Asia – Pacific

Hagatna, Guam, Jan 18, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An embattled archbishop in Guam has denied an allegation that he raped his nephew nearly 20 years ago, when his accuser was a teen.

Mark Apuron, nephew of Guam’s Archbishop Anthony Apuron, filed a lawsuit Jan. 10, claiming that his uncle raped him in a Church bathroom in 1989 or 1990. This is the fifth lawsuit to accuse the archbishop of sexual abuse of minors during his time as a pastor and bishop.
 
“God is my witness: I deny all allegations of sexual abuse made against me, including this last one,” wrote Archbishop Apuron in a Jan. 18 statement, according to Guam Pacific Daily News.

“All of these allegations have been mentored and promoted by the same source and this one seems particularly timed to influence the verdict of the Vatican trial conducted by the Holy See, as a last resort out of fear that I may be exonerated,” he continued.

In addition to this claim, Apuron faces four other accusations from former altar boys, who charged the archbishop with abuse in the 1970s when he served as a parish priest in Agat. The first allegations against the archbishop were made public in May 2016.  Mark’s attorney, David Lujan, said that his client was too ashamed and embarrassed to tell his family about the alleged abuse until recently.

Pope Francis relieved Apuron of his pastoral and administrative authority in 2016 and he was replaced by Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes, formerly of Detroit. In October of that year, Apuron’s canonical trial at the Vatican began, which could dismiss him from the clerical state. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a canon lawyer, was appointed by Pope Francis as the trial’s presiding judge.

Byrnes has told reporters that the Vatican reached a decision in the case in October 2017, though no information regarding the trial’s outcome has been released.  

Byrnes, who is empowered by the Vatican to oversee the Archdiocese of Agana but has not yet formally succeeded Apuron, has since implemented new child protection policies in the archdiocese, including a safe environment program that Byrnes said will “help to instigate a change of culture in our Archdiocese.”

Byrnes adopted in February 2017 the US bishops’ conference’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and its essential norms on dealing with allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clerics.

Apuron, who is currently recovering from a surgery, wrote that he hopes the truth will come out and that he will continue to pray for his accusers.

“As the Church in Guam is being destroyed by people who have only their power agenda at heart, may God have mercy on us all and save His Church from the powers of darkness,” Apuron wrote. “I pray that the truth may prevail; I pray for my accusers: fill them with what they desire; as for me, when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your face, oh Lord (Ps. 17,15)”.

The Archdiocese of Agaña is currently a defendant in 96 sexual abuse lawsuits, involving Apuron, 13 priests, a Catholic schoolteacher, a Catholic school janitor, and a Boy Scout leader. Most of the lawsuits were filed after 2016, when Guam’s territorial legislature eliminated the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits involving child sexual abuse.

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Astana, Kazakhstan, Jan 11, 2018 / 04:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Fidelity to the words of Christ makes it necessary to profess the truth about sacramental marriage, Bishop Athanasius Schneider told CNA in a recent interview.

Bishop Schneider, an auxiliary bishop of Maria Santissima in Astana, was a drafter of the “Profession of the immutable truths about sacramental marriage” issued by three Kazakhstani bishops Dec. 31, 2017.

The bishops stated it is not licit to admit to sacramental communion Catholics who are divorced-and-remarried, if they are not living according to the long-standing teachings of the Church.

The three bishops – Bishop Schneider, along with Archbishop Tomash Peta of Maria Santissima in Astana and Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga, Bishop Emeritus of Karaganda – wrote that “an approval or legitimation of the violation of the sacredness of the marriage bond, even indirectly through the mentioned new sacramental discipline, seriously contradicts God’s express will and His commandment.”

Since the open letter was issued, several more bishops have reportedly added their names as signatories.

Archbishop Luigi Negri, Archbishop Emeritus of Ferrara-Comacchio, spoke to La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana about his decision to sign the text, and Cardinal Janis Pujats, Archbishop Emeritus of Riga, has also been confirmed as a signatory.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus to the US, and Bishop Andreas Laun, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Salzburg, have also reportedly to signed onto the Kazakhstani bishops’ profession. Bishop Laun was among the first to sign a declaration of fidelity to the Church’s unchangeable teaching and uninterrupted discipline on marriage.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, told Vatican News Jan. 10 that Amoris laetitia is the result of “a new paradigm” which he claimed Pope Francis promotes “with wisdom, prudence, and patience.” The cardinal added that difficulties around the apostolic exhortation “are due to this change of attitude the Pope is asking of us,” as well as “some aspects of content.”

Bishop Schneider recently corresponded with CNA about the profession, discussing the occasion of the letter, the importance of prayer, and the common understanding of Church teaching and its implications among the bishops of Kazakhstan.

Below is the conversation between CNA and Bishop Schneider:

CNA: Your excellency, would you speak to the need for the profession made by you, Archbishop Peta, and Archbishop Lenga? What occasioned its drafting?

Bishop Schneider: Already for a number of years there has existed in the Church the obvious and undeniable situation of a widespread confusion regarding the sacramental discipline of those Catholics who are called “divorced and remarried”. The relevant pastoral norms of several dioceses and regional and national bishops’ conferences ultimately give permission to these Catholics to receive Holy Communion in spite of the fact that they have not the intention to stop sexual relationships with a person who is not their legitimate spouse. Such norms in practice contradict divine revelation and the infallible universal and ordinary magisterium of the absolute indissolubility of a ratified and consummated marriage. Recently there was published even in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official publishing organ of the Holy See, the approval which Pope Francis gave to the pastoral norms of the bishops of the Buenos Aires region, which foresee ultimately, even though in individual cases and after a so-called discernment process, such a new sacramental praxis. However, this praxis contradicts divine revelation, which prohibits always and in every circumstances sexual acts outside a valid marriage. Everyone who still believes in the divine words of Christ and takes them seriously, must acknowledge how detrimental such norms are for the faith and for the unmistakable witness of the Church against the “plague of divorce” and against the “hardheartedness” of men towards the command of God, who demands unequivocally “Thou shall not commit adultery.” To continue to be silent in such a situation or to pretend that the danger does not exist, would mean to deny reality or to eliminate one’s own thinking.

CNA: How does your recent profession relate to the appeal to prayer you issued nearly a year ago, Jan. 18, 2017? Is it right to read these two documents in light of one another?

Bishop Schneider: The appeal to prayer which was made a year ago had the aim to implore for the Holy Father Pope Francis the necessary gifts of God so that he may confirm in a most unambiguous way the immutable doctrine about the indissolubility of the marriage and the relevant sacramental praxis. Since the Pope has not yet done so, and has even approved the above mentioned pastoral norms of the bishops of the Buenos Aires region, it was necessary to make a public profession of the immutable doctrine and praxis of the Church. But one thing is certain: no sincere prayers will be in vain. When a large number of faithful, and especially children and sick people, pray fervently, the moment will come when the Apostolic See will confirm again with clarity – as has been handed down by the infallible ordinary and universal magisterium – the immutable doctrine and sacramental praxis regarding people living in non-marital sexual relationships, i.e. people living in adultery. We have to believe in these words of Our Lord: “Will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” (Lk 18:7).

CNA: There are three more bishops in Kazakhstan, as well as an apostolic administrator, who have signed on to neither the profession nor the appeal to prayer. Were they invited to do so? Have they indicated a different understanding of Amoris laetitia?

Bishop Schneider: The bishops and ordinaries of Kazakhstan have substantially no different understanding of Amoris laetitia. As to the manner of expressing publicly one’s own convictions we respect mutually the freedom of each one according to the decision of his own conscience.

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Sydney, Australia, Jan 8, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- The legal case against Cardinal George Pell of Australia has taken an unexpected turn, after the death of Damian Dignan, who accused Pell of committing acts of sexual abuse.

Dignan died of leukemia las… […]

Lahore, Pakistan, Dec 17, 2017 / 03:32 pm (CNA).- At least eight churchgoers were killed and another 30 injured in a double suicide bomber attack at a Methodist church in southwest Pakistan.

The attack on Bethel Memorial Methodist Church came early Su… […]

Canberra, Australia, Dec 15, 2017 / 02:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a wide-ranging report released Friday, Australia’s royal commission found serious failings in the protection of children from abuse in the Catholic Church and other major institutions.

The commission recommended Dec. 15 that priests should be legally obligated to disclose details of sexual abuse revealed in the confessional and that priestly celibacy should be made optional.

The Vatican responded by saying the report should be “studied seriously”, reiterating its commitment to hearing and accompanying victims of child sex abuse in the pursuit of healing and justice.

Church officials in Australia apologized for the suffering caused and pledged their commitment to ensuring justice, while also noting the impossibility of violating the secrecy of sacramental confession.

The report was the result of an investigation in which the commission reviewed thousands of accounts of child abuse from figures in major institutions. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in 2013 to investigate the handling of child sex abuse allegations by religious groups, schools, government organizations, and sporting associations.

Of the institutions examined, the most accusations were brought against the Catholic Church, in which more than 4,000 cases of child abuse reportedly occurred, making up 61.8 percent of all reported child abuse cases from religious entities.

In a previously released portion of the report, the commission found that seven percent of Catholic priests in Australia serving between 1950 and 2009 have been accused of child sex crimes.

“Tens of thousands of children have been sexually abused in many Australian institutions. We will never know the true number,” the report said.

“It is not a case of a few ‘rotten apples’. Society’s major institutions have seriously failed.”

Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, president of the Australian bishops’ conference, said the report reveals a “shameful past, in which a prevailing culture of secrecy and self-protection led to unnecessary suffering for many victims and their families.”

He also reiterated his “unconditional apology for this suffering and a commitment to ensuring justice for those affected.”

Sister Ruth Durick OSU, president of Catholic Religious Australia, added that religious orders across Australia are will continue their recent work of reforming orders to better protect children.

“We acknowledge with gratitude the courage of all those survivors who have come forward to the Royal Commission,” Sr. Ruth said. “We will be taking very seriously the Royal Commission’s report and have commissioned an initial assessment of its findings by the Truth, Justice and Healing Council.”

As part of the report, the commission made numerous recommendations, such as changes to Australia’s criminal justice system and various recommendations for the Catholic Church, “many of which will have a significant impact on the way the Catholic Church operates in Australia,” the bishops said in their statement.

However, among some of the controversial recommendations are that priests should be legally obligated to disclose details of sexual abuse revealed in the confessional, and that they should face criminal charges if they refuse to do so.

In a statement in August, Hart stressed the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of confession while also ensuring that children are protected.

“Confession in the Catholic Church is a spiritual encounter with God through the priest,” Hart said in an Aug. 14 statement.

Confession “is a fundamental part of the freedom of religion, and it is recognized in the Law of Australia and many other countries,” he said. “It must remain so here in Australia…(but) outside of this, all offenses against children must be reported to the authorities, and we are absolutely committed to doing so.”

Additionally, the report recommended that the Catholic Church make celibacy an optional requirement of the priesthood, rather than a mandatory one, because while celibacy is not a cause of child abuse, the commission considered it a contributing factor when combined with other risk factors, according to the BBC.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney told the Guardian that changing the celibacy requirement is not the solution to the abuse crisis.

“We know very well that institutions who have celibate clergy and institutions that don’t have celibate clergy both face these problems. We know very well that this happens in families that are certainly not observing celibacy,” he said.

The Holy See also responded to the report, saying in a statement on Friday that it “deserves to be studied seriously.”

“The Holy See remains committed to being close to the Catholic Church in Australia – lay faithful, religious, and clergy alike – as they listen to and accompany victims and survivors in an effort to bring about healing and justice,” the Vatican statement said.

“In his recent meeting with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Pope Francis said the Church is called to be a place of compassion, especially for those who have suffered, and reaffirmed that the Church is committed to safe environments for the protection of all children and vulnerable adults.”

At the end of the statement from the Australian bishop’s conference, the Church leaders restated their commitment to making amends for past abuse, and called on state governments to aid them in this task.

“Both leaders said the Church will continue to push for the introduction of a national redress scheme for the survivors of child sexual abuse in which the Church will participate.”

Philip Freier, the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, apologized for “the shameful way we sometimes actively worked against and discouraged those who came to us and reported abuse.”

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Sydney, Australia, Dec 11, 2017 / 05:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Church in Australia kicked off Advent with a Catholic Youth Festival in Sydney last weekend, drawing some 20,000 attendees and including the country’s largest Mass since the World Youth Day in 2008.

The event was also the opening of a “Year of Youth” meant to “open new horizons for spreading joy joy for the young Church and our communities.”  

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney said that “our culture has messed up about life and love, justice and mercy,” at the festival’s Dec. 9 Mass, citing political challenges such as the recent legalization of voluntary euthanasia in Victoria.

“If ever we need new John the Baptists to call to people to repent and to believe, to offer some really good news amidst all the bad and to point people to Christ, it’s right now.”

The festival was held Dec. 7-9, shortly after Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, invited the nation’s youth to participate in the 2018 Year of Youth, which will last until Nov. 25, 2018.

The festival mostly took place at the Sydney Olympic Park. There young people attended workshops, Mass, faith-filled discussions, and even interactive games, such as a Saint John Paul II video game.

However, the highlight of the weekend was a pilgrimage through Australia’s largest city followed by the closing event. Depending on the desired length, people could begin the pilgrimage at either the St Mary Mackillop Shrine, Harbour Bridge, or St Mary’s Cathedral, but the pilgrims all converged for a concert and closing Mass at the Domain in the Royal Botanical Gardens.

The nearly three hour praise and worship concert included Matt Maher and tributes to the country’s aboriginal groups. A Saturday anticipated Mass soon followed the event, celebrated by Archbishop Fisher, who cancelled all other anticipated Masses to encourage attendance at the youth Mass.

“Episode Eight is coming,” said the archbishop at the beginning of his homily, referring to the new Star Wars movie which will be released this month.

He explained that he had first seen Star Wars during his last year of school nearly 40 years ago, and how it is now a cultural staple which has earned billions of dollars and spawned cultural phrases such as “I am your father.”

Although the series has a bizarre religious perspective, he said, it is still based on the theme of a struggle between light and darkness, adding that the movies include champions who fought on behalf of goodness.

“One thing is still clear, we still look for heroes,” he said, pointing to John the Baptist, an unlikely hero who ate bugs, honey, and smelled like camels.

“All together, JB (John the Baptist) is not the kind of guy your parents would want you to bring home from ACYF as your new boyfriend or new best mate,” he joked.

However, he said this saint aimed to bring people the good news, namely Christ, and stood up against the evils of the times, even if it meant losing his head to Herod because he denounced the king’s illegitimate marriage.

Archbishop Fisher highlighted the evils of euthanasia, which was recently legalized in the state of Victoria, and warned that people can no longer rely on the Christian presence within the culture, but will have to choose for themselves to believe in the teachings of the Catholic Church.

“Things are sliding in our culture, and going forward Christians may not be as influential or even welcome as they used to be. Christian’s won’t be carried by the culture any more. They will have to decide for themselves.”

The culture needs Catholic youth to be heroes and to proclaim the good amid the darkness of the world, he said, noting the example of Mary, the mother of God.

“There were many challenges for [Mary] and not just at the beginning. Accompanying Christ to the cross tore her Immaculate Heart,” he said.

But instead of despairing over evil, he challenged Catholic youth to respond as Mary did at the resurrection.

“Being held by him after the resurrection must have been the greatest joy a human heart, even an immaculate one, could ever have contained. Indeed she couldn’t contain that joy. The next time we see her in the New Testament she is praying in the cenacle of the Church as she awaits her new children to be over shadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

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Sydney, Australia, Dec 7, 2017 / 04:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A bill passed Thursday in Australia changed the legal definition of marriage from being between “a man and a women” to “between two people.”

The parliamentary vote com… […]

Thiruvananthapuram, India, Dec 6, 2017 / 12:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At least 32 Catholic fishermen were killed when a tropical cyclone hit the southern coast of India over the weekend.

In addition, some 200 people are missing, and thousands of individ… […]

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 1, 2017 / 08:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After meeting several Rohingya Muslims and hearing their stories in Bangladesh, Pope Francis uttered a moving prayer from the heart, affirming their dignity and asking forgiveness on behalf of all who persecute the Burmese minority.

He also broke the protocol he has maintained so far during his visit to Burma and Bangladesh by publicly calling members of the persecuted minority the “Rohingya” – a controversial term in Burma that until now he has avoided.

“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 Dec. 1.

Speaking in a spontaneous prayer alongside some 18 Rohingya after greeting them individually and hearing brief explanations of their stories, Pope Francis told them that “we are very close to you.”

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.

Noting how in the Muslim tradition, it is said that God has took a bit of salt and mixed it with water to create man, Francis said “we all have a little bit of this salt. These brothers and sisters contain the salt of God.”

“We’ll continue to help them, we’ll continue to help them so their rights are recognized.”

“We’ll not close our hearts, not look at the darker side,” he said, because “today the presence of God is also called the Rohingya. Each and everyone of us is his bride.”

Pope Francis spoke at the end of an interreligious encounter in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The event was part of a broader Nov. 27-Dec. 2 visit to south Asia, which included a three-day stop in Burma, and will conclude tomorrow after two days in the Bangladeshi capital.

During the event, the Pope heard testimonies from five leaders representing different religious communities in Bangladesh, including Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Anglicans and Catholics. Among the Catholics who spoke were a layman and Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario CSC, Archbishop of Dhaka, who is the first Bangladeshi cardinal, appointed by Francis in 2016.

Also present were 18 members of the Rohingya Muslim community, including a 5-year-old child, who fled persecution in their homeland and are now living in Bangladesh.

Francis greeted them individually at the end of the gathering, listening as they each briefly explained their stories through an interpreter. He offered his brief prayer once he had met and spoken with all of them.

Once the Pope had finished, one of the Rohingya also said a prayer, after which the rest of the interreligious leaders present came up on stage and greeted them one-by-one.

According to sources on the ground, several of the Rohingya were weeping, and Cardinal D’Rozario himself was visibly moved as he embraced them.

The Pope’s meeting with the Rohingya is significant, as their plight has been an underlying theme throughout his visit to both Burma and Bangladesh.

A largely Muslim ethnic group who reside in Burma’s Rakhine State, the Rohingya have faced a sharp increase in state-sponsored violence in their homeland, recently reaching staggering levels that have led the United Nations to declare the crisis “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

With an increase in persecution in their home country of Burma, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled across the border to Bangladesh, and are living in refugee camps.

Though the Vatican has said the crisis was not the original motive of the visit, the situation has been a constant focal point, with particular attention paid to whether or not the Pope would use the term “Rohingya” on the ground.

Despite widespread use of the word Rohingya in the international community, the term is controversial within Burma. The Burmese government refuses to use the term, and considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. They have been denied citizenship since Burma gained independence in 1948.

Because of the touchy nature of the term, Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, suggested to the Pope that he refrain from using the word in Burma, arguing that extremists in the area are trying to rouse the population by using the term, making the risk of a new interreligious conflict ever-more present, with Christians in the crossfire.

According to Bo, the correct term to use is “Muslims of the Rakhine State,” which the Pope has chosen to use until today.

Speaking to journalists present at the interreligious encounter before meeting the Pope, Mohammed Ayub, 32, a Rohingya Muslim whose 3-year-old son was killed by the Burmese military, said, “the Pope should say Rohingya. He is the leader of the world. He should say the word, as we are Rohingya.”

Similarly, Abdul Fyez, 35, who had a brother killed by the Burmese army, agreed that Francis ought to use the word, saying “we have been Rohingya for generations, my father and my grandfather.”

Though the Pope’s reasons for choosing to say the word today are unknown, it may have been in part the result of meeting the Rohingya personally and hearing their stories.

It’s also not the first time he’s chosen to say a controversial term. During his 2015 visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan, Francis called the 1915 massacre of some 1.5 million Armenian Christians a “genocide,” despite the risk of political throwback from Turkey, who has argued that the numbers are exaggerated.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 1, 2017 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday Pope Francis met with the bishops of Bangladesh, urging them to be close to the laity, especially young people and families, and to encourage them to serve the Church according to th… […]