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(Vatican Radio) The halted Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the ongoing Syrian crisis were among the topics touched on by the Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in statement Tuesday.

In his statement to the UN Security Council during an open debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza reiterated Pope Francis’ denouncement of those responsible for the Syrian crisis, especially those who provide weapons to fighters.

“Pope Francis denounces in the strongest possible terms all those responsible, from whichever side of the conflict in Syria they may come, for the senseless slaughter of civilians,” Archbishop Auza said.

“The Pope also denounces those who supply substantial amounts of money and weaponry to the fighters who kill and maim the innocent population and destroy civilian institutions and infrastructure,” he added.

“One cannot but lament the duplicity of simultaneously talking peace while supplying arms to those who kill, on every side of the conflict.”

The presidency of the UN security council is currently presided over by a delegation of Japan.

See Archbishop Auza’s full statement below:

12 July 2016

Mr. President,

The Holy See commends the Presidency of Japan for bringing the difficult situation in the Middle East once more to the attention of the International Community, in light of the release of the Quartet’s July 1st “Report on the Middle East” and in the context of the continuing violence in Syria, the deadly sectarian violence in Iraq and the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Mr. President,

The Palestinian Question has remained without an answer that is satisfactory to both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Almost sixty-nine years after its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 181 remains only half-fulfilled. Decades of negotiations have failed to achieve the creation of a Palestinian State. The time is long overdue to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has become increasingly unacceptable as it becomes increasingly intractable.

My delegation would not miss this occasion to underline once again that, for the Holy See, the two-State solution holds the best promise. Durable peace will remain a distant dream and security will remain an illusion if Israel and Palestine do not agree to exist side-by-side reconciled and sovereign within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders. Let the two States be created now, for the sake of the Israelis and Palestinians who, in the depths of their hearts, desire nothing greater than peace and security. It is time to act on the recommendations of the 1st July 2016 Report of the Quartet by bringing peace and security to the citizens of Israel and the State of Palestine and to the people of the world.

Mr. President,

The situation in Syria continues to be one of unspeakable suffering for the Syrian people who are killed, forced to survive under bombs or flee to less-ravaged areas. My delegation feels the duty to call anew the attention of this Council to the continued persecution of Christians, Yazidis and other ethnic and religious minority groups by non-State actors in parts of Syria and Iraq.

Pope Francis denounces in the strongest possible terms all those responsible, from whichever side of the conflict in Syria they may come, for the senseless slaughter of civilians.

The Pope also denounces those who supply substantial amounts of money and weaponry to the fighters who kill and maim the innocent population and destroy civilian institutions and infrastructure. One cannot but lament the duplicity of simultaneously talking peace while supplying arms to those who kill, on every side of the conflict. Pope Francis has asked: “How can you believe in someone who caresses you with the right hand and strikes you with the left hand?”

My delegation avails itself of this opportunity to plead once more to weapons-producing States strictly to limit the supply of arms to client States and to monitor their use. In particular, my delegation asks the International Community to stop the illegal supply of arms to non-state actors, who have been lately responsible for crimes against humanity and other forms of mass atrocities and egregious violations of human rights.

Statistics have clearly shown that it is the civilian population that is disproportionately victimized by ever more technologically sophisticated weapons. Remote-controlled assassinations without due process of law and the “collateral damage” to civilians by Lethal Autonomous Weapons System (LAWS) brings to the fore ethical and legal questions that merit careful review and perhaps even a challenge on the basis of international humanitarian law.

Mr. President,

The Holy See believes that peace processes do not depend solely on formal negotiations, no matter how indispensable these may be. As a cradle of great civilizations and the birthplace of the three main monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Middle East has the cultural, intellectual and religious resources that make it a fertile ground for civil society and track II diplomacy, including faith-based “informal diplomacy”, to play their role in promoting the values of encounter and mutual acceptance, thereby equipping all citizens to become active protagonists in peacemaking and peacebuilding in the region.

Religions and believers, in particular, must prove themselves worthy of their rightful place in the whole process of pacification in the region. They must put an end to any form of mutual hatred that could lend credence to a “clash of civilizations.” My delegation believes that the more religion is manipulated to justify acts of terror and violence, the more religious leaders must be engaged in the overall effort to defeat the violence that attempts to hijack it for purposes antithetical to its nature. Spurious religious fervour must be countered by authentic religious instruction and by the example of true communities of faith. It is only then that faith-based “informal diplomacy” can fruitfully compliment the formal diplomacy of States and multilateral bodies.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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(Vatican Radio) Canadian Archbishop-elect Donald Bolen says social justice, ecumenism and dialogue with indigenous peoples will be among his top pastoral priorities in the archdiocese of Regina. Bolen, currently the bishop of Saskatoon in the central province of Saskatchewan, was named on Monday as archbishop of the provincial capital.

Last month, Bishop Bolen was in the news as he spent a couple of days living out on the streets of Saskatoon to raise awareness and funds for a hospice for the homeless. He described the experience of sitting on a sidewalk, being ignored by people all day, as “a deep learning experience”.

Philippa Hitchen spoke to Bishop Bolen to find out more about this initiative and about expectations for his new job as head of the archdiocese of Regina…

Listen: 

Bishop Bolen says the archdiocese covers about the bottom third of the province of Saskatchewan and is a large, rural territory, “about the size of Italy with a population of about half a million”. He notes that it’s increasingly served by priests from overseas, so although it’s “tucked away on the Canadian prairies”, it is “increasingly a pluralist society and struggling with the challenges of living that pluralism well”.

Ecumenical challenges

Building on his experience here in Rome as an official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Bishop Bolen says he’ll be looking to “build ecumenical relations wherever possible and appropriate”. Noting that there is a covenant between the Anglican and Catholic Churches in Regina, he says other Christians face the same challenge of handing on the faith and giving hope to their communities, so “there is much we can do together”.

Social justice and indigenous rights

The archdiocese of Regina also has a strong history of justice outreach, its new archbishop says, adding that he looks forward to helping the Church “serve those on the margins and in the peripheries”.

Speaking of the economic and social challenges faced by Canada’s indigenous peoples in the province, he says one of his key pastoral priorities will be “learning to walk in solidarity with them and to learn from them and to engage in the kind of dialogue which is still possible today”.

Living with the homeless

Finally Bolen talks about his experience of spending 36 hours out on the streets of Saskatoon which he said was simply “dipping your big toe into an ocean of the experience of homelessness” but still served to see the neighbourhood in a new way, to experience peoples’ wounds but also the many ways in which they support each other.

Describing the way he and a First Nations leader sat asking for money on the sidewalk, he says “we were quite invisible and that’s what we do to people who are vulnerable, threatening, asking something from us”. Bishop Bolen concludes by highlighting the way Pope Francis holds together the need to seek justice on a structural level, while never overlooking “the poor and needy in our path”. Holding together these two aspects, he says, is “really to embody Catholic Social Teaching in a strong and robust way”.

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(Vatican Radio) The President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, died overnight at the age of 67 after a long illness.

He was born in Kupienin, Poland, April 7, 1949; and was ordained priest on 25 May 1973.

Pope St. John Paul II appointed Zimowski bishop of the Diocese of Radom, Poland, on 28 March 2002; and he was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 April 2009.

In 2014, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

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Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel, Chairman of  Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) and the Archbishop of Addis Ababa has called on the African Union (AU) member states to work together to enable the continent achieve its intended goals.

“As the African Heads of States come together in Kigali, Rwanda, I ask that we pray for God’s guidance so that the Heads of States can find it within themselves to steer Africa and indeed our region to prosperity in fear of God,” Cardinal Berhaneyesus said. The Cardinal who is also the representative of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) to the AU made the appeal in a 10 July statement.

He urged African leaders and governments to work together to “improve free movement of people on the continent and therefore reduce the existence of undocumented migrants and human trafficking.”

The Archbishop of Addis Ababa further called upon the leaders to fully implement Agenda 2063.

The AU Agenda 2063 is a vision and an action plan which spells out the aspirations of all segments of African society to work together and build a prosperous and united Africa based on shared values and a common destiny.

“The leaders need to embrace broad partnerships in ensuring participation of all the people of goodwill in implementing the agenda 2063, bringing unity and solidarity in Africa, through prayer for God’s Grace and providence for the continent,” said Cardinal Berhaneyesus.

The 27th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) under the theme: “2016: Year of human rights with a particular focus on the rights of women,” officially began on 10 July 2016 with the thirty-second Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) at Kigali Convention Center (KCC) in Rwanda.

(CISA in Nairobi)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers after the death of the council’s president, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.

The Archbishop died in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Pope Francis wrote Archbishop Zimowski “lived with a spirit of faith and Christian witness.”

“I wish to express my spiritual participation in the mourning taking place within the Dicastery, and while keeping in mind his generous ministry first as the shepherd of the Diocese of Radom [in Poland], and then in the service of the Holy See, I have raised fervent prayers in suffrage to the Lord for his soul, entrusting him to the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland,” Pope Francis said.

The Pope said he asked the Lord for the “eternal reward promised to the faithful servants of the Gospel,” and granted upon the officials and employees of the Pontifical Council his Apostolic Blessing.

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Washington D.C., Jul 13, 2016 / 03:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- It’s a story seen across the nation – a neighborhood formerly known for rundown houses, empty shops and limited resources now finds flocks of millennials coming to the area’s trellised cafes and bars for brunch and drinks on weekends.

What formerly made the neighborhood “sketchy” or caused outsiders to steer clear is now marketed as a selling point of its “character” to new investors and residents.  

It’s a change called “development” by many of the investors seeking to move in, and called “gentrification” by some who are skeptical of the impact that the rapid inflow of money has on longtime residents of a neighborhood.

Yet, many of these conversations about the challenges – and opportunities – of gentrification have left out the institutions at the heart of many of these neighborhoods: the churches.

“It’s been a mixed blessing,” said Fr. Michael Kelley of St. Martin’s Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.

Established in 1901, St. Martin’s is located in the middle of the Bloomingdale neighborhood of D.C. In recent years, the predominantly African-American neighborhood has experienced rapid economic change, as investors have started paying higher prices for land in the area, and new shops, bars and other amenities have sprung up in the middle of what used to be a major drug market.

In the midst of these changes, St. Martin’s has remained committed to its mission of hospitality and outreach to the larger community – both new residents and old residents. “We work hard to be a good neighbor,” Fr. Kelley said.

Their efforts to help their neighbors have actually been a factor in making the area enticing for the investors now moving into Bloomingdale. Local Christian pastors, working together and with the city, helped to diminish the drug trade and offer aid to those with addictions, the priest explained. In a way, the churches began a process that gentrification finished.

However, new residents don’t always give credit to the vital role the parishes have historically played in the communities – and still do to this day.  

“You all just really need to move your church, you’re getting in the way of what we’re doing here,” new residents have told Fr. Kelley and other Bloomingdale pastors. The priest recalled one interaction with a new homeowner who criticized the churches’ presence in the area. “I remember saying to someone, ‘How long have you been here?’”

“Oh I moved in about six months ago,” the man responded.

“I’ve been here for 24 years,” Fr. Kelley told the new resident. “I remember when people were shooting up heroin in my backyard, breaking into my house and stealing our TVs and computers. I remember when there were drive-by shootings every night and I almost got hit once. I lived here when it was a very dangerous place to be.”

“If it wasn’t for the churches being here as the anchors of the community, you wouldn’t have the community to move into that you have today.”

“Development” by any other name

Gentrification is a broad term for the movement of wealthier residents into an existing urban area, a demographic shift which changes a district’s character and culture, often affecting neighborhoods that have previously been home to ethnic minorities or immigrants.

The result: historically working-class neighborhoods are transformed into up-and-coming “hipster” or “arts” districts, and eventually, to high-demand – and usually high-rent – neighborhoods.  

The gentrification process can be characterized by an increase in median income and housing prices, as well as a decrease in the neighborhood’s proportion of racial minorities. Crime rates often drop, while investments in high-end businesses and infrastructure often soar.

Sociologists argue over the root causes of this phenomenon and the ways in which it is different, historically, from other kinds of demographic changes in cities. What is undeniable, however, is that the shift from primarily minority, lower-class neighborhoods to majority white, upper-class districts brings challenges for long-term residents as well as the benefits of increased resources and new businesses.

As an integral part of many developing neighborhoods, local parishes are also feeling the strain of these changes.

New Mission Territory

Fr. Mark Doherty is an associate pastor at St. Peter’s in the Mission District, San Francisco's oldest neighborhood, and an area of the city that has been predominantly Hispanic for decades.

He told CNA about the changes the Mission District is facing as millennial tech moguls like Mark Zuckerberg and programmers for startups like Dropbox and Airbnb have bought up properties in the neighborhood.

“The young tech professionals, they want to live in the city, and a certain number of them – the more hipster type – want to live in the Mission District” because of its “grungier” feel, Fr. Doherty explained.

But the stark economic divide is making life, and parish ministry, more challenging for the Latin American immigrants who have called the neighborhood home for generations.  

Many members of St. Peter’s are facing housing issues due in part to the arrival of wealthy property-owners and tenants looking for luxury accommodations, Fr. Doherty explained.

“You have a fair number of first-generation arrivals who are having to move because property owners are either selling the buildings or redesigning them to make them more appealing to the younger set of professionals that are coming in.”

Parish ministry has also been impacted as the changing neighborhood demographics have, in a sense, turned St. Peter’s back into mission territory.

Most of the parishioners at St. Peter’s are Mexican-American and speak Spanish as their first language. “Our time is mostly dedicated to meeting the sacramental needs of theses first-generation immigrants who live in the neighborhood,” Fr. Doherty said, citing Masses, weddings, baptisms, quinceaneras and funerals as among the focuses of parish resources.

“That means that the other folks who are moving in – the young tech professionals who now make a substantial part of the neighborhood – it means we don’t have nearly the kind of time available or the resources at hand to try to engage that population.”

“These young professionals who have moved into the neighborhood generally have no connection to the Church whatsoever, and more generally seem to have none or very little religious experience or background to speak of,” Fr. Doherty continued.  “It means that engaging them is very, very challenging and it comes down to one-on-one encounters more than anything else.” 

While these personal encounters “have the opportunity to become significant and deep,” the priest said, they take a significant amount of time and effort – a difficulty in a large parish with an already-established community and many sacramental needs.

This place would be a very different community if it wasn’t for the churches. -Fr. Michael Kelley

One parish that has seen some degree of success at merging different communities is St. Dominic’s in the Highland neighborhood of Denver, Colorado.

The old Victorian houses in the area had long been home to a large Vietnamese and Hispanic population, many of whom were parishioners at St. Dominic’s. But as housing prices have risen with the influx of technology companies, startups and other incoming industries, some long-time residents have had to move to other neighborhoods while a new young adult population moves in.

“The families who have been pushed out – they come back,” said Fr. Luke Barder O.P., parochial vicar for St. Dominic’s. He told CNA that some parishioners will “drive 30-40 mins to come to Mass.”

Since many of the longtime parishioners have remained engaged in the parish despite moving to new neighborhoods, St. Dominic’s has refocused its efforts on integrating and welcoming new residents into its existing parish ministries.

To refocus on its changing role in community, the parish has updated its mission statement, Fr. Barder said, and started targeting some ministries to the young adults in the area, including an Octoberfest beer festival and the Frassati Society, a group for fellowship and prayer.

“Families and homes go together”

The limited availability of affordable housing is an issue that the U.S. bishops have aimed to address for decades, said Dr. Jonathan Reyes, executive director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development for U.S. bishops’ conference.

Reyes told CNA that within the Catholic Church, “for the last 10 years, housing has actually been one of the top three issues for community concerns and engagement, from the neighborhoods themselves.”

“The way the Church has always framed it is that families have the right to decent housing,” he continued. This drive to protect families – and to defend parishes as spaces in a community – has led the bishops’ conference to be explicitly involved in affordable housing initiatives since 1975.

In the document “The Right to a Decent Home,” the U.S. bishops lay out guidelines for Catholics on how to think about the need to ensure affordable housing. This concept was reinforced this past year in Pope Francis’ letter, “Amoris Laetitia,” in which the Pope asserted that “Families and homes go together,” and warned that housing difficulties may lead couples to delay starting a family.

Reyes pointed to efforts by the U.S. bishops’ conference to help ensure fair rents, promote the building of good housing and prevent homelessness.

In particular, he highlighted several initiatives by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an anti-poverty program of the bishops’ conference which has set up land trusts enabling local communities to own and control land in their neighborhood to keep it affordable for future generations.

Helping people – old and new

In Washington, D.C., St. Martin’s parish is still working hard to meet the needs of the predominantly African American community and its “very clear Black Catholic identity,” while also reaching out to the influx of white young adults.

“Our philosophy is: everyone is welcome; all gifts are needed; everyone can help build up the Church,” Fr. Kelley explained.

All parishioners are welcomed and encouraged to serve in all areas of parish life, from the gospel choir to the parish council. St. Martin’s is also looking at expanding childcare services and other ministries to accommodate the increasing population of young families.

At the same time, the parish has been careful not to stall its current ministries, particularly its role as the D.C. meeting location for Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. In addition to hosting the meetings, St. Martin’s also subsidizes the cost of utilities and operations.

“Even though the neighborhood is changing, people are coming from all over to come to the meetings,” Fr. Kelley said, emphasizing their importance both as a ministry and as a catalyst for change in Bloomingdale.

The influx of new residents has brought some benefits to the community. With the help of new parishioners, the parish been able to help secure housing protections for current residents against rapidly skyrocketing rental and property prices. In the 1990s, Fr. Kelley recalled, a row house in Bloomingdale could be bought for less than 10,000 dollars. Today, the same house could go for nearly 1 million dollars.

New residents in the neighborhood have also helped to attract attention to Bloomingdale’s longstanding issue with sewage flooding during heavy rains.

“For a long time, no one responded to the problem and plight of poor black folks complaining that we’re getting sewage in our basement when it rains,” Fr. Kelley said. New residents, though, had the resources and know-how to place enough political pressure on the city to jump-start repairs on the aging sewer and waste system in the neighborhood.

Still, challenges do remain for the community, with some new residents failing to understand the history of the area, and some older residents feeling like they are not respected and do not have a voice in the neighborhood as it evolves.

In the midst of these continuing tensions, Fr. Kelley said the parish must resist the narrative of “us against them.”

“I want us as a Church to continue to be involved, to share the Good News of Jesus, to continue to welcome everyone who comes and to try to meet people’s needs as best we can with our resources,” he said. “Our basic principles are hospitality, generosity, using God’s abundance to make a difference in the neighborhood locally and in the larger community.”

“It’s not like I’m trying to keep anyone out,” Fr. Kelley said of St. Martin’s role among the neighborhood’s many changes. “If anything, I’m trying to connect people more.”

 

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Vatican City, Jul 13, 2016 / 06:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Less than two months after one of Sunni Islam’s highest authorities came to the Vatican following several years of icy relations, Pope Francis has sent a representative to Egypt’s Al-Azhar University in a bid to relaunch dialogue between the two.

In accordance with “the explicit wish of Pope Francis,” Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, is currently in Egypt for an official visit to the Al-Azhar University, according to a July 12 press release from the Vatican.

Bishop Ayuso will be accompanied by the Vatican’s ambassador to Egypt, Archbishop Bruno Musarò, for a July 13 meeting with Sunni academic and politician Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk, who is a member of the university's Council of Senior Scholars, director of the Al-Azhar Center for Dialoge and Egypt's former minister of religious endowment.

According to the Vatican’s press release, the meeting “will consider how to resume dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Al-Azhar University.”

The Imam of al Azhar, currently Ahmed al Tayyeb, is considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority the 1.5-billion strong Sunni Muslim world and oversees Egypt’s al-Azhar Mosque and the prestigious al-Azhar University attached to it.

He paid a visit to the Vatican May 23 for a meeting with Pope Francis, which marked a seismic step in thawing relations between the al-Azhar institution and the Holy See, which were strained in 2011 with claims that Pope Benedict XVI had “interfered” in Egypt’s internal affairs by condemning a bomb attack on a church in Alexandria during the time of Coptic Christmas.

Founded in the Fatimid dynasty in the late 10th century together with the adjoining mosque, the university is one of the most renowned study centers for the legal principals of Sunni Islam.

The 30 minute encounter the Pope and the Imam focused largely on the commitment of both faithful and authorities of major religions in working for peace, the rejection of violence and terrorism and the protection of Christians in the Middle East given their current state of persecution.

In an interview given to Vatican Radio after the meeting, Tayyeb said his first impression of Pope Francis was that the Pope was “very strong,” and “a man of peace, a man who follows the teaching of Christianity, which is a religion of love and peace.”

Francis, he said, is also a man “who respects other religions and shows consideration for their followers.”

He also decried terrorism carried out by Islamic extremists, stressing that while it exists, “Islam has nothing to do with this terrorism, and this applies to Ulama Muslims and to Christians and Muslims in the East.”

“Those who kill Muslims, and who also kill Christians, have misunderstood the texts of Islam either intentionally or by negligence.”

Many hope that the meeting between the Vatican and Al-Azhar will lead to increased cooperation in the fight against terrorism, as well as for other urgent questions between the two religions.

While this has yet to be seen, what is clear is that relations with Islam have improved with Francis’ constant appeals for interfaith dialogue, which began shortly after his election when he sent a personal message to Muslims marking the end of the first month of Ramadan.

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