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Johannesburg, South Africa, Oct 11, 2016 / 03:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Jesuit priest was shot in the face with rubber bullets by police in Johannesburg while trying to protect student protestors in a violent clash with authorities on Monday.

South African students have been protesting in recent weeks after the government proposed increasing university tuition by eight percent in 2017. They are now demanding free education.

Father Graham Pugin, a priest at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Braamfonein neighborhood near the University of the Witwatersrand, was trying to block police Oct. 10 from entering the church, where some students had taken refuge. Reportedly, his hands were up when he was shot at close range by police with rubber bullets.

Though there has not been an official report on his condition, a video shows Fr. Pugin, his mouth bloodied and dripping on his alb, walking with other students to receive care.

University students in South Africa have been protesting for four weeks over the proposed tuition rate hike. On Monday, students with the #FeesMustFall protestors lashed out after tough restrictions were placed on protests on campus.

The protests had begun peacefully, but students turned to disrupting classes and throwing stones and bottles at police and security guards. Protestors had also set a bus on fire.

“The students started throwing sizeable rocks that could have maimed or killed people. The police dispersed the crowd using stun grenades‚ teargas and water cannons. Some of the crowd remain outside the Great hall while others have since dispersed into Braamfontein‚” a University spokesperson told Times Live, a South African news agency.

According to a statement by Fr. David Rowan with the Ignatian Solidarity Network, Fr. Pugin was a facilitator, along with other clergy and former student leaders, in working towards an agreement among students, management, and other stakeholders at the University of the Witwatersrand.

The shooting of Fr. Pugin, who was working to create an atmosphere of trust, has “shocked and distressed many”, but the community is still hopeful that a peaceful solution can be achieved.

Fr. Rowan noted that the Jesuit community is grateful for the prayers and well-wishes on behalf of Fr. Pugin, as well as the support they have received from the Jesuit General Congregation currently meeting in Rome and Archbishop Peter Wells, apostolic nuncio to South Africa.

Fr. Rowan added that while the Jesuit community is in favor of working toward a peaceful agreement in the fees crisis, it is just the first step of addressing the problems that exist in South Africa's education system.

“We believe there needs to be a concerted effort, involving all sectors of society, to deal with the historical context and systemic problems which make higher education inaccessible and unaffordable for millions of poor South Africans,” he said.

“We appeal to all involved to pledge themselves to restore peace on and around our campuses.”

The South African bishops' conference released a statement following the shooting of Fr. Pugin, extending their “sincere sympathy and prayers for a speedy recovery” for the priest who was “offering refuge to frightened students.”

The bishops added that while they support the students’ right to demand a good and affordable education, they do not condone the violence and looting associated with the protests.

They also said they believe the best course forward is for students and educators to continue with the academic year while working out a compromise for the future.

“...the solution suggested by the students at the moment is beyond the financial and organizational capabilities of university authorities. However, it must remain on our agenda as the priority for the future,” the bishops wrote.

“What is to be done is for the government to ensure that this academic year is completed in peace. The government and students must now iron out their difficulties. A compromise must be considered as the huge financial demands of university free education cannot be found instantaneously.”

South Africa's government had proposed a similar tuition hike of 10-12 percent in 2015, but froze fees after similar protests.

The student protests are the country's largest since the 1994 end of apartheid. According to the BBC, protestors claim the rate hikes are discriminatory against black students, as the average income of black families is much less than that of white families in South Africa.

In a Sept. 27 statement, the South African bishops' conference had voiced hope that there would be found “a realistic plan of making it possible for the poor and working class families to have access to higher education after the year 2017” and that the private sector would “look into other ways of increasing their financial support to make education affordable to the poor and working class families.”

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New York City, N.Y., Oct 11, 2016 / 03:57 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Today is International Day of the Girl Child, declared by the United Nations as a day to raise awareness of programs and services that are needed to empower girls around the world, particularly in the areas of health, safety, education, and rights.

But millions of girls won’t experience this day, because their right to be born was never acknowledged.

That’s what Reggie Littlejohn, president of advocacy group Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said in her message about the International Day of the Girl Child.

An estimated 200 million girls in the countries of India and China, where male children are valued more than female children, have fallen victim to sex-selective abortions.

“The message of sex-selective abortion is that girls and women do not deserve to live. The selective elimination of 200 million women demands the passionate outrage of the women’s movement. It should be the number one priority of the international women’s movement,” Littlejohn said in a message marking the day.

Sex-selective abortions are not just limited to underdeveloped countries – it is a persistent problem around the world, including in the United States.

A study released by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, analyzed U.S. census data from 2000 and found that third births in families of foreign-born Chinese, Indians, and Koreans in the U.S. who already had two daughters displayed a ratio of 151 boys to 100 girls – an extreme male-biased ratio. The normal ratio for boys to girls is 103 to 106 per 100.

But the situation is especially dire in China, where families were asked to limit their offspring to just one child since 1980. Many families who desired male offspring to carry on the family name aborted female children in hopes of bearing a son.

The policy was only recently changed to a two-child policy in October 2015, but the perception that males are more valuable continues.

That’s why Women’s Rights Without Frontiers launched their “Save a Girl” Campaign in China, which rescued hundreds of baby girls from gendercide and spared their mothers from forced or coerced abortions.

The campaign offers struggling mothers a monthly stipend for a year to help with expenses as they care for their newborn girls.

In her message, Littlejohn described the story of Lian, a little girl who was saved through the campaign. Her mother, who lived in a rural village in China and was already helping with medical expenses for other family members, was told when she found out she was pregnant that it was not a good time for the family to have a baby. When she found out her baby was a girl, the pressure to abort increased.

Lian’s mother did not want an abortion, and reached out to Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, who sent a fieldworker to her home to help.

“(The fieldworker) told Lian’s mother that girls are just as precious as boys. She offered Lian’s mother a monthly stipend for a year to empower her to keep her daughter,” Littlejohn recalled.

“Lian’s mother gratefully accepted our offer of help. She gave birth to Lian, a beautiful and healthy baby girl, and she is delighted with her new daughter. Lian’s mother told our fieldworker that, without our help, she ‘would have no chance to see her daughter, who now makes her so happy.’”

On the International Day of the Girl Child, Littlejohn asks: “In honor of the International Day of the Girl Child, won’t you help us save more girls like Lian? So far, we have saved more than 200 girls, and yet there are millions more who are being aborted and abandoned just because they are girls. Each one of these girls is infinitely precious.”

Donations to the campaign can be made here.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers also works to help combat a host of issues that constitute violence against women, including forced abortion and sterilization, female suicide and sexual suicide.

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Denver, Colo., Oct 11, 2016 / 04:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Colorado ballot proposal to legalize assisted suicide relies too much on fear and anxiety and ignores the ways better hospice care can provide for the terminally ill, a local hospice leader has said.

“Hospice is the antidote to physician assisted suicide because it’s a highly specialized area of medicine that focuses on education, symptom management and compassionate support,” said Kevin Lundy, CEO at the Colorado-based Divine Mercy Supportive Care.

He warned that the promotion of assisted suicide ignores realities at the end of life.

“People are amazingly resilient and every terminal illness situation is completely different based on the individual responses to the disease and the treatment they're receiving,” Lundy said.

“People facing end of life can be inspiring, more honest than any time in their lives and completely selfless,” he added. “Their pain truly is manageable, but fear and anxieties have a tendency to impact ‘others’ who strive to alleviate all suffering for their loved ones.”

This year, Colorado voters will weigh the ballot proposal Proposition 106, known as the Colorado End-of-Life Options Act. It would allow an adult at least 18 years of age with a terminal illness to request a lethal prescription from his or her physician. The person must be deemed mentally competent and two physicians must diagnosis the person as having of six months or fewer to live. The measure also requires that such adults self-administer the drug, called secobarbital, which is also used for lethal injections in some states.

Lundy objected that the proposed law would require physicians “to lie on death certificates” and not recognize suicide as a cause of death. The law requires physicians to list a patient’s underlying condition, not suicide.

The ballot measure would have a broader impact, given trends in society and government, he predicted.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010, for instance, stops federal funding for individuals over age 80.

“When you begin to look at cost as a primary driver of care, then you find yourself operating in an environment where those without perceived value (by government or insurance companies, or others) are pressured into taking the cheaper way out,” Lundy commented.

He worried that legal assisted suicide could lead to a situation where hospices are forced to allow assisted suicide procedures or lose funding from government or private insurance. There could be legal action from patients who believe a refusal to provide assisted suicide violates their rights.

Lundy emphasized that Divine Mercy Care would never provide assisted suicide services, as it violates Catholic ethics and religion.

“Our hospice agency cares for individuals regardless of their financial abilities and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future,” he said.

Depression can be a problem for people with a terminal illness, especially where they suffer a lack of faith or support from a “loving” community or hospice program, Lundy reported.

“Sometimes people are suddenly aware they’re going to die and need time to process that reality. Other times, they are afraid of being alone or leaving their loved ones alone,” he said. “Because dying has become a taboo subject in our culture, depression accompanies fear, anxiety and uncertainty.”

According to Lundy, a “loving and faith-based approach” like that of Divine Mercy Care can help diminish these fears and anxieties. The hospice often witnesses depression “transition into joy, acceptance and a celebration of life.”

Education about hospice would better help people with terminal illnesses, Lundy said. Only about half of individuals eligible for hospice benefits under Medicare are aware of it, with minority communities in particular lacking knowledge.

“Many people still believe that hospice is simply too expensive or that they have to leave their homes to be cared for,” he said. “In fact, it’s all provided at no cost to the patient, or the patients’ family, and it is provided wherever the person resides.”

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Chris Keane, Reuters

By Dennis Sadowski

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic Charities agencies joined emergency response efforts in coastal communities in four Southeastern states as residents and parish staffers began returning to assess the damage Hurricane Matthew left behind.

Some evacuation orders remained in effect in South Carolina, where the storm came ashore Oct. 7, dumping up to 18 inches of rain in communities near Charleston. High water blocked some roads, preventing people from returning to their homes in South Carolina and North Carolina and others were prevented from leaving their homes as they awaited the delivery of food and water.

In Florida, churches sustained serious damage and the historic Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine in St. Augustine experienced flooding, preventing Mass from being celebrated indoors the weekend of Oct. 8-9.

One Catholic Charities official in North Carolina said that in discussions with some residents he learned that the damage and flooding caused by Matthew exceeded that of the powerful Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

Parishes and schools in the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, escaped the brunt of the storm. Trees were reported down on some parish properties, but no major damage was reported, said Barbara King, diocesan director of communication.

Some South Carolina communities in in Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties faced the possibility of flooding, even though the storm's initial fury bypassed them. Kelly Kaminski, a regional coordinator for Catholic Charities of Charleston, said Oct. 10 that authorities were keeping an eye on rivers that continued to rise from runoff from Matthew's torrential rains.

Many of the same people affected by the storm or worried about potential flooding continue to recover from the historical floods that swamped the state a year ago, she said.

"We're working with over 2,000 clients just on the flood stuff. Now in addition we have to handle everything from Hurricane Matthew," Kaminski told Catholic News Service.

Kaminski had no word on damage to churches and schools because evacuation orders in some communities remained in effect.

New flooding also was a concern in North Carolina, said Daniel Altenau, director of communication and disaster services for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Raleigh.

"The major concern right now is that rivers are increasingly rising. The flooding is not expected to peak in some areas until Friday (Oct. 14) and may not begin to subside until the 15th," he told CNS.

Catholic Charities planned to begin distributing food cards to families by Oct. 11 as people either returned home or could be reached by some of the 55 to 60 agency staff members working in the affected communities, Altenau said.

"Many of our own staff has been affected, which has limited the ability to be in the community," he explained.

Up and down the North Carolina coast, churches and schools sustained damaged. Altenau said he had reports from "at least a dozen parishes" reporting damage. "The major problem is roofing issues," he said. "But a lot, because of power being out, we aren't able to communicate with them. We expect more reports in the coming days as well."

Hurricane Matthew's worst punch missed much of the Florida coast. The most serious damage occurred in the Diocese of St. Augustine, where church properties were seriously damaged or flooded and homes were destroyed.

Kathleen Bagg, director of communications for the diocese, said downed trees littered the property of the Mission Nombre de Dios and the Shrine of Our Lady of Le Leche. A tree fell onto the roof of the Our Lady of Le Leche Chapel, she said, but did not cause damage to the interior of the structure.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, which was renovated in time for the 450th anniversary of the city and cathedral parish, sustained enough flooding to render it unusable for Masses Oct. 8 and 9, Bagg said. Mass was celebrated in the west courtyard outside the church, she said.

Another church, St. Anastasia on a barrier island across from the center of St. Augustine, is believed to have sustained serious damaged in the storm. Authorities were not allowing residents, many of whom belong to the parish, to return to St. Anastasia Island Oct. 10.

Bagg said that power remained out for much of the region, making it difficult to contact other parishes to determine how they fared.

King in Savannah said Catholic schools in the area were to remain closed until Oct. 17.

Catholic Charities of South Georgia was prepared to assist families and individuals who requested recovery help, she added.

In Miami, parishioners at Notre Dame d'Haiti Parish began collecting donations of food for the Caribbean nation, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Matthew. Parishioners prayed Oct. 7 for the estimated 300,000 Haitians affected by the storm.

The number of deaths reached 1,000 on Oct. 9, five days after the storm's 145-mile-an-hour winds and torrential rains slammed into the country, according to a tally by Reuters based on conversations with local officials.

However, Haiti's Civil Protection Agency reported that 336 people had died. The agency's accounting of casualties is lower because of a policy that requires emergency workers visit each village to confirm the number of deaths and injuries.

In the U.S., the death toll stood at 33 as of Oct. 11.

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Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.

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