities and challenges that are being offered to us that we need to attend to with renewed courage and hope? Someone once said, “today we don’t need big men with little hearts but small men with big hearts for only the little and the small can pass through the eye of the needle.” Little acts of goodness done with extravagant and committed hearts. Our new normal today is an imperative to return to the basics of Gospel living, corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Our own Brother Charles has left us a spirituality – imitate Jesus in Nazareth, seek the last place, live simply, do apostolate of goodness one person at a time, be a brother and friend to every person regardless of color, creed, status, be close to the poor. Pope Francis is urging us to go to the peripheries, be harbingers of the joy of the gospel, safeguard minors and vulnerable adults, engage in on-going formation, protect Mother Earth our common home. We also need to go back with new enthusiasm to the basics of our spiritual practice – daily adoration, daily meditation of the Gospel, review of life, monthly day in the desert, fraternity meetings. We renew our fidelity to the practice not to perfect ourselves but to take greater responsibility for the gift and let its fruits flow to others infinitely until God is glorified in their own lives.

Brothers, in this time of the pandemic, we receive a special gift from Mother Church – declaring Brother Charles a saint. Together with the other members of the spiritual family including those who have been inspired by Brother Charles but are not “canonized” members of the spiritual family, we thank the Spirit for this gift. We hope and pray that Brother Charles’s life, message, intuition, legacy may be made more available and be an inspiration to many people, as the Spirit wills. For ourselves too, we pray for greater resolve to witness in our lives and ministry what Brother Charles had lived for.

I end my letter with the Collect at Mass today – “Father, sanctify your whole church in every people and nation and pour out the gifts of the Holy Spirit across the face of the earth.”

Thank you very much. We continue to hold each other and our world in prayer. Please pray for me also.

Your brother and servant responsible,

Philippines, 31 May 2020

PDF: Pentecostal Letter from the general responsible to the brothers, Eric LOZADA, Pentec.2020, eng

Easter letter 2020 to the brothers around the world. Eric LOZADA

Philippines, 12 April 2020

I am risen, and I am with you still, Alleluia. (cf. Ps 139:18)

Beloved brothers,

I am writing to you from my hermitage just like many of you in quarantine. This imposed enclosure is an excellent invitation for daily adoration, Gospel meditation, desert day, review of life, praying for the world, especially the poor, with fidelity, intensity and focus. A quality life of solitude and prayer is our humble act of charity to our world in pandemic.

Looking through my window, I am watching for signs of new life from Nature. It’s dry and humid here but birds are playing and singing their unique repertoire of songs, butterflies gently flying from flower to flower looking for nectar, trees are looking green and giving shade in spite of the battering heat. Amazing, how nature has its own way of heralding the Resurrection. No worries, complete abandon to God who takes care of them. We, humans are supposed to be a superior breed because of our reason but the same has systematically edged out trust in God in the day-to-day and we rely more on our egoic thinking. This same thinking has been the cause of violence, hatred and mistrust. Resurrection is offering forgiveness, love and trust. The world has to choose.

We are in enhanced community quarantine until May 3 but priests are given access passes for liturgical and charitable works. I have been using it every day to visit people where I am invited to accompany the dying and the family in their loss, facilitate dialogue in families, give food and money to those who have been laid off from work. Someone moved me to be with the people in their helplessness especially because they could not go to church and pray. The Presence brought by my presence is a soothing balm of comfort for them. I have been extra careful though to follow the protocols of hygiene and distancing in order not to give more harm to the community. This morning, my friend Lemuel came to the hermitage very hungry, haggard-looking, asking for food for his starving 4 young kids. Lemuel has been laid off from work. Handing over to him some goods, I am blessed by his joy but I also feel the uncertainty in his eyes.

After prayer this morning, I take a long loving look at the map posted at my wall. My eyes are fixed at the four continents of Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas. The virus is indeed a great equalizer for rich and poor countries are suffering from the same fate. I see faces of doctors, nurses, patients, their families, worried, afraid yet fighting for life. (While writing, I am informed that my sister working as a nurse in the US is COVID positive. Her family is now at risk).

The world is undergoing its passion. I see faces of helplessness, worry, fear, sadness, hatred, violence everywhere in multiple disguises. I ask: what is the message of the Resurrected Christ to our world today? What is God inviting us to see? Where is he leading us? Does Resurrection mean He will rescue us from all these? What is God’s response to His people in pandemic? How is the gentle message of the Resurrection be heard amidst the overpowering news of death, suffering, conflict? Where is the path of hope and new life in this our difficult time?

Brothers, please suffer with me these questions. I need you, we need each other, the people need us. Resurrection is not some cheap joy nor sweet sounding words to rescue us from our suffering. We have to strain our ears and stretch our hearts to hear the Message. We wrestle with God for answers even if his answer is hidden in His silence.

I find the reading of John’s version of the Resurrection narrative this year a Kairos. Some details from John could help us see and hear the Message. Since I am not schooled in biblical hermeneutics that well, I rely on a prayerful reflection of the text. Please be generous if it sounds naïve.

Let me just point out 3 things. First, John speaks of the Resurrection as happening “on the first day of the week, while it was dark.” (Jn. 20:1a) Resurrection bursts forth from the very foundations of our humanity and the world, in the darkness of unknowing. This reminds us of Genesis when the world was dark and formless and the Spirit hovered over the dark waters. Then God said: “Let there be light and there was light.” (Gen. 1:2-3)

Today, the world is in the darkness of the pandemic. The future even seems darker for many. How shall businesses, government, the people recover? Is our strategic planning, optimistic forecasts, finding the cure enough light to give us a bright future? In the midst of utter darkness, where the world’s foundations seem to be shaken, Christ the light bursts forth. Can we see? Seeing does not come from our human logic for the same is easily defeated by darkness. Light comes from the Resurrected Christ. Is God going to rescue us from this evil? Not at all for evil does what it does. God redeems. He ultimately vindicates virtue, goodness, fidelity while we go through evil and suffering just like what He did to Jesus. God and the Resurrected Christ is ultimately in control not evil and death. This is our creed. We simple have to trust its truth and live it in the day-to-day.

Second, John emphasizes that Mary of Magdala first saw the open tomb. (Jn.20:1b) She was sad because she could not yet link the open tomb with the Resurrection. It was only after she wept that she saw the Risen One. (cf. Jn. 20: 11ff) This is an invitation for us to see our reality through the gentle lens of the feminine – in sadness and in tears. Both prepare the heart for real seeing. There are many things that we are sad about our reality today. We are in tears because in one way or another, we are part of this wounded, broken and violent world and in many ways, we have contributed to its violence and wounding.

Lastly, Mary reported to Peter and John what she saw. Peter and John saw it for themselves. Peter saw. John saw and believed. They all did not yet understand the meaning of the Resurrection. (cf. Jn. 20: 2-9) This detail is inviting us that in order to experience new life, we need to reach out to one another and walk together as a community of truth seekers. Our reality is a shared vision and nobody monopolizes the whole or absolutizes his/her part of the whole. Each one contributes. Each one believes that the other has something to contribute. Truth humbles us for instead of possessing it, it possesses us. It is always beyond us. So, we need each other’s contribution. Truth is a free gift revealed to a vibrant pilgrim community who seeks with hope. Sad to say, in our post-modern world, power is mistaken for truth. So, one becomes arrogant of his part and absolutizes his part as the whole truth. This is the same mentality that creates war and violence. Resurrection is offering peace and forgiveness. We need to choose.

Brothers, we continue to share our search for truth in the Risen Lord today both in the solitude of our prayer and in our fraternal and missionary engagements. Brother Charles is showing us and is also walking with us the path, in our longing to follow Jesus of Nazareth, to be a brother to all, to live Nazareth, to be present to the poor, to review our lives, to cry the Gospel with our lives, to smell like the sheep in our mission to the peripheries, to live the Gospel before we preach. This is our spirituality as diocesan priests in the footsteps of Bro Charles. This is also our gift to our world and to our church today. As a gift, it is undeserved but we need to constantly readjust the gift through practice. Here, we are all beginners and fellow strugglers but together, we encourage one another to keep coming back to our practice.

My humble prayer for each one of you. Please also pray for me.

PDF: Easter Letter 2020, Eric LOZADA, brother responsible, eng

Letter of Eric. Our brother Mariano PUGA

16 March 2020

“I shall see the Lord no more in the land of the living. No longer shall I behold my fellow men among those who dwell in the world. My dwelling, like a shepherd’s tent, is struck down and borne away from me; you have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs the last thread…” (Isaiah 38: 11-12).

“There is such a thing as a good death. We are responsible for the way we die. We have to choose between clinging to life in such a way that death becomes nothing but a failure, or letting go of life in freedom so that we can be given to others as a source of hope.” (Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved).

Beloved Brothers,

feeling deeply both gratitude for the gift and sadness for the loss, I announce to you the passing of our big brother, dear friend and a living icon in the fraternity, MARIANO PUGA CONCHA from Santiago, Chile. He passed away last 14 March 2020 at 88 years old. He died of lymphatic cancer.

Allow me to honor the soul brotherhood we had with Mariano with the following lines. My first encounter with Mariano was in Cairo General Assembly in 2000. Prior to his election as general responsible, his presence in the assembly was like a virus contaminating us with joy and laughter with his delightful singing accompanied by an accordion. Little did I know that these songs were from the slums of Santiago, very jovial and empowering and never depressing. He was like a troubadour singing with his lungs and heart the dreams and aspirations of his people in Santiago. His wild spirit and joy-filled music captivated me.

My second encounter was in the US in 2002. He was visiting US fraternity while I was in a sabbatical. The late Howard Caulkins, another dear friend proposed that if I would come with him to the country assembly in Minnesota then, he would drive me to Mepkin Abbey where I would spend my sabbath year as monastic guest. We did drive together and there, I met Mariano again. Very easily, we reconnected, soul to soul, in a deeply personal and intimate way. I was sharing with him my crisis with the Church, with my personal demons and with God and I never felt so listened to. He simply embraced me tightly like an elder brother comforting a younger brother, with tears in his eyes, feeling my pain. Then, he smiled at me with these soothing words, “It will be okay.” We parted ways with a promise to hold each other in prayer – I to the Abbey and him to Tammanraset. My more recent encounter with him was last year in Cebu during the General Assembly. At 88, travelling across the globe took a heavy toll on him. He was hospitalized twice, and in both times, I was with him. The sage in him was calling me to come out from the tomb of my pretense and share personal testimonies. We easily reconnected, brother to brother, valuing each of our stories, at the emergency room (where he stayed for 5 hours) then, inside his room (which he vehemently resisted for he wanted to stay at the ward with the poor people), until very late in the evening. Then, with a smile on his face, he whispered to me, “the assembly has just finished, I could now go home.” I went home that night, so humbled yet so enriched by this soul-full exchange, our review of life which for Mariano is at the heart of any assembly of brothers.

Allow me to share also some lines which Fernando Tapia wrote to me about Mariano. “Mariano was a passionate seeker of God and a lover of Jesus of Nazareth. The encounter with Him through the poor of a dump changed his life forever. He left everything and entered the seminary. Here he met Charles de Foucauld and followed his spirituality until the end of his life. He was a spiritual father and formator at the seminary of Santiago. Then he became a worker priest for more than 30 years of his life sharing in the lives of the poor. He always lived among them. He was their pastor, defender during the time of military dictatorship of Pinochet, suffered being imprisoned 7 times. He promoted a church committed to the poor. He preached many retreats in Chile and outside of Chile. He was a man of prayer, of joy, close to everyone, a friend of believers and non-believers, a missionary to the peripheries of the Chilean society, following in the footsteps of Bro Charles. The gospel was his guide which he wanted to cry with his own life.”

Mariano, brother, friend, thank you very much. Thank you for you wild witness of a wild God in Jesus of Nazareth. I share the gratitude and the grief of the poor people of Santiago whom you have touched by your witness. May Jesus, the Good Shepherd welcome you to your new abode for eternity which he prepared for those who are faithful.

Brothers, I pray with Mariano that in our meetings and assemblies, we continue to risk sharing our poverty and vulnerability to one another. It is our poverty that unites, qualifies and liberates us as brothers-in-fraternity. The same is our springboard for mission with the poor, as we said in Cebu. May it also be our humble yet firm resolve to share in the missionary life of Jesus of Nazareth with the poor in the footsteps of Bro Charles.

With my fraternal embrace,

PDF: Letter of Eric. Our brother Mariano PUGA, engl

Letter of Christmas of the general responsible, 1 January 2020

“A child is born for us, and a Son is given to us…” (Isaiah 9:5)

Beloved brothers,

I am so sorry that this Christmas letter comes to you as a new year’s message. It’s just that in our diocese at the moment, I am asked to do a couple of sensitive ministries that many at times, I lose my balance. Wresting with evil and all its complex shadows that damage persons, relationships and institutions like the church, I repeatedly struggled to fall into the hands of a loving God for light, inner peace and love. But at times, I feel sad, angry and helpless. And so, by the grace of God, I am here, better late than never. Allow me to embrace you with warm greetings of joy in your local fraternities, dioceses, country and continental fraternities. Though many of you are still without faces to me but I continue to whisper each of your names before the Beloved. (Thanks to our directory but it needs updating). Last year, I was privileged to have met brothers from Haiti, Dominican Republic, Southeast USA, South Korea and Myanmar. In a special way, the Haiti meeting of the Association of the Spiritual Family of Charles de Foucauld last April has both grounded and expanded my knowledge of the Spirituality and Tradition. Thank you, sisters and brothers for the hospitable welcome, brotherly exchanges and humble witness.

I would like to start with the first question that Yahweh asked Adam in Genesis: where are you? I ask this question periodically just to check how grounded am I with my reality. Reality is not really mine but God’s reality in me and in the world and how free or unfree am I in responding to it. Adam was unfree, afraid of his nakedness, hiding from God, guilty of his sin. Without his knowing it, he operated from a distortion that alienated him from God and from his truth. From Adam came forth a whole “cracked” humanity. Yet, the prophet Isaiah prophesied about the coming of the new Adam: “a shoot springs from the stump of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the spirit of the Lord rests…” (Isaiah 11:1). There is a new humanity that is born from a tree that is cut from its roots – a humanity not hostaged by evil but “divinized,” restored to its original goodness. The crack is still there not anymore as a block but as the only opening for the flow of God’s grace to come in. And so, we pray, “O God… grant that we may share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” (Christmas, Collect).

Pope Francis has enabled us to look again at the nativity scene with his apostolic letter, Admirabilis Signum. The most admirable sign is that a humble infant God entrusted himself into the hands of a broken humanity. While most of humanity was not ready, the shepherds, animals, the manger were ready. They represent humanity receiving God in its lowest poverty, brokenness, imperfection, filthiness and by this radical act of self-donation, we become what we receive. This is pure divine initiative. The “manger” of our hearts, hardened and torn by evil in all its forms, both structural and personal when held before God becomes a humble yet prophetic space for encounter, dialogue, healing and hospitality with the many disguised faces of the Emmanuel today.

Allow me to bring into the picture Bro Charles, his wild life, excessive behavior, restless energy, passionate letters. He spent all his life trying to ground himself on the Mystery of the Incarnation. “Lord, if you exist, let me know you.” His was a cry for an experiential knowledge of God. He wrestled with the Mystery. And in God’s gentle and patient ways, he led him into a liberated response to the forgiving love of God. “Now that I know that there is a God, I cannot but give my whole life to him.” A further growing down into the Mystery made him say these words, “my way is always to seek the lowest place, to be as little as my Master, to walk with him step by step as a faithful disciple. My life is to live with my God who lived this way all his life and who has given me such an example from his very birth.” Jesus did nothing other than to go down and this marked Bro Charles permanently. The radical littleness of God at the Incarnation bore fruit to a life of further growing down into the radical humility of God in Nazareth. From Bethlehem to Nazareth, two foundational mysteries of God revealed in the life of Jesus and when we get this right, in the footsteps of Bro Charles, our lives, our way of doing mission as diocesan priests and the way we see the world is changed forever.

Before the Mystery, may I invite you to hold the complex realities of our local, country, regional and international fraternities, our dioceses, our church and our world. We have already seen some of these in Cebu but there is a need to see them with new eyes and respond with new enthusiasm and hope. The unassuming humble God of Nazareth may have subtle invitations for us in these realities.
In the April gathering of some 20 members of the Association, we learned of Haiti as a poor country but rich in faith. Our Little Brothers and Little Sisters of the Incarnation have a very prophetic and concrete presence in the lives of the Haitians in agriculture, education, livelihood programs, social services. Yet, corruption in the political system is making the country still in a dark tunnel of poverty, uncertainty and unrest. (As of the moment, the situation is even getting worse). Frs. Jonas Cenor and Charles Louis Jean, former little brothers of the Incarnation started the fraternity with 3 brothers in 2015. Fr. Fernando Tapia has visited and invited them to the Pan-American Meeting in 2017. With occasional visits from Fr. Abraham Apolinario, they continue to look for possibilities to meet regularly. The problem is not only distance but more so, the political climate is making travel dangerous. Where is God inviting us?

Our membership in the Association is a gift. I am in awe at how Bro Charles has inspired so many charisms and missionary work in the Church and some are still coming in. We could not set aside, however the tensions that this diversity brings. But these tensions could be life-giving when they are seen in the bigger agenda of the Kingdom. We all are invited to drink again and again from the same Spirit so that we can all walk together in harmony. The Association, though is asking for our more active involvement in terms of correspondence and attending meetings. I am handicapped in the French language and so I have invited Fr. Matthias Keil to represent us.

The fraternity in Santo Domingo and Santiago is very alive yet getting older. Pioneer member and retired Bishop, Rafael Felipe, his presence and life-witness is like a lighthouse to both clergy and seminarians of the diocese of Beni. He has been introducing the fraternity to the seminarians and had preached a couple of priest retreats on the Fraternity. Fr. Lorenzo, a very dynamic priest of a small parish lives in a semi-monastic community of priests, sisters and seminarians. Fr. Angel Marcano, however, asks the question that still seeks for answers: why after 30 years, we have not grown? Where is God inviting us?

I was privileged to have attended the 40th anniversary of Fr. Jerry Reagan in Toybee Island, Georgia, USA in May. His rectory is a fraternity house where priests could come and spend the night. He drives for 2 hours every month to Augusta to meet with the brothers, including Fr. Peter Clarke who is already 91. Starting with adoration, then review of life and ending with an agape, their meeting has been very regular and intimate that when a brother decides to leave, it leaves the fraternity fragile. With no new member, the fraternity is even more vulnerable.

The fraternity in South Korea is young and vibrant. Fr. Paul, who has lived in Tamanrasset for some time, started the fraternity in 1994 with Fr. Philip Yoon and is joined in by mostly young pastors. Christianity in Korea is very unique because it is laid on the foundation of the blood of thousands of martyrs who are mostly lay people. The brothers contribute from their personal money in order to put up a house where they could meet for the monthly meeting. Just like many, they struggle with desert day, review of life and the English language.

Seeing Frs. Eugene and Matthew and how they live, the fraternity in Myanmar has an ascetic face. The majority Buddhist religion made prominent by the presence of pagodas everywhere and the wearing of slippers (not shoes) make living in Myanmar naturally simple. Asking a non-JC priest, however, about his perception of the fraternity, his answer has disturbed me, “I cannot be honest with my answer in front of them.” What is the underlying face of the fraternity? Where is God inviting us? The brothers, though, struggle with finding regular time for meeting, desert day and review of life.

Cardinal Benjamin Stella, the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome has written me a letter through Fr. Aurelio, expressing his deep closeness with us and that we may “live afresh and with joy our mission according to the guiding principles” of the Holy Father. He, however, spelled out some concrete challenges – that we may take seriously the Nazareth month; that our fidelity to the means of spiritual growth ad intra is a necessary requirement for authentic mission ad extra; that our going out to the peripheries needs to be accompanied by our on-going conversion in order to bear fruit. The international team is scheduled to meet with the Cardinal in Rome in July this year.

In our team meeting last October, we, your brothers in the international team have discerned a major path that we need to take. We train a team of itinerant priests who will introduce the Fraternity Week (modeled after Brazil) to 4th year-theology seminarians, young priests and even make it available as annual retreat for priests. We need to write to the local ordinaries and we are starting this venture in Asia.

Finally, my gratitude to the financial acumen and hard work of our two Matthiases – Fr. Matthias Keil of Austria, our general treasurer and Fr. Matthias Fobe of Germany, our financial consultant. We have now a new bank account under 2 signatories – Fr. Matthias Keil and myself. Speaking of finances, the international team has agreed that brothers who need assistance to attend the Month or meetings abroad they need to be first supported by the local and country fraternities and only then will the international fund be asked to help out after due consultation with continental responsible. This is to put a stop to a sub-culture of entitlement and using the fraternity as a passport to travel abroad.

Brothers, Christmas is the opportune time for us to give birth. We move forward to the new year by looking back at the Father who gave us Jesus. We too need to give birth to our simplicity of life, joy of being, humility, loving compassion to poor. Side by side, together as brothers and friends, we walk by faith not by sight for our on-going configuration into Jesus’ life and ministry as inspired by Brother Charles and for our life-giving mission work with God’s beloved people.

Kindly offer a prayer for me, your inefficient brother-responsible.

With my fraternal embrace,
Eric Lozada

PDF: Letter of Christmas of the general responsible, 1 January 2020

At the International Assembly in January 2019 in Cebu, Fr. Eric Lozada was elected as the new International Responsible. By then, the National Team decided to call for a special gathering of the local responsibles and those brothers who have made the Month of Nazareth in order to pray, share and discern together for our new National Responsible as well as to review on the realities and mission of our local fraternities.

We are the twelve (12) brothers from four fraternities who came, as others were caught up with earlier set pastoral commitments. At St. John Vianney Clergy House within the seminary compound of Dumaguete City we found a home from August 26 – 30, 2019.

The noise at the nearby airport spoke of the myriads of realities that beset and attempt to deviate us from our focus in our life and mission as priests. Listening to the experiences and questions of the brothers and reflecting on the Letter from Cebu we felt the invitation to silence and be in touch with the Source of our vocation and mission, Jesus, the Risen Lord. An hour a day before the Blessed Sacrament , at the overnight vigil and during the Day in the Desert we have to embrace the many painful realities within our broken selves, in our hibernating local fraternities, in our wounded prebyterium and in our scared and scarrred society.

Hope is marked in our hearts! The cross over the heart: Jesus Caritas.

Blessed Brother Charles carried this fire as a brother to everyone He dared to walk along with those in the peripheries. Pope Francis both in his persona and pronouncements exudes this joy on the mercy and compassion of God to reconcile and bring healing to the young people, the families, those who lost homelands by war and violence and to our beloved paining earth, our common home.

We are called to retrace our journey back to Jerusalem, the place of Jesus passion and resurrection. And even to go further back to Galilee, the place of Jesus meeting and calling his disciples.

As brothers in the fraternity, the only way to move ahead is to review our attraction and initiation to Jesus Caritas. We have to outgrow from the travels and meetings that may have given the impressions of us being a secret, elite and pious group. At the Month of Nazareth we have attended and where we have made our final engagement to the fraternity, at our National and Continetal gatherings and at our local fraternity sharings are the many moments where we broke the bread of ourselves and were nourished.

Perhaps the open door of fraternal spirit that initially attracted and inspired us in our priestly ministry may have become now a narrow door that tests our endurance. Indeed the good soil needs plowing and weeding so as to welcome the seeds sown to put on deeper roots. Our local fraternity does not depend only on the charismatic personality of the responsible. Its strength also lies in each responsible members. This we have to strive and encourage one another to revive our common fidelity.

Towards the end of our gathering we have elected an interim National Responsible who will lead us towards our National Assembly in 2020. Fr. Vel Villasis from Iloilo accepted the call. He also chose his team in the persons of Fr. Ervy Lajara (Visayas), Fr. Anthony Jun Piguerra (Mindanao) and Fr. Larry Famarin (Luzon).

As we setforth back to our mission places, we are so grateful to the kind services of the religious sisters and the warm welcome and company of Dumaguete brothers. God bless us all!

Eric’s Letter

Feast of the Visitation of Mary, 31 May 2019

“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (John 14:26)

Warm greetings of peace to you, dear brothers,

With all humility, I make a personal confession why it took me so long to write this letter. Many times, I sat in front of my computer not knowing what and how to write. It felt like a pregnant woman about to give birth but her pelvis is too narrow for the new born. I struggled with words but my biggest struggle was the heart, having the right spirit and disposition of a brother. Many of you are mere names to me without faces and stories that we share to qualify our being brothers. I needed the time to ground myself to the Father who has invited me to leave the comfort of my homeland and is sending me as a missionary brother. I needed moments of nakedness before Jesus at prayer whose Spirit at Nazareth is inviting you and me to this great adventure of downward mobility, living simply but with joy, in ordinariness and obscurity, finding the last place, consumed by the gospel of the greatest as the least, seeing Jesus in the poor, apostolate of goodness, not lording over but serving, to be poor in spirit for the sake of the kingdom. I needed the space of being rekindled by the spirituality, life and intuitions of Brother Charles through the testimonies of brothers and sisters who are deep into the life and the tradition of the Fraternity. The meeting with the spiritual family at Haiti last April, my visits to the brothers in Haiti, Dominican Republic and the United States and my retreat at a Trappist Monastery in Georgia have been a tremendous help. (These will be the subject of my next letter). Jesus too needed that space in my heart for my conversion because even if I am 30 years in the fraternity and have been in 3 months of Nazareth, I still have unhealthy and immature ways that may stand in the way of this ministry. Being an unfinished project myself, I need your honest feedback and fraternal advice. Please tell me and I would gladly receive them as a gift for my on-going formation.

As you know, before I was elected general responsible, my world revolved around my little fraternity in a small village, without TV and internet, as a chaplain of a small Carmelite monastery of nuns and dean of studies of a small college seminary, coming from a small diocese in the Philippines. My world was then very small, my way of living very rural and the thought of writing to the brothers all over the world is overwhelming at the least. I thank the Advocate for enabling me to write. I pray that these same words may not stand in His way of teaching us everything that Jesus wants us to know. I thank you for your generous patience. I am so sorry for those who feel orphaned by my long silence. In my silence, I whispered your names in my prayer (thanks to the directory), one day at a time.

Another Look at Cebu Assembly and Beyond

Our Cebu Assembly last January was indeed “a precious manifestation of the Spirit of Pentecost.” My brotherly joy and sincere gratitude to all of you who have prayed for us while in Assembly. To our continental and country responsibles with our former general responsibles, Mariano and Abraham who have travelled to the other side of the globe just to be in the assembly, thank you very much. To the previous team – Aurelio, Jean Francois, Emmanuel, Mark and Mauricio – for your great planning and hard work before and during the assembly, thank you very much. We can only build on what you have generously laboured. Thanks in particular to Aurelio for the legacy project of website and for Jose Alberto Hernandis who is very willing to manage our website. My joy and gratitude to the members of my team with Tony Llanes as my co-general responsible who are very willing to serve. Since ours is service to the international fraternity, may I beg you to write to us your concerns, news, invitations, feedbacks, stories. I personally chose them to represent the four continents so that there would be more easy access to news and information. Here are our contact details:

Eric Lozada, – 63 9167939585;
Tony Llanes, – 63 9183908488;
Fernando Tapia, – 56 988880397
Honore Savadogo, – 226 70717642
Matthias Keil, – 43 67687426115.

Just as you trust us, can we also trust you to help us in this? More than a top-down dynamic, we wish to have more dialogue, transparency, reciprocity, feedbacking in our different levels of communication. For a start, we are meeting this 11-18 of October in South Korea and we would appreciate anything from you – personal, local, national, regional – that you may want us to consider and respond to. You may channel them to me or to your continental representative in the team.

Brothers, the Letter from Cebu is not a finished document. It is a work-in-progress. May I invite you (and let us be together in this) to make it a subject for personal and fraternity re-reading and discussion. In Cebu, we have identified and have committed ourselves to be missionary diocesan priests inspired by the witness of Bro Charles. We have contemplated the realities of our society, church and fraternities from the different continents and countries. We have listened to the call of the Spirit to be church in the peripheries (thanks to the prophetic leadership of Pope Francis). And from the calls that we heard, we are firmly resolved to concrete and strategic actions for the development of our society, church and fraternities.

In your re-reading and discussion, may I invite you to treat the document as a friend whose words are Spirit-filled, transformative and prophetic. The reality of violence, terrorism, injustice, trafficking, serious ecological crisis, migration, globalization of indifference, fundamentalism, secularization (the list is too long) is very complex. Yet almost immediately, we tend to project this reality from outside. This attitude is not very helpful. We need to be more involved. Asking the Spirit for the gift of courage and humility, we take a long, loving look at our interior structures/subcultures –values, mentality, lifestyle, biases, attitude, preferences, wants – as diocesan priests. We name the many subtle ways where we have been part of the problem. We share our realizations to brothers in our fraternity who could help us in our growth. Perhaps, the most beautiful gift we could offer our world today is by owning that we have been a part of the problem. Hopefully, with repentant and transformed hearts, we become part of the solution.

The Spirit is calling us to be a church in the peripheries. Asking the Spirit for the gift of courage and trust, we explore together the peripheries of our soul – the rejected, ugly, despised, deep-seated, hidden, denied parts of ourselves that we need to claim, own, accept, embrace and heal. Here, we need the intimacy of our fraternity to be able to share our deepest wounds without being judged. As need be, we may consult a professional for our on-going growth and recovery. Then, the next time we go to the peripheries, we are different. We are more interiorly free and happy missionaries. The sad thing is when we go with our unhealed wounds and unreal selves. We go blind, needy, full of ourselves and we do not even know that. We forget the agenda of Jesus and the Kingdom. How can the blind lead another blind? I am convinced that the best gift of mission we can give to the people of God, especially to the poor is our attentiveness to our on-going transformation as missionary disciples of Jesus.

Brothers, in Cebu, we saw how we all struggled with the desert day and review of life. We need to treat this fact not as a conclusion but as a starting point. The conclusion is quite obvious and we need to be honest about it. It means poor quality of our meetings, our relationships, our ministries and even our prayer. This is our poverty and our lack of attentiveness to the essentials. This is also our path to liberation and wholeness if we want it. We need a firm resolve to commit to a regular and quality time of solitude in the desert where the Divine Therapist could transform us and make us whole. Our review of life is not a mere report of our lives and ministries, no matter how honest we are. Rather, it is a place of encounter with the Spirit who enables us to see our lives as God sees us. Our fraternal sharing is a real place of heart-to-heart meeting. In the regularity of such meeting, we grow together as soul brothers – more trusting, honest, intimate, truthful, less judgmental, pretentious and defensive, more caring and committed to each other’s on-going growth as beloved disciples of Jesus at Nazareth inspired by Bro Charles. This witness of fraternity is for me a good vocation campaign.

Come, O Holy Spirit, Come

Allow me to speak a little about the coming Pentecost feast. The Acts of the Apostles records, “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the spirit enabled them to proclaim.“ (Acts 2:1-4)

With due respect to our bible experts, especially Emmanuel Asi, may I invite you to meditate with me this text. It seems that the favourite place of the Holy Spirit is when persons meet as an intentional community of friends, brothers, ((including sisters) believers of the Risen Christ. At its core, a community, different from a crowd, is a firm resolve of every member to ceaselessly work for what unites rather than what divides, mindful that everything is a gift and that there is only One Giver. Though we struggle with differences (mind you, it is always a tough one) but we keep coming and falling into the Source that unite us. Every time we pray, “Come O Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth,” we are praying what Jesus the High Priest dream of the world, “Father, that all may be one just as you and I are one.“(Jn. 17:21) The Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life (as we profess in the creed) infinitely animates, enables, transforms and gathers all of creation so that it becomes one living image of unity in the Trinity just like in the beginning. The whole earth, not just the human world, as Pope Francis fondly calls, becomes our common home where life in all its forms is revered as sacred and a gift. When Paul teaches the community at Philippi “to put all things under Christ,”(2:10) Christ is the universal reference point of everything and not just for Christians. To be men and women of the Spirit, then is to always work for what includes rather than what excludes, for dialogue, for universal fraternity with everything that is.

Jesus’ name for the Spirit is the Advocate. Jesus promised the Advocate who will teach us everything that we need to know. In legal terms, the advocate means a defence attorney. The Spirit is our defence against the spirit of the Evil One operating in our world today, be it in political and economic structures, in interpersonal, familial or communal relationships even in the subcultures within church and religion. It is very cunning and deceptive, always disguised as good and even as license to do evil in the name of God. The text tells us that the coming of the Invisible Spirit takes the visible form of tongues of fire resting on the head of each of the apostles gathered. We pray for that fire to rest on each of us “to transform our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh” and make us more able to discern very well where evil lies from good. May the fire of Truth rekindle our hearts with a passion for Jesus and the Kingdom. The other visible image of the Holy Spirit is a strong wind that fills the entire place of those gathered. We pray for that strong wind to topple down and transform hearts and institutions hardened by indifference, violence, hatred, resentment, exclusion that only fragments God’s creation. May the Spirit who is a strong Wind widen the spaces of every human heart to include the poor, the marginalized and the stranger in the family of God’s beloved children. May our fraternities be schools of the Spirit so that we become passionate yet gentle disciples of Jesus at Nazareth in our violent and fragmented world as inspired by Brother Charles.

Brother Charles, the Universal Brother

Finally, a note on Brother Charles. Early this year, Little Sister Kathleen of Jesus published a book of the same title. It contains the major themes and I love how it is written. Thank you very much, Kathleen. As you already know, Brother Charles – his life, message, intuitions – should occupy a significant space in our on-going formation as diocesan priests. It is what qualifies us. The more we know him, the more we know Jesus, his Beloved. Brother Charles is not just some icon to be venerated. He is a living call, a tangible point person in our deep longing to follow Jesus.

On the call to be universal brother, Little Brother Antoine Chatelard points out, “It’s first about being a brother, before thinking about being universal.” In the life of Brother Charles, the intuition to be a universal brother first happened in October of 1901, as Sr. Kathleen narrates, when Brother Charles settled at Beni Abbes. Through the generosity of his cousin Marie, he was able to buy a piece of land strategically located halfway between the walled local villages and the French garrison. He built, through the help of the French army, a little monastery bounded by lines of big stones. And this is the key. “He himself would rarely go beyond it but anyone could enter. He wished to be a universal brother in a context of conflict involving many opposing parties. “(p.16).

That was a moment of insight! The call to be universal brother is first and foremost the call to be a brother. In Brother Charles, to be brother is to stand in the in-between, (not black or white but gray) in the middle (not the same with being at the center) of many opposing parties. A brother is immersed, rooted, right in the midst of Reality with all its paradoxes, tensions and complex cross-points and he never leaves his stance. If he leaves and moves off the middle, he becomes particular. In embracing one, he excludes the other. He is not some fence-sitter who does not have any concrete stand on any socio-political-economic-cultural or even church issues. On the contrary, he is grounded on what is going on and he stands in the middle of everything. When he opts for the poor and the marginalized, he includes the rich. Precisely, it is only in being at the middle of things that he can embrace all things as universal brother. And it is only then, with this evolving insight that Brother Charles began to call his house not a hermitage (living under a cloistered monastic rule of life) but a fraternity where anybody could come and is welcome. He painted at the ceiling of his fraternity the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus whose arms are wide open to anyone who comes. His consuming closeness with the Sacred Heart of Jesus leads him to imitate Jesus Caritas, the Universal Brother par excellance of which he is only a humble witness pointing to Jesus.

Brothers, thank you very much for your generous patience in reading along my rather long letter. I continue to hold you, your fraternities and your dioceses in my prayer one country at a time. Please pray for me also your little servant-brother.

With my fraternal embrace in Jesus Caritas,

Eric Lozada

PDF: Eric`s Letter, may 2019, english


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The Independent

Euston station evacuated after ‘e-cigarette explodes’.

Sky News

E-cigarette ‘explosion’ sparks evacuation at Euston station.

Faulty white goods will cause more fire-related deaths unless ministers act on recommendations made by the London Fire Brigade (LFB), according to a letter signed by the … Read full article

BBC News

British Standards-approved smoke alarms have “wildly varying” response times, according to a new study by Which?.

BBC News

Smoke alarm response times ‘wildly vary’.

Inside Housing

Grenfell Tower management refuses to release fire risk assessments.

The Local Government Association has said that local councils cannot afford the substantial fire-safety upgrades to social housing recommended in the wake of the Grenfell fire.

Cash-strapped local councils balk at multi-million-pound fire-safety upgrades as government rules out additional funding.

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Home » Delicious Tamil » Curd Rice
Curd Rice

Curd Rice

Rs. 80.00

One of the south Indian delights, Curd Rice is rich in probiotics that promotes the growth of healthy gut bacteria thus relieving constipation and abdominal pain.

Curd Rice is made up of soft cooked rice mixed with yogurt and then tempered with spices.


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Next Generation Wearable Devices: Smart Health Monitoring Device and Smart Sousveillance Hat using D2D Communications in LTE Assisted Networks

Next Generation Wearable Devices: Smart Health Monitoring Device and Smart Sousveillance Hat using D2D Communications in LTE Assisted Networks

Niraj Shakhakarmi (Department of Electronics & Computer Engineering, Navajo Technical University, Crownpoint, NM, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/ijitn.2014040102
OnDemand PDF Download:
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The next generation wearable devices are Smart health monitoring device and Smart sousveillance hat which are capable of using wearable sensors for measuring physiological information, sousveillanace, navigation, as well as smart device to smart device communications over cellular coverage. Smart health monitoring device collect and observe different health related information deploying biosensors and can predict health problems. Smart sousveillance hat provides the brainwaves based fatigue state, training and sousveillance around the wearer. The next generation wearable smart devices deploy the device to device communications in LTE assisted networks with D2D server, D2D Application server and D2D enhanced LTE signalling for D2D service management, spectrum utilization and broad cellular coverage, which make them portable, social, commercial and sustainable. Thus, the wearable device technology will merge with the smart communications besides the health and wellness. Furthermore, the simulation and performance evaluation shows that LTE-D2D wearable smart device communications provides two times more energy efficiency than LTE-UEs cellular communications. The LTE-D2D data rate is also found significantly higher with higher D2D-SINR for lower relative mobility (= 30m/s) and lower D2D distance (<400m) between devices.
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Review Of Literature

Body Area Sensor Networks (BASN) consists of multiple interconnected sensor nodes on, near, or within a human body, which together provide sensing, processing, and communication capabilities. BASN includes the physiological sensors, bio-kinetic sensors and ambient sensors to collect the different medical data, provide to the body aggregator to execute a multitude of functions, including sensing and data fusion, serving as a user interface, and linking BASNs to higher-level infrastructures (Hanson et al., 2009). The drawback of BASN includes the restriction of fewer sensor nodes, limited data range and bandwidth, limited redundancy and scalability, lack of cooperative Qos management and heterogeneous networks access. These are addressed by the smart health monitoring device which can connect with different body sensors or implanted sensors and isolated devices, collect massive video and medical data and execute sensor fusion, data mining, data exchange through D2D communications or LTE infrastructures and cloud storage.

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By partnering with Roosevelt University and a number of Chicago companies, the ISCC/ PAL has helped many military veterans acquire jobs and internships after returning home from combat. While our brave men and women proudly dedicate themselves both mentally and physically to creating a safer future for their fellow US citizens, it is no secret the hardships and traumas they face in doing so. Oftentimes the adjustment of redeployment can prove a challenge. These difficulties can affect a veteran’s ability to find employment.

Creating Job Opportunities on a Personal Level… The ISCC/ PAL :

  • Provides directional assistance for veterans by helping them obtain interviews with local companies for positions and internships for which they are most qualified.

  • Helps veterans establish their own company.

  • Has teamed up with Roosevelt University to offer Veterans:

    • Tuition-free educational opportunities

    • Career fairs where on-the-spot hiring is possible.

…And on a Political level:

In the political sphere, ISCC advocates for veteran support as well. For example, on 9/13/10 the ISCC/PAL initiated and saw through the passage of the Veterans Preference Ordinance for Cook County, Illinois.

Established group of highly professional pro bono attorneys to aid returning Iraq Afghanistan combat veterans at no charge.

January 20, 2012

I am composing this letter to say thank you. Thank you for your service, assistance, dedication and hard work that you provided me during my criminal case. There are no words that can truly express my deep and heartfelt sincere gratitude. The work that you did for me was superb and outstanding. You were both efficient and professional. Your foresight on all matters on my case was truly remarkable. I owe the success and victory of my case to your dedication and perseverance, which you showed throughout the small timeframe that you were handling my case.

Yesterday, my attorney and I walked into court facing the charge of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

I had mentally prepared myself for the worst as I heard so any nightmare stories about what would happen. Nevertheless, things also looked quite promising and I had a great deal of hope and confidence just knowing that you were representing me indirectly. You assured me time and time again that I had nothing to worry about and I believed that my life was in great hands.

In addition to having the backing of the Illinois State Crime Commission, a skilled and dedicated attorney makes all the difference; certainly no one can say that I do not know this first hand. I believe in the long run I will truly benefit from both agencies level of expertise, which I can attest, is a cut above. I am determined to stay focused on matters that are important to my growth not only as individual, but as a leader. I have a second chance to stay on the path of straight and narrow. I believe nothing but positive things to come in the future with the verdict that was rendered.

Once again, I give you my heartfelt thanks and appreciation. You are truly skilled in every way an attorney can be to make a difference. I will recommend you highly and deeply appreciate your counsel, advocacy and friendship. I can say without hesitation that you have exceeded my expectations, both in time and in the first class service that you offered. Even if the outcome of my case was different to what I received then my testimonial would be the same. The service and experience was exceptional. Thank you very much.

(name withheld for privacy)


text:
Andy Carroll passes West Ham medical

Andy Carroll is set to complete his £15million move to West Ham United after passing his medical with the club.

The England international, who spent the majority of last season on loan at Upton Park, was due to undergo his physical assessment today though the Hammers were able to bring proceedings forward by 24 hours.

There had been concerns over Carroll’s fitness, after the 24 year old missed the two recent England international friendlies with a heel injury, though the move can now be finalised.

Meanwhile, the Premier League fixture list for the forthcoming season has been announced.

The Reds begin the season by hosting Stoke City on August 17th, while their second home game of the season will be against league champions Manchester United.

The first leg of the Merseyside derby will take place at Goodison Park on November 23rd while Liverpool host Everton on January 28th.

Boxing Day see’s the club travel to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City, while 2014 begins with a home game against Hull City.

The trip to Old Trafford is scheduled for March 15th, while Newcastle United come to Anfield for the final game of the season on May 11th.

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Finance & Development, September 2019, Vol. 56, No. 3 PDF version

Illuminating Economic Growth

Satellite images of the earth at night reveal the pace of economic growth and much more

Jiaxiong Yao

Scientists have been using satellite images of Earth at night—often referred to as “night lights”—to study human activity and natural events for almost 30 years. In the past decade, economists have followed suit, realizing that night lights can help gauge economic growth, map poverty, analyze inequality, and tackle numerous questions otherwise impossible to answer, especially in places where data are lacking. In fact, if aliens were ever to approach Earth from its dark side, they would already know some basics about the global economy long before reaching our atmosphere.

Human light shows, exotic seen from space, have recurrent themes. Take a look at the Korean peninsula and gasp at the stark difference between the north and the south (see Image 1). It is a contrast of darkness and brightness, of isolation and connectedness. Travel back in time and marvel at how fast China and India have been lighting up. It is a story of development and growth, openness and globalization.

How are night lights being used in economics? To understand this, we need to go back to the satellite images and gain some basic knowledge about their composition. Each pixel of a satellite image represents an area of less than one square kilometer on Earth. It is associated with a digital number that measures the brightness at night. The brighter the spot, the higher the number for that pixel. When these numbers are aggregated over all pixels in one country, it becomes an indicator that measures the activities of that country at night. When such an indicator is compared across countries and over time, it turns into a barometer of economic development and fluctuations.

Reflecting the changing economy

The relevance of night lights for economics is predicated on their strong correlation with economic activities, even though most of these occur during the day. Night lights broadly capture two aspects of the changing surface of an economy: expansion across space or, less often, spatial contraction. In growing economies, more areas are lit up over time and more pixels start to record light (see Images 2 and 3). By contrast, in regions mired in conflict, more patches of land become dark, and more pixels begin to lose light.

The other aspect is intensification. As rural areas urbanize, cities agglomerate, and infrastructure modernizes, the same night sky brightens, and more intense light is registered by satellite sensors.

The relationship between night lights and economic development, however, is not always straightforward. In my study with Johns Hopkins University’s Yingyao Hu, we compare night lights with GDP, the official and most commonly used measure of an economy’s performance. We find that rich countries are indeed brighter than less developed countries, but there is no lack of exceptions. On a per capita basis, Nordic countries have almost always been the brightest spots on Earth. On the other hand, Japan, despite being a rich country, looks scarcely brighter than Syria did before the Arab Spring, most likely because of its energy conservation habits and high population density.

When we account for country-specific characteristics of night lights, an interesting relationship emerges that reveals the remarkable transition from building physical capital to cultivating human capital that we observe as a country develops.

Countries at rudimentary stages of development focus mostly on infrastructure—building roads and bridges, constructing railroad stations and airports, and upgrading power grids and telecommunications, all of which emit light at night. As a result, the night sky appears increasingly bright in satellite images as the economy grows.

Advanced economies, on the other hand, power their economy through scientific and technological innovation, and the resulting productivity growth often has less to do with lights at night than the infrastructure that underpins this innovation. In fact, night lights grow only about half as fast as GDP in advanced economies.

What about countries whose official statistics are uncertain?

There is probably nowhere on Earth where good economic data are scarcer than in countries afflicted by conflict—yet these economies are among the places we need to track and understand the most. Statistics agencies in these countries may have long stopped functioning properly, but satellites are still witnessing economic activity.

It turns out that we can use night lights to reestimate the GDP of a conflict-stricken country, based on its similarities with other countries at various stages of development. When we do so, we find that the night-light-based GDP measure often points to faster economic deterioration during conflict than the official data show, but this measure also suggests a stronger bounce-back after the conflict ends. There is good reason to suspect that the ebb and flow of the informal economy plays a role in this postconflict environment.

The usefulness of night lights is not limited to a single indicator in economics. In fact, if we view each pixel of a night-light satellite image as a data point, an individual country such as the United States alone consists of hundreds of millions of data points. With more than 200 countries and regions in the world, the Earth’s land surface contains almost a billion data points.

That is a massive amount of data, and that count is only for one early satellite image with very coarse resolution. The number would grow exponentially with more frequent releases of satellite images of ever-finer resolution, which technology is making possible today. With hundreds of them already taken in the past and many more to be taken in the future, the images’ information is, to put it mildly, exploding. In that sense, night lights are no longer about the dark side of the Earth, they are about the digital side of the Earth.

Gaining new insights

With big data come new technologies to extract information and new insights to gain into this world. It is not hard to imagine that advances in data science, such as machine learning, can be used to analyze patterns and help decision-making
with such data—many companies, such as DigitalGlobe and Orbital Insight, do just that. As data science progresses, the granularity of this type of data can be harnessed to study local effects, spatial spillovers, and economic activities in the far reaches of Earth where the only reliable information comes from hundreds of miles above.

And it is not just night lights. Countless data points hold stories we are only beginning to tell. Through the lens of satellite data, geospatial data, text data, and infinite other emerging sources of information, we will be able to gain new perspectives and form new ways of thinking about economics.

Suspended in a sunbeam, Earth is a delicate place in the vast expanse of cosmic darkness. But for our civilization, its dark side would have remained dark, as it was for billions of years. While night lights have been illuminating the Earth for more than a century, they have just started illuminating our understanding of it.

As we enter the age of big data, opportunities abound. We should seize this moment to leap forward, harnessing the power of big data to gain a keener understanding of the economy, guide smarter policies, and make this world a better and brighter place.

JIAXIONG YAO is an economist in the IMF’s African Department.

This article draws on IMF Working Paper 19/77 by Yingyao Hu and Jiaxiong Yao.

Opinions expressed in articles and other materials are those of the authors; they do not necessarily reflect IMF policy.


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Flir becomes major shareholder of Cedip

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Flir Systems has completed its acquisition of a majority shareholding in Cedip Infrared Systems, which will now be integrated and marketed under the Thermography Division of Flir.

The company has successfully acquired 67.8 per cent of the share capital of Cedip, and it now plans to buy the remaining shares with a standing market offer on the French Alternext stock market.

Flir has traditionally been very strong in the preventative maintenance and the security sectors of the thermal vision market, and the move is hoped to expand Flir’s portfolio to include thermal equipment for scientific research and development, such as cooled mid-infrared cameras.

It will also provide Flir, which is currently based in Sweden and America, with an important manufacturing base in central Europe, along with Cedip’s existing distribution networks.

‘Flir and Cedip have complementary competence and engineering and manufacturing capacities,’ Arne Almerfors, president of Flir Thermography, told ‘The move will benefit our customers with a broader portfolio and a bigger range of products, and our joint research and development capacity will help us to develop our products to better suit customer demand.’

The move follows a string of similar agreements for Flir, which has acquired Inframetrix, Indigo, SMC and Extech in recent years.


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India | Sikkim

Facing the snow-capped mountains, Borong is a picturesque village with beautiful landscapes and magnificent views. The hot spring "Borong Tsa-Chu" is located here. The trek trail, originating from Namchi or Damthang to Tendong-Ravangla-Maenam-Borong, is one of the most interesting trials scaling the hilltops along the route.

Updated on 7th June, 2005
District: South Sikkim

Copyright 2014 by Online Highways LLC. Enjoy some India trivia. Send Us Your Comments


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YK Software Solutions is an Information Technology (IT) consulting and Solutions Company that is focused on providing state-of the-art technology solutions to challenges in today's rapidly changing business environment.YK Software Solutions is a fully integrated organization, providing product and application development, customization and integration services in enterprise applications, eCommerce platforms, and mobile solutions.At YK Software Solutions, efficient technology solutions will be provided in a timely and cost-effective manner, through a variety of comprehensive service offerings, ranging from customized software design and development services to business consulting, product-based enterprise systems and web application development.YK Software Solutions offers multiple industry domains and verticals, following full or partial Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) specifications, optimally customized to cater to specific customer needs.+ Read More

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BRICS cover photo

Brazil has been a destination and centre of attraction in recent days, not just for organising the FIFA World Cup 2014 but also for hosting the second cycle of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit.

The key focus of the 6th BRICS Summit in Brazil at Fortaleza was the setting up of BRICS Development Bank along the lines of Bretton-Woods institutions, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The major reason for setting up the $100 billion bank is to counter the western-dominated decision-making process in the other global financial institutions based on the quota system in IMF and voting power in World Bank.

So was this new bank really needed and how does it stack up against the IMF and World Bank ?

The BRICS nations have come together with a feeling that developing economies can better understand each other’s problems and issues and find common solutions. Poverty, crime, economic instability, unemployment, rising population, diseases, lack of infrastructure facilities, inflation etc.are some of the key issues across nations. These countries also have abundance of untapped natural resources and cheap labour,which stands to its advantage as a support for infrastructure development.

The summit was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first multilateral engagement looking to improve relations and build much stronger economic and trade ties with BRICS countries. Intra-BRICS trade increased from $27 billion to $276 billion between 2002 and 2012.

Overview of IMF and World Bank

Let us now look at the history of IMF and World Bank. They were set up as part of theBretton-Woods settlement after the Second World War in 1944 to support and fund the development and reconstruction of shattered European countries.

IMF functions as a regulatory authority providing long-term loans, stabilising the devaluation of currencies and a helping hand to tide over balance of payment crisis. It has adopted the Special Drawing Rights as an international reserve asset to regulate and stabilise the exchange rate system. Its value is based on the basket of four key international currencies and these can be exchanges for freely usable currencies.

The role of World Bank is to give long-term developmental loans to fund infrastructure projects in member-countries. It consists of mainly The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA). While the former provides loans to middle and low income economies on interest basis, the latter gives grants or credits to poor countries.

While IMF is headed and dominated by European nations, World Bank is headed by Americans. Hence, emerging economies have been feeling the need to have an institution to meet their needs of providing financial support for sustainable development projects.

IMF Quota System

The decision-making in IMF is based on the quota system. Member countries contribute a certain amount to the IMF fund based on its economic status. Based on the financial commitment, IMF assigns a quota, which determines the voting power of the member-nations.

The above data clearly shows that the developed countries contribute more and have greater voting share. The G-5 countries account for almost 39% of the total votes in IMF when compared with BRICS nations that have just 11% voting share.

Let us now look at the operations of World Bank:

Developed countries control total voting share of 35.86% in World Bank compared to just 13.1% of developing economies. US dominance is clear with over 15% votes followed by Japan with 8%.The interesting thing here is the total share of BRICS countries is not even near equal to that of the U.S.

BRICS Development Bank

The purpose of the BRICS Development Bank is to generate resources for infrastructure projects and sustainable development. The bank is to be setup a with an authorized capital of $100 billion and a subscribed capital of $50 billion, which will be equally shared by five founding members in a fixed manner over a seven-year period on installment basis. The voting power of each member shall be equal to its subscribed shares in the capital stock of the Bank.

The first chair of the board of directors will be from Brazil and board of governors from Russia. The first president of the bank will be from India and its headquarters will be in Shanghai, China along with a regional center in Johannesburg,South Africa. The bank is scheduled to make its first loan in 2016.

Another highlight is setting up a Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) with an initial corpus of $100 billion. The agreement will work as a framework for providing financial aid through liquidity and precautionary instrument as short-term loans during balance of payment crisis.China will be contributing $41 billion for CRA followed by Brazil, Russia and India with$18 billion each and South Africa with $5 billion. The Standing Committee would be the sole authority pertaining to CRA decisions.

According to BRICS members, this would be a counter measure to the unfair quota system in the IMF and voting system under World Bank to which India and China have been demanding reforms.

Dr. Uttara Sahasrabuddhe, Professor, International Relations, Mumbai University, said: “The BRICS New Development Bank is more of a South-South co-operation unlike the North-North Cooperation like the IMF and World Bank rather than an alternative to the Bretton-Woods institutions. Imparities also exist in this new BRICS model as the voting share of member-countries is not very clear. China, investing a higher capital in CRA, will obviously demand a greater share in return, and will have an upper hand in terms of decision-making power, which is almost similar to Bretton-Woods institutions dominated by the United States.”


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Season of Wonder

A Clean & Wholesome Romance

Raeanne Thayne

List Price: 16.99*
* Individual store prices may vary.

Other Editions of This Title:
Mass Market Paperbound (9/24/2019)
Library Binding, Large Print (12/1/2018)
Hardcover (9/25/2018)
Compact Disc (9/25/2018)

It's a long way from New York to Idaho...but could they have found a home at last?

Dani Capelli has never truly belonged anywhere. And from her earliest days as a foster child in Queens, she would have been lost if it weren't for her love of animals. Until high school, when she fell hard for the wrong boy, and found herself pregnant--and married--by graduation. Two daughters later, Dani realized her mistake and filed for divorce, and with the help of scholarships and loans--and a lot of macaroni and cheese dinners--she enrolled in vet school. Things were finally looking up...until her ex-husband became her late husband, in the most notorious way possible.

Now Dani and her daughters need an out-of-town pass more than ever. So when the retiring Haven Point veterinarian offers her a chance to settle in the small Idaho town and take over his practice, she jumps at it. But adjusting to the charming mountain community isn't easy; thirteen-year-old Silver begins acting out while six-year-old Mia is growing too attached to Haven Point and everything in it, especially their next-door-neighbor, Deputy Sheriff Ruben Morales. And Dani can't blame her. Ruben is everything she's secretly wanted--and everything she can't bear to risk loving...and losing.

As the holidays draw near, their shared concern for Dani's daughters brings them closer together, giving Ruben the chance to show this big-city woman just how magical Christmas in Haven Point can be...and that the promise of a home at last is very real in the most wondrous season of the year...

Don't miss the latest Haven Point Christmas romance, Coming Home for Christmas, available now

Hqn, 9781335947932, 320pp.

Publication Date: September 25, 2018