Feast date: Jan 02

St. Basil, one of the most distinguished Doctors of the Church and Bishop of Caesarea, was likely born in 329 and died on January 1, 379.

He ranks after Athanasius as a defender of the Oriental Church against the heresies of the fourth century, especially Arianism, which denied the divine nature of Jesus Christ. He was a strong supporter of the Nicene Creed. With his friend Gregory of Nazianzus and his brother Gregory of Nyssa, he is part of the trio known as "The Three Cappadocians," of which he was the most important in practical genius and theological writings.

Basil resisted the pressure from Emperor Valens, an Arian himself, who wanted to keep him in silence and admit the heretics to communion.  No wonder, when the great St. Athanasius died, the responsibility of being the defender of the faith against Aryanism fell upon Basil.

Seventy-two years after his death, the Council of Chalcedon described him as “the great Basil, minister of grace who has expounded the truth to the whole earth.”

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Amid rising tensions between the US and Venezuela and the attendant US military buildup in the Caribbean, the Antilles Episcopal Conference announced a day of prayer for peace.

“I appeal to the faithful to pray fervently for peace in our waters and for all affected; families mourning loved ones lost at sea; migrants fleeing hardship; workers in aviation, shipping and tourism; and especially the poor, who will suffer most from instability and rising costs,” said the president of the episcopal conference, Archbishop Jason Gordon of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

“Tanker seizures, the expansion of naval assets and airspace restrictions ... affect the daily lives of our people,” he added. “As bishops of the Caribbean flock, we cannot remain silent when developments threaten human dignity, regional stability and the long-held vision of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.”

In an immigration statement, the bishops of Kentucky said that they “stand with all of our immigrant brothers and sisters who have been victimized by unjust government action or by harmful rhetoric and vilification.”

“Nations have a right and responsibility to control their borders and to enforce laws meant to protect the population, but all laws must be enforced in a just and predictable manner that respects the God-given dignity of each human person,” the state’s four bishops said in their statement, released yesterday and dated January 4.

They added:

We are increasingly concerned about the rapidly developing challenges facing immigrants, whether documented or undocumented. Regular reports of immigrants with legal status having that status arbitrarily revoked; increasing incidents of political leaders vilifying immigrants; the elimination of sanctuary protections for churches, hospitals, and schools; and proposals at the state level targeting the ability of immigrants to live and pursue their dreams in Kentucky, combine to create an understandable climate of hostility, anxiety, and fear.

We oppose all efforts to stigmatize immigrants as a group or to spread fear based on national or ethnic origin.

Recalling the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin called upon Ireland to recommit itself to building peace.

“Ireland has a proud record in international work for peace,” Archbishop Farrell preached in his World Day of Peace homily, delivered at the Church of the Guardian Angels. “Now, in our days, there is a need and opportunity for the Irish State to articulate how this tradition, and the values which underpin it, will be continued in a rapidly changing international situation.”

“It is not enough to invest in defense capacity or to point to how the circumstances of our traditional military neutrality have changed; Ireland’s commitment to promoting a sustainable peace needs a new articulation,” the archbishop continued, as he warned against “dragging the language of faith into political battles or justifying violence in the name of our beliefs.”

In a new year’s message, Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ, of Hong Kong called upon the faithful to see themselves as missionary “messengers of hope.”

“It is true that we have lost incoming lay leaders and their children through emigration, partly due to the enactment of the National Security Law,” he said, referring to the 2020 law signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. “The number of catechumens and baptisms has dropped to almost half of what it used to be.”

Cardinal Chow described feelings of discouragement over the situation as “temptations of the evil one to make us feel hopeless and dejected.”

The president of Caritas Philippines spoke out against a proposed nuclear power plant in Pangasinan province (map).

Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos said in a video released today that nuclear energy “remains a perilous energy source that poses long-term risks to our communities and our common home.”

The local bishop, Bishop Napoleon Sipalay, OP, of Alaminos, also opposes the project.

Representatives of the Catholic Association of Goa (map) met with the Indian state’s governor and urged him to take action against rising attacks on Christians.

The governor “assured the delegation that their concerns would be carefully considered and communicated to the appropriate authorities” of the nation’s government, the Goa-based newspaper O Heraldo reported.

Stating that “a society that protects its Jewish community is a society that protects everyone,” the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference yesterday called for the creation of a “national inquiry with sufficient authority and resourcing” to “probe into the deeper issues which lie at the heart of antisemitism.”

Since the Bondi Beach shooting, “we have heard many times that ‘there is no place for antisemitism here in Australia,’” said Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, SDB, of Perth. “Tragically, we are now confronted by the terrible truth that there are dark places in our society where this most ancient of hatreds festers.”

“It is only by shining a light into the dark corners of our society—including its political, business, academic, media, religious, and cultural institutions—that we can hope to unmask the antisemitism which might otherwise go unseen, unacknowledged and unaddressed,” Archbishop Costelloe added.