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New bishop appointed to lead troubled Toowoomba diocese
Vatican City, May 14, 2012 / 11:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI has named Monsignor Robert McGuckin to lead the Diocese of Toowoomba, Australia – one year after the previous bishop was removed for dissenting from Catholic teaching and practice.
“I’m honored and humbled to be appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as Bishop of Toowoomba,” said Msgr. McGuckin, who is presently the vicar general of the Parramatta diocese.
“I would hope to build upon the good work of my predecessors and look forward to working with the clergy, religious and everyone in the diocese. I ask for your prayers as together we strive to fulfill the mission entrusted us in building up the Kingdom of God,” he said on May 14.
In May 2011, Pope Benedict removed Bishop William Morris from his post in Toowoomba after the failure of years of negotiations aimed at correcting the bishop’s abuses of Church doctrine, governance and liturgy.
Msgr. McGuckin was born in in the Marrickville suburb of Sydney in 1944 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1973. An expert in canon law, he has served as a lecturer, judge and president of the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand. He has also ministered in numerous parishes.
In 2011 he was named a Prelate of Honor by Pope Benedict XVI. In his spare time, Msgr. McGuckin is an avid fisherman.
Bishop Brian Finnigan, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Toowoomba, said that Msgr. McGukin’s “ministry over the years in Australia and overseas has given him deep insight into the beauty and mystery of human relationships and the struggles which many individuals endure in their journey of life.”
“He is well equipped to lead people to a deeper liturgical and spiritual life. He has had years of involvement in the daily life of parishes.”
Bishop Morris’s dismissal after 18 years at the helm of the diocese was precipitated by comments he made in a 2006 pastoral letter. In it, he called for the ordination of women and married male priests, as well as suggesting that Protestant ministers could offer Mass to compensate for the dearth of priests in Toowoomba. During his 18 years, the diocese had produced only one new priestly vocation.
The incident provoked the Vatican to order an investigation led by the respected Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia.
Critics of Bishop Morris said the problems in Toowoomba went far beyond the bishop’s public disagreement with Catholic doctrine on the priesthood.
They claimed that Bishop Morris – who preferred a shirt and tie to a priestly collar and bishops’ attire – did much to undermine Catholic identity and teachings during his term of office.
Among the criticisms leveled were “communion services” being co-celebrated by lay people and priests and the widespread use of communal “general absolution” rites as an alternative to personal confession in the diocese.
Following Bishop Morris’ departure in May 2011, a vocal group of both clergy and laity in Toowoomba launched a campaign to support him and advance their agenda.
Despite such a legacy, Bishop Finnigan said he was “confident that the priests, religious and lay faithful” of Toowoomba “will give a warm welcome to Msgr. McGuckin so that his gifts and skills can flourish.”
The Diocese of Toowoomba, which is situated to the west of Brisbane, spans more than 188,000 square miles and has a Catholic population of roughly 77,400, served by 35 parishes.
Msgr. McGuckin’s ordination will take place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Toowoomba on July 11, the Feast of St. Benedict.
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Concerns remain despite promises of safety for Chinese activist
Beijing, China, May 2, 2012 / 01:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A blind pro-life advocate who has spoken out against China’s brutal one-child policy has been offered promises of safety from Chinese government officials, but new reports suggest that he is now asking to leave the country.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a May 2 statement that she was “pleased” that the U.S. had been able to facilitate Chen Guangcheng’s situation “in a way that reflected his choices and our values.”
She stated that Chen “has a number of understandings with the Chinese government about his future” and said that the U.S. government is “committed to remaining engaged with Mr. Chen and his family” in the coming months.
According to American officials, Chen left the American Embassy in Beijing on May 2. He is receiving medical treatment at a local hospital and has been reunited with his family. Chinese officials have promised that he will be treated humanely and allowed to move with his family to a safe place in the country, where he can pursue higher education.
However, the Associated Press said that it spoke to Chen from his hospital room hours after he arrived. It reported that he now fears for his own safety and that of his family and that he wants to leave the country.
The Associated Press said that the 40-year-old pro-life activist was worried because he had been told that American embassy officials would remain with him during his time in the hospital, but when he arrived in his room, there were none there.
Chen’s close friend, Zeng Jinyan, also said Chen had told her that he wanted to leave the country but was forced into agreeing to a deal to remain due to threats that his wife would be killed if he left.
A senior U.S. State Department official said on May 2 that Chen “did not request safe passage to the United States to seek political asylum” but had instead maintained that he wished to stay in China.
Blinded by a serious illness when he was young, Chen is a human rights lawyer who has spoken out adamantly against China’s one-child policy, which is often implemented through forced abortion and sterilization.
He had arrived at the U.S. Embassy on April 26, after escaping from house arrest, where he had been held since Sept. 2010 without formal charges.
The escape took place shortly before Clinton and other diplomatic officials arrived in the country for previously scheduled meetings.
Chen, who also spent more than four years in prison, said that he and his family had been violently assaulted and refused medical treatment during his time in house arrest.
Concerns are now being raised over whether China will keep its promise of treating Chen and his family humanely.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin has been quoted as telling China's official Xinhua news agency that the United States “has interfered in the domestic affairs of China, and the Chinese side will never accept it.”
A U.S. State Department official declined to say whether the United States would issue an apology to China, but did say, “I think our actions were lawful.”
The official said that the United States “will look to confirm at regular intervals that the commitments he has received are carried out.”
However, some human rights defenders are not satisfied with the guarantees.
Bob Fu, president of the Texas-based human rights group ChinaAid, said that he has received reliable reports that Chen had reluctantly left the U.S. embassy because the Chinese government had seriously threatened his immediate family.
Fu, who has been carefully monitoring Chen’s situation, is concerned that the U.S. has left the pro-life activist in a dangerous situation.
“The government sees him as a trouble-maker and a threat to their legitimacy,” he warned.
“He has the admiration of the world right now and that will perhaps help keep him safe in the short-term, but I am fearful what could happen if the world loses interest.”
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Chinese activist’s escape prompts calls for US action
Beijing, China, Apr 30, 2012 / 02:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The escape of Chen Guangcheng, a human rights advocate who opposed China’s brutal one-child policy, is resulting in calls for the U.S. to protest human rights abuses within the communist country.
“This is a test of Premier Wen’s commitment to fundamental human rights, the rule of law, and common decency,” said Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who chairs a U.S. House subcommittee on human rights.
“It is also a test of America’s resolve to safeguard human rights whenever and wherever those rights are violated.”
Chen Guangcheng, who was blinded by a childhood illness, is a human rights lawyer who has spoken out strongly against China’s one-child policy, which is often implemented through forced abortion and sterilization.
After spending more than four years in prison, Chen was placed under house arrest in Sept. 2010 without formal charges.
News reports indicate that he has escaped house arrest and is currently under U.S. protection in Beijing, although both President Barack Obama and the U.S. State Department have declined to comment on the situation.
Chen Guangchen’s flight from his home in the village of Dongshigu began with him feigning severe illness and an inability to move about two months ago, the Associated Press reports. He fled his home on the night of April 22 and managed to walk several hours, before activist He Peirong gave the exhausted and battered escapee a ride in her car.
News of the escape broke just days before U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and other diplomatic officials were scheduled to travel to China for meetings on May 3 and 4.
Clinton drew criticism in 2009 when she said that human rights concerns should not “interfere” with U.S.-China cooperation on economic, environmental and security issues.
But Rep. Smith said that the numerous U.S. leaders traveling to the country might be a “gift.” He emphasized the need to “push for human rights like never before.”
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney also called on U.S. officials to “take every measure to ensure that Chen and his family members are protected from further persecution.”
“This event points to the broader issue of human rights in China,” said Romney in an April 29 statement.
He explained that U.S. policy towards China “must confront the facts of the Chinese government’s denial of political liberties, its one-child policy, and other violations of human rights.”
Although he is “extremely pleased” by news of the escape, Smith said that he remains “extremely concerned” about the safety of Chen’s family members and friends.
Reports suggest that several of his relatives and friends have been arrested or subjected to harsh treatment since his escape.
The Texas-based human rights group ChinaAid has posted an online video of Chen confirming his escape and discussing his “brutal treatment” by the authorities, which he described as “even harsher” than the stories that have been circulating about him.
Chen said that over the past years, he has been beaten, robbed and refused medical attention. He and his wife and elderly mother have all been violently assaulted on multiple occasions, he said.
In the video, Chen asked Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to investigate and punish those responsible for the corruption involved in his abuse and home arrest. He also asked that the safety of his family be guaranteed.
Smith said these demands are “reasonable” and should be reiterated by the United States.
He also asked Secretary of State Clinton to engage in ongoing discussions with the Chinese government on the broader issue of human rights.
“The cruelty and extreme violence against Chen and his family brings dishonor to the government of China and must end,” Smith said.
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Pope names Archbishop Coleridge to lead Brisbane Catholics
Brisbane, Australia, Apr 4, 2012 / 12:26 am (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI has named Australian Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra-Goulburn as the new Archbishop of Brisbane.
“At a time in life when many are looking to retire, I have been called to take up the greatest challenge of my life,” Archbishop Coleridge said April 2. “With few illusions about myself or the task that awaits me in Queensland, but with trust in the Lord who sends me, I pack my bags and head north once again.”
The archbishop said he is “heartened” by the choice and “grateful” to the Pope for the trust he has placed in him.
Archbishop Coleridge, 63, is a theologian and teacher with expertise in Sacred Scripture and the Catholic liturgy. He served as chairman of the international committee responsible for the new English translation of the Roman Missal. He also chairs the committee preparing the forthcoming new lectionary of scripture readings for the Mass, the Archdiocese of Brisbane reports.
Before his 2002 appointment as auxiliary bishop of Melbourne, he was an official in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and served as a papal chaplain.
The archbishop was born and educated in the southeast Australian state of Victoria. He was ordained a priest in Melbourne in 1974.
The Archdiocese of Brisbane has about 640,000 Catholics in a population of 2.8 million, its census data show. Its area covers 29,700 square miles.
Archbishop Coleridge’s installation Mass as Archbishop of Brisbane will be held May 11 at St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
The archbishop said he was “deeply grateful” for his six years as Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn.
“Until recently, I never imagined that I would be appointed Archbishop of Brisbane, following in the footsteps of some remarkable men,” he said. “I will do my best, but that will not be enough. Yet the Lord equips those whom he sends in ways they could never equip themselves.”
He said he puts his life in God’s hands and at the service of the Church in Brisbane.
“It is harder to do what a bishop must do at a complex time like this in the Church when the future must be made, not just awaited,” he said. I commit all my energies and gifts to that apostolic task in Brisbane, looking more than ever to the Lord of Easter, Jesus Christ crucified and risen.”
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On disaster's first anniversary, Japanese Catholics turn to prayer
Tokyo, Japan, Mar 9, 2012 / 04:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A year after one of the most devastating Japanese natural disasters in history, Archbishop Leo Jun Ikenaga of Osaka is calling on Catholics to pray for those who died in the earthquake and tsunami and for the reconstruction of the country.
“What happened on March 11, 2011 will never be forgotten in our lifetime,” Archbishop Ikenaga said in a letter to Japanese Catholics.
Archbishop Ikenaga urged the faithful to pray not only that the disaster areas will be reconstructed, but also that those who died as a result of the disaster “will be given eternal repose in the hands of God.”
To mark the first anniversary, bishops from all over Japan will celebrate Masses in their dioceses. Archbishop Ikenaga said it is his hope that these Masses will allow people to pray together “across the nation.”
Despite the horror of the earthquake and tsunami, which left the Japanese “deeply shocked,” Archbishop Ikenaga said he was able to “recognize how wonderful it is for people to support each other” by the generous donations and support of volunteers all over the world.
Koreans showed their support by holding up signs in front of news cameras that said, “We love Japan. Japan will overcome the hardship!”
The archbishop recalled how Japan received donations from “all over the world,” nuclear specialists from overseas offered “generous support,” and locals from “all over Japan” volunteered in the clean up.
“Facing unreasonable and cruel realities, we are largely impressed and encouraged by numerous people at home and abroad who are making every effort to help the affected persons,” Archbishop Ikenaga said.
On Feb. 15, all of the active Japanese bishops offered Mass at Tokyo’s Sekiguchu Cathedral in anticipation of the first anniversary of the disaster that killed an estimated 20,000 people. Approximately 400 people attended the Mass, which was dedicated to the memory of the disaster victims.
In his homily, Bishop Tetsuo Hiraga of Sendai – whose diocese is home to the crippled Fukushima Dai'ichi power plant – offered his thanks to the volunteers who came from Japan and abroad.
Volunteer efforts, mostly being organized by Caritas Japan and the Diocese of Sendai, are now focused on reconstruction and “will be carried on for many years to come.”
“The word 'unimaginable' has become a regular part of my vocabulary in the past year,” Bishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi of Niigata and president of Caritas Japan said in a March 11 letter to donors.
Less than a week after the March 11 earthquake, Caritas Japan sent staff to Sendai to work with the local diocese to provide relief and assist in the rebuilding process.
Caritas Japan opened its first relief base in Shiogama, a major fishing and fish processing city, to help clean up homes that were badly damaged but still salvageable. After shoveling mud and debris out of the homes, volunteers drank tea and spoke with residents, giving survivors a “sense of solidarity in rebuilding their lives.”
Ishinomaki, the second largest community in the Miyagi Prefecture, lost 4,000 residents to the tsunami that followed the earthquake. Many survivors were left homeless, but were able to find shelter at Kadonowaki Junior High School, one of Caritas Japan's largest evacuation centers.
In the town of Shizugawa, a fishing town in the Minami-Sanriku district, Caritas Japan opened a cafe-style distribution center “where listening to survivors facilitated relationships.” Since the establishment of temporary housing, Caritas Japan has created “mobile cafes” to distribute supplies and continue “its service of listening.”
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Abuse case points to plight of baby girls in India
New Dehli, India, Feb 20, 2012 / 04:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The case of a two year-old baby girl in India who was unconscious and covered in human bites when admitted to a local hospital is bringing attention to the issue of sex-selective abortions in the country.
Carlos Polo, director of the Office for Latin America of the Population Research Institute, told CNA on Feb. 17 that this kind of abuse shows the effects that abortions based on gender discrimination have on society.
He noted that sex-selective abortions “have been practiced for decades to eliminate unborn baby girls in India and in many countries where the culture exalts the birth of a son but disparages the birth of a daughter.”
India’s Ministry of the Interior has launched an investigation into the incident after two-year-old baby Falak (whose name means sky) was taken to a hospital in New Delhi on Jan. 18 with bruises on her head, broken limbs and human bite marks on her body.
A doctor caring for the baby at a New Delhi hospital told CNN on Feb. 11 that medical staff is unsure if she will survive and that she will most likely sustain permanent brain damage if she does.
“What was done to this girl is very similar to what is done to a woman who is expecting a baby girl,” Polo said.
The Population Research Institute's bulletin from Dec. 14, 2011, reported practices that take place when a family member is pregnant with a baby girl. “Her husband and relatives push her, kick her in the stomach, and deny her food, water and rest, all for the purposes of bringing about an abortion,” the institute said.
Dr. Sunita Puri, who is from India and works in San Francisco, said that she has seen many women in her practice pregnant with baby boys and unable to overcome the guilt they feel for not being able to save their baby girls in previous pregnancies.
She interviewed 65 immigrants for one study who chose to select the sex of their unborn baby. Published in 2011 in the journal Social Science and Medicine, her study found that “a surprising 89 percent of women pregnant with girls had abortions during the study, and almost half had already aborted a baby girl before.”
Despite the recent wave of negative publicity that has focused the public’s attention on these crimes, Polo said, “One can still find ads for abortion clinics offering sex-selective abortions in newspapers such as the New York Times.”
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Cardinal Zen says Vatican needs tougher approach to China
Rome, Italy, Feb 14, 2012 / 01:56 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong says the Vatican’s recent policy in dealing with China has failed and that the Church must now take a tougher stance.
“On certain points we cannot compromise – on the nature of the Church which is established by Jesus Christ,” he told CNA Feb. 10, while visiting Rome.
“So, after a well-intentioned attempt to go the other way, and now we see the failure of going that way. I think it is time we come back to the direction given by the Holy Father.”
China has an estimated eight to twelve million Catholics, with about half of those people worshiping in government-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Founded in 1957, it does not acknowledge the authority of the Pope.
Pope Benedict XVI set out his policy on China in 2007 in an open letter to Chinese Catholics. He criticized the limits placed by the Chinese government on the Church’s activities, including the right to appoint bishops.
“It cannot be denied that grave limitations remain that touch the heart of the faith and that, to a certain degree, suffocate pastoral activity,” wrote the Pope.
Despite the strongly worded tone of the letter, Cardinal Zen says that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples has instead pursued a policy of “compromise” with the Chinese government.
“After much – I would say excessive – acquiescence by the Holy See, the Chinese government has shown no willingness to respect the essential nature of the Catholic Church, as it is peacefully accepted all over the civilized world,” said Cardinal Zen in an article published in Asia News Feb. 8.
He highlighted that there have been five ordinations without the approval of the Vatican since November 2010. “The Chinese government has thus shown that it has no intention of changing its religious policies,” the cardinal said.
“Faced with such acts of defiance, which have betrayed its sincere desire for dialogue, the Holy See’s only option is to return to its clear stance.”
Cardinal Zen said the Vatican previously took a tough stance with China until the Indian archbishop, Cardinal Ivan Dias, took over at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2006. He retired from the post last year after reaching the age of 75.
Cardinal Dias had previously spent many years at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State where he was responsible for relations with then-Communist Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
Cardinal Zen said these years gave Cardinal Dias the “experience of having worked with the Cardinal Casaroli,” who was the Vatican’s Secretary of State from 1979 to 1990.
“Unfortunately this, which could have been his strong point, instead turned out to be a limitation, since he believed that the ‘Ostpolitik’ of the famous Cardinal (Casaroli) had worked miracles in communist countries of Eastern Europe, while it is known that at least Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Wyszynski were not of the same opinion.”
“Ostpolitik” was a diplomatic approach that sought compromise rather than confrontation with the communist Soviet Bloc.
Cardinal Zen believes a similar “strategy of compromise” is now being applied to relations with China, where “resistance to the excessive power of an absolutist government” by the Church is dismissed as “futile.”
But the results have been disastrous, he asserted, saying that “the underground community that once flourished so well, now runs the risk of dying of frustration and discouragement,” due being “neglected and considered inconvenient by the Holy See.”
Meanwhile, this “overly accommodating” policy has “not obtained the desired reciprocation from the Government.”
Therefore, “procrastination” is “no longer an option,” wrote Cardinal Zen, who believes that a “win-win situation” based on compromise is no longer possible, even if that means the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association goes fully into “schism.”
“I think it is time we really faced the main question of what is the Catholic Church?” he said to CNA. “If they’d like to have an independent, national Church let them have one, but let it not be called Catholic.”
Cardinal Zen also criticized the decision by the Italy-based lay movement, the Saint Egidio Community, to invite the Bishop of Nanchang to a conference in Germany last year, despite the fact that the bishop had recently participated in an illicit ordination.
“Inviting bishops who have compromised themselves in acts which are objectively destructive to the unity of the Church to meetings abroad seems very inconvenient.”
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Catholic student helps relieve children's suffering in Myanmar
Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Feb 12, 2012 / 04:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Conditions in a Myanmar children's prison are causing major suffering and malnutrition among its young prisoners, says a Burmese Catholic student working to make a difference.
Chan Thawng, a student at Austria’s International Theological Institute, recently told the school of his visit to the Children’s Prison in Nahawsan, Kawh Hmuu Township. He said about 2,000 children between 10 and 18 are imprisoned there, where they are divided into groups of 500.
“Many children are put into prison because they are thieves, or because they killed their neighbors' (animals) as their parents cannot give them enough food. They are hungry and they steal and become thieves and they are put into prison,” said Thawng. “I am so sad to see them.”
Thawng, the founder of two charities in the country, reported that he and his co-workers had sought to visit the prison for over a year, but a local authority allowed him to secretly visit the imprisoned boys in October 2011.
“The government does not give them enough food in prison and they are thin and malnourished. We went and gave them food: rice, meat and chicken, potato, breads, and sweets.”
The visitors donated books, pens and pencils for the children’s basic education. They also shared the message of Christianity with them and encouraged them by singing Gospel songs.
His group is now trying to visit the other children in prison and to visit the women’s prison.
Many young girls and women are imprisoned because of prostitution, which they take up because they are impoverished and cannot get jobs.
“Some young girls are asked by their parents to become prostitutes, as that is the only way they can get money for food,” Thawng said.
He prayed that God will help the suffering children and suffering young girls “more and more,” he told the International Theological Institute.
The institute, a Catholic school of theology, grants degrees from the Holy See for the study of theology and for specialized studies on marriage and the family. The institute says it aims to be a “living experience of the Church universal” and a place of exchange between diverse cultures. Its students come from around the world.
The Greek Fathers and Thomas Aquinas serve as the institute’s central points of reference, appealing to both the Eastern and Western traditions of the Church.
Thawng said he went to study at the institute because of the many divorces in his country, even among Christian families.
“I see the number of suffering children increase day after day. It is not easy to find a happy family, especially in villages.”
He thinks his studies will help him solve these problems.
Since his deceased father was Catholic and his mother is Protestant, Thawng reported, he had “grown up between two beliefs.” His studies will help him learn more about Catholic doctrine, he said.
Thawng began the Shelter for Suffering People and New Eden Education Help after his summer holiday journeys in Myanmar when he traveled from village to village to speak about the Word of God.
“In many villages, I saw that there were no Christians, no school, and the children were poor and uneducated. Often there were no toilets and the villagers would take a bath once a week without soap.”
In some villages with schools, children were too poor to attend.
Thawng himself comes from a “very poor family” and his father died when he was ten.
“As the only son of a widow, I had to overcome many difficulties and problems in order to study and graduate. When I was seventeen years old, I heard God’s call and followed Him,” he said. “I could not go on living without sharing the Gospel with others.”
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Deadly floods in Philippines trigger Catholic response
Manila, Philippines, Dec 19, 2011 / 10:46 pm (CNA).- Catholic organizations are helping organize aid for the victims of Typhoon Sendong in the Philippines after it caused flash floods that have killed hundreds of people and left thousands homeless.
“Thousands are in the evacuation centers, many are women and children—hungry, chilling, crying,” the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines of the Northern Mindanao Region said on its website.
Tropical Storm Washi, known locally as Typhoon Sendong, made landfall on Friday Dec. 16, striking several provinces of Northern Mindanao on the second-largest island of the Philippines.
At least 927 were killed by the storm and floods, while at least 800 are still missing. About 143,000 people were affected and 45,000 fled to evacuation centers, the Associated Press reports.
Most of the victims were asleep when the floodwaters came from the mountains, which were inundated with 12 hours of rainfall.
“Some people don’t even have shoes – their sandals were pulled off their feet in the flood,” said Joe Curry, Catholic Relief Services’ country representative for the Philippines, who said some people had lost everything.
The disaster is without precedent in the area.
The Catholic Relief Services office in Davao has sent a needs assessment team to Cagayan de Oro City, the site of some of the most severe devastation. The organization is working with its partners, Caritas Philippines, the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and Xavier University, as well as with the Philippine government.
“We’ve seen that people in the flood’s path need basic household goods like water jugs, cooking utensils and soap. Water is most important over the next few days. The government has distributed food to some people, but they don’t have water or pots to cook a meal,” Curry reported.
About 80 percent of Cagayan de Oro City’s 600,000 people are without running water. The floods washed out the city’s water main and the pumping stations along the river. Government officials say it could be up to 30 days before water is restored to most of the city.
“I’m hopeful that we will be able to reach people quickly and help them meet their most urgent needs,” Curry said. “We’re seeing people in the community pull together and share what little they have.”
Archbishop Tony Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro is playing an important role in facilitating cooperation between non-profits and the government in the flood response, Catholic Relief Services says.
Catholic Relief Services Philippines is the organization’s oldest continuously operating program. It launched in 1945 to provide war relief.
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Malaysian Christians reject permit to sing Christmas carols
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec 19, 2011 / 04:06 pm (CNA).- Christians from two churches in Malaysia rejected a requirement that they will need a police permit to sing Christmas carols in their parishes or homes.
Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, head of the Malaysian bishops' conference, told Vatican-based Fides news that the country will soon be in “a police state” if authorities continue demanding such “bureaucratic requirements.”
Two churches in Klang outside the city of Kuala Lumpur recently received notices from police asking for the names and addresses of people who were singing Christmas carols, claiming that a government mandated permit was required for those wishing to sing carols in their homes or churches.
Father Andrew Lawrence, head of the diocesan “Herald” newspaper, called the police action “a strict interpretation” of current regulations on “worship and freedom of religion” in the country.
He noted, however, that after protests by local Christians, “government representatives have denied the need for such authorizations.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had promised voters in 2011 that he would overturn unpopular laws which stifle the press and allow for detentions without trial.
Instead, the Malaysian Congress sparked widespread protest after passing a new measure titled the “Law on Peaceful Assembly” which enables more government control.
According to Teresa Mok, the national secretary of the Democratic Action Party, the new norm is “an abuse of power by officials” and “an attempt to violate religious freedom.”
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