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Würzburg, Germany, Jul 19, 2016 / 11:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the wake of Monday night's terror attack by an Afghan Islamist on a train and pedestrians in Würzburg, the city's bishop has issued a statement of "great dismay" at the events, which left several people severely wounded.

"One is speechless in such a moment", Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann of Würzburg said July 19, assuring the injured and affected of his prayers and announcing the Church's support for those traumatized.

Bishop Hofmann also thanked police, ambulance and pastoral emergency workers at the scene.

On Monday evening a 17 year-old unaccompanied minor refugee from Afghanistan had attacked train passengers with an axe in the Bavarian city. He was shot and killed by police after wounding four people. Two of the wounded are in critical condition.

The attacker reportedly shouted the phrase “Allahu akbar” during the attack, and according to the BBC, the Islamic State has released a video allegedly showing the perpetrator threatening severe violence and an attack.

He had been in Germany for a year, and had recently moved in with a foster family after living at a refugee center.

The Bishop of Würzburg issued "a warning, not to put all asylum seekers under general suspicion" and said: "Perhaps we must accompany the unaccompanied minors even more and help them to overcome their own traumas".

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Oakland, Calif., Jul 19, 2016 / 12:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Free legal counsel and advice may sound too good to be true, but in the Diocese of Oakland, it’s a reality.

On June 7, the Pope Francis Legal Clinic opened in Oakland, California, on the property of the Cathedral of Christ the Light.

“So many people have legal problems because law is everywhere,” Tom Greerty, director and co-founder of the clinic, told CNA.

“What we try and do is relieve the hardships of people.”

Experienced lawyers volunteer their time to offer free legal consulting, reconciliation, and resolution services to any adult in the community.  

Greerty, who recently retired from his legal practice in Martinez, California, said the idea started while he was earning his master’s degree in theological studies from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley.  

“My professor, Sister Marianne Farina, asked me to do a project which would be consistent with my job,” Greerty said.

That project became the Pope Francis Legal Clinic, and in less than two years, others helped to make his idea a reality.

Nico Herrera, another attorney in the diocese, helped co-found the clinic. The Order of Malta, which runs a health clinic on the cathedral grounds, made space available for the new endeavor with the help of Tony Sanchez Corea, a member of the board. Bishop Michael C. Barber embraced the idea and had the clinic’s name in mind.

“I want this to be called the Pope Francis Legal Clinic,” the bishop told Greerty.

“We agreed to that naturally,” Greerty said.

Bishop Barber had a desire for the clinic to be about mercy, not just the law.

“Mercy is ordinarily not about the law,” Greerty explained. “The law doesn’t think in terms of mercy. The law thinks in terms of justice.”

But Greerty said the bishop wanted him and other faithful lawyers to bring mercy and reconciliation to legal problems that Greerty said are “almost always a breakdown in human relations.”

The lawyers spend an hour with each client. They listen to the client’s story, go over the history of the client’s problem, and try to understand the “nature of the problem.”

“We try to honor the memory of Pope Francis, and what he is trying to do with the Year of Mercy, to try and help people in a merciful way with the law,” Greerty said.

He also noted that the idea could likely be replicated in other dioceses across the country. Many Catholic lawyers are retired or far enough along in their practices to have the time and resources to establish similar clinics, he said.

Bishop Barber blessed the clinic on June 4, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the clinic was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart as well.

Right now, the clinic is open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Appointments are required.

According to Greerty, 10 lawyers have signed up to volunteer their services and more than 20 clients have already made appointments.

“I think we may be onto something,” he said.

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/William Rieter

By Dennis Sadowski

CLEVELAND (CNS) -- Sister Julie Ann Krahl knew that a cup of lemonade on a hot summer day can go a long way toward making friends.

So she offered a refreshing drink from a cooler pulled along in a child-size wagon and talked with people on the streets of downtown Cleveland who were in town for the Republican National Convention July 18.

She wanted to learn about their fears and hopes for the country as the final months of the 2016 presidential campaign loomed.

Most people were happy to take the lemonade and talk with Sister Julie Ann, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and more than a dozen other women religious who were part of the fifth Nuns on the Bus tour.

Nuns on the Bus, which left Madison, Wisconsin, July 11, was timed to be at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and then July 26-29 in Philadelphia, site of the Democratic National Convention. Its theme is "Mend the Gaps, Reweave the Fabric of Society,"

The idea behind the "lemonade ministry" was to "start a dialogue of healing," explained Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobbying organization that sponsored the bus tour.

While some people were concerned that one major party candidate -- Democrat Hillary Clinton -- or the other -- Republican Donald Trump -- would end up in the White House, Sister Julie Ann said she learned that most people want to see the country unite to better respond to its challenges.

"That's what we're looking forward to, comparing the results at the Democratic and Republican conventions. We are looking for what are the similarities. How do we mend these gaps? Because if you have common footing, you can move forward together," Sister Julie Ann told Catholic News Service along a bustling East Fourth Street, two blocks from Quicken Loans Arena, the convention venue.

Those interviewed by the women religious talked about their concerns over legal immigration, education for children, escalating health care costs and growing racial violence. Some answers were rooted in people's evangelical faith; parents wanted a bright future for their children; others offered purely a political point of view.

Two groups of sisters -- named Curiosity 1 and Curiosity 2 -- walked throughout downtown. Each group ended up talking with hundreds of people.

Sister Simone, a member of the Sisters of Social Service, said the chance to talk to people informally provided seemingly honest answers.

"I learned that people want to mend the gaps, that they really care about it, that they see the gaps differently," she told CNS.

She said she was surprised to hear many people describing the polarization in politics as a disservice to the country.

"Their concerns are not that different geographically," Sister Simone added. The realities may be different, she said, but they have the same concerns.

"In the end, we've come away with a sense it's going to work out."

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Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.

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