Asia – Pacific

Kolkata, India, Jul 11, 2017 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Missionaries of Charity have patented the white and blue sari designed by Saint Teresa of Calcutta, obtaining a legal copyright recognizing the pattern as the intellectual property of the order.

Although it was never officially announced, the copyright had been granted the same day as Mother Teresa’s Sept. 4, 2016 canonization as the culmination of a three year legal process.

According to the Press Trust of India, intellectual property attorney Biswajit Sarkar said that “the blue-designed border on the sari worn by nuns of Missionaries of Charity was recognized as Intellectual Property for the organization on September four, 2016, the day the Mother was canonized.”

“The Missionaries of Charity does not believe in publicity and as such it was not publicized,” he said, while stressing that “we are witnessing unscrupulous and unfair usage of the design across the globe” and so are trying “to spread awareness among people about the trademark.”

The sari, which is the habit of the Missionaries of Charity sisters, was designed by Mother Teresa when she went to the streets in 1948 to serve the poor. It is white with three blue stripes, the outer stripe being larger than the inner two.

Mother Teresa’s blue border pattern “is a distinctive symbolic identity of (the) Missionaries of Charity under the concept of color trade mark protection,” Sarkar said.

The sisters sent their application to the Trade Marks Registry of the Indian government in December 2013, and after a three-year “stringent test of legal proceedings” the copyright registration was granted to coincide with the same day as Mother Teresa’s canonization, despite the fact that it was a Sunday.

According to Sarkar, the copyright of the pattern of the saris worn by the Missionaries of Charity is unique, and marks the first time a uniform has been protected under intellectual property rights.

In an explanation of the meaning of the saris on the Missionaries of Charity website, Sr. Gertrude, the second nun to join the Missionaries of Charity after their foundation and who is since deceased, reflected on the symbolism of the design and how it came about.

She wrote that when she joined Mother Teresa April 26, 1949, “it was then that for the very first time in my life I saw her in her white sari with three blue borders.”

“And what a shock it was for me – Mother Teresa, a Loreto nun, my Headmistress was now dressed like a poor Bengali woman in a simple white cotton sari with three blue borders!” she said.

The shops where the nuns bought their first habits sold the white sari with either red, green or blue borders, and “Mother selected the blue border, for we associate the color blue with Mother Mary. It stands for purity.”

“Also in those days women who swept the streets used to wear a similar kind of a sari,” she said. “So Mother adopted a religious dress that was both symbolic and practical – it not only helped to identify ourselves with the poor, but was also suitable to Calcutta’s searing climate.”

The sisters initially paid about 2.50 rupees ($0.04) for their saris, but once the order began to grow, it became hard to get them in large numbers.

Because of this, when the sisters in 1958 started the Gandhiji Prem Niwas project for leprosy patients, they noticed that many were out of work, and so bought looms and began paying the lepers to weave the saris for the order.

Since leprosy can’t survive outside of human flesh, there was no danger of the nuns getting infected. The patients continue to work under strict medical supervision, and are paid by the sisters, who provide them with food, clothing, and medical care.

Regarding the significance of the colors chosen for the sari, the white stands for truth and purity, while the three blue stripes on the border signify the vows that the nuns take: the first represents poverty, the second obedience, and the third, broader band, represents the vows of chastity and wholehearted service to the poorest of the poor.

The cross sewn onto the left shoulder of the habit is symbolic of the fact that for the Missionaries of Charity, Christ on the Cross is the key to the heart.

Novices who join the order wear plain white saris with no stripes. Only after four years of formation, when they are ready to take their vows, do they receive the sari with the blue stripes. Each sister has only three saris.

[…]

Marawi, Philippines, Jul 10, 2017 / 04:30 pm (CNA).- As violent conflict unleashed by Islamic militants in the Filipino city of Marawi continues to rage, the nation’s bishops have stressed that the problem is not a religious one, and have urged all faiths to work together for peace.

“We all cry from our hearts: War in Marawi, never again! War in Marawi, no more!” the Philippine bishops said in a July 10 statement.

They called for a return to peace and normalcy in Marawi as soon as possible, and questioned whether “the continued state of Martial Law, much more its extension, will bring this about.”

Furthermore, the bishops stressed their belief that the conflict, which has been raging since May, “is not religious.”

Despite the fact that Islamist militants incited the violence, the bishops pointed to “truly stunning stories of how Muslims have protected and helped Christians to escape from almost certain death.”

“Even now Christians are assisting thousands of Muslims who have fled from Marawi for safety. These are indisputable signs that there is no religious war,” they said, and condemned the militants “in the strongest terms possible, as did Islamic religious scholars in Mindanao.”

Militants of the Maute group stormed the city of Marawi, on the island of Mindanao, May 23. The group, formed in 2012, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015.

Violence began after a failed army and police raid to capture Isnilon Hapilon, a local Islamist leader. The initial attack launched by Maute burned several buildings, including the Catholic cathedral and the bishop’s residence.

The militants still have about 100 civilian hostages, whom they use as human shields, ammunition carriers, and stretcher-barriers.

In a video released shortly after the attack, the vicar general of the Marawi territorial prelature, Fr. Teresito “Chito” Suganob, was featured in a video released one week after his capture appealing to President Rodrigo Duterte to withdraw the army and stop the airstrikes. Although he has yet to be released, he was seen alive a few days ago.

The majority of the city’s 200,000 people – mostly Muslim – have fled since its occupation. Nearly 400 people have been killed in the fighting in Marawi.

The government has said some of the militants appear to be from abroad, including countries like Russia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. However, according to officials there are indications other slain militants have come from the Middle East.

According to the Philippine bishops, the Maute group and its leaders, in pledging allegiance to ISIS, “have contradicted the fundamental tenets of Islam by abducting and hostaging, maiming and killing the innocent.”

The bishops urged Christians and all people of goodwill to be proactive in promoting interfaith dialogue “so that our various faiths may not be exploited and abused for the sake of terrorism or violent extremism.”

“Let parents, schools, churches and mosques ensure that none may be lured by the recruitment efforts of terrorists. Let us teach the young and the old that our faiths are meant for peace,” they said, adding that “no religion teaches the killing of innocent people simply because they belong to another religion.”

Quoting a 2007 letter on “the Common Word” issued by Islamic leaders throughout the world calling for peace between Muslims and Christians, the bishops said “the basis for peace and understanding already exists. It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God and love of neighbor.”

They then cited several biblical passages on love of God and neighbor before urging action in showing solidarity with those who have fled Marawi and those who have been taken hostage.

“Let us be vigilant and alert, helping our security forces thwart the threats of terrorism in other areas of Mindanao. Let us help the government rebuild the city of Marawi so that its citizens may return and restore their broken lives.”

The bishops then entrusted efforts for peace and religious harmony to the intercession of Mary, who is “praised and honored” not only by Christians, but also in the Quran.

[…]

Pakse, Laos, Jun 29, 2017 / 03:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- When selecting new cardinals, Pope Francis has often sought to go to the “peripheries” of the Church, which is particularly notable in his elevation of Cardinal Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun of Paksé.

Cardinal Ling’s local Church is an apostolic vicariate in Laos, a communist country of southeast Asia where Catholics make up only about one percent of the population. He is the first cardinal to hail from the nation.

The newly-minted cardinal’s resume includes a number of issues of keen interest for Francis, including evangelization, pastoral aid for the faithful where the Church is persecuted, a use of dialogue in diplomatic relations, and a concern for the environment.

Born in Laos in 1944, Cardinal Ling attend a seminary of the Voluntas Dei Institute (associated with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate) in Canada, and was ordained a priest of the Vicariate Apostolic of Vientiane in 1972, three years before the communist takeover of the country.

He was appointed vicar apostolic of Paksé in 2000, and consecrated a bishop the following year. He was elevated to the cardinalate June 28.

Cardinal Ling’s ministry in the majority-Buddhist country has been greatly varied as he has responded to the unique challenges facing the Church and the people there. Catholics number just over a mere 45,000 in the country of 7 million, and are served by only 33 priests.

“We are in the minority as Catholics, but we understand each other always; whether you are a cardinal or not, you are the same, you have to be simple and really with the people,” he told CNA.

Given such a small Catholic population, Cardinal Ling, 73, has long placed importance on catechesis and evangelization. Many married missionaries, as well as the country’s seminarians, go into villages to minister to the Catholic flock there. He is also described as placing an emphasis on integrating Christianity into the local culture in order to promote harmony with the religious majority of the country.

The communist takeover in 1975 posed a great challenge for the Church in Laos, which, anticipating persecution, stopped or scaled back many of its public liturgies and catechetical programs. Foreign missionaries were expelled. However, a surprisingly tolerant government has since allowed for the re-growth of the Church. However, the Church still faces challenges from the powers that be.

“The Church is treated very poorly in Laos – probably the worst in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) save for Brunei,” a “well-place[d] diplomat source” told UCA News in May.

Cardinal Ling is noted for having good relationships with government authorities. Despite challenges, the cardinal holds out hope for the future of his flock. While Laos is one of the few countries lacking full diplomatic relations with the Vatican, progress has been made in the recent past, and the presence of a Laotian in the College of Cardinals will offer a prime opportunity for continued building of these relationships.

Fr. Raphael Tran Xuan Nhan of Vietnam, who has worked in Laos since 2005, described Bishop Ling to UCA News as a “kind, friendly, wise and open-minded man” who is “interested in evangelization work and welcomes all foreign missionaries to his country.” He describes the cardinal’s diplomatic approach as “dialogue rather than confrontation.”

The beatification of 17 martyrs from the region, killed by communist forces in the second half of the twentieth century, was yet another sign of warming Church-state relations, as well as providing a sense of renewal for local Catholics.

The new cardinal has also spoken out of concern for the environment, responding to fast-paced deforestation in the region.

“Now we are starting to destroy ourselves,” he said, as reported by UCA News. “It’s not from climate change itself but [it is] coming from human beings and humans doing something very wrong to destroy the earth.”

The elevation of Ling to the College of Cardinals represents a peripheral perspective from a long-time pastor with broad experience in many of the challenges facing the Church today.

Alexey Gotovskiy contributed to this report.

[…]

Marawi, Philippines, Jun 27, 2017 / 09:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Captured priest Father Teresito “Chito” Suganob was seen alive on Sunday in a part of a Philippines city under Islamist militant control, Agence France Presse reports.

“W… […]

Manila, Philippines, Jun 27, 2017 / 12:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Last week, members of a terrorist group destroyed a Catholic chapel, desecrating consecrated hosts and religious icons, during a nine-hour long attack on the town of Malagakit in southern Philippines.

The June 21 attack was reportedly carried out by about 300 gunmen of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, known as BIFF, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. In the siege they also robbed houses and stores at gunpoint, causing the displacement of hundreds of residents.

Residents were also forced to flee after being caught in a fire-fight between BIFF and government forces, according to Realan Mamon, the police chief of Pigkawayan town, where Malagakit is located.

He told the Associated Press that he had a report that gunmen were occupying a school as well, although it wasn’t immediately apparent if people were trapped inside by the fighting or taken hostage.

In the chapel, which is nearby a school also destroyed in the attack, the militants used hammers to destroy religious icons and vital fixtures. They also desecrated consecrated hosts.

Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato decried the act Saturday, saying that he condemns “in the strongest terms possible the wicked desecration of the Catholic Chapel of Malagakit in the parish of Pigcawayan…”

“If the BIFF wants to have an image as a ‘respecter’ of all religions, it must punish its members who perpetrated the odious desecration in Malagakit and educate all its members in strictly respecting other religions,” he continued.

Cardinal Quevedo urged the Catholic faithful of Malagakit to restore the sacred space of their chapel, asking for the prayers of the entire Archdiocese for peace and harmony among all believers of all religions.

Some leaders of the town, such as Salvador Almonia, Jr., a chairman of Malagakit, have hypothesized that the attack on the chapel was intended to create division between the town’s Catholics and Muslims, who currently live together peacefully.

“That was meant to sow anger among us. We will not respond the way the BIFF want us to respond to that despicable act,” he said.

The vice governor of North Cotabato, Shirlyn Macasarte-Villanueva, urged Muslim and Christian residents to disregard attempts to sow division between them.

“Let us be sober and continue with the friendship and solidarity that we have. We just have to be vigilant and we need to help each other prevent a repeat of the incident,” Macasarte-Villanueva said Thursday.

The attack follows a May 22 siege on parts of a city on Mindanao in the Philippines, where militants burned several buildings, including the Catholic cathedral and the bishop’s residence.

At the cathedral, they took hostages including a Catholic priest and a group of church-goers, threatening to kill them if the nation’s military does not cease its current offensive against them.

They are also said to have freed more than 100 inmates from prisons in the city. The fighting has reportedly killed at least 20 people in the city.

The attack was carried out by militants of the Maute group, which was formed in 2012 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015. The militants’ violence began after a failed army and police raid to capture Isnilon Hapilon, a local Islamist leader.

[…]

Manila, Philippines, Jun 23, 2017 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Fake news is a problem everywhere, including in the island nation of the Philippines.

So much so that the bishops of the Catholic-majority country have released a first-of-its-kind pastoral letter to their people imploring them: Please stop sharing fake news.  

“At (Jesus’) trial, the question of truth figured prominently. ‘What is truth?’ asked a bewildered Pilate, because he failed to recognize in Jesus, THE TRUTH!” the bishops said.

Therefore, they said, Christians are called to recognize truth in all forms, and to not participate in deceit for falsehoods in any way.

“A fact,” the bishops helpfully explain, “is anything that is or that happens.”

“If one man kills another, it cannot but be a fact that the deed was done, and any ‘alternative fact’ that would have it so that no killing was done is simply false, and, when meant to deceive, a lie!”

The bishops lamented that there are those “who have given themselves to the service of reporting what never happened, concealing what really happened, and distorting what should be presented in a straightforward manner.”

They also observed that social media “has become the unfortunate site of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’. Not only does this offend against the orientation of the human intellect to the truth. It is, more fundamentally, a sin against charity because it hinders persons from making right and sound decisions and induces them, instead, to make faulty ones!”

The letter, issued by Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, president of the Filipino bishops’ conference, includes four obligations for Catholics regarding the truth.

“Catholic faith obliges us to: 1. To refrain from patronizing, popularizing and supporting identified sources of ‘alternative facts’ or ‘fake news,’” they said, referencing a phrase from a media faux pas made by Kellyanne Conway, counselor to U.S. President Donald Trump, earlier this year.

Secondly, Catholics are obliged “To rebut and refute falsehood whenever they are in possession of facts and of data.”

Catholics also must “refuse to be themselves purveyors of fake news and to desist from disseminating this whether on social media or by word of mouth or through any other form of public expression.”

And finally, Catholics must “identify the sources of fake news so that our brothers and sisters may be duly alerted and may know which media and which sites to shun,” they said.

The letter comes during the same month that a “fake news blocker” was launched in the country by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. Their newly-created Google Chrome plug-in “Fakeblok” flags fake news and misinformation on Facebook.

A recent study found that Filipinos spend the most time online and on social media of any country in the world.

The pastoral letter also comes at a time when opposing political camps in the Philippines are using fake news to advance their agenda, including controversial President Rodrigo Duterte, according to Philippine news source Rappler.

“A number of officials and agencies of the Duterte administration, such as Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, have also been accused of spreading fake news. Uson and many pro-Duterte bloggers have also discredited legitimate journalists as ‘presstitutes,’” Rappler reported.

The bishops of the country went so far as to say that sharing fake news is not only an offense against human intellect, but a “sin against charity” because “it hinders persons from making right and sound decisions and induces them, instead, to make faulty ones!”

“We your bishops join the Lord Jesus in His prayer that we all be consecrated in the truth, because the Word of the Lord is truth!”

[…]

Yokohama, Japan, Jun 22, 2017 / 03:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday the Archbishop for Military Services, USA offered his prayers and condolences for the sailors who perished on USS Fitzgerald after colliding with a container ship off the coast of … […]

Shangqiu, China, Jun 14, 2017 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Local authorities in China’s Henan province reportedly destroyed a Christian church building last month, beating parishioners who tried to stop the demolition and detaining 40, the group … […]

Mumbai, India, Jun 7, 2017 / 12:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A cloistered nun in India came out of her convent for an extraordinary reason: to attend a graduation ceremony for her doctorate in Aerospace Engineering.

“I had joined the religious order … […]

New Delhi, India, May 31, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A member of India’s Legislative Assembly is encouraging the Church to raise money for the release of kidnapped priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, claiming a need for concrete action beyond pr… […]