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The Church Around the World

Contents - Dec 2014 - Buy a copy now Editorial: The Coming of Christ - Peter Westmore Family Synod: Synod reaffirms Church teaching on marriage and family - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World Dissent: New controversy erupts in Toowoomba - Peter Westmore Vocations: Young Men of God Retreat for 2014 another success - Br Barry Coldrey The Long View: Catholicism today and the lessons of history - John Young Economic justice: The Catholic Church explains sexual mores - with economics - Emma Green Cardinal Pell: Synod rebuts 'secular agenda' - Catholic News Service The after-life: Why pray for those who are no longer with us? - Audrey English Separation of church and state: the position outside Australia - Frank Mobbs Obituary: Fr Benedict Groeschel, aged 81, dies in New Jersey - Peter Westmore Letters: Toowoomba trouble - Tristan Ross Letters: Synod of Bishops - Arnold Jago Letters: Language - Frank O'Connor Letters: Last man standing! - Anne Lastman Books: IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE SPIRIT: Guide to the Sacraments in the Byzantine Church - Paul Simmons (reviewer) Books: AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC YOUTH MINISTRY, by C. Fini and C. Ryan (Eds) - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Support: 2014 Fighting Fund Progress Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light - Pope Francis

India's radical Hindus' threat to Christians

With the election of Narendra Modi of the Hindu "Bharatiya Janata Party" (BJP) as prime minister of India the country's secular constitution has come under threat, according to Father Ajay Kumar Singh, a human rights activist in Kandhamal District in the East Indian state of Odisha (formerly Orissa).

He warned of the growing influence of radical Hindu forces on the Indian subcontinent: "Especially under threat is the Christian minority because it is rejected by extremists as alien and because the Christian message is threat to the caste system."

According to Father Kumar Singh, who is associated with the "Odisha Forum for Social Action", the BJP aims to establish a state religion which excludes the lower castes and all minorities.

"They even want to impose only one language, Sanskrit, even though hundreds of languages are spoken in India." He added that the strength of the BJP and the movement it represents has become the strongest political force in India, taking many observers, including Church leaders and their flocks, by surprise.

"It is important for us to understand what is happening. As a Church we must think way beyond the bounds of the individual dioceses; we must act regionally and nationally in order to find responses to this challenge."

Since May 2014, there have been more than 600 attacks on Christians and other religious minorities, according to Jesuits in Social Action (JESA).

"The first 100 days of the new government [of Prime Minister Narendra Modi] have seen a crescendo of hate speeches against Muslims and Christians. Their identity is mocked, their citizenship questioned, their faith ridiculed."

Aid to the Church in Need

Cardinal Dolan: reaffirm marriage teaching

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, a participant in the Synod of Bishops, said in an interview that "we want to be as clear and as compelling as possible in reaffirming the Church's timeless teaching on marriage and family, without scaring people off, and without seeming to marginalise."

"So how can we, with those unable to live up to the Church's lofty, noble teaching on the marriage and the family ... How can we continue to affirm what God has taught and told us about marriage, without marginalising them? How can we do that in a way that would still invite them to reconsider what God has taught us? ...

"I think we take our cues from the Holy Father, from Pope Francis, who says, 'Look, what you are saying is that you are a sinner. Well, if you are a sinner, nice to meet you, because so am I. And why don't you come and join another group, a big group of sinners who are trying their best?' For conversion of heart, depending on God's grace and mercy, and slowly, gradually, trying to conform our lives to what Jesus and the Church have taught. It's an ongoing process, isn't it? None of us is completely there. We might make progress in one area, then we fall back. That's why we have the Sacrament of Penance, isn't it?'"

Zenit News Agency

African families face different problems

African prelates speaking at the Synod of Bishops reminded their colleagues that their primary concerns about pastoral care for families do not match those of bishops in affluent Western countries.

The Catholic faith is spreading rapidly in Africa and the faithful believe that after generations of learning from European missionaries, their communities now have something to teach the West. Some prelates have voiced their exasperation at Western attempts to change traditional African moral standards. Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, Nigeria, complained:

"We get international organisations, countries, and groups that entice us to deviate from our cultural practices and traditions and even our religious beliefs because they think that their views should be ours, their opinions and their concept of life, should be ours."

At the same time, African bishops face severe challenges in coping with the influence of pagan cultures and the deleterious effects of poverty on family life.

Catholic World News

Vatican calls on UN to help families

The Vatican's permanent representative to the UN, speaking to a session on follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development, reminded delegates that the UN has urged governments "to promote and strengthen the family as a vital element toward producing greater social and economic development."

Archbishop Bernardito Auza said that special efforts are necessary to care for families victimised by warfare, natural disaster, discrimination, or violence. Governments should make every effort to keep these families intact and reunite those that have been separated, he said.

Archbishop Ausa took strong exception to the efforts by UN bodies to "promote 'reproductive health rights' detrimental to the unborn human life and the integral needs of women themselves." He reminded the UN delegates that the international body has never endorsed a "right to abortion", and observed that in developing countries, women's most urgent need is for adequate health care.

Catholic World News

Pope Francis beatifies Paul VI

An estimated 70,000 people, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, were present on 19 October at the Mass to celebrate not only the closing of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, but also the life of Blessed Paul VI, who first established the Synod of Bishops as an institution of the Church designed to help the Pope with his magisterial office.

Referring to Paul VI as "the great helmsman of the Council", Pope Francis cited his words at the closing of its final session: "Perhaps the Lord has called me and preserved me for this service not because I am particularly fit for it, or so that I can govern and rescue the Church from her present difficulties, but so that I can suffer something for the Church, and in that way it will be clear that he, and no other, is her guide and saviour."

"In this humility," Pope Francis continued, "the grandeur of Blessed Paul VI shines forth: before the advent of a secularised and hostile society, he could hold fast, with farsightedness and wisdom – and at times alone – to the helm of the barque of Peter, while never losing his joy and his trust in the Lord."

Pope Francis also made mention of Bl. Paul VI's "profound Marian devotion". In particular, he noted the new blessed's proclamation of Mary as "Mother of the Church" at the "close of the third session of the Second Vatican Council."

Catholic News Agency

Religious persecution growing in China

The state of religious freedom in China is moving from bad to worse, said US Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), responding to a new report by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

"There's a huge gulf now" between China and the Catholic Church, Smith stated during an 9 October conference call with reporters. He acknowledged that "the underground church has been brutally persecuted in China, both Protestant and Catholic", but said that now even the state-recognised church is facing persecution.

"The Catholic and Protestant Churches are being targeted with church demolitions and other kinds of repression which we have not seen before. So there's a great deal of concern that religious freedom, as bad as it was, has further deteriorated in China."

Smith and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) co-hosted the teleconference, focusing on the latest annual report from the human rights monitoring group, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

Both lawmakers cited various ways that the Chinese government has infringed upon the freedom of its citizens, including gross violations of human rights and targeting churches.

Smith cited a statement from the report: "Chinese authorities continued to harass, detain, imprison, and interfere with the religious activities of members of both registered and unregistered Protestant communities who ran afoul of government or party policy."

It is very easy to "run afoul of government policy," Smith added, noting that simply meeting to talk about religion could be a violation.

The government reportedly prevented Catholics from joining Pope Francis in his visit to South Korea, and threatened Chinese Catholics already in South Korea against participating in the papal events.

Smith reflected on concerns stemming from a meeting he had with the atheist head of the government's religious freedom office. "They are so dismissive and disparaging of God and religion and religious expressions, it's no wonder that they are at a hair-trigger to do anything they want, and they do it with impunity to hurt religious expression," he stated.

EWTN News

Egyptian Christians now feel safer

While problems still exist, Christians in Egypt feel "much safer" under the presidency of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former military officer who played a key role in the coup that ousted Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013, according to Father Rafik Greiche, press officer for the Egyptian bishops' conference.

"The mood has improved considerably. The security situation is getting better. There is greater stability," he told Aid to the Church in Need on 21 October.

"Christians feel a lot safer. They are going to church without feeling threatened as they did under President Morsi ... In all, a more peaceful atmosphere is being created.

"The number of acts of aggression has fallen to a low level, a minimum," Fr Greiche explained. "Sometimes there are still interreligious tensions in some villages. It still happens that jihadists abduct Christian girls. But the situation has nevertheless improved considerably. The problems that exist are only a fraction of those that Christians experienced under Morsi."

Fr Greiche said that el-Sisi has received representatives from both the Orthodox and Catholics, as well as Protestants: "He told them that Christians have every right to have their churches and to pray."

El-Sisi's government is working with Christians "to prepare a law governing the construction of churches", the priest reported. "This is one of our most urgent problems here in Egypt – to date it has been very difficult to build a new church."

The drafted version of the law, Fr Greiche said, would allow such symbols as crucifixes to "be mounted visibly on the exterior" and would "also stipulate that the construction of new places of worship is no longer subject to the approval of state security authorities."

Aid to the Church in Need

English bishop promotes rosary his diocese

Since prayers through the Blessed Virgin Mary "never fail", Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth commemorated the month of the rosary by giving every parishioner in his diocese a free recording of the Marian prayer. "For we are now coming to the end of the month of October when, as in May, our hearts and minds customarily turn to the Woman but for whom we could not be here," Bishop Egan stated in a pastoral letter to his diocese, read at all its parishes on 26 October, remembering the Blessed Mother as "the perfect mother of God ... a model mother for us".

Calling the Mary a true Christian disciple, Bishop Egan noted how she "devoutly followed Jesus in His public ministry, pondering in her heart everything He said, supporting Him from the foot of the Cross, and after the Resurrection praying with the early Church for the coming of the Holy Spirit."

Bishop Egan went on to advise parishioners in the diocese to seek this intercession from Mary in the rosary, but added they should not stop there. Urging them to maintain a special devotion to the Blessed Mother, he suggested that they also answer to the call to evangelisation.

"I hope you will find the CD useful. But why not install a Marian statue or icon in your home? Or hang a rosary from the rear-view mirror in your car? Or carry in your pocket a rosary-chaplet, a witness at work or in an airport security line?

"Indeed, as you pray the rosary, pray especially that the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit may disturb the hearts of those with little or no faith, that all may come to know, serve and love Jesus Christ in the full communion of His Body, the Church."

The link to the Rosary recording is at www.portsmouthdiocese.org.uk/bishop/pastoral_letters/The_Blessed_Mother.php

Catholic News Agency

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 27 No 11 (December 2014 - January 2015), p. 4