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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Islamic State group will probably continue to be a threat to the U.S. even after it is ousted from key strongholds in Iraq and Syria, President Barack Obama said Thursday, warning that lone-wolf believers will still be inspired to launch attacks that are harder to detect and prevent....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most young Americans say the Republican and Democratic parties don't represent them, a critical data point after a year of ferocious presidential primaries that forced partisans on both sides to confront what - and whom - they stand for....
The Nigerian men's soccer team didn't show any fatigue from a last-minute trip that brought the players to Brazil just hours before their Rio Olympics opener, beating Japan 5-4 Thursday night....
BELMOPAN, Belize (AP) -- Tropical Storm Earl pushed over Mexico's southern Gulf coast early Friday after drenching Belize and northern Guatemala....
Washington D.C., Aug 4, 2016 / 03:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With the number of displaced persons at its highest ever recorded – more than after World War II – troubling stories have surfaced of the U.S. disobeying its own protocol in detaining or removing asylum-seekers.“We are facing a crisis at the border,” Kristina Arriaga, a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), told CNA.“But as a result of DHS’ flawed policies,” she said, asylum-seekers “are being returned to their country of origin without the United States assessing whether these are credible fears.”The commission published a new report, examining “Barriers to Protection: the treatment of asylum-seekers in expedited removal.”“Those seeking refuge from persecution deserve to be treated with dignity and should not be confined in prison-like conditions simply for seeking freedom and protection in the United States,” F...
Washington D.C., Aug 4, 2016 / 03:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With the number of displaced persons at its highest ever recorded – more than after World War II – troubling stories have surfaced of the U.S. disobeying its own protocol in detaining or removing asylum-seekers.
“We are facing a crisis at the border,” Kristina Arriaga, a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), told CNA.
“But as a result of DHS’ flawed policies,” she said, asylum-seekers “are being returned to their country of origin without the United States assessing whether these are credible fears.”
The commission published a new report, examining “Barriers to Protection: the treatment of asylum-seekers in expedited removal.”
“Those seeking refuge from persecution deserve to be treated with dignity and should not be confined in prison-like conditions simply for seeking freedom and protection in the United States,” Fr. Thomas J. Reese, S.J., chair of the commission, stated on the release of the report.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is a bipartisan panel created by Congress in 1998 to promote religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy, advise the State Department, and document global human rights abuses.
In 2005, the commission issued its initial “Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal,” reviewing the entire process under the Department of Homeland Security by which persons who enter the U.S. without identification either establish a claim of asylum or are quickly deported to their country of origin.
The report found “serious flaws” in the whole process. To obtain asylum, someone who enters the U.S. must “establish a credible fear of persecution or torture” if they will be returned to their home country.
However, the commission’s 2005 report found that, in many cases, the interview to determine asylum was not followed according to protocol. Some people who were eligible for entry into the U.S. were sent home. Others were put in detention centers with poor conditions.
Systemic problems found in 2005 persist today, the current report says. According to “field research” and “public information” reviewed between 2012 and 2015, the commission found cases of abuse within the system that undermined the asylum process, and “most of USCIRF’s 2005 recommendations had not been implemented.”
Interviews of asylum-seekers by Customs and Border Protection agents were problematic, the report found. The asylum process is a delicate one. Someone fleeing violence and coming to another country where they are unfamiliar with the laws and language may not easily be able to establish a “credible fear” if they are sent back to their country of origin.
In one case in the report, an asylum-seeker said that in an interview to establish “credible fear,” they were not even asked if they were afraid to return home. The agent still wrote down that they were not afraid to be sent back home.
That same asylum-seeker “also said he had a letter from a helpful police officer in El Salvador saying he had been threatened by gang members, which he said the agent told him he would have to present to the asylum officer but then took and kept,” the report added.
In another case, “a Bangladeshi asylum seeker told USCIRF he was turned away at a port of entry and told to seek asylum in Mexico.”
Chinese asylum-seekers were met with skepticism by Border Patrol agents “because they could not name the church they attended,” the commission noted. “The official did not know that many Chinese Christians worship at home.”
One woman told Border Patrol that she was indeed afraid to return to Guatemala and was not coming to the U.S. to find work. However, her case read the opposite – she had come looking for work and was not afraid to be sent back home.
“Asylum officers reported to USCIRF that this was a common occurrence,” the report added. “They also said that they were seeing many forms with identical answers, and others with clearly erroneous ones.”
“Border Patrol personnel oftentimes are truly, truly doing the best they can,” Arriaga told CNA. “They just don’t have the equipment, the tools, or the training to do this properly.”
Even if asylum-seekers were deemed by officials to have a “credible fear” of returning home, they were often placed in detention centers until a federal immigration court decided their case.
“USCIRF found that asylum seekers continue to be detained under inappropriate penal conditions before their credible fear interviews, and in some cases, even after being found to have a credible fear,” the report said.
The conditions of the detention centers resembled that of prisons, it added. There is no privacy for men, women, and children there, Arriaga said, and “most importantly” there is no “access to legal assistance.”
“We see children suffering depression, tremendous anxiety,” she continued, and all this could be avoided if the Department of Homeland Security began putting into practice the commission’s 2005 recommendations, as well as its own 2009 policies. “These people would not be held for such a lengthy amount of time,” she said.
“How we treat people who come to our borders says a lot about who we are as Americans,” Arriaga continued.
“No one is arguing let everyone in without screening. We owe them, simply out of human dignity, the possibility of making their case at the border. And that is not being given to the people that come to the border.”
By Michael SwanTORONTO (CNS) -- Cardinal MarcOuellet, whose writings were once strongly identified with resistance to anychange to the ban on Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics,has given a ringing endorsement to "Amoris Laetitia," the apostolicexhortation by Pope Francis that sums up two synods on the family."In all honesty, I thinkthat controversies around 'Amoris Laetitia' are understandable," Cardinal Ouellet,head of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, told about 2,000 Knights ofColumbus gathered in Toronto for their annual convention.But Cardinal Oullet said ratherthan demand clarifications, his audience -- which included dozens of bishops -- should reread the 250-page documentwith its 400 footnotes."It is a document worthreading and re-reading slowly," he said. "Especially Chapter 4 onlove."As the 2015 Synod of Bishops onthe family approached, Cardinal Ouellet re-published and updated his 2007 book,"Mystery and Sacrament of Love: A Theology of Marriage a...
By Michael Swan
TORONTO (CNS) -- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, whose writings were once strongly identified with resistance to any change to the ban on Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, has given a ringing endorsement to "Amoris Laetitia," the apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis that sums up two synods on the family.
"In all honesty, I think that controversies around 'Amoris Laetitia' are understandable," Cardinal Ouellet, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, told about 2,000 Knights of Columbus gathered in Toronto for their annual convention.
But Cardinal Oullet said rather than demand clarifications, his audience -- which included dozens of bishops -- should reread the 250-page document with its 400 footnotes.
"It is a document worth reading and re-reading slowly," he said. "Especially Chapter 4 on love."
As the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the family approached, Cardinal Ouellet re-published and updated his 2007 book, "Mystery and Sacrament of Love: A Theology of Marriage and the Family for the New Evangelization." The book was a frequent touchstone for those arguing against any change in church discipline, which regards divorced and remarried Catholics who did not receive an annulment as living in sin with their current spouses.
But in his Aug. 2 speech to the Knights of Columbus, Cardinal Ouellet emphasized that Pope Francis had not touched Catholic teaching regarding divorce and the indissolubility of marriage.
"What is proposed is a new pastoral approach," said the cardinal, in charge of vetting and appointing bishops around the world. "More patient and respectful, more dialogical."
"Amoris Laetitia" opened the way for remarried Catholics and their pastors to engage in "a responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases, one which would recognize that, since 'the degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases,' the consequences or effects of a rule need not necessarily always be the same."
This idea of discernment before applying a blanket rule, and the possibility that different bishops in different parts of the world may come to different conclusions, has moved an anonymous group of 45 theologians to write a letter to the College of Cardinals demanding they "respond to the dangers to Catholic faith and morals" they perceive in "Amoris Laetitia."
Cardinal Ouellet's response was to raise the possibility that such a process of pastoral discernment might be good for everybody, not just the divorced and remarried.
"I am confident this process of discernment will bear fruit for all Christian families," he said.
In a speech full of praise for Pope Francis' humility and life of prayer, Cardinal Ouellet said he was grateful for "Amoris Laetitia." He also praised the pope's Jesuit practice of twice daily examinations of conscience and his outreach to the poor and marginal -- especially to prisoners.
"The Holy Father is aware of his own wounds, mistakes and sins," said Cardinal Ouellet. "He approaches those in need who are in jail not from on high, demanding respect, but asking for forgiveness."
Pope Francis' life of prayer brings him closer to the Holy Spirit, the cardinal said.
"Our own Pope Francis is also unpredictable, like the Holy Spirit," he added.
Cardinal Ouellet urged the Knights of Columbus to engage in dialogue that is "delicate and respectful, cognizant of our own mistakes." He also praised the Knights for their record of service and charity.
"This aspect of charity is emphasized by the Apostles and Pope Francis," he said. "Our Holy Father shows us that charity goes beyond being for people. We must also be with people, which also will transform us."
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Swan is associate editor of The Catholic Register, Toronto-based Canadian Catholic weekly.
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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.
IMAGE: CNS/Greg TarczynskiBy Rhina GuidosWASHINGTON (CNS) -- To help before tragedy occurs, aWashington-based priest and psychologist is conducting a free webinar at theend of August to prepare priests, religious and other church members to deal withthe trauma that follows a natural disaster, an act of terrorism or any otherlarge-scale tragedy that they and the communities they serve might face."Just because you're a priest or a (religious) sister or abrother does not mean you have the training to deal with these large-scaledisasters," said Msgr. Stephen Rossetti. He's conducting the free Aug. 31 onlinewebinar "Shepherding in Tragic Times: Caring for Self and Others in Trauma" viaSt. Luke Institute in Maryland.Msgr. Rossetti, a licensed psychologist, first dealt withlarge-scale tragedies after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005 and hewas dispatched to help priests in Biloxi, Mississippi.Since then, Msgr. Rossetti, past president of St. Luke Institute,has seen a way to app...
IMAGE: CNS/Greg Tarczynski
By Rhina Guidos
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- To help before tragedy occurs, a Washington-based priest and psychologist is conducting a free webinar at the end of August to prepare priests, religious and other church members to deal with the trauma that follows a natural disaster, an act of terrorism or any other large-scale tragedy that they and the communities they serve might face.
"Just because you're a priest or a (religious) sister or a brother does not mean you have the training to deal with these large-scale disasters," said Msgr. Stephen Rossetti. He's conducting the free Aug. 31 online webinar "Shepherding in Tragic Times: Caring for Self and Others in Trauma" via St. Luke Institute in Maryland.
Msgr. Rossetti, a licensed psychologist, first dealt with large-scale tragedies after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005 and he was dispatched to help priests in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Since then, Msgr. Rossetti, past president of St. Luke Institute, has seen a way to apply lessons he learned in Biloxi to other experiences that bring about mass pain and trauma that may affect parishes and their communities. He will discuss some of these during the webinar aimed at priests and religious, but available to anyone who wants to register at www.sliconnect.org.
In September 2015, Msgr. Rossetti took some of those lessons to a training for priests in Florida, which Father Miguel Gonzalez, pastor of St. John Vianney Catholic Church and vicar for priests for the Diocese of Orlando, attended.
"Thank God for the timing" of the presentation, said Father Gonzalez, who received an urgent phone call in June to help with Spanish-speaking families after a nightclub shooting in Orlando left 49 dead and more than 50 injured.
Because of the training, he had prepared himself mentally and spiritually for the chaos, the media swarm, the depth of the grief he witnessed, and even his reaction. He knew that instead of finding the right words, it was more important to be near those waiting to be told whether their relatives were alive, to let them know they weren't alone.
He knew small gestures, such as fetching water for those who were in shock and grief, were important, and to allow those who were suffering to question God and be angry. He even knew he had to find moments to "decompress" and take a step back from the situation so that he could continue helping.
"What I learned (from the training) definitely clicked," he said. "We were in a better place to meet needs but not disconnect from our needs," Father Gonzalez said during a phone interview with Catholic News Service.
Preparing for tragedy begins by recognizing that it can happen anywhere at any time, Msgr. Rossetti said.
"It'd be foolish for us to think that it's not going to happen to us. Look at the number of dioceses (in the U.S.) in the last year that have been directly affected by terrorism and tragedies. I think every diocese, every order, should have, not only training, but also a plan," Msgr. Rossetti said.
Each diocese should ask the question: "What are we going to do if downtown in our city a hundred people are shot and killed? Who's going to do what?" Msgr. Rossetti said.
Priests and religious need to know how to spot people dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions. Some of these situations may mean dealing with people's anger and frustration, terror and sometimes faith.
"We need to encourage people to go through that faith journey," Msgr. Rossetti said. "If you need to get angry at God, if you need to question why, then do that. Bring it to prayer."
In the midst of tragedy, questioning one's faith can happen to anyone, he said, adding that "it happens to priests as well ... it can really strongly affect your faith, and getting angry at God, questioning God's providence, all those things" are normal.
Father Gonzalez said it helped to hear what to expect from those who had been through it, such as Msgr. Robert Weiss of Newtown, Connecticut, who shared the experience of dealing with tragedy after he had to tell families their children had been shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary. Sadly, it has become necessary to understand mass tragedy "in light of the things we're witnessing in the world," Father Gonzalez said.
"People understand natural disasters, hurricanes, floods, that sort of thing, but when it's done by people intentionally, it carries an extra level of terror," Msgr. Rossetti said. "You're being faced with such evil, a devastating evil, it leaves a mark on people."
Believers, he said, have to be strong in faith and "not respond with vengeance, not respond with hatred because that's what makes us precisely like them. If you want to talk about it in terms of good and evil, this is what the devil tries to do: tries to make us like himself -- full of rage, hatred."
We can instead study and prepare the truly Christian response, Msgr. Rossetti said. Faith leaders can consider, for example, the response of those in Charleston, South Carolina. When a shooter killed nine of their members during a prayer service at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015, family members of those killed showed up to the killer's bond hearing to forgive him and tell him they were praying for his soul.
"They said, 'We forgive you,' even though they were devastated, those wonderful people of faith," said Msgr. Rossetti. "They defeated evil by the power of goodness."
Unfortunately, there's no reason to think that these tragedies will stop, said Msgr. Rossetti.
"We have every reason to think that it's going to get worse. So, let's get prepared," he added.
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Follow Guidos on Twitter at @CNS_Rhina
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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.
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