Asia – Pacific

Kottayam, India, Sep 4, 2018 / 11:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic priest in India spoke to a Muslim congregation on Friday to thank them for bringing food, water, and medicines for the more than 500 people who sought shelter in his church amid devastating flooding in Kerala in recent weeks.

Severe rains led to flash floods and landslides in Kerala in recent months, with some 400 people killed and more than 1 million displaced from their homes.

Press Trust of India reported that more than 580 people took refuge at Fr. Sanu Puthussery’s St. Antony’s parish in Achinakom, and the church soon ran out of food and water.

“I straightaway went to the Masjid, apprised the maulvi about our difficulty and requested his help. After the day’s prayers, Muslim brothers came to the church with a large quantity of food and water,” Fr. Puthussery told PTI.

“Pope Francis had said build bridges, not walls. The devastating floods has now given us an opportunity to destroy the walls and build the bridges of togetherness,” Fr. Puthussery told the 250 Muslims Aug. 31 at the Juma Masjid in Vechoor, about 15 miles northwest of Kottayam, during Friday prayers.

“I cannot express my gratitude to them in words,” the priest said, for the “help and support they had extended during the time of difficulties.”

He said youth of the mosque had also brought medicine to his parish.

Fr. Puthussery said he had gone to thank the Muslim leaders personally, but that “they invited me to their prayer hall and offered me their platform to speak. It was a rare gesture of togetherness.”

Those now returning to their flooded homes in the southwestern Indian state are encountering snakes and insects, contaminated water, and ruined crops.

Water-borne diseases are now a threat to Keralites. The state has declared a health alert, after 11 people died of leptospirosis, the BBC reported.

[…]

Beijing, China, Aug 31, 2018 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- An official Chinese state media outlet has denied any imminent change to the country’s national two-child policy. The announcement follows media speculation that such a change was being considered in response to China’s rapidly aging population.

On Aug. 27, family-planning related clauses were removed from China’s marriage and adoption laws leading many major media outlets to report that this could signal an upcoming change for the two-child policy.

Chinese authorities responded on Aug. 28 with two explanatory articles in the “China Daily,” the state-sponsored English-language newspaper, which provided explanations from legislators that these “family planning-related clauses” were only removed to eliminate redundancy; the Population and Family Planning Law that stipulates that couples can have only two children still remains on the books.

China has strictly controlled its population for nearly four decades through a government policy of contraception, abortion, and sterilization.

Its former one-child policy was expanded in 2015 to a limit of two children per family in response to the growing age imbalance facing the country, with nearly 10 percent of the population over the age of 65.

“The statement from China Daily does not eliminate the possibility that China is considering the abolition of its brutal population control program.  It does, however, clarify that the deletion of family planning content from the civil code sections on marriage and adoption law is irrelevant to this potential policy change,” explained Reggie Littlejohn, the president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, a pro-life aid and advocacy organization focused on China.

Whether the standing committee of the National People’s Congress will amend the Population and Family Planning Law due to the changing demographic situation in the country “requires further consideration,” according to one of the publications.

Earlier this month, concerns were raised that Chinese population control efforts could reverse course entirely when two researchers proposed that the Chinese government force couples with fewer than two children to pay into a “procreation fund.”

“Given the desperation the Chinese government faces because of its rapidly aging population, I could see a move by the Chinese government to pressure all couples who are eligible to have a second child into having a second child, whether they want a second child or not,” commented Littlejohn, “The Chinese Government needs to stop functioning as womb police and let go of the idea that women’s bodies are domain of the state.”

“We continue to press for the complete elimination of all coercive population control measures, effective immediately.  Now, under the two-child policy, all couples can have two children.  Single women and third children, however, remain at risk for forced abortion,” she continued.

There have been at least 336 million abortions and 196 million sterilizations in China since the government first implemented population control measures, according to 2013 statistics from its national health ministry.

[…]

Seoul, South Korea, Aug 30, 2018 / 04:47 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The South Korean government included abortion in a list of “immoral medical actions” earlier this month as the country’s abortion law was revised to enable authorities to s… […]

Thiruvananthapuram, India, Aug 29, 2018 / 11:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As flood waters in India’s southwestern state of Kerala recede, Catholic aid agencies are helping provide aid materials to those affected by the disaster.

“The SVP in India has been extremely busy working with local fisherman to help rescue people trapped in flooded homes. SVP volunteers are collecting and coordinating the distribution of aid materials, using resources available from British donations together with their own money to buy vital goods,” Johnson Varghese, president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in India, said Aug. 28.

“We desperately need donations as the rescue effort goes on. As people move back to their damaged homes, we’ll be using funds to help rebuild their houses, purchase household utensils, school materials such as uniforms, books, and even livestock to replace lost farm animals.”

Severe rains led to flash floods and landslides in Kerala, with some 400 people killed and more than 1 million displaced from their homes.

Those now returning to their flooded homes are encountering snakes and insects, contaminated water, and ruined crops.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is raising and distributing funds for the displaced, and purchasing for them food, clothing, and livestock.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay wrote to the people of his diocese Aug. 18 to “make a fervent appeal to all our churches, convents and other institutions to join in the relief efforts.”

“First of all, by prayer for the victims, their families and the rescue teams,” he suggested. “We could add this intention in the Prayer of the Faithful at Mass. We also urgently need financial assistance to continue and extend our relief efforts being coordinated by Caritas India.”

The cardinal said that his local Church, located in Maharashtra state, “cannot stay silent, while our brothers and sisters are going through harrowing times in Kerala.”

“Caritas India, the Catholic Church’s social arm, has already placed teams in different parts of Kerala to assist and coordinate relief operations,” said Cardinal Gracias.

Catholic Relief Services has provided water purifying tablets for clean drinking water, buckets for safe water storage, hygiene items, such as soap and sanitary napkins, and shelter kits that include tarps and blankets, to more than 2,000 families in Kerala’s Wayanad district.

Earlier in August, India’s bishops issued a statement expressing their support for the relief efforts and offering their prayers for all those affected by the floods.

“We pray for all those affected and also for all who are actively or through contributions helping the people in dire distress,” they said.

While they noted several Catholic relief efforts already underway, they also expressed their “ardent desire to work with the Government and all like-minded agencies to provide relief and help in all possible ways to the suffering people.”

[…]

Cebu, Philippines, Aug 28, 2018 / 12:39 am (CNA).- A Filipino priest who has been an outspoken critic of extrajudicial killings in the country says he has gone into hiding after several sightings of what he believes to be members of a death squad searc… […]

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug 24, 2018 / 03:47 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- One year after the Burmese government launched a brutal campaign of violence against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, human rights activists are calling for increased international efforts to alleviate the suffering of refugees.

“It has be[en] one year since the men, women and children were traumatized and essentially wiped out of their native lands,” said the Faith Coalition to Stop Genocide in Burma.

“Nearly a million indigenous Burmese are now living in refugee camps in Bangladesh today… the time for talking is over, and the time to act is now,” the coalition said in an Aug. 24 statement. It urged the U.S. government to issue an official genocide declaration and impose sanctions on the Burmese government.

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Burma (Myanmar). The Burmese government refuses to use the term Rohingya, and considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. They have been denied citizenship and numerous other rights since a controversial law was enacted in 1982.

On Aug. 24 last year, a small group of Rohingya militants attacked several Burmese police posts, leaving a dozen security officers dead. The next day, the Burmese military launched renewed attacks against the Rohingya, burning villages and killing civilians in a military campaign later declared by the United Nations as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

More than half a million Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh, where they remain in overcrowded refugee camps.

Catholic Relief Services has warned that the refugee settlements “have grown rapidly and spontaneously, leading to extremely congested shelters vulnerable to flooding, landslides and other hazards. The risks are especially high with the arrival of cyclone season.”

According to the BBC, nearly 100,000 people in the refugee camps have been treated for malnutrition.

In the last year, it is estimated that more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled violence in Burma, taking shelter in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, where they joined some 200,000 Rohingya refugees who had previously been displaced from their homeland.

While the Burmese government has recently claimed that the Rohingya are peacefully returning to their homes, U.S. journalists visiting the area argued that this was not the case.

Catholic Relief Services is working with Caritas Bangladesh to help provide refugees with supplies including blankets, hygiene products and clean water, as well as to train the community to help avoid trafficking and violence.

In the coming months, CRS and Caritas are focusing on the creation of more durable shelters and safe environments for women and children.

Andrej Mahecic, spokesman for the United Nation’s refugee agency, stressed that one year after the mass exodus of Rohingya from Burma, it is clear that international cooperation is necessary to achieve a solution.

“The collective international responsibility for protecting and finding solutions for these refugees must remain a priority for all countries in the region and beyond,” he said at a press briefing Aug. 24.

“Kutupalong settlement in Cox’s Bazar shelters today more than 600,000 refugees, making it the largest and most densely populated refugee settlement in the world,” he said. “This brings daily challenges of delivering shelter, water and sanitation and access to basic services, as well as protection considerations such as the safety of women and girls.”

In a 2017 trip to Bangladesh, Pope Francis met with a group of Rohingya and offered them his prayers and condolences for what they had endured.

“In the name of all who have persecuted you and persecute you, that have done you harm, above all, the world’s indifference, I ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness,” the Pope said in a Dec. 1, 2017 meeting with Rohingya.

Although there’s “little we can do because your tragedy is very hard and great,” he told them “we give you space in the heart.”

He explained that according to the Judeo-Christian tradition, God created man in his image and likeness.

“All of us are in this image, also these brothers and sisters, they too are in the image of God,” he said.

[…]

Chennai, India, Aug 22, 2018 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Record flash floods and landslides in the southwest state of Kerala in India have left hundreds dead and thousands more displaced after August rains late in the monsoon season broke three dams a… […]

Perth, Australia, Aug 18, 2018 / 04:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Christian Brothers have reached a settlement with a dying 74-year-old Australian man for physical and sexual abuse he suffered in their orphanages as a child in the 1950s and 1960s.

The m… […]

Thiruvananthapuram, India, Aug 16, 2018 / 04:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After at least 73 people were killed in floods caused by monsoon rains in India’s Kerala state, Caritas India and local Catholic groups are assisting victims of the torrent with relief materials.

More than 85,000 people in the southern Indian state have been displaced by the flooding since Aug. 9, which has also caused landslides.

“The Catholic Church is already out in the field through … Caritas India,” read an Aug. 15 statement from the Indian bishops’ conference.

“Our local Bishops, Clergy, Religious Sisters and lay volunteers are also involved in relief and succour operations. In different dioceses, Church authorities have opened church schools and other institutions to the displaced people, and are distributing food, clothes and other relief materials. Many parishes, schools and other Church institutions have become the centres of aid and assistance to people in need.”

Caritas India is also providing blankets, mosquito nets, and hygiene kits. It has set up health camps to treat those affected and to prevent the outbreak of disease.

The Indian bishops stated, “We share the anguish of the people affected by this huge natural disaster and we wish to express our closeness to them.”

They expressed appreciation for the quick and efficient relief work undertaken by the local and State Government authorities. We also appreciate the strong and immediate support being provided by the Union government in the relief operations.”

“The solidarity manifested and the help being provided cutting across political divides and religious or class belongingness is exemplary … The Catholic Church condoles the death of our brothers and sisters who were caught unaware as nature’s fury took hold of large parts of Kerala. We express our solidarity with the injured and the suffering.”

The bishops also indicated their “ardent desire to work with the Government and all like-minded agencies to provide relief and help in all possible ways to the suffering people.”

They then stated that after the flood waters have resided, “it would be desirable to analyse the causes of the floods, and take urgent steps to preserve our environment and prevent further ecological damage to our Common Home, Mother Earth, destruction often brought about by our human actions.”

“We pray for all those affected and also for all who are actively or through contributions helping the people in dire distress.”

[…]

Adelaide, Australia, Aug 14, 2018 / 10:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An Australian court ruled Tuesday that Archbishop Philip Wilson, who was convicted in May of failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse disclosed to him in the 1970s, will serve his 12-month sentence under house arrest.

Archbishop Wilson, 67, resigned as Archbishop of Adelaide July 30.

The prelate will be eligible for parole after six months, and will be serving his sentence at the home of a relative in New South Wales, wearing a tracking device.

The archbishop’s lawers have said they will appeal the conviction.

The Archdiocese of Adelaide stated Aug. 14 that Bishop Gregory O’Kelly of Port Pirie, who is serving as apostolic administrator of Adelaide, is “keeping Archbishop Wilson in his prayers as he formally commences this stage in his life, while also remembering the victims and survivors of abuse in the Church.”

Archbishop Wilson was convicted May 22 of concealing abuse committed by a fellow parish priest in New South Wales in the 1970s.

The victims of the scandal, Peter Creigh and another altar boy who is unnamed for legal reasons, said they both had told Wilson of their abusive experience with Fr. James Fletcher.

The archbishop has maintained his innocence throughout the process, saying he had no recollection of the accusations, and insisting that if he had been notified of the scandal, he would have offered pastoral care to the victims and their families, and reported the event to his superiors.

He was sentenced July 3 to a 12-month sentence.

Archbishop Wilson submitted his resignation to Pope Francis July 20, after having said initially he would only do so if his appeal failed.

He said he changed his mind because “there is just too much pain and distress being caused by my maintaining the office of Archbishop of Adelaide, especially to the victims of Fr. Fletcher,” and he had become “increasingly worried at the growing level of hurt” his conviction had caused.

[…]