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(Vatican Radio) The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a statement decrying President Trump’s orders to construct a wall at the US/Mexico border and to increase immigrant detention and deportation.

Actions, the statement says, that put immigrants’ lives needlessly in harm’s way, tear families apart and spark fear in communities. 

Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni:

Reacting to the US President’s executive orders to build the wall, Bishop Joe Vasquez, Chair of the Committee of Migration and Bishop of the Diocese of Austin, points out that its construction “will only make migrants, especially vulnerable women and children, more susceptible to traffickers and smugglers”.

“I will continue, Bishop Vasquez says, to follow the example of Pope Francis” looking to build bridges between people, “bridges that allow us to break down the walls of exclusion and exploitation”.

In regards to the announcement of the planned surge in immigrant detention and deportation forces, Bishop Vasquez said these “will tear families apart and spark fear and panic in communities”. 

Vasquez expresses his respect for the right of the government to control its borders and ensure security but, he says, he does not believe that “a large scale escalation of immigrant detention and intensive increased use of enforcement in immigrant communities is the way to achieve those goals”.

Reiterating the Bishops’ commitment to comprehensive, compassionate, and common-sense reform, Vasquez says: “we fear that the policies announced today will make it much more difficult for the vulnerable to access protection in our country”. 

Bishop Vasquez concludes the statement with the promise to continue to support and stand in solidarity with immigrant families. 

“We remind our communities and our nation that these families have intrinsic value as children of God. And to all those impacted by today’s decision, we are here to walk with you and accompany you on this journey.”Trump

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India on Thursday celebrated 68th Republic Day with patriotic fervour. On this day it marks  the anniversary of  its constitution coming into effect on Jan 26, 1950.

The annual celebration included floats from the various Indian states and its defense and police forces. These display a  rich culture and heritage of India.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was the chief guest of honour at this year's Republic Day parade. A contingent of soldiers from the United Arab Emirates joined Indian troops in the celebrations, attended by top Indian government and military officials as well as diplomats and thousands of people.

In his message the President Mukherjee hailed India's pluralism and diversity and said that the country has traditionally celebrated the argumentative" Indian; not the "intolerant" Indian. 

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The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) – Commission for Education and Religious Education is committed to ensuring peaceful co-existence among Kenyans especially in conflict-prone communities.

At the invitation of the Bishops, a peace education team from the United States of America has started training in the country to equip educators and pastoral ministers with skills on conflict resolution in schools, families and the community as a whole.

Speaking during the one-week training session at Donum Dei Spiritual Centre, the Peace Education Foundation President Lloyd Van Bylevelt said there is need to change the culture and the climate in Kenyan schools by teaching children how to resolve conflict, embrace diversity and help them understand that it is a positive thing to belong to different communities. The Foundation also wants to foster respect for one another and coexistence. When these values are taught in schools, it is possible to prevent negative behaviours amongst learners. It is the negative behaviours that tend to lead to violence in schools. Some of these negative behaviours include bullying and burning of school property. 

“Children need to learn to work cooperatively now in order to work cooperatively later as adults. When you build community in classrooms and teach children how to care and use self-control, you minimise the possibilities for violence and maximise the potential for learning.” He said

Bylevelt said the programme has worked well in over 20, 000 schools in the US, Canada and Latin America where it has been implemented. 

More than 50 pioneer participants from Kenya’s Malindi, Mombasa and Isiolo dioceses received capacity building training on conflict resolution and mediation in classrooms, schools, districts, family, parish and community.

By using the “Train the Trainer” method participants were equipped to return to their local communities and become educators and pastoral agents.

(Rose Achiego in Nairobi)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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Vatican City, Jan 26, 2017 / 06:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As Cardinal Roger Etchegaray leaves Rome to retire to France, his homeland, an era has closed.

He was a bishop without emblem or motto, but he was committed to peace and to the human person. Cardinal Etchegaray epitomizes all the characteristics of the modern Church. If there is something we deem to be new, it is possible he had done it already.

The news of Cardinal Etchegaray’s departure was spread by Angelo Scelzo, former deputy director of the Holy See Press Office and a good friend of the cardinal. Scelzo penned a Jan. 20 article on the Italian Bishops Conference’s newspaper Avvenire and reported that, before leaving, Cardinal Etchegaray was able to say goodbye both to Pope Francis and Pope emeritus Benedict.

Why was Cardinal Etchegaray so important for the life of the Church?

A smart French priest with a profound human touch, Cardinal Etchegaray was born in 1922 in the southwestern French town of Espelette, the first of three children. Ordained a priest in 1947, he was among the Second Vatican Council’s experts, called “periti,” and also Vicar for Catholic Action. He served as deputy and secretary general of the French Bishops’ Conference from 1961 to 1969. He was Archbishop of Marseille from 1970 to 1985 before entering the Roman Curia.

In Rome, he served as president of the Pontifical Councils for Justice and Peace from 1984 to 1998 and headed Cor Unum from 1984 to 1995. To some extent, by assuming both the posts of the Vatican dicasteries for charities and international works, Cardinal Etchegaray anticipated the current Curia reform that places them in the same sphere of responsibility.

But this just a minor observation in a whole life whose deeds marked an era of the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Etchegaray, 94, now leaves his house in Piazza San Calisto to return to Bayonne, in France, where he will live out his life with his sister in a retirement home

There are many reasons this retirement means the end of an era.

This is evident in his home, full of books, memories and history. And among the memories, there was a Nativity artwork displayed in the dining room. That Nativity was donated to him by Fidel Castro. If the Church can now have an impact on Cuba’s life and current developments, it is because Cardinal Etchegaray worked out the first steps there.

Cardinal Etchegaray went to Cuba for the first time in 1989. At the time, he was serving as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The trip was kept secret, as it presented many difficulties. For instance, state atheism was the official religion in Cuba until 1992.

In 1989 John Paul II sent Cardinal Etchegaray to Cuba to build bridges. It was Christmas time, and Cardinal Etchegaray could celebrate a Mass in a crowded Cathedral of Habana.

At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Etchegaray “posed a crowd-pleasing question: ‘What message shall I take to the Pope?’ ‘That he come! That he come! That he come!’ thousands of voices roared in unison. ‘I hear your message,’ replied Etchegaray, ‘I don’t know what he will say, but I am certain he will come’,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

That was the first of many trips to Cuba that eventually found fruition in the first, historic visit of a Pope in to the island in 1998.

Cardinal Etchegaray’s lifestyle shows his impact on the era.

As Pope Francis encourages a sober style of life, asks Christians to commit to the poor, preaches conversion and a flight from worldliness, it must be remembered that Cardinal Etchegaray, once he was ordained bishop in 1969, never wanted an emblem or a motto. When asked about that decision, he said that “having an emblem and a motto seems to me an inheritance of the medieval past.” He was among the very few who made such a symbolic decision.

Back in 1986, Cardinal Etchegaray was among the organizers of the first meeting of the world’s religions in Assisi, and he took part in all the other meetings. Although that first meeting was strongly criticized within the Curia, he was held in great esteem not just by the Pope, but by many Curia members.

In 1997, he was called to preach the Lenten Spiritual Exercises to the Curia. He presented a reflection focused on Jesus “True God and true man,” linked by a guiding line, a sentence of the French philosopher Blaise Pascal: “Outside of Jesus Christ, we do not know who God is, nor who we are.

The spirit of the cardinal’s life has always aimed to build bridges. He was sent as papal envoy to Iraq to attempt to avoid the Second Gulf War in 2002. He traveled through China four times (in 1980, 1993, 2000, and 2003) in order to try to better understand the situation of the Church of China and eventually improved relations with the country.

He was the man two Popes turned to in scenarios of crisis. At the same time, he was a good friend to Pope Paul VI, whom he described as “a very discreet, very reserved Pope, who became a wanderer Pope, the first Pope to take the plane, the first Pope to go to the Holy Land, the first Pope to go to the United Nations,” and who “had taught the truth of humanity to all men, and he went toward the poorest.”

Before leaving Rome, Cardinal Etchegaray was also able to say goodbye to the Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. To Benedict, he has a special link: on Christmas Eve 2009, Cardinal Etchegaray was seriously injured as a person unsuccessfully attacked Benedict XVI during the procession into Mass.

Now Cardinal Etchegaray is not leaving on a mission for the Church, but he returns home, to Bayonne, to live with his beloved sister Maite.

 

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Washington D.C., Jan 26, 2017 / 09:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A leading bishop expressed alarm and dismay on Wednesday following President Trump’s executive orders to increase immigrant detention centers and build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Every day, my brother bishops and I witness the harmful effects of immigrant detention in our ministries. We experience the pain of severed families that struggle to maintain a semblance of normal family life. We see traumatized children in our schools and in our churches,” said Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, Texas, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration.

“The policies announced today will only further upend immigrant families.”

President Trump issued multiple executive orders Wednesday on immigration.

He ordered a wall to be built on the U.S.-Mexico border. An estimated 650 miles of the 1,900 mile-long U.S.-Mexico border have a wall constructed currently.

“The purpose of this order is to direct executive departments and agencies to deploy all lawful means to secure the Nation's southern border, to prevent further illegal immigration into the United States, and to repatriate illegal aliens swiftly, consistently, and humanely,” he said.

Saying that he is disheartened by Trump’s decision to prioritize the wall, Bishop Vasquez added that it will “put immigrant lives needlessly in harm’s way,” could increase the risk of women and child migrants being trafficked, and “destabilizes the many vibrant and beautifully interconnected communities that live peacefully along the border.”

Trump also ordered the construction of more immigrant detention facilities staffed with more lawyers and personnel to determine asylum claims, and said deportations and asylum hearings should be expedited.

The bishops have already spoken out about abuses of immigrants at detention centers, and Bishop Vasquez expressed “alarm” at Trump’s proposals to build more detention centers and step up deportations.

“It will tear families apart and spark fear and panic in communities,” he said.

“While we respect the right of the federal government to control our borders and ensure security for all Americans, we do not believe that a large scale escalation of immigrant detention and intensive increased use of enforcement in immigrant communities is the way to achieve those goals.”

President Obama had previously set records for the number of deportations during his presidency, with over 2.5 million deportations of immigrants.

On Wednesday, Trump also called for “sanctuary cities” that harbor undocumented immigrants to be barred from federal funding.

“Aliens who illegally enter the United States without inspection or admission present a significant threat to national security and public safety,” he stated.

“The recent surge of illegal immigration at the southern border with Mexico has placed a significant strain on Federal resources and overwhelmed agencies charged with border security and immigration enforcement, as well as the local communities into which many of the aliens are placed.”

Responding to the announcement, Bishop Vasquez said, “We fear that the policies announced today will make it much more difficult for the vulnerable to access protection in our country.”

“We will continue to support and stand in solidarity with immigrant families,” he continued. “We remind our communities and our nation that these families have intrinsic value as children of God.”

 

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By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With "post-truth" being crowned "Word of the Year" by Oxford Dictionaries, Pope Francis' urgent call to communicate trust and hope could not have come at a better time.

Helping people see the world with "realism and trust" must be encouraged as well as fostering encounter, not exclusion, through constructive dialogue, the pope said in his World Communications Day message this year.

A post-truth culture in which objective facts and objective, divinely inspired moral principles no longer have any place or pull in people's lives is not to be taken lightly, said Bishop Paul Tighe, adjunct secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

"One of the real risks at the moment is that if we become totally skeptical about all the (sources) of information, it will lead to a breakdown of the kind of trust that is necessary for society and indeed our own human lives to flourish," he told Catholic News Service Jan. 24, the day the pope's message was released to the public.

People need "good, reliable, trustworthy information" if they are going to make "responsible and dependable decisions in areas of politics, economics, health care" and other key concerns, he said.

The presence and primacy of truth and the dangers of relativism were a major hallmark of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate. He spoke of its impact on the media in his World Communications' Day message in 2008 and even in his encyclical "Charity in Truth" in 2009. In his 2008 message, he called for a code of ethics for the communication industry.

It is "absurd to maintain that (mass media) are neutral," he wrote in 2009, noting media are often under pressure to serve "economic interests intent on dominating the market" and to "impose cultural models that serve ideological and political agendas."

Pope Benedict drilled down on the dangers foreseen by his predecessors, particularly St. John Paul II and Blessed Paul VI, who established the World Communications Day tradition in 1967.

While early papal messages dedicated to television, video and audio cassettes and cinema may seem antiquated, all 51 messages have the same underlying purpose: to bring attention to the potential dangers and damage caused by swift technological changes in media communications and to best ways the new tools can promote truth, hope, joy and human life and dignity.

Blessed Paul summed up the importance of truth in his communications message in 1972 -- just a few months before the Watergate scandal began, leading to discoveries of government abuses of power and the 1974 resignation of then-President Richard M. Nixon.

"The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" can be "safely transmitted" when the one providing the information and the one receiving it are both diligent and sincere, Blessed Paul said.

In this early communications' day message, Blessed Paul, in essence, answers Pope Benedict's wish for an info-ethics guide by saying:

-- Giving information is much more than observing and reporting an incident. The reporter describes the context, searches for the causes, examines the surrounding circumstances, and tries to assess the possible effects.

-- Reporting work can be compared to scientific research, since it demands observing the facts carefully, checking for accuracy, critically evaluating the sources of the information, and finally, passing on the findings in a way that "nothing essential is overlooked or suppressed."

-- Similar respect for and diligence in seeking the truth is necessary for those receiving information.

-- People should pursue the search for truth "actively and responsibly" in order to avoid a "passive and uncritical acceptance of whatever happens to be offered" by the media.

-- It would be an affront to one's own personal dignity if people, especially Christians, ever relinquished their right to contribute to the search for truth, which is "not only of abstract and philosophical truth, but also of the workaday truth of concrete daily happenings."

-- Let people "meet the assault of the mass media" with an awareness of their own human dignity, intelligence, and gift of "an independent personal judgment with the capacity to make its own decisions" and freely choose from the many opinions.

-- Religion coverage demands understanding events beyond "merely human implications," but also the spiritual context, the "religious truth of particular happenings" and the "whole divine plan to which they must be related."

-- Reporting on religion "requires something beyond mere professional competence. It requires the illumination of faith" in order to offer fuller understanding.

-- Fiction and entertainment provide relaxation but "it surely would be an unhealthy thing if the listener, or reader, or viewer, were to allow his critical faculty to be lulled to sleep. The truth remains a vitally important thing even in a recreational context, and he must remain sufficiently alert to recognize any deviation from the truth in what he reads, hears or sees."

-- Artistic freedom and fanciful creations are not expected to "portray concrete reality," but they must not deny reality. "Even they have an obligation of fidelity to the truth and to the values inseparable from it."

-- True art helps people search for and stick to the truth, and never exploits -- "for quick profits or other unworthy ends -- either the ignorance or the human weaknesses of audiences."

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