World Leprosy Day ~ 27th January 2013

(World Leprosy Day; Credit: © American Leprosy Missions) 
Leprosy, or more properly Hansen's disease, is one of the oldest recorded diseases in the world and has affected humanity for more than 4,000 years. It is an infectious chronic disease that targets the nervous system, especially the nerves of the cooler parts of the body such as the hands, feet and face.
Skin lesions are the primary external sign and if it is left untreated the disease can be progressive and cause permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes.
The old stories of body parts falling off as a result of the disease are something of a myth, because what actually happens is that secondary infections can cause tissue loss and result in fingers and toes becoming shortened and deformed as cartilage is absorbed into the body.
Although it is now known to be a bacterial disease, it was traditionally thought to be highly contagious or even hereditary and from earliest times people suffering from the disease were required to wear special clothing and carry a bell or a wooden clapper to warn other people as they approached.
Sufferers were prohibited from visiting public places and forced to live in segregated colonies. Bible stories tell of lepers begging outside the gates of towns.
There was scant support for those suffering from the disease, with no clear idea of its causes and no known effective treatment. At various times blood was used, either as a beverage or as a bath. This included the blood of children, dogs, lambs or even blood from dead bodies. Cobra venom, bee stings and the excreta of climbing fish were also tried along with the administration of arsenic and mercury, but all to no avail. Isolation seemed to be the only answer.
Early examples of support came from Christian missionaries. A prominent example was Father Damien of Molokai. Now venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Damien was a Belgian-born priest who at the age of 33 went to work with a colony of 800 lepers on the island of Molokai, in what was then the Kingdom of Hawaii.
During his 16 years in Molokai, where he worked as pastor, medic, advisor and guardian, he was tireless in his efforts to make improvements to the colony and to bring greater respect for the dignity of those who were suffering from the disease.
11 years after his arrival, he scalded his foot and when he felt no pain Damien realised that he had succumbed to the disease himself, but he continued to work in the colony until a month before his death in 1889 at the age of 49. The work of Father Damien and his achievements became a worldwide inspiration for those who were fighting for plight of those suffering from the disease, but there was still no known cure.
In fact in 1873 the Norwegian physician Gerhard Hansen had discovered the causes of the disease and from then on leprosy became known as Hansen's disease. Gradually more information was gathered, which led to greater understanding of the disease and beginnings of the development of treatment. For instance, it is now known that 95% of the population have a natural immunity to leprosy.
By the mid-1930s new treatments were showing signs of success and by the early 1940s the development of the drug, Dapsone, was an important milestone, but the stigma of the disease still remained.
A great international figure in the fight to raise leprosy awareness was the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Traditionally leprosy had been a major problem in India, with sufferers being treated as complete outcasts. Before his assassination on 30thJanuary 1948, Gandhi always went out of his way to befriend these people, not just in India, but in other countries also.
It was the French writer Raoul Follereau who came up with the suggestion of a World Leprosy Day. For many years he was a passionate worker on behalf of people suffering from the disease and during his 32 world tours he claimed to have visited every leprosarium in the world.
In September 1952, in a petition to the United Nations, Raoul Follereau requested that all member states should insist that persons affected by leprosy should be entitled to their rights on an equal basis with all other citizens and should enjoy the same protection from the law.
It was decided in 1952 that a World Leprosy Day should be observed each year to coincide with the Sunday closest to the date of Gandhi's assassination and the 60thdate of this observance will be 27th January 2013.
Things have come a long way in the last 60 years. In 1985, 122 countries throughout the world viewed leprosy as being a major public health issue, but the introduction of Multi Drug Therapy in the form of a blister pack has since revolutionised leprosy treatment. Much of the support for this has come from The World Health Organisation (WHO).
In 2011 official reports received from 130 countries indicated that there were now 192,264 cases of leprosy in the world and although new cases continue to be detected each year, this annual number continues to fall. In most countries where the disease was previously highly endemic, great strides have been made towards its elimination.
A crucial factor is to encourage patients and their families to come forward and receive early treatment, since this is the most effective way to prevent disabilities. Historically these groups have been ostracised from their communities and information campaigns are important both to improve understanding of the disease among the larger community and to prevent further transmission.
The ultimate aim is naturally to achieve worldwide elimination of the disease and this is universally considered to be achievable. In 2013 the 60th World Leprosy Day will give particular emphasis to those under-served and marginalized communities that are most at risk from leprosy - those who are often the poorest of the poor.
By Michael Evans
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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise. Mozlink

Church supports World Leprosy Day - Jan 27th

VATICAN City, Catholic News service, Jan 15th: :  While the global rate of new infections of Hansen's disease, or leprosy, continues to decline, the stigma associated with the disease has not, and that often is the focus of annual church statements marking World Leprosy Day.
For the past 60 years, Christians around the world have marked the last Sunday of January as a day to pray for those with Hansen's disease, to raise awareness about it and to thank ministers and health care workers -- many of them Catholic -- who offer treatment, therapy and support to patients.
Pope Benedict XVI and the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry traditionally both issue messages for World Leprosy Day, which is Jan. 27 this year.
According to the World Health Organization, which provides free medication for Hansen's disease patients around the world, since 1985 there has been "dramatic decrease in the global disease burden." WHO reported the number of Hansen's cases went "from 5.2 million in 1985 to 805,000 in 1995 to 753,000 at the end of 1999 to 181,941 cases at the end of 2011."
While great strides have been made in eradicating the disease, WHO said, "pockets of high endemicity" remain in some areas of Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Congo, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal and Tanzania.
World Leprosy Day was begun by Raoul Follereau, a French writer and poet, who first encountered people with Hansen's disease in North Africa in the late 1930s and began speaking tours and raising money for treatment facilities. In 1964, he met Pope Paul VI at the Vatican and asked the pope to beatify Fr. Damien de Veuster of Molokai, Hawaii.
In 1873, de Veuster was assigned to work at what was then called a leper colony on Molokai. He soon gained a reputation as a pastor, medic, adviser and guardian to the 800 members of the colony. He campaigned vigorously for improvements in the colony and for greater respect for the dignity of people with the disease, who were treated as social outcasts at the time.
De Veuster contracted the disease in 1884 but continued working in the colony until a month before his death in 1889, at age 49.
De Veuster was beatified in 1995 by Blessed John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict in 2009.
In October, Pope Benedict canonized St. Damien's successor, Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai, a Sister of St. Francis who traveled from Syracuse, N.Y., to Hawaii to take over the ministry.
Holy Father marks World Leposy Day
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Visiting Molokai’s Kalaupapa Takes on Added Meaning

(Image courtesy of Austin McGee)It’s not easy an easy place to get to, but the former leper colony at the village of Kalaupapa is getting more ink in national travel press after Sister Marianne Cope became a saint. 

The Los Angeles Times writes:
There’s an added incentive to visit theKalaupapa National Historical Parkon Molokai. Sister Marianne Cope, a nun who made caring for Hawaii’s lepers her mission, was elevated to sainthood in October.

Visitors to Kalaupapa – once a “forbidden” village because of its leprosy-afflicted residents – tour St. Philomena’s Church, at which Father Damien, the widely known Belgian priest, preached to his banished flock. They also visit his grave as well as the former gravesite of Mother Marianne. (Her remains were relocated to her home parish in Syracuse after her beatification seven years ago.) The facilities the priest and nun oversaw – Father Damien died of Hansen’s disease in 1889 – remained in use until 1969.

If you’re planning to visit Kalaupapa, know that state law requires all visitors to secure a permit from the Hawaii Department of Health before visiting. Regardless of how you plan to access the town beneath towering cliffs, you’ll need to work with Gloria Marks at Father Damien Tours, the only person authorized by Health Department officials to issue permits. Visitors must be at least 16 years of age.

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Resolution introduced honoring Saint Marianne Cope

By David Lassman, The Post-Standard 

U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, R-Onondaga Hill, U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-Barneveld, and two representatives from Hawaii introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives honoring Saint Marianne Cope, who was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in October.

“(St. Marianne) was an ordinary woman who is now a saint and this resolution is an appropriate way for Congress to honor her many achievements which began with good works in the Mohawk Valley,” Hanna said in a statement.

St. Marianne was raised in Utica and at 24, became a nun. She was the founder of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Utica (now St. Elizabeth Medical Center) and St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse before leaving New York for Hawaii, where she provided care for patients with leprosy.

At the canonization ceremony in October, Pope Benedict XVI said Cope "showed the highest love, courage and enthusiasm."

"She is a shining and energetic example of the best of the tradition of Catholic nursing sisters and of the spirit of her beloved Saint Francis," he said.

In 1918, St. Marianne died in Hawaii. She was 80 years old.
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A Saint for Central New York

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Homily for Saint Marianne Cope Post-Canonization Celebration, Kalaupapa

January 14, 2013
She was a rising star. This young woman who had matured so well because she cared for her family as a young bread winner was excitedly welcomed by the Sisters of St. Francis. This young Sister shone so brightly that she was quickly tapped to be a mentor to the novices. Within just a few years this rising star was placed in charge of schools, and she shone in her founding of two New York hospitals. Her brilliance was the cutting edge of health care in her time. Her light caught the eye of her Franciscan Sisters, and they elected her their Superior.
The light of stars does not shine on just some small part of the earth, and so when a letter came from a far away island kingdom asking for Sisters to serve the sick, others could only see their own stretched resources in the midst of so many needs in their little corners of the world. But this rising star named Mother Marianne knew instinctively that the best stars lead to journeys of adventure and great discovery. And so this rising star from the East travelled with six Sisters to these tiny dots of land in the vast Pacific Ocean, to Hawaii Nei.
Even here this rising star quickly changed the darkness, neglect, and filth of a warehouse for the rejected into a place of light, dignity, and joy. The eyes of a king and queen sparkled with the light of Mother Marianne, and they noted her brilliance with a star of honor, the Royal Medal of Kapiolani.
Yet this rising star that was Mother Marianne Cope was very well aware of St. John’s admonition to beware of idols.  She knew that her light was a created light whose only purpose was to lead others to the true and uncreated light. She knew that her light was a mere guiding star to the merciful healing brilliance of Christ, and that day by day he would grow greater as she became smaller, ever narrowing her world. Her move from the great expansive State of New York to the little obscure islands of Hawaii, from the capitol city of Honolulu to the dead-end nowhere of Kalaupapa, was symbolic of her light becoming smaller so that Christ could become greater. She was hungry for this work that few others would even consider doing, because she daily had her own hunger satisfied by the living Bread come down from heaven.
Mother Marianne was not just a star that flashed in the heavens long ago, but she has now been fixed as a heavenly light for all time, so that she can continue to shine on Christ wherever he may be found. From her place in heaven she leads us on an exciting pilgrimage to the most unlikely places to encounter Jesus. She knew the story of his being found in a stinking stable, and therefore did not find it odd to find Jesus in a place reeking with the decay of diseased bodies.  She believed the story of his being cruelly confined to a rough-hewn cross, with many wishing that he would just disappear, and therefore found Jesus in those who had been cruelly confined, with the hope that they would soon disappear, on this rough cross of Kalaupapa.  She took part every day in the memorial of Christ’s rising from the dead, and therefore she was able to bring so much life and joy to this place of the living dead.  She, who directed others as their Superior, knew that her greatest joy was in submitting herself to Christ.  Saint Marianne’s light shines on Christ, the all powerful God who has made himself so little for us.  Her brilliant light leads to Him who is the Light of the World, and so this rising star is happily dimmed in the presence of the source of all light.
In these days when we quarantine God so that we will not be contaminated by the contagion of his commandments, we so much need a light that will guide us to break open the frontiers of fear.  At this time when little people are disposable because they are hidden away in the darkness of a womb, we need a star to show us that no matter how difficult life may become in caring for them, no one is disposable.  In these days when we make ourselves ever greater and dim the light of truth, we need a strong star that knows how to be absorbed into the Great Light, to become dimmer in oneself, so that the Light of the World can become even brighter.  We thank God for sending this star to us, for setting her forever in the firmament of heaven, and for making her our living lesson that making ourselves smaller and more obscure brightens the world all the more with the light of Jesus Christ our Lord.  We thank God for Saint Marianne Cope! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise. Mozlink

Kalaupapa Tribute to the “Rising Star” – St. Marianne Cope

Friday, January 18th’s Hawaii Catholic Herald features the celebration of St. Marianne back at her Kalaupapa home.
In this video clip, in his homily  Bishop Larry Silva, shares a powerful reflection on the living lesson of Saint Marianne Cope as a rising star for our example today.
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Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise. Mozlink

Kalaupapa Tribute to the “Rising Star” – St. Marianne Cope

Friday, January 18th’s Hawaii Catholic Herald features the celebration of St. Marianne back at her Kalaupapa home.
In this video clip, the patients and government workers of the hula halau Na Wahine o Kalawao gracefully, beautifully and prayerfully pay tribute to St. Marianne with their dance to the hymn to “Saint Marianne” composed by Patrick Downes.
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Disclaimer 
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise. Mozlink