Paris, France, Apr 15, 2019 / 02:57 pm (CNA).- Catholics around the world watched with horror as the roof of Cathedrale Notre-Dame was engulfed with flames on Monday afternoon. The blaze began shortly after the church closed for visitors, and everyone … […]
Paris, France, Apr 15, 2019 / 02:23 pm (CNA).- Both the Holy See and the Archbishop of Paris have encouraged prayer while firefighters in the French capital battle a blaze on the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris.
“To all the priests of Paris: The firefighters are still fighting to save the towers of Notre-Dame de Paris. The frame, the roof, and the spire are consumed. Let us pray. If you wish, you may ring the bells of your churches as an invitation to prayer,” Archbishop Michel Aupetit Tweeted April 15.
The Holy See press office stated that it has received the news of the fire “with shock and sadness,” calling Notre-Dame de Paris “a symbol of Christianity in France and in the world.”
“We express closeness to the Catholics of France and to the population of Paris and assure them of our prayers for the firemen and those doing everything possible in the face of this dramatic situation.”
Firefighters responded to an alarm rasied shortly before 7pm, April 15. The spire of the cathedral, which stood 226 feet tall, collapsed shortly before 8pm.
The fire continues to burn within the main structure.
Construction on the Gothic-style cathedral began over 850 years ago and took nearly 200 years to fully complete. Its foundation stone was laid in 1162, and the high altar was consecrated 26 years later.
The 223 foot-high towers were built between 1210 and 1250, and the church was officially completed in 1345. The central spire— the epicenter of Monday’s fire— was added during a 19th century renovation.
Relics in the cathedral include Christ’s crown of thorns, and a fragment of the true Cross. Initial reports say these relics were spared from damage during the fire.
Officials had been in the process of a massive fundraising effort to renovate the cathedral against centuries of decay, pollution, and a flow of 13 million visitors annually. French conservationists and the archdiocese announced in 2017 that the renovations needed for the building’s structural integrity could cost as much as $112 million to complete.
A major campaign of cleaning and restoration was carried out from 1991–2000.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BREAKING</a> Notre-Dame's main structure is "saved and preserved" after fire, says Paris fire official <a href=”https://t.co/IC8fT7s593″>pic.twitter.com/IC8fT7s593</a></p>— AFP news agency (@AFP) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1117894472002490368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>April 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The Vatican has expressed “shock and sorrow” over the news that large portions of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral have been destroyed in a fire that has yet to be completely contained. The Holy See Press […]
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Urumqi, China, Apr 15, 2019 / 11:08 am (CNA).- Government-run social media and facial recognition technology are being used to help monitor and detain Muslims in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
This technology has been around China since 2016, but it has been a growing concern in regards to violations of religious freedom and human rights.
Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking ethnic minority that mainly inhabit Xinjiang The advocacy group Uyghur Human Rights Project estimates that approximately ten percent of the Uyghur population, or some 1 million individuals, are being extrajudicially detained in a system of internment camps.
According to Darren Byler writing in Logic magazine, Chinese authorities monitor people through government-run social media platforms, which take the place of blocked websites like Twitter and Facebook. If flagged, the individual will then be a target for artificial intelligence recognition software and possible detainment.
A target’s actions online, or even lack of presence on the web, are monitored. Members of religious minorities could be registered as dangerous for posting ideologies contrary to that of the communist state, as when Muslims who share Islamic teachings or religious pictures.
Meanwhile, a facial recognition program will run through high-resolution video cameras capable of working in low-lighting and with a variety of different angles and facial expressions. The AI system, known as the Integrated Joint Operations Platform, collects data from a variety of sources.
After an individual has been flagged, officials will be notified through IJOP if that person crosses one of the many checkpoints placed in ocations throughout Xinjiang’s cities, or enter public buildings like banks or hospitals.
Uyghur Muslims could be arrested and detained under vague anti-terrorism laws. Hundreds of thousands of these people have been brought to detention centers. These centers have included torture, isolation, interrogation, and reeducation.
The Logic reported on a Muslim man from Xinjiang, known by the pseudonym Alim, who was arrested in 2017 after returning from studying abroad. When he re-entered China, he had been blacklisted and marked as a potential terrorist threat every time he passed a check point, which put him at the risk of detainment.
In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the “People’s War on Terror” – a campaign to restrict and monitor protests in Xinjiang. The government has claimed that the crackdown is based on violent terrorism and not religious grounds.
The United Nation issued a detailed report last August stating that minority groups in Xinjiang were “being treated as enemies of the State based on nothing more than their ethno-religious identity.”
“In the name of combating ‘religious extremism’ and maintaining ‘social stability’…China had turned the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region into something that resembled a massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy, a ‘no rights zone’,” the report states.
The technology is supposedly used to curb religious extremism and terrorism, but fears have been expressed that the technology would also extend to other religious minorities in China. At a March 2018 panel on PEN America’s report on social media censorship, experts decried China’s use of social media platforms.
“All of the trends are pointing in a negative direction. …We know enough now about both the censorship machine as well as Xi Jinping’s intentions – I think that’s been made quite clear,” said Shanthi Kalathil, the director of the International Forum for Democracy Studies.
In China, people talk about how “it used to be that we afraid that our account would be closed or our posts would be deleted. Now we are afraid that we are just going to be taken away. Some are sentenced to administration detention for a few days, but there are a good number of people who have been sentenced to very long prison terms,” said Freedom House’s Senior Research Analyst for East Asia, Sarah Cook.
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Lincoln, Neb., Apr 14, 2019 / 04:06 pm (CNA).- According to the Gospel of Matthew, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” This June, priests will gather in Lincoln, Neb., to “serve” their fellow brothers with their tennis skills.
The International Tennis Championship for Priests will be held June 28-30, gathering clerics and seminarians for exercise, friendly competition, and fraternity.
The event this year is organized by Father Brian Connor, pastor of North American Martyrs parish in Lincoln, and will include about 40 priests from around the world.
“I’m happy to do this for the priests and for the sport, both of which I love very much,” Connor told CNA. “It’s a chance to compete, burn some calories, and enjoy friendship with other people,” he added.
The tournament began in Poland in 2012 and occurred again in 2013 and 2018. Connor said the competitions in Poland included options for food and live music, for example an orchestra that played the anthems of the priests’ different nationalities.
With a majority of priests coming from Poland and the Philippines, Connor expressed hope that the tournament’s placement in the United States would spark a greater interest in the participation from clerics in the Americas.
The event has several competitions: open, +45, +55, and +65. The contest will also include doubles and a consolation tournament for the eliminated players. Seminarians, priests, deacons, and bishops are all welcome to participate.
At the event, the contestants will attend daily Mass together at a variety of parishes. The priests will also explore some of eastern Nebraska’s tourist attractions, including the Holy Family Shrine, the Strategic Air Command Museum, Eugene T. Mahoney State Park, and the Henry Doorly Zoo.
Connor has played tennis since he was young, and competed during high school. Since numerous priests have likewise played tennis throughout their childhood, he said the event is an opportunity for nostalgic fun, fitness, and fraternity. Plus, it allows priests to experience new cultures and countries, he said.
“The goal of the tournament is to build a fraternity of the priesthood and to give a goal of practicing and proving yourself, which of course means health, conditioning, [and] your skills in the game,” he said.
Fr. Matthew Eickhoff, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Benkelman and St. Joseph Parish in Stratton, and Father Thomas MacLean, a chaplain for four state prisons in Nebraska, are two other priests from the Diocese of Lincoln who will once again try their hand at the tournament.
Although neither competed in a tournament until they entered the international event in 2013, both priests grew up playing tennis. Now, they are looking forward to be “playing hard and praying hard.”
Before Eickhoff joined the first competition, he began driving an hour from Omaha to participate in a weekly lesson for six months. In preparation of this upcoming contest, he has continued with a couple review lessons and occasionally plays with the priests from Lincoln.
“The priesthood is the greatest fraternity on earth,” he said, noting that the event is an excellent opportunity to strengthen this community. He said the friendships develop quickly because of the solidarity of their vocation.
“Generally, we priests enjoy recreating together because we have an appreciation for the challenges each of us face in our priestly ministry on a daily basis, so we know how valuable a break from the work really is and we appreciate being able to refresh our minds, bodies and souls together,” Eickhoff said.
Although he does not get to play tennis as often as he would like, he said tennis and the tournament promotes a well-balanced life: recreational and spiritual.
“Bishop [Glennon] Flavin, who ordained me, encouraged us priests to ‘work hard, pray hard and play hard’ so as to keep a healthy balance of work, prayer and recreation in our lives,” he said. “Tennis continues to be one piece of the puzzle that helps provide balance in my life.”
Similarly, MacLean said the event is an opportunity for fun, but he said it is also a “pretty serious” competition. Having already lost nine pounds from training, he said he is ready to return to the court to redeem himself from last year, when he lost during the first round.
Besides the fierce competition, Maclean said he is looking forward to the spiritual companionship. He said the priests will enjoy more than just court rivalry, but times in Mass and prayer as well. He said the priests have a strong love for tennis but, primarily, the men share a deeper, sacred bond.
“I think spiritually celebrating the sacraments and the Eucharist with our brother priests is a great way to start our day before the competition begins. We are priests first so we are rooted in the sacrifice of our Lord and that’s the bed rock. I guess you could say that tennis is the icing on the cake.”
© Catholic World Report