show frame  Short News, July My speech at the International Oblate Youth Encounter of Melbourne is published here. The theme is "Witness to the world". Read Fr. Chicho Rois' blog on the International Oblate Youth Encounter in Melbourne, Australia. There is also now an experimental Oblate Youth website. Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Pierre Morissette as bishop of Saint-Jerome, Quebec, Canada. He succeeds Bishop Gilles Cazabon, OMI whose resignation the Pope accepted. During three weeks in July I am in Australia on occasion of World Youth Day. Beginning of July is taking place in Rome the first meeting of the precapitular commission. From June 11 I am visiting for a week the Province of Poland. I am celebrating the feast day of Bl. Josef Cebula in Markowice which is the place from where he was taken away to emprisonmnent and martyrdom. Next overnight stay is Gdansk. top Personal News Archive 2006-2008 Gleanings  Of all the teachings, learning the language must occupy the first rank. To express one’s thoughts, communicate one’s ideas is the very first need that humans have. This ability helps to establish relationships so useful for happy social interaction, becomes history and gives the true picture of a people. One can then recognize the genius, the character, the ways of different nations…and admire the different gifts of the Creator. Father Albert Lacombe, OMI, 1827-1916 “Trade conditions favourable to poor countries, including, above all, broad and unconditional access to markets, should be made available and guaranteed in lasting and reliable ways. Provision must also be made for the rapid, total and unconditional cancellation of the external debt of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Measures should also be adopted to ensure that these countries do not fall once again into situations of unsustainable debt”, said Pope Benedict XVI in a letter to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel, urged to keep poverty and Africa “high on the international political agenda”, during the German presidency of the European Union and in the run-up to the next G8 summit, to hosted from June 6-8 in Heiligendamm. (MISNA) More gleanings on my blog, Omigen Notes.