Melbourne, Australia, Jul 29, 2019 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- On June 24, Sr. Joan Chittister, O.S.B., told the NY Times that she had been disinvited to speak at a 2020 conference of Australian educators, because Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne had not… […]
Denver, Colo., Jul 27, 2019 / 09:32 am (CNA).- Following reports from the Associated Press that several hundred priests protested the Vatican’s recent decision to restore Cardinal George Alencherry to his administrative duties, a spokesman for the Syro-Malabar church has disputed the report’s accuracy, and said that people wishing to see the Indian cardinal ousted from his position are publishing “calculated propaganda” against him.
The spokesman also told CNA that despite the cardinal’s involvement in land deals that some have characterized as dubious, Alencherry acted in good faith and has the support of the Vatican.
Father Abraham Kavilpurayidathil, press officer for the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala state, told CNA that only one priest actually took on a hunger strike in protest of the cardinal, and was supported by about ten others— not by 450, as the AP report stated.
Alencherry heads the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in union with Rome and one of the two main Eastern Catholic Churches in India.
In November 2017 the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly’s canonical presbyteral council publicly accused Alencherry of involvement of dubious land deals. The council’s representatives charged that the cardinal, two senior priests and a real estate agent sold land at undervalued prices, for a loss of $10 million. They accused the cardinal of bypassing the canonical body’s authority.
The Vatican suspended Alencherry from his administrative duties “sede plena” in June 2018, meaning Alencherry remained archbishop of the diocese, but a temporary administrator was appointed to lead the diocese in Alencherry’s place. The apostolic administrator sent reports back to the Vatican about diocesan finances.
“The cardinal always remained the archbishop of the diocese, but for administrative matters were entrusted to Bishop Jacob Manathodath,” Kavilpurayidathil explained.
The Vatican put Alencherry back in charge of the administrative duties of the archdiocese last month, but two auxiliaries remain suspended. The results of the Vatican’s investigation have not yet been made public, but Kavilpurayidathil said the cardinal’s reinstatement illustrates the faith the Vatican has in his ability to lead the diocese.
The Syro-Malabar permanent synod, the governing body of that church, was directed in June to assign the two former auxiliary bishops to different ministries during a planned August meeting.
A June 24 letter from the Apostolic Nunciature in India explained that after his reinstatement, Alencherry “is asked to deliver the monthly budget and submit the more relevant administrative documents concerning the temporal goods of the Archeparchy to the Permanent Synod, always complying the civil laws.”
The cardinal’s suspension was related to the sale of land belonging to the archdiocese, also referred to as an archeparcy. The land appeared to have been sold at a significant loss. Kavilpurayidathil disputed the characterization of a “huge loss” for the diocese.
Kavilpurayidathil stated that the finance council for the archdiocese gave permission for the sale, but also said that normally the permanent synod would be consulted before a land sale of this size, which was not done in this case.
Kavilpurayidathil said the sale was made in order to pay the debts of the archdiocese.
“It is not a unilateral decision of the cardinal. It is a collective decision taken by the ruling body of the archdiocese. It can never be a single decision of an archbishop to sell the land,” he said.
“Certain technical things were not completed. But it was done in good faith…and the land was sold in order to repay the debts of the archdiocese,” Kavilpurayidathil said.
“In the case of the sale of land exceeding a certain amount should have been consented with the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church before selling the land…that formality was not done. The bone of contention is not the omissions, or failure of fulfilling the technicalities….in the execution process [of the sale], some of the technicalities were not observed. Ok, there are problems which can be solved within the frame of the Church. And those omissions are those things which could be solved within the Church…the economic side of the archdiocese is being solved now.”
Kavilpurayidathil also said that the land deal was more complicated than is usually reported, and that said that Alencherry’s actions were an effort to make the best decisions in an unexpected situation.
“A few pieces of land under the possession of the Archdiocese were sold, as per the decision taken collectively in the canonical bodies of the Archdiocese to repay the debt of the Archdiocese,” the priest explained.
“But, the broker handed over only a part of the amount to the archdioceses in the stipulated time. When cardinal understood that the broker has not given the expected money, he prevailed on the broker to get two plots of land, which were under the possession of the broker, registered in the name of the archeparchy as security or pawn for the money due from him. By doing so, in fact, Cardinal Alencherry tried his best to save the archeparchy from the loss in the land sale deed. In fact, if the two lands registered in the name of the archeparchy are sold, the archeparchy would get financial profit and not loss.”
Kavilpurayidathil also emphasized that recent protests against Alencherry had nothing to do with the case of a nun who accused another Indian bishop, Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, of raping her in 2014.
The nun who made the accusation is originally from Kerala state, belongs to the Syro-Malabar Church, but is under the jurisdiction of a Latin bishop in the north of India, Kavilpurayidathil said.
The nun called Alencherry and complained, in the local language, of harassment within her congregation. The call was recorded and later broadcast on an Indian television station.
It was reported that Alencherry may have been made aware of the nun’s sexual assault allegation as a result of the call before she filed an official complaint, a report which Kavilpurayidathil says is false because the nun never specifically mentioned sexual assault during the phone call.
Moreover, Kavilpurayidathil said Alencherry would not have had the authority to investigate the nun’s complaints, as her congregation is part of the Latin Catholic Church. As a result, Alencherry referred her to the Archbishop of Bombay and to the apostolic nuncio.
“Cardinal Alencherry has nothing to do with the internal problems of the [nun’s] congregation,” he stated.
“If a nun calls a bishop, the head of the church to which she originally belonged, and tells him ‘I am raped,’ or ‘I am abused’ by a bishop, why didn’t the bishop take action?” Kavilpurayidathil said, posing a question.
“One has to clearly understand that in the telephone conversation…she never said [anything] about abuses, that she’s raped. She merely raises the internal problems of the congregation…internal, administrative problems,” Kavilpurayidathil said.
“Cardinal Alencherry, being the head of the Syro-Malabar Church, has no jurisdiction to look into that, so he rightly tells them to contact Cardinal Oswald Gracias, to contact the nuncio, because in the Latin jurisdiction they are the [correct] persons to take action.”
“We are facing some problems in the Church right now, and the nun’s rape case has nothing to do with these problems,” he added.
Indeed, the priest said that media reports criticizing the cardinal are part of a “calculated move to defame Cardinal within the Church and before the public. In social media, you see almost every day demands that Cardinal should resign and go away. We cannot take these expressions or demands as casual ones. They are part of a calculated move.”
“There have been attempts to defame Mar Alencherry by a small group who constantly demands that he should resign. For this purpose, somebody forged a few documents that show Cardinal transacted money to business firms, that he has membership in famous clubs, that he convened business meetings along with some other bishops of the Latin Church of Kerala in a commercial institution etc.,
Kavilpurayidathil said that the Syro-Malabar Church field a police report about the alleged forgery, and that police have identified two priests and a few lay Catholics as possible suspects.
“The immediate cause for launching the hunger strike at Major Archbishop’s House in Ernakulam by one of the priests of the Archdiocese is continuing police investigation in the forged document case,” the priest told CNA.
“In the discussion, no decision was taken except the assurance given to the priests who represented the protesting group that all the concerns raised would be discussed in the Synod to be held in the month of August 2019.”
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Jul 27, 2019 / 06:01 am (CNA).- The bishops of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City warned Monday against a false Marian devotion and other deviant ritual practices meant to cast out eavil spirits, according to UCA News.
The local Church’s auxiliary bishops, Joseph Do Manh Hung (who is also serving as apostolic administrator) and Louis Nguyen Anh Tuan, issued a pastoral letter July 22 warning that a priest on the outskirts of Ho Chi Mihn City was purporting to perform healings that thousands of people, Catholic and non-Catholic, have been attending.
The bishops said Father Joseph Tran Dinh Long abused Divine Mercy celebrations by putting his hands on people’s heads to purportedly heal their illnesses, and he was said to have allowed people to bear witness to having been healed, UCA News reports.
They also warned against Mother Mary’s Message, a Marian devotion movement launched by a lay man named Thomas Mary Nguyen Thanh Viet, who claims that Mary healed him of illnesses in 2010.
The Marian group had spread “appalling” claims that endanger the faith, the bishops said as quoted by UCA News.
The bishops urged their people to follow “mainstream church leaders” rather than engaging in practices to expel evil spirits, and urged unity within the archdiocese.
Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh of Hue, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam, and Auxiliary Bishop John Do Van Ngan of Xuan Loc, head of the Episcopal Commission on Doctrine of the Faith, last month issued a letter urging Catholics to avoid superstitious and fortune-telling practices and abusing the faithful’s simple beliefs for self-interest, UCA News says.
Manila, Philippines, Jul 26, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- Catholic leaders in the Philippines are calling on Catholics and lawmakers to resist President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to revive the death penalty.
The president called for its reinstatement during a lengthy State of the Nation Address in Manila July 22, while activists, clergy, seminarians, and nuns protested the president in the rainy streets, according to UCA News.
Church leaders have said that despite his claims of success, Duterte has helped bring about “the most trying period in the nation’s history.”
“A vision of a country where peace and justice reigns, sovereignty is cherished and human rights are upheld … has been sliding into oblivion,” an ecumenical group said in a statement, according to UCA News.
The country, the group noted, is undergoing a crisis that is not only social and political, but moral and spiritual as well.
“The regression of our country’s democracy, the emboldenment of a tyrannical regime and the oppression of the people are fueling a national catastrophe,” they said.
Rodolfo Diamante, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, urged caution for lawmakers when considering legislation that would reinstate the death penalty.
“We urge them to study the bills thoroughly and determine if they will really address the problems of drug trafficking and plunder,” he said, according to CBCP News.
Diamante also urged lawmakers not to reinstate the death penalty as a quick fix, or in order to appease Duterte.
“They have been elected by the people to work for their welfare, not the President’s,” he said. “Don’t give our people an illusion and a quick fix ‘solution’ to our problems. They deserve something better.”
The death penalty was abolished in the Philippines under the country’s 1987 constitution. In the 1990s, the policy underwent varying periods of moratorium and reinstatement, until it was abolished again under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2006, according to Human Rights Watch.
The last time death penalty legislation was considered by the country’s Congress in 2017, it faced strong opposition from lawmakers, UCA noted.
The Philippines is a majority-Catholic nation, with roughly 86% of the country’s 104.9 million people identifying as Catholic.
In August 2018, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a new draft of the catechism’s paragraph regarding capital punishment. Quoting Pope Francis’ words in a speech of Oct. 11, 2017, the new paragraph states, in part, that “the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”
Reasons for changing the teaching, the paragraph says, include: the increasing effectiveness of detention systems, growing understanding of the unchanging dignity of the person, and leaving open the possibility of conversion.
Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P., a moral theologian at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., told CNA at the time of the revision that he thinks this change “further absolutizes the pastoral conclusion made by John Paul II.”
“Nothing in the new wording of paragraph 2267 suggests the death penalty is intrinsically evil. Indeed, nothing could suggest that because it would contradict the firm teaching of the Church,” Fr. Petri added.
Duterte has a rocky relationship with the Catholic bishops and clergy of his country, frequently calling them various names and even calling for them to be killed, in large part because they have resisted his war on drugs, which has lead to a spike in extrajudicial killings since he took office in 2016.
Bishop Antonio Tobias of Novaliches hosted a “Mass for Truth” for activists before Duterte’s SONA address. Tobias, along with two other bishops, was recently charged with libel and sedition for allegedly accusing Duterte’s family of having connections to the illegal drug trade, UCA reported.
Tobias said that the war on drugs was gotten worse since Duterte came to power in 2016, despite his vows to quash it.
“After three years, the number of drug users increased and many have died,” Tobias told UCA News.
Jakarta, Indonesia, Jul 25, 2019 / 01:58 pm (CNA).- Indonesian authorities released Tuesday the names of a couple whom they believe to have orchestrated a January terrorist attack on a cathedral in the Philippines.
Dedi Prasetyo, spokesman for Indonesia’s National Police, said July 23 that Rullie Rian Zeke and his wife Ulfah Handayani Saleh had detonated suicide bombs at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo.
Prasetyo said police discovered the identity of the bombers last month when they arrested an Islamic militant who recruited the Indonesian couple.
Before the husband and wife had underwent a government sponsored deradicalization program, they had been involved with Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an outlawed Islamic extremist organization allied to the Islamic State group.
Two bombs exploded during Mass at the seat of the Vicariate Apostolic of Jolo Jan. 27, killing at least 20 and injuring at least 111 others.
The Filipino bishops’ conference condemned the attack as an “act of terrorism.” The Islamic State, which has ties to the local Muslim insurgent group Abu Sayyaf, claimed responsibility for the attack. Attacks by Abu Sayyaf against Catholics in the region are not uncommon.
The cathedral was rededicated July 23 during a Mass said by Archbishop Gabrielle Caccia, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, along with Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, Archbishop Emeritus of Cotabato.
Jonathan Luciano, national director of Aid to the Church in Need in the Philippines, said the clerics offered words of hope and encouragement.
“[Cardinal Quevedo] described how inspiring the people of Jolo were because of their faith and resilience despite constant persecution,” Luciano said in a recent report.
“At the end of the Mass, Archbishop Caccia assured people that the Church of Christ and the Christian community [are] with them…They are not forgotten or neglected. This is not only manifested with financial assistance, but through the solidarity of prayer all over the world,” he added.
New Delhi, India, Jul 25, 2019 / 08:00 am (CNA).- A northern Indian district has launched an investigation into a region in which the birth rate of baby girls is in dramatic decline. Government data has revealed that among 216 babies born across 132 vi… […]
Ernakulam, India, Jul 24, 2019 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- Catholic priests are reportedly protesting Pope Francis’ reinstatement of a cardinal who is facing allegations of financial mismanagement and of failing to report the rape of a nun.
Cardinal George Alencherry heads the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in union with Rome and one of the two main Eastern churches in India.
An Indian television station aired an audio recording last week that appears to indicate that Alencherry may have been aware of a nun’s claim that a bishop had raped her, before the nun made her public complaint.
The nun in June 2018 accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar of raping her in 2014 and sexually abusing her on multiple occasions over two years.
In a recorded phone call between the nun and Alencherry, alleged to have taken place before the nun filed her official complaint, Alencherry appears to tell the nun that he will deny knowing anything about the complaint if the police ask about it, and that she should deal with the apostolic nuncio instead of the police.
A Syro-Malabar Church spokesman said in a statement that the nun had not specifically mentioned the sexual assault during their conversation. Alencherry has denied that he recieved any sexual abuse complaints from the nun before she filed her complaint, but admitted that the nun had met him in 2017 and had brought concern to the cardinal but had not mentioned sexual abuse.
Bishop Mulakkal was formally charged with raping the nun nine times over a two-year period and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, local authorities announced in April.
The charge sheet against Mulakkal included statements from more than 80 witnesses including a cardinal, three bishops, 11 priests and 25 nuns, according to Indian Catholic group Save our Sisters. He is expected to be in court this week.
Mulakkal maintains his innocence.
The Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly’s presbyteral council has also accused Alencherry of involvement in dubious land deals. Alencherry reportedly bypassed church law requiring consultations before a land sale that resulted in heavy financial losses for the church.
In June the Vatican suspended the administrative powers of the archdiocese’s two auxiliary bishops, all archdiocesan offices, and the archdiocesan council. A Vatican letter said Cardinal Alencherry “should absolutely not be involved” in any decisions, UCA News reports.
Pope Francis reinstated Alencherry in June. At the time Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, head of the Vatican’s office for Eastern Catholic churches, stated that Alencherry must now submit monthly financial plans to the Syro-Malabar Church’s governing body. The Syro-Malabar synod will meet in August to discuss longer-term solutions to the archdiocese’ financial situation.
The Vatican investigation’s findings have not been made public, and two auxiliary bishops who were suspended along with Alencherry remain suspended, the Associated Press reports.
According to the AP, about 450 priests, including 70 from outside of India, began a hunger strike and prayer vigil last week at the cardinal’s diocesan headquarters, in the city of Kochi, India to protest Alencherry’s reinstatement, the continued suspension of the two auxiliary bishops and to demand information about the Vatican’s investigation.
One of the protesting priests told the AP that the hunger strike ended after priests met with members of the Syro-Malabar synod and presented their demands, and were given assurance that the demands would be put forward during an August meeting.
Melbourne, Australia, Jul 24, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- The first permit for medically assisted death in Victoria was issued in recent weeks, less than a month after the Australian state’s legalization of voluntary assisted suicide and euthanasia took effect.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 allows adult Victoria residents who are terminally ill, expected to die within six months (or 12 if they have a neurodegenerative condition), and mentally competent, to ask their doctor to prescribe drugs that will end their lives. The law took effect June 19.
Two doctors must verify the requester’s eligibility, and the person must make three requests for assisted suicide or euthanasia. Those seeking to end their lives must have lived in Victoria for at least a year, and be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
Neither the identity nor the medical condition of the person granted a permit to commit suicide have been released.
A spokesperson for the Victorian health department told the ABC that the state’s “model for the voluntary assisted dying system is working.”
“We know that doctors are talking to patients about voluntary assisted dying and are carrying out assessments.”
Under the law, pharmacists at The Alfred Hospital will prepare and supply the mixture of drugs. They will deliver to the terminally ill the dose of about 100mL of liquid in a locked box with a key.
The box will include instructions on how to mix and drink the drugs, “and there is no expiry date on when the drugs can be consumed,” Melbourne daily The Age reported in June.
Physicians will be allowed to administer the drugs via an intravenous drip to those incapable of swallowing.
Health practicioners are granted conscientious objection rights against participation in euthanasia or assisted suicide under the law.
About 100 doctors across the nearly 92,000 square mile state “have began receiving the mandatory training required to be allowed to assist terminally ill patients who need medical help to die,” according to The Age.
A review board of 13 medical and legal experts will review assisted suicide-euthanasia applications after the fact to ensure compliance with the law. The board will also be able to recommend improvements to the state government, and refer breaches to police, coronors, or the Australian Health Practicioner Regulation Agency.
The Victorian health minister, Jenny Mikakos, has said the state expects about a dozen people to utilize assisted suicide or euthanasia during the first year the law is in effect. She expects this number to top out at about 150 people each year. There are about 6.5 million Victorian residents.
Efforts to expand access to assisted suicide and euthanasia have grown in recent years. Presently, at least one of the practices is legal in nine US states and the District of Columbia, as well as in all Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Colombia.
Victoria is the only Australian jurisdiction where assisted suicide or euthanasia are legal.
Advocates for assisted suicide and euthanasia have said the eligibility requirements are too onerous, and intend to challenge them in court, but do hope other Australian states will follow Victoria’s lead.
Queensland and Western Australia are considering similar bills.
New South Wales rejected such a bill in 2017, as did the national parliament in 2016, and that of Tasmania in 2013.
The Northern Territory legalized assisted suicide in 1995, but the Australian parliament overturned the law two years later.
The four Latin rite ordinaries in Victoria wrote a pastoral letter denouncing the state’s “new, and deeply troubling chapter of health care” when the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 took effect.
In a June 14 letter, the bishops of Melbourne, Ballarat, Sale, and Sandhurst wrote that “We cannot cooperate with the facilitation of suicide, even when it seems motivated by empathy or kindness.”
“What is being referred to as ‘VAD’ is a combination of what in plain- speaking is more commonly known as physician assisted suicide and euthanasia,” they said.
“We feel a responsibility not just to say ‘no’ to VAD, but to give every encouragement to model a way of life that renders VAD unnecessary.”
Beijing, China, Jul 24, 2019 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- An article published Wednesday in a state-run paper from mainland China repeated government talking points regarding the situations of the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnoreligious group in the country’s northwest.
Some 1 million Uighurs have been detained in re-education camps for Muslims in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Inside the camps they are reportedly subjected to forced labor, torture, and political indoctrination. Outside the camps, Uyghurs are monitored by pervasive police forces and facial recognition technology.
Uighurs can be arrested and detained under vague anti-terrorism laws. Violence in the region escalated in the 1990s and again in 2008.
In August 2014 officials in Karamay, a city of Xinjiang, banned “youths with long beards” and anyone wearing headscarves, veils, burqas, or clothes with the crescent moon and star symbol from using public transit. That May, universities across the region banned fasting during Ramadan.
The Chinese government has said reports on the camps by Western governments and media are unfounded, claiming they are vocational training centers and that it is combatting extremism.
Li Yang, an author at China Daily, an English language daily owned by the Communist Party of China, wrote July 24 that “Western critics of China’s policies on human rights and religious freedom in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region seem to be divorced from the realities of the situation.”
Li’s piece focused on “Uygur separatists” who try “to brainwash the other Uygurs with extremism and terrorism.”
He said that “all the measures that Beijing has taken to fight separatism, extremism and terrorism in Xinjiang are part of the global anti-terrorism campaign, as well as an integral part of China’s efforts to boost local development.”
Li noted that the Chinese government has set up “vocational educational centers” in Xinjiang, as well as “installing surveillance systems and deploying security forces.”
He also pointed out that 150 million tourists visited Xinjiang last year, and that the autonomous region’s economy has risen 40 percent over the past five years.
According to Li, “the religious freedom of all ethnic groups … is strictly protected by law.”
Li focused on the diversity of Xinjiang, saying that separatists ignore the interest of the region’s other ethnic groups. Uighurs make up about 46% of the region’s population; Han Chinese 39%, Kazakhs 7%, and Huis 5%. A large number of minorities make up the remaining 3%.
Attention was drawn to the human and religious rights situation in Xinjiang at the recent Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom held by the US State Department last week.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said July 18 at the gathering that survivors of the detention camps have described “a deliberate attempt by Beijing to strangle Uighur culture and stamp out” Islam.
In response, Chinese officials have been outspoken in defense of policies in the region.
A letter signed by Chinese scholars and religious officials posted July 19 by the Xinjiang government said Pompeo should “stop fabricating lies and slander about Xinjiang.”
An editorial published in the People’s Daily July 20 claims that China actually respects religious rights, and said that the United States has an “ulterior motive” to criticize China’s treatment of religious minorities.
“They even use so-called freedom of religious belief as an excuse to undermine China’s national harmony and interfere in China’s internal affairs,” the editorial said.
And the Chinese State Council Information Office released a white paper July 21 that claimed, among other things, that Xinjiang is a region where religious freedom is respected, and that the Uighur population did not choose to become Muslim.
In June, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) told a congressional hearing that China’s campaign to “sinicize” religion is proceeding with brutal efficiency. “Under ‘sinicization,’ all religions and believers must comport with and aggressively promote communist ideology — or else,” Smith said.
“It’s never been worse than it is right now.”
“Religious believers of every persuasion are harassed, arrested, jailed, or tortured. Only the compliant are left relatively unscathed. Bibles are burned, churches are destroyed, crosses set ablaze atop church steeples,” Smith said.
Auckland, New Zealand, Jul 24, 2019 / 11:03 am (CNA).- Last fall, amid swirling headlines about synods and still-emerging sex abuse scandals, an odd account popped up in the newsfeeds of “Catholic Twitter.”
This account, calling itself &ld… […]
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