Americas

Lima, Peru, Mar 20, 2017 / 03:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Evangelina Chamorro was swept away for over a third of a mile by an avalanche of mud on the coast south of Lima. But she survived and said that thinking about “God and her daughters” gave her the strength.

In recent weeks, heavy rains have caused avalanches and floods in various parts of the country. Official reports note 70 dead and 70,000 victims throughout the country.

Evangelina, 32, was swept away from the Peruvian forest by a mudslide that reached the Punta Hermosa resort area about 25 miles south of the Peruvian capital.

She lived with her husband and daughters in a small house in a forested area near the resort. Evangelina and her husband were swept away by the mudslide when they both left their house to feed their animals in their nearby corral.

In a statement quoted in La Republica newspaper, Evangelina’s husband, Armando Rivera, said that “we went out to feed the animals when in the distance we heard a loud noise. I thought two trucks had crashed into each other on the highway.”

“We managed to grab onto the trunk of a eucalyptus tree, but the force of the avalanche made us lose our grip. I saw the mud carrying away my wife. I didn’t think I would find her alive. God is great, it’s a miracle she’s alive!” he said after being discharged from the hospital.

Evangelina is still hospitalized but making a remarkable recovery. Her body was struck by lumber, nails and other debris swept away by the mudslide.

She said that while she was swept away by the avalanche, “I thought of giving up, but the whole time I was asking God to give me the strength to keep on fighting.”

The Church in Peru is continuing to mobilize to help the thousands of people affected by the rains and floods which since January have been hitting different parts of the country especially the northern coast and part of the capital.

Since Jan. 14, rains caused by the El Nino Effect have made rivers overflow and avalanches of rocks and mud, affecting a number of areas.

So far the climactic phenomenon – which will continue the next few weeks – has caused the deaths of 62 people, 11 missing and 170 injured.

According the the report from the Center for National Emergency Operations, there are 552,866 people affected on the national level; 62,642 victims, 115,748 damaged homes, of which 7,974 have collapsed and 7,925 are uninhabitable.

In response, the various dioceses along with local Caritas organizations have launched solidarity and prayer campaigns on behalf of the victims.

Cardinal Juan Cipriani, Archbishop and Primate of Peru, announced the definitive cancellation of the 2017 March for Life in order to concentrate efforts on helping the victims of the natural disasters the country is suffering from.

Pope Francis expressed his “closeness to the people of Peru hard hit by the devastating rains.”

“I am praying for the victims and those involved in relief work,” he said.

[…]

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mar 16, 2017 / 08:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A diocese in Argentina has decided to transfer a priest after a series of threats he’s received for protesting the death of a man who had been killed by a drug cartel.

The Diocese of Merlo-Moreno in Argentina relocated Father Eduardo Farrell, who has been  serving for nine years as pastor of Sacred Heart Church in the Cuartel Quinto municipality in Buenos Aires in order to “protect his physical integrity in face of repeated threats and intimidation.”

The events trace back to Dec. 15, 2016, when the People’s Dignity Movement activist, Cesar Mendez,
from the Cuartel Quinto neighborhood, was shot dead by “transas,” persons connected to the drug world, who had taken over a house.

A week later, the neighbors organized a peaceful march in the Buenos Aires area locality to call for justice for the death of Mendez. Fr. Farrell was the only speaker on that occasion, and from then on the intimidation began.

The statement from the Diocese of Merlo-Moreno released March 13, said that “in recent times numerous persons, believers or not, Church activists or not, have received clear signals that their actions and preaching entailed a nuisance to sectors which operate outside the law.”

“With great concern and deep pain we observe how violence, in its most varied manifestations, is being normalized in our communities. Every day we learn of violent incidents, some extremely serious, such as the loss of human lives,” the statement read.

The message, signed by the Bishop of Merlo-Moreno, Fernando Carlos Maletti; Auxiliary Bishop, Oscar Eduardo Miñarro; and Vicar General, Fr. Fabián Sáenz, warned of the rise in “in the illegal drug trade” along with the “dangerous deterioration of the health of our youth,” and the “brutal confrontations for the control of territory.”

The message noted that work in the prevention of “drug addiction” often “collide with the petty and evil interests of those who only seek territorial power and income at any cost.”

The National Justice and Peace Commission expressed solidarity with the people being threatened “because of their brave opposition to evil” and joined with “those who honestly and disinterestedly seek to overcome the evils in our society.”

In this regard, “the voice of the Diocese of Merlo-Moreno is brave and prophetic because neither indifference nor fear closes their eyes or silences their words in the face of injustice.”

The drug trafficking problem in Argentina already claimed a victim from the clergy of this country in October 2016.

Fr. Juan Heraldo Viroche, pastor of Our Lady of the Valley in Tucuman, was found hanged to death in the rectory after he started publicly denouncing in his homilies the drug gangs in his locality.

The incident led the priests who work in the shantytowns of Buenos Aires to state that “Father Viroche was killed by the mafia he denounced and who threatened him.”

[…]

Portoviejo, Ecuador, Mar 15, 2017 / 12:50 pm (Aid to the Church in Need).- Almost one year has passed since a devastating earthquake struck Ecuador on April 16, 2016: more than 660 died and many thousands lost their homes and livelihoods.

Grave suffer… […]

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 14, 2017 / 12:08 am (CNA/Europa Press).- The Mexican Bishops have launched a #elmigranteesundon (the migrant is a gift) campaign on social media to show their dissatisfaction with the immigration policy of United States president Donald Trump.

Bishop Alfonso Miranda Guardiola, auxiliary bishop of Monterrey, called on Mexicans “to protect the dignity of migrants not just with economic resources, but also with time and actions they can take within their different spheres.”

The bishop warned that Trump’s immigration policy, especially its deportations, will cause families and communities to be separated.

Bishop Miranda also indicated that the Church in Mexico “is seeking to strengthen relations with the U.S. bishops in order to mutually support one another.”

“Mexico is a transit country, a temporary or permanent place for migrants coming from other countries, but it is also a place of return which takes in our compatriots who have be repatriated; we’re not going to get into a fight, but we do have to defend the dignity of our people,” he stated.

During a March 1 press conference, the prelate  highlighted the 70 migrant centers in Mexico that provide temporary lodging and assistance to people seeking to pass through the country

“Economically, the migrant centers are supported with donations from the communities where they are located, but the disposition to build peace and the common good among us is the best way to strengthen our unity,” he added.

Bishop Miranda estimated that in the coming days there will be a greater number of migrants and so the way forward “must be that of peace, justice and solidarity to intelligently and creatively solve the great challenges that are going to be presented.”

The permanent council of the Mexican bishops’ conference encouraged the faithful to take advantage of “this time of grace in Lent to be sensitized to the difficult situation we are going through.”

In a March 8 statement, the bishops on the permanent council expressed their concern about the social situation the country is going through, “particularly regarding the migration issue that many of our compatriots are facing as a result of the policies implemented by the government of the United States, including the unacceptable possibility that Mexican families maybe separated when returning to this country.”

“In face of a possible humanitarian emergency,we bishops repeat our invitation to faithful Catholics, and society in general, to join the work being done in the parishes, in the more than 70 migrant centers, administered by the Catholic Church or in those supported by sister Christian churches, civil organizations or the government. This is the time to get involved in this great effort and service and brotherhood,” they encouraged.

The bishops informed that “the will soon broaden their stance on the consequences of the immigration policies adopted by the government of the neighboring country.”

[…]

Guatemala City, Guatemala, Mar 10, 2017 / 03:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- There is mourning in Guatemala after at least 35 girls perished in a fire at a state-run home for youth, which had attracted widespread charges of abusive conditions and mistreatment.

The Church “greatly mourns a tragedy of this kind,” Auxiliary Bishop Raúl Antonio Martínez Paredes of the Archdiocese of Guatemala told CNA.

The fire occurred March 8 at the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home. A group of girls and teenagers rioted to protest what they alleged was physical and sexual abuse at the facilities. Authorities said that some of the children set fire to mattresses and the fire then spread to the rest of the facility.

Gloria Castro, attorney for the children, told Guatemala’s Congress that the girls who died in the fire were unable to get out because they were locked in a room, apparently as a punishment. The previous night, some 60 children escaped from the center.

The center, located in the San Antonio area of the town of San José Pinula, was created to provide protection for about 400 girls and teenagers abandoned and at risk. However, it currently houses close to 750 children, including those in trouble with the law.

Bishop Martinez Paredes said it might be possible to discover who is responsible for the incident, but he said it is most important to resolve the problems of the safe house.

“If it’s closed, what will be done with the young people who have rights and needs?” the bishop asked. “It’s almost certain that we Christians can offer some help.”

Noting the complaints that provoked the riot, the bishop voiced concern that no distinction was made between younger girls and teenagers, or between those who have committed crimes and those who have not. He said the facilities are “not appropriate” and are joined together.

The shelter “practically became a children’s prison, when the original idea was to be a home to help children at risk.” He called on authorities to fulfill their obligations to protect children and to build the proper infrastructure.

After the tragedy, the Attorney General’s Office for Human Rights reiterated that in November 2016 it recommended closing this center for failing to comply with the recommendations made in 2015, when the problems facing the children began to be known.

The Office of Human Rights for the Archdiocese of Guatemala also expressed “its deepest sorrow and solidarity” with the families of those who died and with those injured in the fire.

It said such an event is unacceptable and would have been avoided had the shelter improved the unfit conditions. The office urged that those responsible for the shelter’s condition be sanctioned, and child protection policies be adopted in line with national and international law.

Such centers must strengthen human persons and their rights, not become places of imprisonment and mistreatment, the human rights office said.

“We pray to the Lord Our God to give us and the affected families strength,” it said.

[…]

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mar 9, 2017 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The deaths of seven inmates in a fire at a police station in Pergamino, Argentina has brought renewed criticisms of the “inhumane situation” experienced in prisons in the country.

On March 2, seven people died inside Police Station No. 1 in Pergamino in an incident ending with a fire that was caused, according to preliminary information, by a fight between the prisoners.

In their statement entitled “Where is your brother?” the National Secretariat of Prison Pastoral Care invited “everyone to become aware of this inhumane situation that so many of our brothers live in, and we make an urgent demand to those directly and immediately responsible: ‘Don’t put off actions that cannot wait!’”

The secretariat expressed its sorrow to the families and renewed its “commitment for life” in addition asking that “God in his great mercy may grant us the gift to discover every person as a brother and act accordingly.”

“We cannot remain indifferent. These are seven lives taken away by the fire, they have names: Sergio, Federico, Alan, Franco, John Mario, Juan Carlos and Fernando Emanuel, they have families, they have histories, they are from our homeland,” the statement said.

According to reports, a fight among the prisoners broke out and led to mattresses being set on fire. The firefighters arrived late on the scene, and seven prisoners died.

However, the secretariat of prison pastoral care said, “We can’t just stop at a simplistic account of what happened” and “much less can we think…’seven less thieves.’ With shame, much grief and indignation we want to ask forgiveness for expressions like that.”

“In such a tragic event, there are many questions that have been waiting for answers for a long time, they require urgent decisions and concrete actions.”

“Even when there are so many overcrowded prisoners and in inhumane conditions in the police stations, how can it be that they are not prepared for this? This reality has been going on for some time and it is increasing even though it has been repeatedly pointed out as inadmissible and therefore prohibited,” the statement said.

“Police stations are not a suitable place for long term detentions, far from minimum standards,” it continued. “Police stations don’t have the preparations and the requirements demanded by the needs of a prison program.”

The prison ministry secretariat reiterated that places of detention must protect life, “preserve and maintain psycho-physical integrity,” and have adequate sanitation, potable water, places for eating, resting, and access to education, among other things.

“Can it be admitted that there is no emergency protocol for situations like these, knowing that it is a public place, a police station, and even more so where there are people imprisoned under the responsibility of the state?” the secretariat said.

[…]

Cochabamba, Bolivia, Mar 8, 2017 / 11:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The newest member of St. Francis Monastery in Cochabamba, Bolivia, is furry and has four legs.

His name is Friar Carmelo, but they’ve nicknamed him Friar Bigotón (Spanish for mustache).

The friars found the stray schnauzer on the streets and decided to adopt him as one of their own, even going so far as to outfit the pup with his own Franciscan habit.

“Sometimes we brothers have a laugh among ourselves and there is a brother here that is also called Carmelo, who has a moustache, so that was sort of the inspiration [behind his name],” one of the friars told local television channel ATB.

In Facebook photos posted by Franciscan friar Kasper Mariusz Kapron which have been shared hundreds of times, Friar Carmelo can be seen running and playing throughout the monastery grounds, and even “preaching to the fish” in the monastery pond.
“His life is all about playing and running,” friar Jorge Fernandez told The Dodo. “Here, all of the brothers love him very much. He is a creature of God.”

The adoption was made possible by animal rescue group Proyecto Narices Frías (Cold Nose Project). The animal group stated in a post on Facebook that they hoped more religious groups would be inspired by the story to adopt animals in need.

“If only all the churches of our country adopt a dog and care for him like Friar Bigotón,” the group wrote in a post on Facebook, “we are sure that the parishioners would follow his example.”

The friars told local media that the dog has a bit of a naughty side, and has been known to chew things or hide them in the monastery garden. Still, he remains a beloved part of monastery life.

[…]

Juarez, Mexico, Mar 7, 2017 / 04:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Juarez, located in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico, was considered from 2008 to 2010 to be one of the the most dangerous cities in the world, due to drug trafficking violence and the constant struggles for power and territory between the cartels.

However, the city of 1.3 million inhabitants dropped off this list thanks to a significant decrease in the number of homicides: from 3,766 in 2010 to 256 in 2015.

Although this drop can be credited to an improvement in the work of local authorities, for Fr. Patrico Hileman – a priest responsible for establishing Perpetual Adoration chapels in Latin America – there is a much deeper reason: Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

“When a parish adores God day and night, the city is transformed,” Fr. Hileman said.

The priest told Radio María Argentina that in 2013 the missionaries opened the first Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Juarez. At that time “40 people a day were dying because two drug gangs were fighting over the city to move drugs into the United States.”

It was the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels, whose former leader Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán Loera was recently extradited from Mexico to the United States.

Fr. Hileman recalled that “the parishes were saying that the war wasn’t ending because a group of soldiers were with one gang and the police were with the other one. They were killing people, burning houses down so they would leave, fighting over the city.”

One of the parishes that was “desperate” asked the missionaries to open a Perpetual Adoration chapel because they assured that “only Jesus is going to save us from this, only Jesus can give us security.”

The missionaries only took three days to establish the first Perpetual Adoration chapel in Juarez.

Fr. Hileman told how one day, when the city was under a state of siege, a lady was on her way to the chapel to do her Holy Hour at 3:00 in the morning, when she was intercepted by six soldiers who asked her where she was heading.

When the woman told them that she was going to “the little chapel” the uniformed men asked her what place, because everything was closed at that hour. Then the woman proposed  they accompany her to see for themselves.

When they got to the chapel, the soldiers found “six women making the Holy Hour at the 3:00 in the morning,” Fr. Hileman said.

At that moment the lady said to the soldiers: “Do you think you’re protecting us? We’re praying for you 24 hours a day.”

One of the uniformed men fell down holding his weapon,“crying in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The next day at 3:00 in the morning they saw him in civilian clothes doing a Holy Hour, crying oceans of tears,” he said.

Two months after the chapel was opened, the pastor “calls us and says to us: Father, since the chapel was opened there has not been one death in Juarez, it’s been two months since anyone has died.”

“We put up ten little chapels in a year,” Fr. Hileman said.

As if that were not enough, “at that time they were going to close the seminary because there were only eight seminarians and now there are 88. The bishop told me me that these seminarians had participated in the Holy Hours.”

Fr. Hileman pointed out that “that is what Jesus does in a parish” when people understand that “we find security in Christ.”

He also noted that “the greatest miracles occur in the early hours of the morning. “

The early morning “is when you’re most at peace, when you hear God better, your mind, your heart  is more tranquil, you’re there alone for God. If you are generous with Jesus, he is a thousand times more generous with you,” Fr. Hileman said.

This article was originally published on CNA Jan. 26, 2017.

[…]

Lima, Peru, Mar 7, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Under the theme “Don’t Mess With My Children,” more than 1.5 million Peruvians demonstrated on Saturday against gender ideology in the nation’s schools.

Organizers said that total attendance surpassed 1.5 million, at demonstrations throughout the country.

Among those present were Congress members Julio Rosas, Carlos Tubino, Nelly Cuadros, Juan Carlos Gonzales, Marco Miyashiro, Roberto Vieira, Federico Pariona and Edwin Donayre.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”es” dir=”ltr”>Los organizadores de <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/conmishijosnotemetas?src=hash”>#conmishijosnotemetas</a> anuncian que más de 1.5 millones marcharon en todo el Perú <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/4M?src=hash”>#4M</a> ????<a href=”https://twitter.com/Calderon_Martha”>@Calderon_Martha</a> / <a href=”https://twitter.com/acamasca”>@acamasca</a> <a href=”https://t.co/351NDByffr”>pic.twitter.com/351NDByffr</a></p>&mdash; ACI Prensa (@aciprensa) <a href=”https://twitter.com/aciprensa/status/838175199686164480″>March 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

“Don’t Mess With My Children” is a campaign against recent attempts to promote a national curriculum of gender ideology, which teaches that one’s ‘gender’  is chosen and has no connection with one’s biological sex.

In January of this year, the Peruvian Bishop’s Conference told the government that it “urges the removal from the new National Curriculum those notions coming from gender ideology.”

At 2 p.m. on March 4, massive crowds gathered to march toward San Martín Plaza in the center of Lima.

The demonstrators, bearing various signs and slogans, marched down the main districts of the Peruvian capital.

Other cities throughout the country, including Arequipa, Trujillo, Iquitos and Cusco, also saw heavily attended demonstrations.

Fr. Luis Gaspar, episcopal vicar of the Family and Life Commission for the Archdiocese of Lima, stressed that “education as the first right of parents concerning their children is not negotiable.”

“We are in a war over morals, a spiritual war, and the battlefield is the minds of their children, and we are going to defend it till the day we die.”

Fr. Gaspar also invited the demonstrators to participate in the March for Life which will be held March 25 in Lima.

[…]

Caracas, Venezuela, Feb 23, 2017 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After speaking against alleged government misconduct, human rights abuses and delay of free elections, Catholic churches and clergy around Venezuela are facing a wave of protests from pro-government supporters.

A string of incidents began on the morning of Jan. 29, as supporters of the current government interrupted a Mass at San Pedro Claver Church in a poor neighborhood of Caracas, Reuters reported.

The crowd of around 20 people hurled insults at the clergy, calling them “Satan in a cassock!” and “Fascist!” The protesters also used the chant “Chavez lives!” – in honor of late president and former leader of the ruling Socialist party, Hugo Chavez.

After the death of the socialist leader from cancer in 2013 and his succession by current Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, the country has faced both increases in violence and a number of social and political challenges, including the delay of the country’s regional elections.

The bishops’ strong stance against the current Venezuelan government – and other opinions echoed by priests around the country– has prompted backlash not only in the capital of Caracas, but in around the country. The cathedral of Caracas was hit with rocks, and protestors went to the home of the Archbishop Antonio Lopez of Barquisimeto after he said in a speech that socialism has brought “misery” to the country.

The same day as the protests in the Caracas parish of San Pedro Claver, police interrupted Mass in the city of Maracaibo. In the last week of January, gun-toting robbers attacked, threatened monks and stole from a Trappist monastery in the state of Merida.

Current head of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Diego Padron, told Reuters that “this list, in my opinion, shows they are not isolated events.”

One of the most contentious issues the country faces is the economy, where the world’s highest inflation rates, price controls and failed economic policies have resulted in severe shortages of basic necessities like medicines, milk, flour, toilet paper and other essentials.

The shortages have their roots in policies enacted by Chavez in 2003 that control the price of nearly 160 products such as flour, milk, oil and soap. While these products are affordable at the government listed price, they are in short supply and fly off the shelves, ending up on the black market at much higher rates.

To complicate matters further, there have been numerous reports of the Venezuelan army’s use of their position in guarding food supply and distribution as a means of participating and making money off the black markets. The supply shortages and other opportunities for corruption have also allowed other government officials and businesspeople to profit off of the troubles facing the Venezuelan people.

Since Maduro took office, Venezuela has also experienced a spike in violent crime, with one of the world’s highest murder rates. Opponents of the Maduro regime also report that the government has used its power to jail protesters and circumvent elections – essentially becoming a dictatorship.
Some of these opponents include the Venezuelan Bishops.

In a Feb. 7 interview with the archdiocese, the Archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino criticized the suspension of regional elections and his displeasure with the government’s approach to political processes.  

“Without a doubt, it’s not a modern democracy,” the cardinal said. “Democracy is respect for the people, observance of the constitution, division and functioning of public powers, enforcement of all the promises, absence of political prisoners, free elections.”

“It’s already a dictatorship.”

The regional elections – which were scheduled for late 2016 and then delayed by the government – will take place later this year. According to the government, the delays were put in place to allow time for the reorganization of political organizations.

Before the delay of the elections, the Church helped to facilitate talks between the Maduro government and the opposition coalition. However, the talks collapsed with tensions and accusations from both sides.

The former president of of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, Bishop Ovidio Pérez Morales has also criticized the government and assured that the Church cannot remain quiet in the face of the government’s human right abuses.

“Morally, I cannot accept the violation of human rights,” he said in a Feb. 1 interview with Union Radio. “I can’t accept that the state considers itself the owner of persons.”

[…]