Catholic News 2

Full Article

Rome, Italy, Sep 2, 2016 / 01:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As the situation in Yemen continues to worsen, Bishop Paul Hinder on Friday requested prayers for priests, for the Missionaries of Charity, and for kidnapped priest Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, whose situation is uncertain.

“I do not know how we can continue in the present situation,” said a visibly moved Bishop Hinder. “And pray for Fr. Tom, if he's dead or not. We don't know.”  

The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia spoke briefly Sept. 2 at the end of a symposium on Mother Teresa, foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, who will be canonized Sunday. The event was hosted by Asia News in Rome. Not originally scheduled to speak, the bishop apologized that his remarks were unprepared, as he had just left his office in Abu Dhabi that morning.

“I suffer due to the situation that has arisen in Yemen, where 7 million people die of hunger; there is security for no one, it's not a question of being Christians or Muslims,” he said. “The insecurity is general in the entire country, caused by the civil war.”  

The bishop offered an update on Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, an Indian national who was abducted March 4 when four gunmen attacked a Missionaries of Charity-run retirement home in Aden, the provincial capital of Yemen, killing 16 people, including four Missionary of Charity sisters.

It remains unclear who was behind the kidnapping. The plight of Fr. Tom garnered significant international attention when rumors arose that he was to be crucified on Good Friday. However, these rumors were later discredited.  

While reports earlier this year indicated that Fr. Tom was safe and perhaps close to release, Bishop Hinder cautioned that the priest’s condition remains unknown.

As the situation in Yemen worsens, they are having difficulty bringing any priests and sisters into the country, the bishop noted, asking for prayers for that intention, explaining that several sisters and their patients had recently been removed from Yemen “for weeks or maybe months,” and asked for prayers for the remaining sisters and for priests still waiting to go there but delayed by problems in acquiring visas.

“The community located in Ta'izz had to leave their house, because they found themselves in the middle of two sides of the war and had to move to Sanaa. We are waiting to be able to send them back, but in this moment it is not possible,” said the bishop.

“We find ourselves in a situation in which the sisters have lived for months without the Eucharist,” he lamented. “And I can imagine the pain that creates for them, if you know Mother Teresa, who will soon be a saint.”

Bishop Hinder talked about the bravery of the Missionaries of Charity, even following the martyrdom of four of their sisters. “Some days after the sisters were killed, March 4, I met the only survivor,” he said. “The first thing she said to me is: 'I want to return, as soon as possible and as soon as I have permission.'”

“Imagine this zeal in this situation of martyrdom. It…has entered the Congregation from their foundress,” he shared. “My predecessor has met many times with the Mother Superior in Sanaa, and he said: 'Thanks to you we have priests here with us.'”

The Missionaries of Charity sponsor the visas for the priests in Sanaa and Tais. “I have always admired them: when I went to them in my visits, their spirit of simplicity and joy...I always saw the sisters smiling. My predecessor said: 'But how do they do it in this situation?'”

The civil war in Yemen began in March 2015. That month Houthi rebels, who are Shia Muslims, took over portions of Yemen seeking to oust its Sunni-led government.

Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen's north, has led a coalition backing the government. Both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have set up strongholds in the country amid the power vacuum.

The civil war has killed more than 6,000 people, according to the United Nations.

“I invite you to pray for the priests and that others can unite to them. The mission in the state of war, despite the difficulty, must continue,” Bishop Hinder said.

“Fr. Tom was abducted: he had returned to Yemen, asking me and the provincial for permission. I told him: 'If you want, I will help you enter my country.' Certainly today it's painful to think about,” he said.

“But I am still convinced it was right. In war you can never predict what happens.”

 

Full Article

Indianapolis, Ind., Sep 2, 2016 / 04:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An Indiana woman who allegedly beat her 7-year-old with a coat hanger is citing religious freedom as her defense against felony abuse charges, saying her disciplinary tactics were inspired by her Evangelical Christian faith.

But Kellie Fiedorek, who serves as legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, rejected the idea that religious liberty can be used to defend abuse. The U.S. has provisions built into federal law to protect against such misuses of religious freedom claims, she said.

The alleged abuse occurred in February, when Thaing hit her son with a plastic coat hanger hard enough to leave multiple bruises. Two days later, a teacher discovered and reported the abuse when she tried to pat the little boy on the back and he flinched. Doctors counted 36 bruises on the boy, according to reports from the Indy Star.

The woman, 30-year-old Kin Park Thaing, is a refugee from Burma (now known as Myanmar) who was granted political asylum in the U.S. In court documents, she quoted Scripture and cited cultural differences as part of her defense.

Thaing quoted verses from Proverbs in her defense, saying that a parent who “spares the rod, spoils the child” and: “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.”

Fiedorek told CNA that this is not the first time someone has tried to use religious freedom as a defense for child abuse or domestic abuse.

“First of all child abuse and domestic abuse are crimes, and those who engage in that kind of behavior will be prosecuted,” she said.

“And religious freedom laws have never been successfully used as this woman is attempting; they’ve never been successfully used in justifying child abuse or domestic abuse,” she added.

According to the Indy Star, Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Matt Savage said in an eight-page rebuttal that the beating “(goes) beyond these religious instructions she cites from the Bible.”

The other part of Thaing’s defense has to do with a 2008 decision in the Indiana Supreme Court, which determined that parents are protected in some cases of “reasonable corporal punishment.”

Thaing may be protected because her disciplinary measures, while considered extreme in the United States, would be considered reasonable in Burma.

However, the religious freedom defense is likely to fail, Savage wrote.

U.S. legal tradition has broad allowances for religious liberty, a principle that is enshrined in the First Amendment alongside freedom of speech, press, assembly and petition. But there are limits.

Like many other states and the federal government, Indiana has a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law in 2015 by now-Republican vice president nominee Mike Pence. The law says that the government cannot “substantially burden” a person’s religious liberty unless it can prove that it is furthering a compelling state interest and using the least restrictive means of doing so.

James Dwyer, a law professor at William and Mary who studies child welfare and the First Amendment, told The Atlantic that in this case, it is unlikely that Thaing can prove a substantial burden on her religious freedom and that even if she does, the government still has a strong compelling interest in protecting the child.

In the case of child abuse, Fiedorek agreed, the government clearly has a compelling interest in protecting the safety of children.

Religious freedom laws like the one in Indiana are about balance, she added.

At the time it was passed, the Indiana Religious Freedom Act sparked controversy, with some people concerned that it allowed too much license based on religious liberty.

But Fiedorek maintained that despite the criticisms, religious freedom laws do not guarantee a free pass to anyone, they simply allow people to receive a fair hearing in court.  

“The reality is that a religious freedom act is not a guaranteed win,” she added. “You can do a defense, you have your day in court, but the judge ultimately decides whether or not the government has a compelling interest to use the least restrictive means to justify burdening that person’s religious beliefs.”

“It’s checks and balances. Religious freedom acts do not pick winners or losers.”

 

Full Article

Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 2, 2016 / 05:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Venezuela’s government is suffering from a “chronic” hearing disorder in face of the suffering of the people, charged Archbishop Diego Padrón Sánchez of Cumaná, president of the Venezuelan bishops' conference.

He emphasized the peaceful and democratic character of the “Taking of Caracas” demonstration in the Venezuelan capital, which brought together as many as 1 million citizens who support a referendum to recall President Nicolás Maduro.

Allí está la fuerza del cambio!Allí está un Pueblo que tiene claro su camino:REVOCATORIO!Viva Venezuela! pic.twitter.com/HIG9iVCHPE

— Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) September 1, 2016 From the early hours of Sept. 1, opponents and sympathizers of Maduro’s government took to the streets. However, the government’s critics vastly outnumbered government supporters, according to organizers.

Archbishop Padrón said, “what the people have done, both the opposition and government supporters, was a free, democratic, constitutional and peaceful expression of the awareness of their civil rights.”

“We have been praying for a long time in the various parishes with days of prayer and fasting so that the conduct of the Sept. 1 demonstrations and the development of the activities in support of Venezuelan democracy would take place in the greatest climate of respect and peacefulness,” he said in a statement from the bishops’ conference press office.

The archbishop charged that the government “carried out violence with the various persecutions conducted against different opposition leaders.”

“The government's hearing disorder has become chronic in the face of the people’s suffering, shortages, food shortages, the high cost of living and lack of public safety,” he complained.

Archbishop Padrón also criticized the government for restricting transit throughout the country in an attempt to prevent the success of the “Taking of Caracas” protests.

“The government has made a serious mistake in opposing the will of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,” the Venezuelan archbishop said.

The archbishop said that although he has “a lot of respect for the march or demonstration by the government,” objectively there is no comparison with that of the opponents, since “any citizen can notice the enormous difference in the turnout, the opposition majority versus the low participation by government supporters.”

“There is a clear message to the government, and so the recall referendum by the Venezuelan people is already underway,” he said.

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The inexplicable recovery from a severe brain infection -- attributed to the intercession of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata -- is a sign that God's mercy is for everyone, said the Brazilian man who was healed.

"Merciful God looks over all of us, without distinction. Today it was me, perhaps tomorrow it will be someone else. I don't feel special. Merciful God watches over everyone," Marcilio Haddad Andrino told reporters at a Vatican news conference Sept. 2.

Andrino's reported cure was the miracle that cleared the way for Mother Teresa's canonization Sept. 4, which is the day before the 19th anniversary of her death.

Through a translator, Andrino told reporters that he started experiencing severe head pain, convulsions and fainting spells in 2006.

At first doctors did not know what was wrong, he said, but he, his fiancee -- Fernanda Nascimento Rocha -- their families and parish began praying for the intercession of Mother Teresa, Andrino said.

His condition worsened considerably in 2008, he said, and a new doctor finally diagnosed him with having several large abscesses on his brain. The infection and huge buildup of fluid was causing the convulsions, severe head pain and paralysis in his body, he said.

Andrino said that on Sept. 5 -- the anniversary of Mother Teresa's death -- Rocha received a relic of Mother Teresa from her parish priest, who told her to "pray to Mother Teresa because she will intercede for you."

Rocha said she would place the relic on Andrino's head where the abscesses were, recite the prayer of Mother Teresa's beatification, and pray fervently to God, particularly the Our Father, stressing the words "Thy will be done."

In December 2008, a few months after Andrino and Rocha married, he ended up in the hospital after experiencing excruciating head pain. He said he begged his wife to pray for him, and doctors decided to operate immediately.

Rocha said, "I asked Mother Teresa to heal Marcilio if this was God's will. But if not, take his hand and have him return to the house of the Father without suffering."

Andrino said he lost consciousness again and woke up in the operating room feeling a great sense of inner peace. Asking the doctors, "What's going on?" he told them his head didn't hurt anymore and that he felt fine. The medics then decided to delay the operation until the next day since the pain had subsided.

When the hospital staff ran tests, they found there was a 70 percent reduction in the amount of fluid pressing on his brain, he said.

The doctors did not operate, he said, and three days later more tests showed that all of the abscesses -- the infection and fluid -- had completely disappeared; not even scar tissue remained. He left the hospital just a few weeks later and, six months later, started work again "without any problems," said Andrino, an engineer.

Doctors had told Andrino that because of all the medications and antibiotics he took over the years, the possibility that he and his new wife could conceive a child was very poor. However, he said, just one month later, Rocha was pregnant. And in 2012, their second child was born.

He said he saw the births of their two children as "an extension of that miracle" in 2008.

Rocha said their experience has led to a greater faith in God and their family has a very strong prayer life.

Canadian Father Brian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity said that even though the reported cure occurred in 2008, "I didn't hear about it until 2013."

Father Kolodiejchuk, who is postulator of Blessed Teresa's sainthood cause, said the process for her beatification and canonization followed its typical course with no short cuts or special intervention by Pope Francis.

He said the only time Pope Francis ever met Mother Teresa was during a synod in Rome they both attended in 1994.

The pope observed her during the meeting, Father Kolodiejchuk said, and noted her "strength and fortitude."

He repeated a comment Pope Francis had made to an Albanian priest during his 2014 visit to Tirana, saying the pope saw she was a woman who wasn't intimidated by the bishops, was decisive and said what she wanted to say in her interventions.

As a way to underline her tenacity, the pope also joked "that he wouldn't want to have had her as his superior," Father Kolodiejchuk said. "Mother had the capacity to be both very firm and loving at the same time."

- - -

Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article