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New York City, N.Y., Apr 28, 2016 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The plight of Christians and other Middle East minorities demands action from the international community, one leader in relief efforts said in a panel at the United Nations.

“We have a unique opportunity to change things for the better,” said Carl Anderson, head of the Knights of Columbus. “Never before has the world’s attention been so focused on the suffering of these minorities. Never has their plight been so high on the agenda of the world’s governments, the vast majority of the world’s Muslims, and all people of good will.”

He said the Middle East crisis is “the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis since World War II.”

He cited hundreds of thousands of deaths in Syria and Iraq, the displacement or extermination of entire communities, and the strain of millions of refugees from war and terrorism.

“We face the very real prospect of the extinction of many of the communities indigenous to the region,” Anderson said at a Thursday panel at the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council Chamber.

The panel was sponsored by the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the U.N. The event was part of the #WeAreN2016 congress, being held at various New York City venues from April 28-30. The congress’ name derives from the Arabic letter “nun” that was painted on the homes of Christians targeted for persecution by Islamic State group sympathizers. Some supporters of these Christians have adopted the symbol as a sign of solidarity.

The Knights of Columbus is a Catholic fraternal organization with over 1.8 million members worldwide. The organization has raised more than $10.5 million for relief for Christians and other displaced persons and refugees in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

It has also advocated official U.S. government recognition of violence against Christians and other minorities as genocide. Anderson said the Knights’ 300-page report documented atrocities and made the legal arguments in favor of such recognition.

“ISIS and the victims we interviewed agree on one thing. Many of those targeted were targeted because of their Christian faith,” he said.

He cited a fact-finding mission that found evidence of widespread rape, kidnappings, forced conversions, slavery, murder and forced expulsion.

“Many of the incidents had not been previously reported. But based on what we learned, it is our impression that what we know today is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg,” Anderson said. “A concerted, sustained effort now needs to be undertaken to document the extent of this tragedy.”

He said those interviewed showed “great heroism.” These included people like Kahlia, a woman in her fifties. She was held hostage with 47 other people in Iraq. During her 15-day captivity, she resisted demands to convert to Islam even at gunpoint or when a sword was held to her neck. She physically resisted Islamic State group militants who tried to rape hostage girls or take them as brides.

“Although 14 men in the group were coerced into saying they would convert to Islam, Kahlia did not. She told her captors that since Jesus died for her, she could die for him,” Anderson said.

She was not killed, but left in the desert to walk to Erbil. Her resistance saved many people, refugees reported.

“We know that ISIS has killed thousands of Christians in Iraq, Syria, and Libya,” Anderson continued. “Mass graves have been reported in Syria, and the desert between Mosul and Erbil was littered with bodies as Christians there fled too quickly to bury neighbors and family members.”

He said Christians in Iraq numbered 1.5 million in early 2000s, and now are as few as 200,000 due to war and immigration. The Christian population in Syria has fallen from 1.5 million to 500,000. Indigenous Christian communities are “vulnerable and fragile” and at risk of disappearing entirely.

“The world stands at a crossroads. The rich tapestry of religious pluralism in the region must be preserved now or it will be lost forever,” Anderson said. “If Christianity disappears in this region, so does the opportunity for pluralism there; and the likelihood of majoritarian theocracy, or something worse, is increased. The threats from such an outcome to peace, stability and security – in the region and beyond – are substantial.”

He recommended four forms of action for the United Nations.

These include Security Council referral of perpetrators of genocide to the International Criminal Court; provision for locating and providing relief for Yazidis, Christians and other minorities targeted for genocide; advocacy for full rights for religious minorities; and preparation for the liberation of Islamic State group-controlled territory and restoration of the property of attempted genocide victims.

He noted that many refugees fear going into official U.N. refugee camps. They are overlooked and face difficulty in acquiring official refugee status or in emigrating.

“If displaced persons want to return home, they should be supported – legally and actually – in that choice,” Anderson said. “For those who have suffered too much to return to their homes—refugees who have decided to remain in the places to which they fled, they should be allowed to do so. “The support of the international community will be critical on both counts.”

 

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Washington D.C., Apr 28, 2016 / 04:16 pm (CNA).- It is perhaps not surprising that an American priest, Fr. John Courtney Murray, was one of the key contributors to Dignitatis Humanae, the most important document in modern times on the Catholic Church and religious freedom.

Together with then-Bishop Karol Wojtyla, another champion for religious freedom who would go on to become Pope John Paul II, Fr. Murray and the Second Vatican Council spelled out the Catholic Church’s support of religious freedom as one of the most basic rights necessary for human dignity.

In a new video, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops argues that understanding and promoting the Church’s teachings on this most basic freedom is now more important than ever, in light of recent threats to this right both at home and abroad.

“Religious freedom is one of the basic freedoms of the human person, because without religious freedom and freedom of conscience, all other freedoms are without foundation,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development for the USCCB.

The video points to the ongoing legal battle between the Little Sisters of the Poor and the United States government as a prominent example of the threat to religious freedom in the United States. The federal government has exempted many other organizations’ employee health care plans from a requirement to provide contraception and drugs that can produce abortions. But it has no exemption for the Little Sisters of the Poor, who help run houses to care for the elderly poor.

“The Little Sisters of the Poor are being harassed by the United States government for a particular regulation in which the Obama administration deems it necessary that these sisters be compelled to participate in an insurance program that is against the precepts of their faith,” Archbishop Wenski said.

In the video, many supporters of the Little Sisters, including those whose family members have ben residents in nursing homes run by the Sisters, said that it would be a great loss should the government force these religious institutions to close, as the Sisters provide something beyond just practical care.

“There’s a spiritual component in the way that they live their lives that adds to not only the enrichment of the residents lives, but those who are in contact with them, who work with them, who just hear about them,” said Carmel Kang, whose family member was a resident with the Little Sisters.

“The high point of our life is to be with the dying,” Sr. Mary Bernard, LSP, said in the video.

“Life is a precious gift that we’ve each received,” she added. “And with that is the right to life, pursuit of happiness, liberty to practice your religion.”

Other experts in the video weigh in, warning that governments that lack religious freedom soon become manipulative and negligent of other freedoms.

“Reason divorced from faith – rationality – is simply an instrument to manipulate nature, and other human beings, and reality,” said Rev. Eugene Rivers II, a Pentecostal pastor and American activist.

“Which is why we’ve got to have faith, which gives us the ability to see beyond more limited conceptions of reason.”

Rick Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, warned that “governments that try to squash religious freedom tend to face political fragmentation, political disunity.”  

Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chair of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, said that threats to religious freedom have started small in the United States. People might start to notice that what they do in Church is fine, but that it is socially unacceptable to bring their faith into the workplace or their business or the public square in any capacity, he said.

But the more violent forms of religious persecution that are happening abroad in places like China, Africa and the Middle East are all the more reason for people in the United States to strongly defend religious freedom, said Helen Alvare, a professor at George Mason University Law School.

“If we don’t have religious liberty, then there’s lots of people struggling with these issues who will never see a model to live out these teachings with integrity,” Alvare said.  

Pope Francis, like his predecessors, continues to speak about religious freedom in a way that is shaped by Dignitatis Humanae, Archbishop Lori said. It is a “document of hope,” he added, because it speaks not only of the human person’s right to be free of coercion from the government, but of the right to religious freedom as fundamental to human dignity.

“It is in accordance with their dignity as persons – that is, beings endowed with reason and free will and therefore privileged to bear personal responsibility – that all men should be at once impelled by nature and also bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth,” the document reads.

Understanding religious freedom through the teachings of the Church is important and necessary if it is to prevail in the United States, Archbishop Lori concluded.

“If we cherish it, protect it, know about it, and proclaim it, it will triumph.”
 
The full video and a corresponding discussion guide are available on the USCCB’s website.
 

Photo credit: Delpixel via www.shutterstock.com.

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IMAGE: CNS/courtesy Vatican Observatory

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Of the many momentous or menial tasks women religious perform, one of the better-kept secrets has been the role of four Sisters of the Holy Child Mary who were part of a global effort to make a complete map and catalog of the starry skies.

Up until recently, the women were no more than nameless nuns whose image has long been preserved in a black and white photograph that showed them wearing impeccably ironed habits and leaning over special microscopes and a ledger.

But now their identities have been pulled out of obscurity by Jesuit Father Sabino Maffeo, assistant to the director of the Vatican Observatory. He stumbled onto their names as he was going through the observatory archives, "putting papers in order," he told Catholic News Service April 26.

Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri, all born in the late 1800s and from the northern Lombardy region near Milan, helped map and catalog nearly half a million stars for the Vatican's part in an international survey of the night sky.

Top astronomers from around the world met in Paris in 1887 and again in 1889 to coordinate the creation of a photographic "Celestial Map" ("Carte du Ciel") and an "astrographic" catalog pinpointing the stars' positions.

Italian astronomer and meteorologist, Barnabite Father Francesco Denza, easily convinced Pope Leo XIII to let the Holy See take part in the initiative, which assigned participating observatories a specific slice of the sky to photograph, map and catalog.

Father Maffeo, an expert in the observatory's history and its archivist, said Pope Leo saw the Vatican's participation as a way to show the world that "the church supported science" and "was not just concerned with theology and religion."

The Vatican was one of about 18 observatories that spent the next several decades taking thousands of glass-plate photographs with their telescopes and cataloging data for the massive project.

But the project at the Vatican Observatory began to suffer after Father Denza died in 1894.

When Pope Pius X found out the new director wasn't up to the job, he called on Archbishop Pietro Maffi of Pisa to reorganize the observatory and search for the best replacement, Father Maffeo said.

In 1906, the archbishop found his man at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. -- Jesuit Father John Hagen who had been heading its observatory there since 1888 and was renowned for his research on "variable" stars, which have fluctuating brightness.

Though he had extensive experience in astronomy, Father Hagen never did the kind of measurements and number crunching required for the astrographic catalog, Father Maffeo said.

"So he went to Europe to see how they did it and saw that in some observatories there were women who read the (star) positions and wrote them in a book with precise coordinates," the 93-year-old Jesuit priest said.

The astronomers told Father Hagen that once the young women "were shown how to do it, they were very diligent," Father Maffeo said. At the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, for example, they even were referred to as "lady computers" because of the skill needed to calculate the coordinates according to set formulae.

When Father Hagen wondered where he might be able to hire young women for the Vatican, "he immediately thought -- nuns," and contacted the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary, who were located nearby, Father Maffeo said. Coincidentally, Mary is often symbolized in Catholic Church tradition by a star.

In a letter dated July 13, 1909, to the superior general, Mother Angela Ghezzi, Archbishop Maffi said the Vatican Observatory "needs two sisters with normal vision, patience and a predisposition for methodical and mechanical work."

Father Maffeo said the sisters' general council was not enthused "about wasting two nuns on a job that had nothing to do with charity." However, Mother Ghezzi was "used to seeing God's will in every request," he said, and she let two sisters go to the observatory.

Work for the sisters began in 1910, but soon required a third and later a fourth nun to join the team. Two would sit in front of a microscope mounted on an inclined plane with a light shining under the plate-glass photograph of one section of the night sky.

The plates were overlaid with numbered grids and the sisters would measure and read out loud each star's location on two axes and another would register the coordinates in a ledger. They would also check enlarged versions of the images on paper.

The Vatican was one of about 10 observatories to complete its assigned slice of the sky. From 1910 to 1921, the nuns surveyed the brightness and positions of 481,215 stars off of hundreds of glass plates.

Their painstaking work did not go unnoticed at the time. Pope Benedict XV received them in a private audience in 1920 and gave them a gold chalice, Father Maffeo said. Pope Pius XI also received the "measuring nuns" eight years later, awarding them a silver medal.

The Vatican's astrographic catalog, which totaled 10 volumes, gave special mention to the sisters, noting their "alacrity and diligence," uninterrupted labors and "zeal greater than any eulogy" could express at a task "so foreign to their mission."

The international project to catalog star positions and build a celestial map ended in 1966 and recorded nearly 5 million stars. The catalog consists of more than 200 volumes produced by 20 observatories and the unfinished map is made up of hundreds of sheets of paper -- all work culled from more than 22,000 glass photographic plates of the sky.

Father Maffeo said, "Never before had there been a presentation of the stars as vast as this."

While the project was quickly eclipsed by huge technological developments in surveying stars, modern-day scientists eventually discovered that comparing the star positions recorded a century earlier with current satellite positions provided valuable information about star motions for millions of stars.

The project showed that even in a new era of satellites and software, quaint glass-plate photographs and "lady computers" weren't wholly obsolete.

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Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Rev. 21: 10-14, 22-23; John 14: 23-29  

St. Francis of Assisi was an ardent advocate of the doctrine of the indwelling of God in man. It enabled him to love every one equally whatever his status in life. One day he met a fellow who had no love for God. As they walked along they met a man who was blind and paralyzed. St. Francis asked the sightless cripple: “Tell me if I were to restore your eyesight and the use of your limbs, would you love me?” “Ah,” replied the beggar, “I would not only love you but I would be your slave for the rest of my life.” “See,” said Francis to the man who maintained that he could not love God, “this man would love me if I gave him his sight and his health. Why don’t you love God Who created you with eyesight and strong limbs?” That is what Jesus tells us in today’s gospel. If we love him because of the countless blessings he has given us by “keeping his words” he will start dwelling within us in the company of his Father and the Holy Spirit, making us the temples of the Triune God. (Msgr. Arthur Tonne)

Introduction: Today’s readings show us the effects of the abiding presence of God in His Church and of His indwelling in each one of us. The first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, tells us how the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the Church, helped the apostles to solve a major doctrinal problem which shook the very foundation of the early Church. The second reading from the Book of Revelation describes the Church as the Heavenly Jerusalem, a city united in love, with the victorious Jesus, residing in it and in each of its members, replacing the holy presence of God in the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem. The gospel passage reminds us that the Holy Spirit, abiding within us, is our teacher and the source of all peace.  The passage offers a vision of hope.  Jesus promises his followers that the Holy Spirit will come and instruct them in everything they need to know.

The first reading: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29:  The first major controversy in the infant Church was about "what must one do to be saved."  For the first 15 to 20 years of the Christian era, all Jesus’ followers were Jewish.  During that period, any Gentiles who wanted to become Jesus’ disciples were expected first to become Jews. They had to attend Sabbath synagogue services and keep the 613 Torah laws.  This situation began to change when a few “liberal” Christian communities like the newly founded Church of the Gentiles in Antioch, began to admit Gentiles into their number without demanding that they first be converted to Judaism.  Some of the Judeo-Christians from Judea and Jerusalem argued that the new Gentile converts must observe the Mosaic Law of circumcision, dietary regulations, purification rituals, etc.  The issue couldn't be settled on a local level, although Paul and Barnabas tried that at first.  Hence, they had to go to Jerusalem to consult the apostles.  The apostles convened the first synod at Jerusalem and, with the clear leading of the Holy Spirit, decided that the Gentiles need not become Jews first, to be saved as Christians.  The decision was momentous for two reasons.  First, it marked a significant break of Christianity with Judaism. Second, it put the burden of salvation on God rather than on man.  In other words, it is God’s love that saves us -- not prayers, sacrifices or keeping of the Law, which are only expressions of our gratitude to God.  We see Saint Paul wrestling with this question, first in Galatians, then, in a more polished way, in Romans.

The second reading, Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23: The Book of Revelation was written to bolster the faith of the persecuted early Christians.  It describes the Church as the Heavenly Jerusalem, a city united in love, with the victorious Jesus residing in it. While the earthly Temple was often thought of as a reflection of the heavenly Temple, there will be no Temple in the New Jerusalem because the Almighty and the Lamb will be the Temple.  They will provide all the light that is necessary, so there will be no need for the sun or the moon. Ancient Jerusalem had long been for the Jews a token of God's presence with them.  God had aided them in capturing and holding it, in making it their capital, in building the Temple there, and in returning to it after their exile in Babylon. Within the holiest chamber of the Jerusalem Temple, they kept the stone tablets of the Law, given by God, in an enthroned chest known as the Ark of the Covenant.  God dwelt in a particular way in the space above the ark. This is, in the end, a metaphor for the Church, which is called to reveal to the human race God's presence among us.  

Exegesis: John (Chapter 14) continues to recount Jesus’ farewell sermon after the Last Supper.  Today's Gospel passage explains the doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the human soul, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

1) The abiding presence of God in the human soul: The promise of God's abiding presence must have been of great comfort to John's community who knew that the Temple in Jerusalem -- the symbol of God's presence with His people -- had been destroyed by the Roman army.  In today's gospel passage, Jesus tells us that the one thing in life which we can always trust is God’s presence. God inhabits our hearts so deeply and intimately that we become the visible dwelling place of God.  His living and life-affirming Presence is always with us, yet '"hidden" in the very things we so often take for granted.  Thus, we are invited to look for and encounter "God-with-us," yet "hidden" -- hidden in the person sitting next to us, in the words we speak and the songs we sing at worship.

2) Condition for the indwelling of the Holy Trinity: Jesus teaches us the condition for this indwelling of the Holy Trinity, namely, we have to show our love of God by keeping his word.  And this keeping of his word will be facilitated by the Holy Spirit, God's Holy Breath.

3) The role of the Holy Spirit is twofold: a) to "teach" the disciples and b) to “remind" them of what Jesus has already taught them” (v. 26).  Jesus affirms that even though He will no longer be visibly with them, he will continue to be present among them through His Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of truth will continue teaching them and helping them to understand and to build on what Jesus has already taught them.  The Advocate will bring no new revelation because God has already revealed Himself in Jesus.  But the Advocate will deepen their understanding of the revelation given by Jesus.

4) Jesus gives his followers four gifts:  First, he gives them his love, which will enable them to keep his word. Next, he gives them the Holy Spirit, who will teach them everything they need to know. The Holy Spirit is the abiding love of God available to us, enabling us to accept the friendship of Jesus, while imitating Him, the Master.   Third, he gives them his peace to strengthen them from fear in the face of trouble. Here "peace" is not just the absence of conflict, but also the far wider concept of shalom, the total well-being of the person and community.  The promise of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will bring a peace that will quell their fears of the unfolding darkness ahead. “In Johannine language, peace, truth, light, life and joy are figurative terms reflecting different facets of the great gift that Jesus has brought from God to the world. 'Peace is my gift to you,' is another way of saying, 'I give them eternal life' (Jn 10:28) (Raymond E. Brown). The Holy Spirit is available as Comforter and Guide to those who believe in Jesus and follow in his way. The One God -- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – is pure love. This Love, the Triune God, comes and lives in us, takes residence up in us and lives in our body. When God’s love lives in us, and we live in Him, there is much more peace in our families, our churches, our offices.  Fourth, Jesus rewards them with the assurance of his second coming.

Life messages: 1) Let us be aware of the abiding presence of God within us: We live in the New Covenant of Jesus, daily facing uncertainty, conflict, and temptations.  It is the abiding presence of God within us that enables us to face the future with undying hope and true Christian courage.  The Spirit of the risen Lord prompts us to turn to His Holy Scriptures for support and encouragement, enables us to learn the divine truths, and grants us His peace at all times.  However, to be able to receive these gifts, it is necessary for us to spend a little time each day in personal prayer, talking to God and listening to Him.  We must deepen our relationship with Jesus, learn to get in touch with him, and sincerely love him.  When we listen to the Holy Spirit, we will   know His plan for our life and His solutions to whatever problems we face.  We will be able to love our fellow human beings, and there will be a core of peace within us.  The Holy Spirit teaches us through the Scriptures and preaching during the Holy Mass as well as in our prayer and our private reading of Scripture. Jesus loves us and comes to us in Communion.   When the Mass is ended, we go forth in the peace of Christ -- all this under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

2) We are not alone:  One of the great social and ethical problems of our time is isolation.   Today approximately 25% of all adults live alone.   Spouses, parents and children often live as virtual strangers to one another.   This is unfortunate because we never need to be alone.   Jesus can always be present to us.   He shares with us his joy and replaces the burden of our guilt with the freedom of forgiveness.  He takes our grief and turns it into joy.  We need only allow Jesus into our lives to be rid of this loneliness.   Oneness with Jesus is the greatest gift we can give our children, our friends, or those who see no purpose in life.   We can help to bring people to unity with Jesus, a unity that will change their lives. As we celebrate this Last Supper, let us celebrate in a special way the price Jesus paid for our redemption.   Let this Eucharistic meal empower us to lead a true Life of the Spirit.

There is a of a little girl who, was taking her first train ride with her parents. As night descended, the mother took the girl, who was clearly quite anxious, and placed her on the upper bunk of the sleeper. She told her little one that up there she would be nearer to God and that God would watch over her. As silence enveloped the young lady she became afraid and called softly, "Mommy, are you there?" "Yes dear," came the response. A little later, in a louder voice, the child called, "Daddy, are you there, too?" "Yes dear," was the reply. After this had been repeated several times one of the passengers sharing their sleeper car finally lost his patience and shouted loudly, "Yes, we're all here, your father, your mother, your brother, and all your aunts and cousins; now settle down and go to sleep!" There was a moment of silence and then, in hushed tones a little voice asked, "Mommy, was that God?" Jesus, in offering peace, does not say, "I'm here, the Holy Spirit's here and God is here, now be at peace!" The peace that Jesus offers cannot be had simply by desiring it. The peace of God is a gift; it can only be received as a by-product of faith. That's why the world is largely a stranger to it.

(Source: Homilies Fr. Tony Kadavil) 

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(Vatican Radio) With less than one hundred days to go, until the start of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil's political crisis seems to suggest the current government may not even make the opening ceremony.

Listen to the report by James Blears: 

Officials pledge that the stadiums will be ready to host the first Olympics to be held in South America.  

But Rio's bay which remains heavily contaminated  with sewage won't and can't be cleansed for the rowers and wind surfers.

The country's President Dilma Rousseff on the other hand is in her own battle against time, which could culminate in an  impeachment process, if Brazil's Senate votes in May to put her on trial for alleged Budget maniputiona via vast bank loans. 

Carlos Nuzman, who's the President of Rio's Olympic Committe confidently states: "Rio is ready to make history."  While new Sports Minister Ricardo Leyser insists the political crisis won't affect the Olympics. 

Meanwhile, law and order is keeping a wary close eye on the poor favelas districts,  and many of the poor themselves are starkly questioning just why so much in the ways and means of badly needed rescources, have  been spent on the olympics.

They  themselves can't afford tickets to be spectators,  or even food to regularly sustain themselves in the great race of life. 

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