Month: August 2019

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Caritas acts to limit Ebola crisis in DR Congo

August 2, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Aug 2, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- Caritas Spain has mobilized 6,200 volunteers to fight the Ebola epidemic in the affected areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To prevent its spread they have established 22 monitoring points on the border with Uganda and South Sudan.

More than 1,800 have been killed by DR Congo’s Ebloa outbreak in the last year, and 2,700 have been infected. Last month the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

Alicia Fernández, a technician with Caritas Spain, is in DR Congo and said that “the fight against Ebola must take place in the communities more than in the hospitals, awareness has to be raised in the communities on the importance of maintaining hygienic methods to prevent contagion and the spread of the illness.”

Fernández also stressed the importance of the Church’s action in the fight against this epidemic since “there is no other local actor that can do what the Church does,” as it is “implanted in the life of the communities, living with them their day to day and therefore enjoys their trust and also because since the first known case it has been working to contain the outbreak.”

According to a statement by Caritas Spain, in the Diocese of Goma a second case of Ebola has been recorded and so efforts are focused on locating those who have maintained contact with the stricken person and adopting the necessary measures.

In the dioceses of Butembo and Bunia, Caritas has distributed in the last six months more than 34,000 pounds of aid to more than 23,000 sick and quarantined people. They have also published more than 9,000 posters and 9,000 informational pamphlets.

One of the Caritas social workers explained that “if a teacher falls sick, all his students are placed in quarantine, separated from their families. Caritas care for these people.”

The border with South Sudan is another of the critical points in the spread of the Ebola epidemic. The Diocese of Mahagi is located there, where one case has been detected. Caritas activated the response protocol, isolated the patient and contacted her family to disinfect the house, locate those who were in contact with her and the medical staff who treated her, as well as the sick people who were admitted to the hospital at the same time.

In addition, all the staff of Caritas’ health centers in Mahagi are undergoing training to respond to the disease.

There also have been established 22 control points at the two border crossings with Uganda and South Sudan, and for every ten houses Caritas has established an observation point, in which a person is responsible for raising awareness about the epidemic and monitoring to detect and isolate new cases.

“We have to contain the epidemic so it doesn’t reach the camps for the refugees and internally displaced people, because  that would be a catastrophe,” said the director of Caritas Mahagi.

Two Ebola fatalities were confirmed in Uganda in June.

Rwanda briefly closed its border with DR Congo Aug. 1 over fears the disease might spread there.

Efforts to contain the disease have been hampered by misinformation and distrust on the part of local communities, who in some cases have retaliated against health teams by attacking them. Nearly 200 attacks on medical centers and staff have been reported this year, according to the BBC. This has limited many of the health services that non-governmental organizations are able to provide.

More than 161,000 people have received the Ebola vaccine, which is 99% effective, according to the BBC, but some are fearful of it and refuse to receive it. In addition, violence in the eastern part of the DRC has made it difficult to reach some areas of the country, and difficult to monitor the virus as it spreads.

Ebola is a deadly virus that is primarily spread through contact with bodily fluids. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pains and occasional bleeding. The disease is fatal in up to 90 percent of cases.

Several outbreaks have taken place in Africa in recent decades. An outbreak in 2014-2016 in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people and spread briefly to Spain, the US, and the UK.

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Catholic scout troops in Europe find fellowship in sacraments, service

August 2, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Rome, Italy, Aug 2, 2019 / 03:06 pm (CNA).- This week, as many as 5,000 Catholic scouts are walking historic pilgrimage routes to Rome that will culminate in a private audience with Pope Francis and a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Aug. 3.

Catholic scout troops are a European tradition that started in the early 20th century with Venerable Jacques Sevin, a French Catholic priest who was inspired by the potential of scouting, founded by his contemporary Robert Baden-Powell in England, for youth development.

Fr. Sevin founded the first Catholic scouting troop, consecrated to the Sacred Heart, in France in 1918.

The Scouts of Europe, a Catholic scouting organization recognized by the Holy See, was founded in the wake of World War II, built on the idea that scouting can help young people “discover that the true European legacy is the capacity to live together in peace and brotherhood around a common aim, Christ,” according to the International Union of European Guides and Scouts – European Scout Federation.

The theme of the scouts’ weeklong trek to Rome, called the “Euromoot,” is “Parate Viam Domini,” which means “prepare the way of the Lord.” The logo includes twelve stars symbolizing the Virgin Mary.

Some of the scouts are walking to Rome by the Way of St. Francis from Assisi, while others have chosen to walk the Way of St. Benedict or part of the medieval Via Francigena. Priests walk with the different scout troops to provide access to the sacraments throughout the pilgrimage.

The scout troops of “rangers” and “rovers” aged 16-21 come from more than 20 countries. Some members of the organization’s North American branch, the Federation of North American Explorers, are also participating in the pilgrimage.

Reflections for the journey focus on St. Catherine of Siena, St. Paul, St. Benedict, St. Francis, and Sts. Cyril and Methodius as ideal examples of heroic virtue to be imitated.

“The most important thing … for us as leaders … is to take their souls to God, their sanctity is essential,” Spanish scout leader Flory Delgado told CNA.

Delgado, 32, has been involved with Catholic scouting her entire life before becoming a volunteer leader for the Scouts of Europe. Delgado’s parents met through their Catholic scouting troops in Spain.

“For us scouting is a style of life,” she explained. The aim of this lifestyle is God, above all, and then training one’s character, good health, service to others, and practicality, she said.

Delgado said that the scouts try to incorporate their Catholic faith into all of their activities with a particular emphasis on the sacraments and service.

“In every activity, we start with a prayer, we finish with a prayer. We pray together the Angelus,” she said.

In her 14 years serving as a scout leader, Delgado has seen the benefits of getting young people out of the house through scouting.

When you leave your comfort zone, you have to face difficulties, Delgado explained, such as the weight of your backpack on a hiking trip.

“You have to make your own decisions of what we will bring with us, and this is what we will carry on our shoulders,” Delgado said. This is a lesson for life, she explained, you have to take responsibility for your own decisions.

“Also, when you start something, finish something,” she said.

The first Scouts of Europe pilgrimage to Rome took place in 1975, in which 500 scouts met St. Paul VI.

St. John Paul II met with scout delegations on several occasions. In 2003, the pope met the scouts in Castel Gandolfo and said to them:

“Dear young people, be generous in answering Jesus’ call inviting you to put out into the deep and become his witnesses, discovering the trust he puts in you to devise a future together with him. Above all, to fulfil this mission the Church is entrusting to you requires that you cultivate a genuine life of prayer nourished by the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession.”

“Dear Guides and Scouts of Europe, you are a precious gift not only for the Church, but also for the new Europe which you see growing before your eyes, and you have been called to share, with all the ardour of youth, in building the Europe of peoples, so that the dignity of every individual as a child loved by God will be recognized, and a society built on the basis of solidarity and charity,” he continued.

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Dutch burqa ban prompts concern for religion in the public square

August 2, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Amsterdam, Netherlands, Aug 2, 2019 / 02:32 pm (CNA).- A law professor at a Dutch university has noted concerns over the effects of a newly implemented law banning women from wearing burqas in some public places in the country, suggesting it will be to the detriment of religion’s role in the public square.

The Netherlands’ ban on wearing “face-covering clothing” in hospitals, schools, government buildings, and on public transit went into effect Aug. 1. The ban does not mention in particular the burqa, a body- and face-covering garmet, or the niqab, a face veil, worn by some Muslim women.

Violators can be assessed a 150euro ($167) fine.

“This undoubtedly has a chilling effect on their ability to take part in public life,” Dr. Tom Zwart, a professor of law, economics and administration at the University of Utrecht, told Sky News.

A federation of Dutch academic hospitals said that it was “not aware of any cases in which wearing face-covering clothing or a possible ban has led to problems” in healthcare, according to Sky News.

Some forms of religious expression in Europe face legal penalties.

Austria and Bavaria implemented similar bans on wearing burqas or niqabs in some public places in 2017. They have been banned in public in France since 2010.

A Belgian ban on food preparation that is in accord with Jewish and Muslim rules took effect at the beginning of this year.

In a 2017 ruling The Court of Justice of the European Union allowed a qualified ban on hijabs in the workplace.

France’s Universal National Service program for teens, which will become mandatory over the next several years, has drawn serious religious freedom concerns, with critics noting that the program prohibits religious symbols, does not allow conscripts to leave for religious services, and fails to accommodate religious dietary restrictions.

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Bioethicist responds to Japan’s approval of human-animal hybrid research

August 2, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Aug 2, 2019 / 10:45 am (CNA).- The Japanese government is expected to approve funding for a research project, led by stem cell scientist Hiromitsu Nakauchi, to use stem cells to create animal embryos that contain human cells.

Father Tad Pacholczyk, Director of Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA that the research involves the implantation of human cells, typically human stem cells, into non-human animal embryos, such as embryos from pigs and sheep, for the purposes of growing human hearts, kidneys, and other organs in those animals.

“These organs would be generated for potential use in organ transplantation situations and to alleviate organ shortages…which could be a very helpful development for many people currently on the waitlist for an organ,” Pacholczyk explained.

“The aim is to make one species grow an organ of the other, rather than seeking to somehow ‘combine’ two species into a new, third species.”

That being said, however, Pacholczyk warned that if such research must be done, it should not include the creation or destruction of human embryos.

In general, he said, research destructive of human embryos is always morally unacceptable, because it involves “the purposeful destruction of younger humans to serve the interests of older and more wealthy humans.”

The Pontifical Academy for Life stated its 2000 Declaration on the production and the scientific and therapeutic use of human embryonic stem cells that “on the basis of a complete biological analysis, the living human embryo is – from the moment of the union of the gametes – a human subject with a well-defined identity,” and that as “a human individual it has the right to its own life; and therefore every intervention which is not in favor of the embryo is an act which violates that right.”

These will not be the first experiments done involving human-animal hybrid embryos, but it is the first to receive official support from a government. The National Institutes of Health in the US has had a moratorium on funding such work since 2015, according to Nature.

Nakauchi is the director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Tokyo and team leader at Stanford’s Nakauchi Lab. He is still awaiting final approval from the Japanese government to begin his research.

Nakauchi told Tech Explorist that he plans to inject animal embryos, which have been engineered to lack a specific organ such as the pancreas, with human stem cells in order to see if they can grow the missing organ using those cells.

Rather than embryonic stem cells, Pacholczyk said, the researchers should consider using adult stem cells— typically harvested from the bone marrow consenting adults— or what are known as induced pluripotent stem cells, which are adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell–like state.

“These kinds of experiments require very careful ethical discernment, and the scientific community, with ethical input from the Church and appropriate outside regulatory control, must adhere to clear moral lines, meaning they need to agree that there are practices they will not do,” Pacholczyk said.

“This kind of research has the potential to be done in an ethical way, and to produce solid scientific advances, or in various unethical ways and to result in harmful and controversial scientific practices.”

Japanese scientists were previously forbidden from allowing human cells to grow within other animals past a 14-day period, but in March the government relaxed the rules on embryonic stem-cell research aimed at creating human-animal hybrids, allowing such creations to be brought to term.

Bioethicists have raised the possibility that human cells might stray beyond development of the targeted organ, travel to the developing animal’s brain and potentially affect its cognition, Nature reports.

To that end, Pacholczyk said that for any chimeras— third, hybrid animals— produced, care must be exercised to avoid the replication of major pillars of human identity in animals, such as the brain system.

In addition, chimeras which produce human sperm or human eggs should never be generated, he said, to avoid the production of the basic building blocks of human reproduction.

The Japanese scientist plans to begin with mice and rats, experimenting for two years, and said it is his hope to eventually apply for government approval to grow human-pig hybrid embryos for up to 70 days.

“Human cells generally do not grow very well in pigs or sheep, likely due [to] the evolutionary distance between us and them, so additional ‘tricks’ and genetic manipulations may be needed to help the human cells grow,” Pacholczyk commented.

“There is also a chance of transmitting new viruses from, say, pigs into the human organs that the pigs are growing, so this will have to be carefully addressed to be sure that if such organs were ever used in transplants, humans would not become susceptible to new infections.”

In the US, the NIH proposed in 2016 federal funding of projects to possibly create a human-animal hybrid, prompting serious moral and legal concerns from Catholic ethicists.

In comments submitted to NIH at the time, the National Catholic Bioethics Center stated that using human embryonic stem cells for research is wrong because “human beings at these vulnerable stages must be safeguarded, not exploited, in both clinical and research settings.”

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On Aug. 2, you can get this St. Francis-themed indulgence

August 2, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

New York City, N.Y., Aug 2, 2019 / 03:18 am (CNA).- Today’s feast of Our Lady of the Angels of Porziuncola and its associated indulgence is a way to focus on the importance of Mary and the Franciscan tradition in the Church, said one friar.

The Aug. 2 feast is found in the Franciscan tradition, and marks the dedication of the parish church, called Porziuncola or “little portion,” which is one of those Italy’s St. Francis of Assisi rebuilt in obedience to Christ’s command to “rebuild my church.”

“The Porziuncola is at the heart of the Franciscan journey,” Father David Convertino, the development director for the Holy Name Province of the Observant Franciscans, told CNA.

“For Francis, it was his most beloved place. He lived near it with the early followers … and he loved the Porziuncola, as it was part of his devotion to Our Lady.”

The Catholic Church teaches that after a sin is forgiven, an unhealthy attachment to created things still remains. Indulgences remove that unhealthy attachment, purifying the soul so that it is more fit to enter heaven. Indulgences are either plenary (full) or partial.

A plenary indulgence also requires that the individual be in the state of grace and have complete detachment from sin. The person must also sacramentally confess their sins and receive Communion up to about 20 days before or after the indulgenced act.

Anyone who visits a Catholic church with the intention of honoring Our Lady of the Angels and recites the Creed, the Our Father, and prays for the Pope’s intentions, may receive a plenary indulgence on Aug. 2.

“Any kind of a prayer form that helps people come closer to God is obviously a good prayer form, and certainly an indulgence is one way,” Fr. Convertino said.

“It helps us focus on, in this case, the meaning of the Porziuncola and the Franciscan tradition, how it’s situated in the greater idea of the Church.”
 


Porziuncola located inside the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli near Assisi. Credit: emmav674 via Flickr (CC BY_NC_SA 2.0)

The Porziuncola was built in honor of Our Lady of the Angels in the fourth century, and by St. Francis’ time had fallen into disrepair. The church, which was then located just outside of Assisi, became the “motherhouse” of the Franciscan orders.

“Although Francis realized that the kingdom of heaven is found in every dwelling on earth … he had learned nevertheless that the church of Saint Mary at Portiuncula was filled with more abundant grace and visited more frequently by heavenly spirits,” says the life of St. Francis written by Friar Thomas of Celano, read today by Franciscans.

“Consequently he used to say to his friars: ‘See to it, my sons, that you never leave this place. If you are driven out by one door return by the other for this is truly a holy place and God’s dwelling.’”

Fr. Convertino added that the Porziuncola “was the place he chose to lie next to on his deathbed, and at that time of course you could have looked up to the city of Assisi, which he also loved so well.”

The Porziuncola, a rather small chapel, is now located inside a large basilica which was built around it, to enclose and protect it.

“You have this large basilica built over this teeny tiny little chapel,” Fr. Convertino reflected. “If that chapel wasn’t there then the basilica wouldn’t be there, but if the basilica wasn’t there, the chapel probably wouldn’t be there either, given 800 years of war, weather, and turmoil.”

For Fr. Convertino, the duality of the big church and the little church is a reflection of the relationship between the world-wide Catholic Church and the smaller communities which make it up.

“We feel the Franciscans kind of convey, we’re the ones at the heart of the Church, the little church there.”

He said that each time he visits Assisi, the “experience” of the Porziuncola is “compounded more and more,” and added that “it’s such a magnificent place, and the friars there are wonderful.”

Fr. Convertino also discussed the fresco now painted around the entrance of the Porziuncola, which shows St. Francis, together with some of his followers, receiving the indulgence from Christ and Our Lady.

“The idea behind the story is that Francis is asking Jesus for a Porziuncola indulgence, and Jesus is saying to Francis, ‘Well, you really better ask Mary, ask my mother.’”

This article was originally published Aug. 2, 2013.

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