Four Christians killed in Pakistan

Rome Newsroom, Mar 29, 2021 / 09:00 am (CNA).- Indonesia’s Catholic bishops have strongly condemned the Palm Sunday suicide bombing on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral on the island of Sulawesi which injured at least 19 people.The two attackers, who… […]

Malaybalay, Philippines, Jan 25, 2021 / 03:43 pm (CNA).- A Filipino diocese demanded justice and decried the murder of a priest who was shot and killed by an unknown perpetrator on Sunday.

The Diocese of Malaybalay issued a statement Jan. 25 expressing sorrow for the death of Father Rene Bayang Regalado, 42.

“The Diocese of Malaybalay with its Clergy, Consecrated Persons and Lay Faithful especially the Regalado Family in San Jose Parish, Sinayawan, Valencia City are deeply wounded and saddened with the news of the untimely passing to eternal life of one its clergy, Rev. Fr. Rene B. Regalado,” the statement reads.

“We express our deepest sympathy to his immediate family and supplicate to the Lord of Life that justice will be served to the perpetrators of this heinous crime without compromising the Lord’s gift of mercy. “

The priest’s body was discovered on a road near the Malaybalay Carmel Monastery in Patpat village. Another priest at the monastery called the police when he heard gunshots at around 7:30 pm Jan. 24.

Fr. Regalado was found by the police with a bruised left eye, multiple gunshot wounds to the head, and his left hand tied with a white shoelace.

Following the autopsy, the priest will be laid at the San Isidro Labrador Cathedral and then buried at Malaybalay Catholic cemetery on a date that will be decided between the family and the diocese.

“For those who want to visit him and his family at the Cathedral as soon as the wake is ready, we request that the pandemic protocols be strictly observed,” the statement reads.

According to the Rappler, PNP Bukidnon Chief Colonel Roel Lami-Ing said the potential motive behind the attack could be revenge for the priest’s activism or alleged rape.

He said Regalado was accused of rape in 2020 during his time as a parish priest in Lala, Lanao del Norte. The priest posted bail in December and Regalado returned to the monastery until his death on Sunday, he added.

The police also pointed to the priests’ activism against illegal logging operations and advocacy for farmers’ rights. Fr. Regalado endorsed organic farming initiatives and other agricultural causes through blogs.

According to the Inquirer, colleagues of Fr. Regalado said they last saw the priest when he left to pick up his bicycle helmet at another seminary fewer than five miles away. Fr. Virgilio Delfin, Malaybalay diocese official spokesperson, said the priest had been receiving death threats since December.

He said the priest actively served the community and was particularly involved with singing at the parish. He said the priest did not have any enemies in the community.

“As a priest, his work is to serve the community,” Fr. Delfin further added, according to the Inquirer. “Help us to seek justice, not only for all the priests but also for the family, who are grieving for their loss.”

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Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Apr 30, 2019 / 12:54 pm (CNA).- When Francisco Javier Olivera was born, his mother offered him to the Virgin Mary, praying that he would become a missionary in Asia.

Olivera’s mother told him about the consecration after he was ordained a priest in Japan 22 years ago. Since then, he has served as a missionary, not only in Japan, but in China and Mongolia as well.

Fr. Olivera was born in Salamanca, Spain, 47 years ago. He is a diocesan priest working with the Neocatechumenal Way and has been a missionary for 28 years.

In an interview with Religión En Libertad, Olivera said his priestly and missionary vocation grew “little by little,” influenced by a series of missionaries and catechists who stayed at his family’s house.  

He also believes that his mother’s prayers made a difference.

“She offered me to Our Lady to be a missionary in Asia. I didn’t know that, she told me in Takamatsu, [Japan] when the celebration of my ordination was over,” the priest said.

The priest said that Japan has been his toughest assignment, because there “you felt more loneliness, even being in a parish,” while China impressed him very much since “the people have a lot of curiosity and if there were freedom it would be amazing.”

After four years of living in Mongolia, he said he still finds the assignment “quite difficult because of the language, the cold, the pollution, the culture, and especially because of all the legal impediments we have, which are many.”

The Catholic Church arrived in Mongolia in 1992, when three missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were sent to the country following the arrival of democracy and safeguards for religious liberty in the country’s constitution.

Later, other congregations of priests and religious arrived, as well as lay missionaries. Today, there are just over 1,200 Catholics.

“The parishes are young in every respect, many young people are being drawn to the Church…We already have the first Mongolian priest ordained two years ago and now we have a deacon,” Olivera explained.

Olivera works with a team of lay missionaries and families in the Neocatechumenal Way. He celebrates Mass each day, studies Mongolian, and teaches Japanese at a company where he tries to “take advantage of the occasion to talk about God, especially through songs.” He also teaches biblical catechesis at the local parish.

Conversions are not frequent, he said, but he has seen people “drawing close to the Church, especially through all the various social works being carried out – assistance to the impoverished elderly, poor and abandoned children.”

“Without a doubt, the love the missionaries are showing is gradually attracting the [locals].”

As an example, the priest recalled a young man who “was searching for God in beauty.” One day, the man entered the Catholic cathedral, where he saw a group of elderly women praying. Moved by the beauty of the scene, the young man decided to be baptized.

“Some people think that this life is crazy, but I desire it for myself,” Olivera told Religión en Libertad. “If it’s getting a bit crazier, better yet, the more we see that it is God who is behind it.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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