Teen hits major fundraising feat in attempt to save her childhood Catholic school

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland in Oregon. / Addie Mena/CNA.

Portland, Ore., Aug 31, 2021 / 14:33 pm (CNA).
The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon responded Monday to a new state COVID-19 vaccine mandate, noting that Catholic schools in t… […]

Washington D.C., Feb 9, 2018 / 10:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- “Before his escape, when Seong-Ho was being tortured by North Korean officials, there was one thing that kept him from losing hope: over and over again he recited the Lord’s Prayer,” President Donald Trump said in his speech at the 2018 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Seong-Ho’s courage and faith were also highlighted by Trump during his State of the Union address in January.

Many North Korean defectors like Ji Seong-ho encounter Christianity through the missionaries who organize the underground railroad that makes it possible for them to escape to China, where they still face the constant risk of being repatriated back to North Korea.

The journey with the Christian missionaries often leads to conversion for defectors. Eighty to ninety percent of North Koreans who pass through the underground railroad identify as Christian after reaching South Korea, according to a 2015 study by Dr. Jin-Heon Jung entitled “Underground Railroads of Christian Conversion.”

One Catholic Church in Seoul baptized 60 North Korean defectors in one day in June 2016, after Father Raymond Lee Jong-nam catechized and assisted them with the transition to life in South Korea, according to UCA News.

“I thank Father Lee for showing us deep love like our father and I will live this new life to the full in this church,” one newly baptised North Korean told the Union of Catholic Asian News.

Ji Seong-ho, whose story gained national attention when he triumphantly raised up his crutches during the president’s State of the Union address last week, told EWTN that prayer sustained him during his escape.

“I offered so many prayers to my God…I started to pray save me, rescue me,” he said.

Ji escaped North Korea in 2006 by crossing the Tumen River into China, and then journeying 6,214 miles across China, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand to reach South Korea on crutches due to an earlier tragedy that left him an amputee.

Now that he has reached freedom, Ji Seong-ho said he feels called by God to rescue other North Korean refugees.

“God’s love needs to be conveyed to the people of North Korea and North Korean souls need God’s salvation. Under that conviction, I am doing what I am doing,” he said.

According to the Korean Ministry of Unification, more than 31,000 North Korean defectors have entered South Korea since 1998.

However, the annual number of North Koreans arriving in the South has declined since Chinese President Xi Jinping assumed power and cracked down on Christian missionaries.

Last year had the lowest figure for North Korean defections to South Korea since 2001, according to the Unification Ministry’s data.

For the more than 25 million people who remain within North Korea, human rights violations abound, according to the U.S. State Department.

“The DPRK regime detains more than 100,000 people, including children in political prison camps, where summary executions, torture, sexual violence, starvation, and other egregious abuses are committed under Kim Jong Un’s direction,” said State Department Spokesperson, Heather Nauert, on Feb. 6.

North Korea has consistently been ranked the worst country for persecution of Christians by Open Doors.

“The Catholic diocese of Pyongyang is vacant and the last bishop was appointed in March 1944. There are no native Catholic clerics in North Korea, but visiting priests occasionally say Mass. In 2008 Father Paul Kim Kwon-soon, a South Korean Franciscan, became the first priest to be granted a residency permit,” according to an Aid to the Church in Need UK report.

One French priest, Father Philippe Blot, has visited North Korea several times. He spoke to Parisians at Notre Dame Cathedral in April 2017 about his perspective on the country that singles out Christians for torture and execution.

“As a missionary and as a Catholic priest, I am speaking here on behalf of all those Koreans who for more than 60 years have been living the longest Way of the Cross in human history,” he said.

Father Philippe asked Catholics to pray “ardently every day for this crucified people.”

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A protest of Cuba’s communist government in Havana, July 11, 2021. / Domitille P/Shutterstock

Havana, Cuba, Nov 12, 2021 / 15:01 pm (CNA).

The Cuban bishops’ conference on Thursday indicated its support for the right of citizens to express themselves freely, without fear of intimidation and reprisals, shortly before marches protesting the island’s communist government planned for Nov. 15.

“Every person deserves esteem and recognition of his dignity, for his condition as a human being and a child of God, for being a free citizen, a person with rights and duties. Consequently, every Cuban should be able to freely and respectfully express and share their personal opinions, thoughts or convictions, even when they disagree with the majority,” the conference stated Nov. 11.

A “Civic March for Change”, a peaceful demonstration in several cities of Cuba that seeks to repeat the protests which took place across the country July 11-12, has been announced for Nov. 15.

The bishops lamented that in recent weeks “the increase in a climate of tension and confrontation that is not healthy nor benefits anyone.”

“Any act of violence between us, whether physical, verbal or psychological, seriously wounds the soul of the Cuban nation and contributes even more to the sorrow, suffering and sadness of our families,” they said.

“A wounded soul is in no condition to build a future of hope. Violence contradicts the will of God, as Christ has said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God’,” they added.

The bishops consider there is “an increasing urgency for the involvement of Cubans in a national project that involves and motivates everyone; that takes into account the differences, without exclusions or marginalizations.”

“We think that it is necessary to implement mechanisms where, without fear of intimidation and reprisals, everyone can be heard and the dissatisfaction be channeled, in the face of the harsh daily realities that overwhelm so many, especially the most impoverished and vulnerable,” they continued.

The Cuban bishops said that it is “indispensable to implement the necessary changes, so long desired, that favor a decent and happy life here for all the sons of this land of ours.”

The bishops urged “everyone to spare no effort so that the way to understanding, reconciliation and peace is paved; in such a way that the various proposals on the present and future destiny of our country, find an area of common sense, tolerance and concord, and a harmonious and civilized dialogue is established in which the best solutions to the problems that concern us can be found. “

“How much would so many Cuban families and the Church itself be grateful, and how much social tension would be diminished if there were a gesture of clemency for those still under arrest for the events of last summer!”

Prisoners Defenders, a Spanish NGO that provides legal defense for human rights,  reported Nov. 4 that Cuba has detained 683 political prisoners in the last 12 months.

In addition, the NGO said it has been possible to determine there were 591 active cases during the month of October, and that of that group, 370 remain in prison since the protests of July 11.

Protests took place across Cuba July 11-12. Protesters cited concerns about inflation, shortages of food and medicine, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Some protesters were beaten, and thousands were arrested.

Communist rule in Cuba was established soon after the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, which ousted the authoritarian ruler Fulgencio Batista.

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