Beijing, China, Nov 4, 2019 / 08:00 pm (CNA).- Chinese authorities have offered a compensation to a Catholic community for the destruction of their church. The offer comes after parishioners barricaded themselves in the Church building overnight in pro… […]
Caracas, Venezuela, Nov 4, 2019 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino has said that if the administration of Nicolas Maduro “truly had love for Venezuela they would have already left power.”
In an interview published by the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, Cardinal Urosa, Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas, noted that the Maduro administration “has really led the country to a terrible ruin which is growing more and more.”
Under Maduro’s socialist administration Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages of food and medicine, high unemployment, blackouts, and hyperinflation. More than 4 million Venezuelans have emigrated since 2015, most of them to Colombia, Peru, the US, and Ecuador.
“They don’t want to leave now because they’re clinging to power, it would seem they don’t care about the suffering they’re causing the people, the suffering of so many people that have to leave,” the cardinal stated.
For the Venezuelan cardinal, “the government continues to play out a kind of a farce, a dishonest dialogue to gain time and they the completely reject what’s at the center and the root of the problems which is the inability of the current president to govern.”
The cardinal recalled that the Venezuelan bishops do not recognize “any legitimacy or validity” to the Constituent Assembly, a pro-government legislature formed by Maduro in 2017 to supersede the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
“From the point of view of the socio-political and socio-economic reality, we’re going to end up very badly, unless there is as substantial change between now and December, a change in government,” Cardinal Urosa said.
If that does not take place, he warned, “We’re going to end up very badly because the dollar continues to rise, food is more and more expensive, there are no products, healthcare is worse and education has completely collapsed. The problems continue and are going to get worse.”
“As a bishop of the Church, as a minister of Jesus Christ, let us strengthen our faith in God, our hope, and seek without violence for there to be a peaceful change for the people’s welfare,” he encouraged.
In July the Venezuelan bishops asked that Maduro resign from office, saying his exercise of the presidency is illegimate. They called for the election of a new president as soon as possible.
They cited a July 4 report from the UN human rights commissioner which said the government has committed a variety of human rights abuses, including a high number of extrajudicial killings.
Maduro was sworn in for a second term as president Jan. 10, after winning a contested election in which oppositon candidates were barred from running or imprisoned. Juan Guaidó, head of the National Assembly, declared himself interim president Jan. 23.
Guaidó has been recognized by a number of Western and Latin American governments, but has been largely unable to secure the support of Venezuela’s military. He has pledged a transitional government and free elections.
On Nov. 3 the Salvadoran president ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave the country, as El Salvador does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president. Among Maduro’s supporters are China, Cuba, and Russia.
In September, the US barred senior Venezuelan officials and their families from entering the country, after imposing sanctions on Venezuela the month prior.
In 2018, Venezuela’s annual inflation rate was 1.3 million percent; the IMF has forecast an inflation rate of 10 million percent in 2019. Prices were doubling every 19 days by the end of 2018.
Paris, France, Nov 4, 2019 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- A cathedral in southwestern France was robbed of chalices and other religious items after a gang rammed open the door of the church with a specially-outfitted car early in the morning of November 4.
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Brentwood, England, Nov 4, 2019 / 05:19 pm (CNA).- After 39 people were found dead in a semi trailer in eastern England last month, a Catholic priest has joined efforts to identify these victims.
On Oct. 23, the bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in a refrigerated lorry trailer at an industrial site in Grays, fewer than 15 miles south of Brentwood in Essex.
A number of victims have yet to be identified, but all of them are now believed to be Vietnamese. The causes of death have also yet to be discovered, but post-mortem examinations are underway.
A Catholic priest in the UK is also working with some of the victims’ families to discover these people’s identities. Father Simon Nguyen, a priest at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, has worked with two of the victims’ families, who are too scared to bring their information directly to the police.
“I asked them if you find it very difficult to contact the police, could you please pass [on details of] your relatives and friends in the container, their identities,” he told ITV News.
“They gave me the names and all the pictures and all the marks on the body.”
Nguyen spoke at a memorial service Nov. 2 at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in east London attended by more than 100 people.
“We show our condolences and sympathies for the people who have lost their lives on the way to seeking freedom, dignity and happiness,” he said, according to BBC.
“We ask God to welcome them into his kingdom even though some of them were not Catholic but they strongly believed in eternal peace, so we pray for them.”
On the following day at the same church, Auxiliary Bishop Nicholas Hudson of Westminster encouraged people attending Mass to pray for those affected by the event.
St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church in Grays also established a memorial in honor of the victims, according to a Nov. 2 tweet from the Diocese of Brentwood.
The British and Vietnamese governments have arrested or held more than ten suspects, and have begun efforts to identify these victims. Essex Police said it was working with the Vietnamese government and some of the victims’ families in the United Kingdom and Vietnam, the BBC reported.
In the UK, two people connected to the incident have been arrested – Maurice Robinson, the semi-truck driver, and Eamonn Harrison, a 22-year-old from Ireland. Both of them have been charged with a slew of offenses including conspiracy to commit human trafficking and 39 accounts of manslaughter.
Ronan and Christopher Hughes – two Northern Ireland brothers who have links to the shipping industries – are wanted for these same charges.
A spokeswoman for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the incident as a “serious humanitarian tragedy.” The country’s governments is working to uncover the identities of the victims and perpetrators.
The Vietnamese government has arrested eight suspects for smuggling offenses. They said the suspects are part of a criminal ring that deals in illegal immigration. The country’s authorities have also collected DNA samples to cross-reference with the victims in the UK.
“Based on what we learn from the suspects, we will actively launch investigations to fight and eradicate these rings which bring people illegally to Britain,” said Nguyen Huu Cau, the Nghe An province police chief, according to The Guardian.
“The best thing to do now is to deal with the consequences of the incident and help family members receive the bodies,” he added.
Since the incident, Catholic and secular groups have expressed a need for better migration policies. Maurice Wren, chief executive of the Refugee Council, described the incident as deplorable but preventable.
“This is truly tragic news, but depressingly predictable and avoidable news,” said Wren.
“If you deny people safe and regular travel routes to find safety, you are leaving them with no choice but to risk their lives on utterly perilous journeys and in the hands of criminal gangs.”
Tokyo, Japan, Nov 4, 2019 / 05:05 pm (CNA).- Efforts by the Catholic Church to evangelize the Japanese population have frequently collided with roadblocks, according to Archbishop of Tokyo Isao Kikuchi, but the Church is still finding some ways to proclaim the Gospel.
The archbishop answered question from Catholic News Agency on Japan, evangelization, and why breaking through into mainstream Japanese society is so difficult for a religion that has survived persecution and genocide in the country since 1549.
The interview came just weeks before Pope Francis visits the country Nov. 23-26.
“In Japanese society, it is difficult to find tangible success in missionary activities.”
According to the most recent available data, approximately 35% of Japanese claim Buddhism as their religion, while around 3-4% claim an adherence to Shinto or associated Japanese folk religions. Only 1-2% of Japanese claim Christianity as their faith, and only around half of Japanese Christians are Catholic.
“In the past, foreign missionaries succeeded in opening classrooms, gathering the people through English and cultural classes. However, these have been replaced by the initiatives of business enterprises.”
Foreign language education proved to be a powerful tool for cross-cultural pollination after World War II. It was demanded for high-paying positions in international business and politics, and only natively spoken by a fraction of a percentage of the population.
However, English education has since become compulsory in most schools. English classes often start at first grade or even earlier and continue through high school.
Additionally, Japan is now overflowing with foreign-language cram schools known as eikaiwa.
Eikaiwa are staffed with foreigners, taught cheaply, and often stick to approved conversations and lessons. Their wages are not high, and they can be quite expensive for customers. There have been multiple scandals in Japan regarding national chains of eikaiwa withholding wages, cancelling contracts without notice, and generally mistreating their employees.
Combined with the increase in mandatory English education, eikaiwa have largely killed the community, amateur foreign language class, once a staple of Catholic missionary activity.
According to the archbishop, the country’s nominally Catholic schools are beginning to abandon the idea of cultural education through language instruction.
“Catholic school may be the place to meet many young people, but unfortunately, except for some, it has not become a place for missionary activities,” said Archbishop Kikuchi.
Schools have historically been seen as Catholicism’s last strong foothold in evangelizing to the Japanese. While parishes shrink with the rest of the population and clergy shortages are becoming more and more of a problem, the prestige of the Catholic high school and Catholic university have endured and even strengthened in Japan since as far back as the Meiji Reformation.
Once highly-regarded for their access to Western-style education and foreign-born instructors in a time that the country was just beginning to interact with the outside world, Catholic universities are still greatly respected today.
Sophia University is known as one of the best private universities in the nation, one of a handful of institutions that rival the National Universities, Japan’s equivalent to the Ivy League.
However, Archbishop Kikuchi says that this ongoing prestige has come with a hefty cost.
“While the schools should be independent from national politics, unfortunately they are tied up with subsidies from the country, and thus they are gradually losing their uniqueness, with only the name ‘Catholic’ remaining,” he said.
“Many priests, religious and the laity are completely losing their involvement with them.”
The Church in Japan has also spent time in recent years engaged in disaster relief projects.
“Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11th March 2011, support activities by the Church which continues to date through the eight volunteer centers set up in the affected areas, has been widely accepted, and serve as a witness to the Gospel through works of mercy.”
Through these efforts, the archbishop says, “the Church gives priority to witnessing the Gospel in a visible way through these steadfast works of mercy. Certainly, these activities may not lead immediately to the reception of baptism, but there is hope that many people who were touched by the spirit of the Gospel would actually be led to the Church.”
The second most powerful evangelization tool, Kikuchi says, is the Catholics population that have come and made their lives in Japan from abroad.
“Secondly, the Gospel is preached through the presence of Catholics from abroad who have come to Japan. In particular, those who have settled in marriage and built their homes in the rural areas make it possible for the Gospel to be brought in areas where the Church had never had an opportunity to get involved.”
Immigrants from the Philippines make up a large portion of the incoming foreigners in recent years. Filipinos are being tapped for jobs as English educators in eikaiwa, kindergartens, assistant-teaching positions, and more.
They are the fourth largest foreign community in Japan. It is estimated that close to 250,000 Filipinos live and work across Japan.
The Philippines’ population is close to 90% Christian – 86% is specifically Catholic.
Filipinos and their families make up large portions of the laity in Japan, attending masses and integrating into religious communities in both rural and urban areas.
“Therefore, an important task that must be given priority is to encourage foreign nationals who have settled in Japan to become aware of their missionary vocation as Catholics.”
Kikuchi believes it’s up to the clergy to instill in foreigners this sense of missionary spirituality.
“Pastoral care for foreign nationals in the Japanese church is not merely a service to welcome [guests], but rather a duty to make them aware of their vocation as missionaries.”
Albany, N.Y., Nov 4, 2019 / 05:02 pm (CNA).- The Catholic Diocese of Albany is grieving the death of a local priest who was killed when his car was swept up in a flash flood on Halloween night.
“We are so saddened to learn of Father Thomas Conne… […]
Washington D.C., Nov 4, 2019 / 04:25 pm (CNA).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has canceled their invitation for Bishop Michael Bransfield, former head of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, to attend their upcoming annual fall meeting… […]
Washington D.C., Nov 4, 2019 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- The White House on Sunday finalized its quota of refugee admissions for the 2020 fiscal year, cutting the cap on U.S. refugee admissions to its lowest recorded level.
The White House said the fiscal year… […]
Lafayette, La., Nov 4, 2019 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- Catholic parishes throughout the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana raised more than $50,000 for three black Baptist churches that were the targets of arson attacks that have been characterized as hate crim… […]
Bismarck, N.D., Nov 4, 2019 / 01:40 pm (CNA).- The University of Mary’s School of Health Sciences will be named for St. Gianna Beretta Molla, a pediatrician and a mother who died after declining cancer treatment that could have harmed her unborn … […]
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