Catholic News 2

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

St. Louis, Mo., Aug 4, 2017 / 02:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The urgency of the problems facing displaced Iraqi Christians has driven a new campaign by the Knights of Columbus to resettle an entire village in their homes, says a spokesman for the Knights.

The roughly 200,000 Christians still in Iraq – down from 1.5 million in 2003 – “are increasingly feeling a sense of hopelessness over the situation,” Andrew Walther, vice president of communications for the Knights of Columbus, told CNA on Thursday.

Even with Islamic State swept out of most of Iraq, many Christian families who lived in Mosul or on the nearby Nineveh Plain are not yet able to return to their homes, three years after being displaced by the group.

With their lives as internally displaced persons surpassing the three-year mark, “it was made very clear that if there weren’t concrete steps that showed people that moving home was possible in the next 30 to 60 days, there was a very good chance that many of them would just leave for other countries in the region, for wherever they could go,” Walther said.

The Knights of Columbus announced this week that it was beginning a $2 million drive to raise and donate money to resettle an entire village of families in Karemlesh, a town on the Nineveh Plain 18 miles outside Mosul. Most of the families are Chaldean or Syriac Christians, with some Shabak families, Walther said.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson announced the drive during his annual remarks on Tuesday at the 135th annual international convention of the Knights of Columbus. The group is an international Catholic men’s organization with over 1.9 million members in councils all over the world.

“Now we will ensure that hundreds of Christian families driven from their homes can return to these two locations and help to ensure a pluralistic future for Iraq,” Anderson said on Tuesday announcing the drive.  100 percent of the funds raised would go to help Christians rebuild their homes.

The Islamic State swept through large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, giving families of Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities an ultimatum – convert to Islam, die, or leave.

“When ISIS took the town, everybody fled,” Walther said, and militants began their campaign of cultural genocide: burning homes, desecrating parishes, destroying Christian symbols, and even digging up the body of a local priest to desecrate his grave.

“They wanted not just to erase the Christians from the town, they wanted to erase whatever was reminiscent of Christianity from the town as well,” Walther said.

Many Christians fled eastward to the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where around 70,000 Christians were living in and around the city of Erbil, dependent upon aid groups for their basic needs.

Since 2014, the Knights have already provided over $13 million in aid to Christians in Iraq and Syria who have suffered persecution, most notably at the hands of Islamic State.

The Knights also helped produce a report for the U.S. State Department, which requested it, detailing the violence and forced displacement inflicted upon Christians in Syria and Iraq. The report helped lead to the State Department declaring in March of 2016 that Islamic State was committing genocide against Christians, Yazidis, and Shia Muslims in Iraq and Syria.

The Islamic State has since been forced back from much of the territory it gained, including the Nineveh Plain and Mosul. “With the departure of ISIS as a meaningful military force, you have a lot of new opportunities, in terms of rebuilding and resettling, that you didn’t have six months ago, three months ago,” Walther said.

Now, however, many Christians have still not been able to return to their homes, which were vandalized, damaged, or destroyed by Islamic State militants. Their future is in question as they are currently living as displaced persons in Kurdistan. The situation is so bleak that local Church leaders are saying that if something is not done to remedy the problem, Christians could leave Iraq for good.

If that is the case, it would be an ideological victory for Islamic State, whose “program was the de-Christianization of Iraq, the total obliteration of any religious minorities,” Walther said.

Furthermore, with Christians gone, it could further destabilize Iraq by helping eliminate religious pluralism. “Christians are an enormous example of forgiveness, and they’ve been praised by imams in Iraq, by television commentators in Egypt, for this capacity of forgiveness,” Walther said.

And if the Christians have no more roots in the land where they have lived for centuries, a priceless cultural vestige could be gone as well.

The government of Hungary has already given $2 million to move around 1,000 families back to the town of Telskuf, Walther said, providing a working example that such a plan can be successful.

“We have a proof of concept, we know this can work, and we know that if it worked in Telskuf, there’s no reason that it wouldn’t work in a town also in Nineveh that is also predominately Christian that also has its population in Erbil,” he said.

The money would go to provide materials for Christians to repair their homes from the destruction that Islamic State inflicted. “The families are actually putting their own lives back together with a little bit of assistance,” Walther said. “The idea is to make these houses habitable.”

And although a goal of $2 million is lofty, it is entirely within reach if parishes and communities all over the world pitch in, Walther said.

“An individual can do this,” he said. “A prayer group can do this. 20 people put in $100, you can send somebody home. This is one of those things where people can do a concrete, tangible action that is a meaningful step in saving Christianity in the Middle East.”

“It’s a model that can allow Christianity to be transplanted back to where it was,” Walther said. “It’s an early step, but it’s an important step if Christianity is going to survive in Iraq.”

Donations to the project can be made at www.christiansatrisk.org or via phone at 1-800-694-5713. Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law, the Knights said.

Full Article

Santiago, Chile, Aug 4, 2017 / 04:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Late Wednesday, Chilean lawmakers approved legislation that would allow for abortions under certain circumstances, ending the country’s longstanding wholesale ban on the practice.

The new law would permit abortion in the cases of rape, endangerment of a mother’s life, or in cases when the fetus has a life-threatening birth defect. It would allow for objecting doctors to refuse to perform abortions, except in cases when the mother’s life is in danger and there are no other available physicians.

The legislation has drawn harsh criticism after a year's-long heated debate from many in the majority-Catholic country, including many of the country’s bishops who have expressed their dismay at the lifting of the ban.

Bishop Fernando Chomali of Concepción told CNA he “deeply regretted” that the law had thus far been approved, noting that it wouldn’t help women in need and that it goes against the country’s constitution.

"I deeply regret that the bill has been approved. It seems to me that it does not help women in difficult situations and opens the door to free abortion, as it has happened in many parts of the world," he said.

The new law will go into effect if Chile’s Constitutional Tribunal approves it in the coming days, which would end a blanket ban on the procedure that has been in place in the country for nearly 30 years.

However, it also needs to survive an appeal to the Constitutional Court which seeks to declare the abortion bill unconstitutional. The appeal was filed by 11 senators from Chile Vamos, a coalition opposed to the government of President Michelle Bachelet.

While abortion was allowed for in some circumstances in Chile starting in 1931, it was strictly outlawed in all circumstances by dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime in 1989, and punishable by up to five years in prison.

Bachelet has made relaxing abortion restrictions a priority of her administration, and celebrated the approval of the legislation on Twitter.

Bishop Chomali called on the Constitutional Court "to act with knowledge and conscience in the light of the Constitution of the country that protects the life of the unborn. I have great hope that those who compose it will think about the common good and the weakest," he told CNA.

Bishop Juan Ignacio González of San Bernardo said the law violates the truth of the human person, according to local newspaper El Mercurio.

"Democracy can not give up an essential core of ethical truth, which allows it to affirm the full validity of the rights of all members of the human race,” unless it embraces a “false pluralism or tolerance,” he said.

 

Giselle Vargas contributed to this report.

Full Article

Nairobi, Kenya, Aug 4, 2017 / 05:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With Kenya’s elections fast approaching, the country’s Catholic bishops are asking voters to choose wisely and encouraging all Kenyans to pray for peace.

“We are calling upon all Kenyans to seize this opportunity to exercise our constitutional right and give ourselves leaders of integrity,” Bishop Philip Anyolo of Homa Bay, chairman of the Kenyan bishops' conference, said on behalf of Kenya’s bishops July 28.

“We need to create a peaceful environment, to demonstrate our patriotism for our wonderful country, and ensure that all parts of Kenya are in peace,” he added.

The bishops’ letter ahead of the Aug. 8 elections takes its title from Jeremiah 29:7, “Seek Peace and Prosperity.” They called on all Kenyans to join in prayer for their country, and a novena for peaceful elections will take place July 30-Aug. 7.

“Peace, Peace, Peace,” the bishops repeated.

Voicing appreciation for the relatively peaceful manner of the political campaigns, the bishops urged candidates to continue to conduct themselves “with decorum and sobriety” in the interests of national unity.

Kenya’s 2007 elections resulted in nationwide ethnic violence that killed 1,300 people and displaced 700,000.

The bishops appealed to young people “to restrain themselves from violence and instead be the agents of peace.”

“We exhort them to uphold to the culture of peace and engage in activities of peace-building,” they said.

The bishops pledged to work closely with election observers, state agencies, and non-state actors involved in the election.

The bishops praised the achievements of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and encouraged it to secure just, fair, credible and peaceful elections.

The run-up to the election has been marred by the apparent torture and killing of Chris Msando, a systems development manager at the elections commission, the Catholic News Agency for Africa reports. He had been scheduled to test the technology involved in voting and tallying the election results on July 31. His body was found on the outskirts of Nairobi.

The killing was denounced as “barbaric” by the bishops.
“Life is sacred and only God who gives it freely should take it away when He so desires,” they said.

The bishops also addressed the media, calling them a “very crucial actor” in the electoral process, and encouraging the media to show continued professionalism and commitment to fulfilling its duties.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is seeking re-election.

In his 2013 race for the presidency, he and his deputy William Ruto had been indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity. His campaign prompted warnings from the U.S. and U.K. governments if he were elected, BBC News reports.

However, the warnings did not have much consequence. He mobilized many African leaders to pressure the international court. Both cases were dropped due to a lack of evidence, with the International Criminal Court saying prosecution witnesses were intimidated and the cases could resume.

Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s first president, has portrayed his 72-year-old opponent Raila Odinga as an agent of foreign governments who works to serve former colonial powers. He has also portrayed Odinga as an “analog generation” of politicians who must make way for the younger “digital generation.” His family owns a TV channel, a newspaper, and a number of radio stations, among many other business interests.

Odinga, a son of Kenya’s first vice-president, is making his fourth bid for the presidency. He has had different policies alliances in his career and is now running under the National Super Alliance, a coalition of Kenya’s main opposition groups. He aims to win drawing from his ethnic community, the Luo, as well as the Luhya, Kalenjin and Kamba groups.

Odinga studied to be a mechanical engineer in former East Germany, and was MP for Africa’s biggest slum, Kibera. He was imprisoned for attempting to stage a coup in 1982 against a one-party dictatorship. Though he initially denied the claim, he admitted his central role in a 2006 book. He was imprisoned from 1982-1988 and 1989-1991.

He has promised to serve only one term in office and has convinced many potential rivals to back his candidacy instead.

Full Article