This film shows how mercy can transform your life

Washington D.C., Jan 17, 2020 / 02:45 am (CNA).- Christian persecution around the world is a growing problem, says a new report from an agency that documents abuses against Christians across the globe.

Worldwide, the report states, 260 million Christi… […]

CNA Staff, Nov 4, 2020 / 07:29 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland discussed the meaning of suffering – and how Catholics should respond to it – in a recent video reflection.

“We’ve been suffering through this pandemic. We’re suffering through these terrible divisions in our country and the remnants of evils, such as racism [and] social unrest. Here in Oregon, we’ve had these terrible wildfires,” he said October 23 on his weekly video program, Chapel Chat.

“Even though we know suffering is always there, it’s a little bit in our face right now more so perhaps than in the usual course of things. It’s important for a Christian to understand the meaning of suffering.”

Suffering is a mystery, the archbishop said, but the Christian faith helps us understand that suffering does have purpose. He said the question of how an all-good and all-powerful God can allow suffering is particularly important to answer in today’s culture.

God did not create evil or suffering, the archbishop said. Rather, evil entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve and brought with it suffering and damage to creation.

“This fallen world has resulted in alienation of the human person from nature even, and certainly that alienation between persons. So things like these natural disasters and diseases and those sorts of things that aren’t the result of human action are part of a fallen world,” he said.

“That may be hard to kind of grasp, but it wasn’t just human beings that were affected by that sin, but this perfect harmony and beauty and goodness that God put in his original creation, all of that has been wounded by that great sin of disobedience.”

But Christ’s sacrifice on the cross has reclaimed suffering and given it value, the archbishop continued. In Christ, suffering is given a new meaning and hope, and it is no longer void of purpose, as Christians can unite their suffering to that of Christ.

“This suffering has been redeemed by Christ … Suffering has value. I know that sounds crazy to people, but Christ has given meaning to human suffering. It’s no longer just an evil that has no purpose, no relation to anything else,” he said. “Now in Christ, it takes on a whole redemptive meaning because we now participate in the redemptive act of Christ.”

By participating in Christ’s passion, we are also able to join in his resurrection, Sample said. He noted that Christ’s sufferings were not merely physical, but that he embraced spiritual suffering as well, as he shouldered the “total reality of sin, of evil, taking it to the cross.”

“Then this means that the weaknesses of all human sufferings are capable of being infused with the same power of God manifested in Christ’s cross,” the archbishop said. “[T]o suffer means to become particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ. In him, God has confirmed his desire to act, especially through suffering.”

While this understanding does not remove suffering, Sample said, “it takes on a whole new meaning because we see it in the light of Christ’s redemptive act.”

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Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After the Islamic State ravaged large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, religious minorities targeted for genocide fled into Kurdistan – but a new report alleges continued discrimination against them.

“We praise the Kurdistan Regional Government for sheltering and protecting these oppressed groups and urge it to continue to take steps to ensure that these communities realize their rights and fully participate in society,” said Fr. Thomas Reese, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

He made his remarks in the wake of the release of the commission’s report on the situation for persecuted religious minorities in Kurdistan.

The report, “Wilting in the Kurdish Sun,” was prepared for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) between May and August of 2016 and released on June 1.

USCIRF is a bipartisan federal commission charged with monitoring abuses of freedom of religion around the world and making policy recommendations to the State Department on international religious freedom.

In their new report, USCIRF explains how religious minorities in Northern Iraq – Yazidis, Christians, Shabak, and Turkmen – fled the ISIS onslaught in 2014 into Kurdistan. Christians, Yazidis, and Shi’a Muslims were labeled by the U.S. as genocide victims of ISIS, while other minorities were said to be victims of “crimes against humanity.” They took shelter in Kurdistan, including around 70,000 Christians in Erbil.

This has added to the ethnic and religious diversity of the region, which had already become more diverse since the U.S. invasion in 2003 resulted in minorities moving to Kurdistan, the report explained.

However, despite the freedom of religion of these minorities being “comparatively robust” in Kurdistan to other areas in the region, they still face discrimination, violence, and restrictions upon their movement there, the report alleged.

Furthermore, the region’s “strained resources and security situation” threaten to contribute to future unrest and ethnic and religious conflict, the report warned.

Laws in Kurdistan are on the surface “favorable to religious freedom,” USCIRF said, and “senior religious leaders are frequently consulted by ministers and government officials.” Minorities are represented in the regional parliament as mandated by law.

However, “many religious groups complained to researchers that they remain second-class citizens compared with Sunni Kurds,” the report said. And while laws may be friendly to religious minorities, they may not experience such support from their neighbors in their communities.

Some Assyrian Christian lands have been seized or built upon by Kurds in the northern part of the region. In one case “involving Erbil International Airport,” Christian leaders claimed that “land owned by the Chaldean Catholic Church (and others) was built on by developers without permission.”

Although authorities have spoken out against the land appropriations, “Christians, however, are frustrated by a perceived lack of action by the authorities and a lack of recourse in the courts,” the report said. “They believe that encroachments are increasing.”

Christians who tried to demonstrate against the appropriations were prevented from doing so by Kurdish security forces in one instance in 2016.

Additionally, Yazidis have reported pressure that they be identified as ethnic Kurds, contrary to the opinions of some Yazidis that they are separate ethnically.

NGOs have also reported that, in the Sinjar region, there are “economic blockades” and “restrictions on freedom of movement and return, and the prevention of goods and supplies being distributed.”

Other countries surrounding Kurdistan feature abuses of freedom of religion, USCIRF reports.

USCIRF rates countries on how much they respect religious freedom in a tier system. Tier 1 Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) are those with the worst situations for religious freedom, with “severe” abuses of freedom of religion that are “systematic, ongoing, and egregious.”

The State Department has followed USCIRF’s recommendations and has listed Iran as a CPC. USCIRF has also recommended that Syria be designated as a CPC.

Tier 2 countries represent the next level where the religious freedom situations are not as serious, but are still concerning. Iraq is a Tier 2 level country, according to USCIRF’s latest recommendation.

“Until 2017, it was also recommended that Iraq be included in the list of CPCs, but improvements in the country have led to USCIRF revising its assessment,” the commission explained. USCIRF has also listed Turkey as a Tier 2 country.

Yet despite its security for religious minorities that is comparatively better than surrounding areas, Kurdistan on its own “might well be considered a so-called ‘tier 2’ country, requiring close monitoring due to the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by its authorities,” USCIRF stated.

This is concerning, the report said, because there is already a push for Kurdistan to be an independent country, and the pressure for such a state of affairs may only increase in the future.

“By strengthening institutions and encouraging reforms to promote and protect religious freedoms and minority rights now, (Kurdistan) and its population will ensure that these rights and freedoms are deeply ingrained in the makeup of any new nation and its social contract,” USCIRF said.

“On the other hand, allowing rights and freedoms to be eroded now risks setting a trend that will likely continue after independence.”

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