Lafayette, La., Jan 14, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Three Cajun Catholics from the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana are on their way to becoming canonized saints after an historic ceremony on Saturday, January 11.
During the ceremony, Bishop J. Douglas Des… […]
Gaza City, Jan 14, 2020 / 12:47 am (CNA).- With fewer than 1,000 Christians in a population of 1.8 million, the Christian population in Palestine’s Gaza Strip today is less than half of what it was 10 years ago.
“They are — of all the Christian groups in the Holy Land — certainly by far the group that’s facing the most difficulty,” Robert Nicholson, president and founder of the Philos Project, told CNA.
Nicholson is currently leading an initiative to help Gazan Christians. He insists the world does not need to wait for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to help the dwindling Palestinian Christian population.
“Christians are often forgotten in this conflict,” he said. “They are really caught between forces that are much bigger than them … They’re looking for stability, they’re looking for freedom.”
“Strengthening these communities need not necessarily be tied to politics,” Nicholson said.
Humanitarian circumstances for Gaza’s Christians have deteriorated since the radical Islamist Hamas takeover in June 2007, which prompted an Israeli blockade restricting the flow of commercial goods into Gaza. According to Caritas International, 80% of Gaza’s population lives below the poverty line.
The Christian minority in Gaza, which is mostly Greek Orthodox, also faces discrimination from the Muslim majority, according to Nicholson. “They are of course in Gaza being ruled by Hamas, a very extreme Muslim group that is rejected even by the Palestinian Authority. And, as Christians in this very difficult fundamentalist society, they face all kinds of social and political persecution,” he said.
This is one of the many factors that has led more and more Palestinian Christians to try to escape Gaza and to relocate to the West Bank, where many end up living with an irregular status and separated from their families.
“They are living in what is essentially an illegal immigrant status because of the way they moved from Gaza to the West Bank. They are washing dishes, they are cleaning homes. If they get arrested at a check-point, they get sent back to Gaza. And so these people, they’re living on the fringes of the society. Even the Christians of the West Bank are not doing that much for them,” Nicholson said.
Witnessing this struggle led Nicholson to start the Gaza Exodus initiative, which seeks to help reunite Christian families divided by the Green Line.
“We’re working with the Israeli and Palestinian governments to get their status normalized, to help them reunite with their families who are still in Gaza and to provide some basic level of financial support for them to make this transition,” Nicholson told CNA in October.
“There’s like social entrepreneurship that can happen that can lift the status of these Christians,” he said.
The Gaza Exodus initiative raised more than $20,000 in a three-month campaign at the end of 2019 to reunite four Christian families for Christmas.
Days before Christmas, Israeli authorities reversed a Dec. 12 announcement barring Gaza Christians from visiting Bethlehem and Jerusalem in the West Bank. Of the 800 travel permits requested, 316 were granted by Christmas Eve, Reuters reported.
Through the Philos Project, Nicholson has worked since 2014 to expose young people to the plurality of voices in Israel, Palestine, and throughout the Middle East.
The Philos Project brings Christian college students and young professionals on organized trips to the Holy Land to engage with the local religious and political realities. It is an ecumenical initiative with staff and fellows from Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Assyrian backgrounds.
“What I’m trying to do is bring people into an encounter with the birthplace of their faith because there’s power in that encounter,” Nicholson said. “The Middle East is and will remain important.”
Wichita, Kan., Jan 13, 2020 / 07:12 pm (CNA).- Pro-life legislators and advocacy groups in Kansas, joined by the state’s Catholic bishops, are working to send a constitutional amendment to voters to counter the Kansas Supreme Court’s declar… […]
Sydney, Australia, Jan 13, 2020 / 06:18 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney urged Mass attendees Sunday to pray for an end to the Australia fires, which have destroyed thousands of homes, and to donate to those affected.
The bushfires in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia have killed at least 28, and destroyed more than 2,000 homes. More than 2,400 square miles are now on fire, and some 38,600 square miles have burned.
“We gather in the shadow of a drought that has now lasted for three years and a bushfire season already the most intense in our country’s history,” Archbishop Fisher said during his homily at Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney Jan. 12.
“[We] stand with all those suffering the destruction of drought and fire, and all those assisting them.”
He applauded the efforts of volunteers and offered prayers for those who have lost property and lives.
“Our mettle as a community is being tested by fire,” he said.
“Together let us pray for a great outpouring of water from the heavens to cleanse our land of destruction and revivify both the bush and our hearts,” he added.
The archbishop applauded the humanitarian efforts of Catholic organizations throughout the country and encouraged parishioners to donate during a special collection at Mass on Jan. 26, Australia Day.
Archbishop Fisher pointed to the feast of the Baptism of Christ, saying this “baptism by fire” will cause the community to become stronger than before.
“Through the inferno of these past weeks, the spirit of our people was not consumed. Rather, their hardiness and goodness were on display.”
“If baptismal waters call us to higher ideals, they also purify us for living those ideals. Fire, too can test our mettle, even refine what is there,” he said. “As our nation passes through this baptism of fire, it can emerge stronger and greater than before.”
“Key Church agencies in welfare, health and education, are working with local parishes, CatholicCare services and St Vincent de Paul conferences to ensure a co-ordinated and effective response,” he said.
“The Church in Australia will direct collections on the Australia Day weekend to the St Vincent de Paul Bushfire Appeal, so that we can maintain this momentum and long continue to demonstrate human and Christian solidarity.”
The St Vincent de Paul Bushfire Appeal will provide victims with essential items, like food and clothing. It will also help victims cover unexpected bills and offer emotional support.
National President of the St Vincent de Paul Society Claire Victory encouraged people to offer financial donations, noting that the organization does not have the “capacity to sort and store additional furniture, clothing or other items in the affected areas right now.”
“We are present, at the service of those communities, providing personal and practical support and referral to professional services,” she said in a Jan. 8 statement.
“Right now, cash is needed,” she added. “Cash is the most useful contribution at this point in time.”
Belfast, Northern Ireland, Jan 13, 2020 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Same-sex marriage is now legal in Northern Ireland, after a deadline set by the UK Parliament Westminster in July 2019 passed without the province forming a government.
Prior to January … […]
Austin, Texas, Jan 13, 2020 / 04:18 pm (CNA).- Texas’ 16 Catholic bishops on Friday responded to Governor Greg Abbott’s announcement that the state will not participate in the federal refugee resettlement program, calling the decision “deeply discouraging and disheartening.”
“While the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops respects the governor, this decision is simply misguided. It denies people who are fleeing persecution, including religious persecution, from being able to bring their gifts and talents to our state and contribute to the general common good of all Texans,” the bishops said in a Jan. 10 joint statement.
“As Catholics, an essential aspect of our faith is to welcome the stranger and care for the alien. We use this occasion to commit ourselves even more ardently to work with all people of good will, including our federal, state and local governments, to help refugees integrate and become productive members of our communities.”
Several of the bishops, including Edward Burns of Dallas, noted that Catholic Charities agencies in their dioceses have partnered for years with the federal government to resettle refugees, all of whom have been screened and approved for resettlement by the Department of Homeland Security.
Abbott informed the U.S. State Department Jan. 10 that Texas will not participate in the refugee resettlement program this fiscal year, the Texas Tribune reported. Texas is the first state this year to opt out of the program; more than 40 other state governors have already chosen to opt in, the Texas Tribune reports.
Abbott acknowledged in his letter to the State Department that refugees could still settle in Texas after first arriving in another state that does participate in the resettlement program.
Several Texas bishops also released their own statements on the matter.
Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth Jan. 10 echoed the joint statement by noting that refugees are those who have fled life-threatening situations at home, and who have been vetted by the federal government. Many, he said, are Christians fleeing religious persecution.
Olson said current local refugee support services will continue to help refugees in Texas, and if Abbott does not reverse his decision those agencies will have to use local funds to replace lost federal refugee funds.
Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville wrote on Twitter Jan. 10 that “the Governor’s decision not to allow the Federal refugee resettlement program to operate in Texas affects refugees vetted by the current administration. They flee violence & persecution, and seek a chance to live, work & contribute in peace. The Governor should reconsider.”
Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio also expressed on Twitter opposition to Abbott’s decision.
Abbott’s veto of the resettlement program was made possible by a September executive order by President Trump which requires written consent from states and local entities before they resettle refugees within their boundaries, the Tribune reports. A federal judge in Maryland is expected to rule this week on whether Trump exceeded his authority with the executive order, the New York Times reports.
The Tribune reports that Texas had been a national leader in resettlement for several years after reaching a high of about 8,212 people in 2009. The number remained around 7,500 from 2012-2016, and in 2016 the governor sued the Obama administration in an effort to prevent Syrian refugees from resettling in Texas.
Despite this, and despite Abbott’s subsequent withdrawal of the state from the resettlement program, local agencies continued to resettle refugees in Texas, which accepted about 1,700 refugees during FY 2018— more than any other state— and about 2,460 in FY2019, the Tribune reports.
Vatican City, Jan 13, 2020 / 02:56 pm (CNA).- The publisher of a new book on priestly celibacy, written by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, […]
Kaduna, Nigeria, Jan 13, 2020 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- Four seminarians, between the ages of 18 and 23, were abducted Wednesday night from their seminary in Kaduna, in northwestern Nigeria.
Pius Kanwai, 19; Peter Umenukor, 23; Stephen Amos, 23; and Michael Nnadi, 18, were taken from Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna, around 10:30 pm on Jan. 8 by gunmen. Police are searching for the four young men.
Nearly 270 seminarians live at Good Shepherd.
“The security situation in Nigeria is appalling”, Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of ACN International, said Jan. 13. “Criminal gangs are further exploiting the chaotic situation and making matters still worse.”
He compared the situation in Nigeria to that of Iraq prior to the Islamic State’s invasion: “Already at that stage, Christians were being abducted, robbed and murdered because there was no protection by the state. This must not be allowed to happen to the Christians of Nigeria. The government must act now, before it is too late.”
The gunmen, disguised in military camouflage, broke through the fence surrounding the seminarians’ living quarters and began shooting sporadically. They stole laptops and phones before kidnapping the four young men.
A source in Nigeria told ACI Africa that the kidnappers made contact with family members of the seminarians Jan. 11, “but never pronounced any amount of money as ransom.”
Each of the abductees were first year philosophers, sources told ACI Africa.
Good Shepherd Seminary is located just off the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria Express Way. According to AFP, the area is “notorious for criminal gangs kidnapping travelers for ransom.”
The news agency said that schoolgirls and staff from a boarding school also located near the highway were kidnapped in October, and were later released.
Kidnappings of Christians in Nigeria have multiplied in recent months, a situation that has prompted Church leaders to express serious concern about the security of their members and to call on the government to prioritize the security of its citizens.
A version of this story was initially reported by CNA’s sister agency, ACI Africa. It has been adapted by CNA.
Washington D.C., Jan 13, 2020 / 02:10 pm (CNA).- This week, the pope emeritus and Cardinal Robert Sarah will publish a new book in defense of clerical celibacy.
Reaction to the book has opened up a fault-line among Catholic commentators: some se… […]
Lima, Peru, Jan 13, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- After controversial remarks last week, the Archbishop of Lima said Thursday that he did not intend to undermine the importance of prayer in the presence of the Eucharist.
“It is essential for us to maintain a level of entering and contemplating the mystery of the Lord made bread for us, the mystery of the transubstantiation as we call it more technically, which means the real presence of the Lord,” Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio said Jan. 7.
Castillo’s remarks came after he told Lima’s synodal assembly Jan. 7 that “no one is converted with the tabernacle.” At that meeting, Castillo said that while Pope Francis has mentioned contemplation of the Eucharist as a source of spiritual growth, “no one is converted with the tabernacle. We are all converted from meeting people who ask us questions and who are human dramas where the possibility of encountering the Lord arises.”
“I can later sit before the tabernacle and pray and all that, and surely; but it is very rare that I have illumination in a passive state…Contemplation is extremely important but to the extent the faith has been transmitted, somebody communicated the faith to me,” Castillo added.
“We are all believers because someone announced the Gospel to us, from our mother who made the sign of the cross, the grandma. the dad, the aunt, classmates at school, the Christian community or the singing group…It’s in human relationships where the Lord is hidden, that his presence appears and we welcome him,” Castillo added.
The archbishop’s remarks, posted on YouTube, became a source of controversy in Peru, where they were seen by some Catholics to downplay the importance of the Eucharist, or the power of prayer.
After his comments were published, Castillo offered a “clarification,” explaining that “some people were a bit surprised by a point I made in the morning. What I said was, let’s say, before the tabernacle you don’t find your vocation, a vocation is found in life. And the tabernacle, as you know, is the place to visit where the permanent presence of the Lord is under the forms of bread and wine, and there the Real Presence.”
“Pope Francis said here in Trujillo that when one has a vocation, the vocation is always received in life,” Castillo added.
Castillo, who was a theology professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, became Lima’s archbishop March 2, 2019.
Castillo’s remarks were intended as a commentary on a Jan. 20, 2018 discourse from Pope Francis to priests and consecrated religious in Trujillo, Peru. In that speech, the pope discussed the importance of prayer before the Eucharist.
“Sit down a while and allow him to look at you and remember those times he looked at you and looks at you. Allow yourselves to receive his gaze. This is the most precious possession of a consecrated person: the Lord’s gaze,” Francis said in his remarks.
The pope added that the Lord finds and heals believers in the difficult circumstances of their own life, and from those circumstances, brings them to contemplate him in the presence of the Eucharist.
That, Castillo claimed Jan. 7 in his clarification, is the point he had been trying to make.
The “first encounter with the vocation and the successive kerygmatic encounters are in life and in often terrible situations and sometimes also very beautiful situations, but they aren’t, let’s say, in a moment where I’m alone and there’s a kind of look from the Host at me and me at the Host.”
The archbishop’s clarification, however, also raised a concern about the role of contemplation in life.
“And we have to take into account something that is very important: all that which are sacraments are signs the Lord has left to remember life and to live life more deeply, to nourish life, but not to replace it.”
Nevertheless, Castillo added, “I can’t then say tomorrow we all go to the tabernacle and we only devote ourselves to be before the tabernacle, because that’s the truest part of life. [Because] who’s cooking? And who’s preparing something to eat? So if we see things that way, with [contemplation] as the greatest thing there is, and the only thing that is, be careful.”
Pope Francis has referred to the importance of praying before the Eucharist.
In September 2018, speaking to the bishops in mission territories, the pope explained that a bishop, being a successor of the apostles, is called by Jesus to remain with him and therefore “before the tabernacle he learns to entrust himself to and to trust in the Lord,” because “there he finds his strength and his confidence.”
On Jan. 31, 2019, the pope recalled Don Bosco, the founder of the Salesians, and said that for the priest to look at reality “with the eyes of a man and with the eyes of God,” he has to spend “ample time before the tabernacle”
At Midnight Mass, Dec. 24, 2019, Pope Francis also spoke of the importance of contemplating Christ in the Eucharist present in the tabernacle.
“Today is the right day to draw near to the tabernacle, the crèche, the manger, and to say thank you. Let us receive the gift that is Jesus, in order then to become gift like Jesus. To become gift is to give meaning to life. And it is the best way to change the world: we change, the Church changes, history changes, once we stop trying to change others but try to change ourselves and to make of our life a gift,” the pontiff said.
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