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Unrest in France: Religious leaders call for dialogue and calm

July 3, 2023 Catholic News Agency 1
People look at burning tyres blocking a street in Bordeaux in south-western France on June 29, 2023, during riots and incidents nationwide after the killing of a 17-year-old boy by a police officer’s gunshot following a refusal to comply in a western suburb of Paris. / Philippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jul 3, 2023 / 15:13 pm (CNA).

France’s bishops joined other religious leaders over the weekend in responding to the ongoing unrest in their country with a call for peace, dialogue, and a return to calm.

Catholic Church officials also issued a prayer for peace on July 1.

The riots, sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old of North African origin named Nahel M. during a traffic stop in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, have led to days of looting, attacks on public buildings, and destructive mob violence in several cities.

Some 45,000 officers were deployed across the country over the past three nights, according to the BBC. More than 150 people were arrested Sunday night, down from more than 700 the night before. The full extent of the destruction and the number of injured is still unknown. 

In a joint statement, religious leaders in France expressed their sorrow over the death and violence. At the same time, they called for a return to peace. “We affirm with one voice that violence is never the right way,” the statement said, decrying attacks on schools, businesses, city halls, and transportation, noting that the residents, families, and children of these neighborhoods are the first to suffer.

The text was signed by Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims, president of the French Bishops’ Conference.

Other signatories include leaders of the Conference of Religious Leaders of France: Chems-Eddine Hafiz, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris; Grand Rabbi Haïm Korsia, chief rabbi of France; Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Islamic Council; Bishop Demetrios Ploumios, president of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France; Pastor Christian Krieger, president of the Protestant Federation of France; and Antony Boussemart, president of the Buddhist Union of France.

In the face of attacks on police and authorities, the signatories called for the strengthening of “necessary trust” between sectors of the population and law enforcement agencies. They encouraged politicians to work together responsibly to restore justice and peace.

“Today more than ever, may all believers be servants of peace and the common good. We are all available to contribute to this,” the statement concluded.

The French bishops have also proposed a prayer for the restoration of peace in the country, which was made available to parishes and Catholic communities in France.

The prayer reads in full in English translation:

We ask you, Lord, for the return of tranquility and peace to our country.

We entrust Nahuel to you and pray for his loved ones. May the spirit of light and peace accompany them.

We entrust to you the wounded of these nights of violence, including those whose homes and workplaces have been destroyed or damaged.

We pray, Lord, for those who work in law enforcement and public services, who are under great pressure and sometimes attacked.

Inspire us to promote dialogue and peace with believers of other Christian denominations and other religions, and with all our fellow citizens.

We ask you once again that our society, even beyond the current explosions, may clearly recognize the sources of violence and find ways to overcome them.

Amen.

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News Briefs

Archdiocese of Baltimore adds 42 accused individuals to child sex abuse list

July 3, 2023 Catholic News Agency 0
A view of Baltimore’s Basilica nestled amid the city’s famed row houses / Public domain

Boston, Mass., Jul 3, 2023 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Baltimore on June 30 added 42 names to its list of individuals accused of child sexual abuse.

The addition of the names to the “List of Priests and Brothers Accused of Child Sexual Abuse,” first published in 2002, comes following Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown’s April report on child sexual abuse in the archdiocese dating back to the 1940s. 

The attorney general’s report called the scope of the abuse “astonishing,” noting that more than 600 children were discovered to have been abused by 156 individuals listed in the report, while adding that “the number is likely far higher.”

The 42 names that were added to the archdiocese’s list consist of 39 individuals who were included in the attorney general’s report; the three other individuals added weren’t named in the report. 

One of the three named is Father Phillip Linden, a Josephite priest who is no longer in active ministry and was named in an allegation relating to his times at St. Francis Xavier Church in East Baltimore in the 1970s.

A Conventual Franciscan, Father Michael Miller, who is suspended from public ministry and pled guilty to child pornography charges in 2013, is also one of the three named.

Lastly, a retired archdiocesan priest who no longer has faculties, Joseph O’Meara, who was accused of “inappropriate touching of a minor” in the 1980s and 1990s, and committing a “boundary violation” with a different minor around the same time, was the third who was named. More can be read about all three here.

As far as the other 39 individuals in the attorney general’s report who were added to the list, at least 33 of them are deceased. The 39 individuals can be read about toward the bottom of the archdiocese’s list of accused here.

According to the archdiocese, the majority of the 39 individuals were not previously included in the list for one of three reasons: the alleged perpetrator is not a priest or brother, never had an assignment within the archdiocese, or was first accused after he died and “is the subject of a single, uncorroborated allegation,” the archdiocese said.

The archdiocese encourages anyone with knowledge of child sexual abuse to contact law enforcement, and anyone with knowledge of sexual abuse by clergy or diocesan personnel to contact the archdiocesan victim’s assistance line at 1-866-417-7469 or the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection at 410-547-5348.

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