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(Vatican Radio)  All true Christians should embody the compassion of the Good Samaritan, offering caring witness towards those who suffer:  this is the message at the heart of Fr. Ermes Ronchi’s Lenten meditation for Pope Francis and the Roman Curia on the fifth day of their spiritual exercises in Ariccia, in the hills outside Rome.

His reflection draws on the tears shed by Mary Magdalen after finding Jesus’ tomb empty.  She is stopped by a voice which asks “whom are you seeking and why are you crying?”

The 3 verbs that lead to compassion

The risen Jesus, Fr. Ronchi explains, “is the Lord of life” and he cares about  Mary Magdalen’s tears.  In his last hours on the Cross on Good Friday, Jesus was concerned for the pain and anguish suffered by a thief, Fr. Ronchi observes.  And in the early hours of Easter, he was concerned about Mary’s pain and her love.  

“Jesus is the man of encounter," the priest says: “he never looks for a person’s sins, but always focusses on their suffering and need."

We too, can learn from Jesus’s concern and from the compassion of the Good Samaritan, Fr. Ronchi asserts.  They “saw, stopped and touched” – three verbs which lead to compassion and to action to ameliorate suffering.

Compassion: a physical “kick in the gut”

There are many scenes in the Gospel in which Jesus feels compassion after witnessing human suffering. This word, says Father Ronchi, in the Greek text alludes to "a cramp in the belly." True compassion, therefore,  is not an abstract or noble thought but a physical kick in the gut. It is this visceral reaction, he stresses, that causes the good Samaritan not to "pass by" the suffering man as do the priest and the Levite.

"The real difference is not between Christians, Muslims or Jews - the real difference is not between those who believe and those who say they do not believe,” Fr. Ronchi notes.  “The real difference  is between those who stop and those who do not stop to help the injured…If I spend an hour simply shouldering a person's pain, I get to know him better; I am wiser than the most well-read of people.  I am full of the knowledge of life.”

Mercy is never shown from a "distance"

Fr. Ronchi ponders the third verb, “to touch:” "Whenever Jesus is moved, he touches," recalls the preacher of the exercises. "He touches the untouchable:" a leper - among the most despised of human waste. He touches the son of the widow of Nain and "violates the law, does what one cannot do:  he takes the dead boy, raises him up again and gives him back to his mother":

When we look upon those who need our mercy, says Fr. Ronchi - the refugees, migrants, the poor - we should be impelled to stop, to touch.  

“If I see, I stop and I touch. If I wipe away a tear, I know I am not changing the world; I cannot change the structures of iniquity, but I have injected into it the idea that hunger is not invincible.”

“Mercy,” he concludes, “is all that is essential to human life…And God forgives thus: not with a document but with His hands, a touch, a caress."

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Rome, Italy, Mar 10, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Nearly a year after violent riots erupted in West Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, religious leaders from across the city have banded together for a pilgrimage to Rome which they hope will help them to build bridges in their community.

“One of the things that any community like Baltimore needs are leaders who will build bridges, build bridges over partisan divides, socio-economic divides, and faith divides so that those who are in need can experience a climate of trust,” Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore told CNA March 2.

Archbishop Lori was one of nine religious leaders from the city who journeyed to Rome for a Feb. 29-March 3 pilgrimage, which included a brief meeting with Pope Francis.

The leaders included not only Archbishop Lori and Baltimore’s auxiliary bishop Denis Madden, but also representatives from the city’s Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish communities. They were joined by the head of Baltimore’s Catholic Charities, Bill McCarthy.

Archbishop Lori said the group's main goal in making the pilgrimage was not only to pray and to get to know each other better, but also “to symbolize that it’s very possible to come across all kinds of lines, to find common ground and to work together for the common good.”

He said the pilgrimage was largely intended to cement the relationships of the leaders, who have worked together closely since violent riots lit up the city last April after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

Baltimore resident Freddie Gray, an African American, died April 19, 2015, one week after he sustained serious back and neck injuries while being transported following an arrest by Baltimore police.

West Baltimore erupted in anger after the youth’s death, and the city quickly became the site of mass protests and some violent riots. The National Guard was called in to quell the violent rioters, some of whom set fire to cars and buildings, leading to injuries.

As religious leaders in the community “we grieved together as Baltimore boiled over last April, but we’ve also recognized for a long, long time that the city is facing very deep and systemic problems, and we’re all involved in one way or another in dealing with them,” Archbishop Lori said.

Indeed, after last year’s riots many Baltimore residents traced the city’s anger and frustration to problems rooted in high rates of unemployment, drug abuse, poor housing and education, racism, policing tactics, and child hunger.

While progress has certainly been made and many people have stepped up to the plate, he stressed that “there’s a long way to go.”

Bill McCarthy, executive director of Catholic Charities Baltimore, said the situation of West Baltimore is still much like it was during its 1968 riots, with a poverty rate of 40 percent, an unemployment rate of 60 percent, an ex-offender rate of 70 percent, and a school absentee rate of 50 percent.

He asked where hope is found for people living with those statistics, and said the religious community’s job “is to walk with and work with the people and to help restore hope. When hope is restored, it gives you a platform to bring around true systemic and sustainable change in communities.”

Part of the change Catholic Charities has sought to bring about in the past year has focused on their direct work and service in Baltimore, as well as how different religious communities can work together in order to have a greater impact on the lives of people in the city.

McCarthy explained that after last year’s riots, Catholic Charities took a step back to reflect on how they can 'up their game' in fighting poverty and unemployment in the area.

The result was a plan focused on the four key areas of sustenance, work, violence, and youth, he said, noting that currently much of West Baltimore “is in food deficit.”

With the demand placed on the area’s three food pantries jumping from 60 to 500 families a week, the organization decided to expand the pantries, opening new ones and allocating fresh resources to keep them replenished.

In addition to a few new, strategically placed pantries, case managers were also placed inside each, because the ultimate goal “is that people don’t need the pantries,” McCarthy said.

So far the case managers have intervened in 150 cases regarding issues of employment, healthcare, and safe housing.

McCarthy explained that as part of their goal of increasing the employment rate,  Catholic Charities has teamed up with several local groups in opening a new workforce development center. Additionally, they have formed partnerships in a cohort providing automobile technical training.

“There are jobs out there, there’s a dearth of mechanics in a community, and (it) pays a living wage,” he said, explaining that the goal for the first year was to train 70 men and women in the field, “and we already have jobs lined up for the first 50.”

The workforce development center also does job placements, soft skills training and employment retention work in order to make sure that once placed in work, people stay, he said.

In order to fight the high rates of violence and killings in the city – in 2015 there was on average more than one murder a day, according to McCarthy – Catholic Charities Baltimore has begun working with the health department and the No Boundaries coalition as well as other organizations in the Sandtown community to create a Safe Streets program.

McCarthy described the program as “an evidence-based practice of violence interruption” which treats violence as a public-health issue. The first official Safe Streets program went into effect Dec. 1, 2015.

While the issue of violence and murder in Baltimore has been generally “avoided or ignored” in the past, McCarthy explained that even if unemployment and poverty are overcome, “if we don’t address the violence and if we don’t address the killings in the community, then we’re just building something on a foundation of sand.”

Dr.  Alvin C. Hathaway Sr., Senior Pastor of Union Baptist Church of Baltimore, joined in the pilgrimage to Rome. He told CNA that his community has been very active in the same areas, and has teamed up with other religious communities to make sure families in the West Baltimore area have access to basic needs, as well as basic technologies.

One of the problems lower-income families in areas such as West Baltimore face is that they don’t have access to the internet, Hathaway said, explaining that in today’s day and age, “that is very discriminatory.”

As both ecumenical leaders and as a local community,  the group has been working hard “to  bridge the gap between the police department and youth in that community,” he said.

Union Baptist Church caught part of Freddie Gray’s flight on its surveillance camera the night of his arrest. The tape was then used as part of the official investigation of the incident by the state attorney’s office, as well as by the Baltimore City Police Department.

“So we were right there,” he said, noting that one of the things each of the religious leaders in the area saw after the incident was that “families were under severe stress, and that people were feeling severe trauma.”

As a result they began to converse together in order to provide the support services that were needed, as well as to increase the hope of the community, Hathaway said, explaining that the pilgrimage was intended to do just that.

In addition to providing education, healthcare, and food services, Hathaway said one of the main things families in the community need “is to see themselves as part of a global world … that’s what this trip allowed them to do.”

“It allows them to say yes, my local pastor or my local priest or my local imam, they went to Rome, they met with Pope Francis,  they returned to let us know that we’re still important and still significant.”

As part of their visit to Rome, the group was able to meet Pope Francis briefly after his March 2 General Audience.

Archbishop Lori said Francis was very warm and friendly, and especially interested in the nature of the group, as well as what brought them to Rome.

“I think he was happy that we had chosen the year of mercy as an opportunity to come over and to seek healing and mercy in a culture that can be very hard and very merciless.”

Hathaway called his handshake with the Pope “amazing,” adding that Francis’ smile and the firmness of his grip left him with the feeling “that yes, we can do this together.  And I believe as people in the ecumenical faith community, we realized that we can do it together.”

Hathaway believes the group will return to Baltimore stronger than they were before, and voiced his hope that their collaboration will continue to grow.

On April 25, two days before the one year anniversary of Freddie Gray’s funeral and the day before the city’s local elections, the group will hold an interreligious prayer vigil.

“So we’re going to at least try to launch in the community an ecumenical prayer movement,” Hathaway said, explaining that the next step will likely be a project aimed at raising the hopes and aspirations of people who live in public housing, “which is severely distressed in our communities.”

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Washington D.C., Mar 10, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Hispanic Catholics are grossly underserved by Catholic schools in the United States, according to a new study, and this lack of participation could prove fatal to the future of the Church in the nation.

“Given the striking growth of the Hispanic Catholic school-age population and the declining enrollment in Catholic schools, the Church must be realistic and plan creatively — and prophetically — to serve this critical and growing group of American Catholics,” stated Professor Hosffman Ospino of Boston College, a co-author of the report “Catholic Schools in an Increasingly Hispanic Church.”

The report, published by Boston College and based on a nationwide survey of Catholic schools conducted in 2014, shows that Hispanic participation in Catholic schools has not only remained stagnant over two decades, but their enrollment is lower than even the number of non-Catholic students enrolled at Catholic schools.

“The numbers are without a doubt sobering,” the report stated.

For instance, Hispanic Catholic school-age children, 8 million of them, make up 54 percent of the overall school-age Catholic population in the U.S., 14.8 million.

How many of them are in Catholic schools? Just 300,000, or four percent of the Hispanic Catholic school-age population and two percent of the overall Catholic school-age population.

And Catholic schools have not been able to adjust their staff to meet the needs of the growing Hispanic Catholic population.

Only 12 percent of teachers at Catholic schools who responded to the survey self-identified as Hispanic; only 14 percent of Catholic school principals self-identified as Hispanic and just 17 percent spoke fluent Spanish. About a quarter of those schools offered a second-language program for teachers.

Twenty-one percent of the schools offered signage in both English and Spanish. A little more offered prayers in both languages (35 percent) and conducted liturgies in both languages (36 percent).

This presents a major problem for the future of the Catholic Church in the U.S. because Hispanic Catholics – currently 40 percent of the Catholic population in the U.S. and 60 percent of the under-18 Catholic population – are not receiving catechesis offered in schools and in parish religious education programs.

Four percent attend Catholic schools, and only 10 percent of Hispanic children are enrolled in these religious education programs at parishes with Hispanic ministries.

“Catholicism in the United States, from its very beginnings, has been shaped by the experiences of millions of immigrants and their descendants,” the report stated. “There is no doubt that Catholic schools continue to be a major referent for identity in the American Catholic experience.”

Thus, “this is a unique opportunity for U.S. Catholics in the twenty-first century to reimagine the commitment to Catholic education in an increasingly Hispanic Church while building upon the best of our experiences and resources,” the report continued.

While the numbers are “sobering,” the reasons behind low Hispanic enrollment in Catholic schools aren’t so clear-cut, the report declared.

For instance, Catholic schools have seen a decline in enrollment and the total number of schools in the last few decades, particularly since the year 2000, and this has hit urban areas especially hard. The number of religious – many of whom take vows of poverty – staffing these schools has fallen sharply, requiring the employment of lay staff and thus higher salaries. Some schools aren’t able to stay open amid rising costs.

One initiative that might counter this trend is the “Two-Way Immersion Network,” started in 2012 by Boston College. Member schools – currently 17 in number – aim to balance the student body between English- and Spanish-speakers. Bilingualism and biliteracy are emphasized, as well as an encounter of different cultures among the students.

Prayers at the schools are said in both English and Spanish, and the percentage of the Spanish speakers among teachers and staff members is also higher.

For instance, the report noted, St. Matthew School in Phoenix was not far from closing its doors in 2009 with an enrollment of only 159 students, most of whom were Hispanic. After it began implementing the Two-Way program, test scores went up and enrollment increased 25 percent. Students can now speak both English and Spanish.

There is a great need for programs like this, the report insisted, because most Hispanic children currently attend “hyper-segregated” public schools in urban areas, where the quality of the education is poor. This problem is compounded by Hispanic students having the highest dropout rate in the country.

Thus, these children are at a higher risk of poverty when they grow older. Already “about a third of all Hispanic children live in poverty,” the report stated, probably the leading reason why Hispanic families may choose not to enroll their children in private schools.

The future of the Church in the U.S. may well be at stake if the needs of a populace that makes up 60 percent of its children are not met, the report asserted.

“It is imperative that we transform school environments so that the cultures that shape Church and society in our day joyfully meet and share genuine hospitality,” the report concluded. “If Hispanic Catholic families perceive that they are welcomed with all they bring, they will likely look at Catholic schools as a strong option for the education of their children.”

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(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Wednesday said there is “a lack  of  political  will  on  the  part  of  the  different  Institutions  of  the  International  community” to address attacks on the right of religious freedom.

The comments were made during a United Nations Human Rights Council discussion on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.

“Minimizing the essential role that religion has in  all societies will not be the  answer to the current challenges found in the interplay of [the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression],” said Msgr. Richard Gyhra, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva.

“We  live  in  a  world  subject  to  the  ‘globalization  of  the  technocratic  paradigm,’ which  consciously  aims  at  a  one-dimensional  uniformity  and  seeks  to  eliminate  all  differences  and  traditions  in  a  superficial  quest  for  unity,” he continued.

“Religions  thus  have  the right and the duty to make clear that it is possible to build a society where ‘a healthy  pluralism which respects differences and values them as such’ is  a precious ally in  the commitment to defending human dignity… and a path to peace in our troubled  world,” said Msgr. Gyhra.

“The tendency to globalization is not necessarily bad. On the contrary, if it  unites  us, it  can be noble.  However,  we are  all  aware  that  ‘globalization  makes  us  neighbors, but does not make us brothers’.”

The Vatican diplomat said another essential aspect to the respect for freedom of religion or belief and its  relationship with freedom of expression is the limitation that some forms of national  legislation impose by not permitting an open exercise of the freedom of religion.

“For a diminution of violations of this essential right,  it is imperative that all  persons of all religious persuasions, or of no religion, are treated equally as citizens in  the fullest sense, without discrimination and  persecution because of their convictions  or beliefs,” Msgr. Gyhra said.

The full text of Msgr. Gyhra’s address is below

Intervention by Msgr. Richard Gyhra, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the

Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva

at the 31 st Session of the Human Rights Council

Item 3 - Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

Geneva, 9 March 2016

Mr. President,

The  Special Rapporteur on  the  freedom  of  religion or belief has  provided us  with  a  rather  thought-provoking  Report  which  addresses  the  interplay  and  interconnectedness of this freedom with the freedom of expression. The ongoing and  world-wide  terrorist  attacks,  as  well  as  the  greater  relation  between  religion  and  tolerance, underscore  the necessity of reflecting upon these basic freedoms, of how  we approach and understand them, and the “rights” and “obligations” demanded by  them.  Studies  and statistics indicate  a  rather sober and  sad  reality  when  they  show  that limits and abuses of the freedom of religion or belief are continuing to increase in many countries. This trend is very alarming for the Holy See as it seems to indicate a  lack  of  political  will  on  the  part  of  the  different  Institutions  of  the  International  community to address the causes of such violence and  that there is a  long path that  lies ahead in the area of mutual understanding and dialogue. Often times, the public  reactions to these unfortunate and violent events drive a greater wedge between these  two  rights,  pushing  them  further  apart  as  if  they  are  opposite  rights  or  innately antithetical.  On the contrary, these freedoms, as with all rights,  are to  be understood within  the  framework  of  the  universality  and  interdependence  of  all  fundamental human rights. The danger arises, however, when human rights are understood from  an approach that considers freedom as complete license or autonomy, the exercise of  one’s  freedom  without  any  reference  to  the  other  or  to  the  “obligation”  which  corresponds  to  the  right.   As  the  Special  Rapporteur  notes,  “the  two  rights  under  discussion  here  are  rights  of  “everyone”  and  thus  held  by  all  human  beings  who  should be able to exercise them free from fear and free from discrimination… (they)  epitomize the principle of equality which underpins the human -rights approach as a  whole.”

Minimizing the essential role that religion has in  all societies will not be the  answer to the current challenges found in the interplay of these two freedoms. We  live  in  a  world  subject  to  the  “globalization  of  the  technocratic  paradigm,” which  consciously  aims  at  a  one-dimensional  uniformity  and  seeks  to  eliminate  all  differences  and  traditions  in  a  superficial  quest  for  unity.  Religions  thus  have  the right and the duty to make clear that it is possible to build a society where “a healthy  pluralism which respects differences and values them as such” is  a “precious ally in  the commitment to defending human dignity… and a path to peace in our troubled  world.” The tendency to globalization is not necessarily bad. On the contrary, if it  unites  us, it  can be noble.  However,  we are  all  aware  that  “globalization  makes  us  neighbors, but does not make us brothers”.

Therefore,  if this tendency pretends to  makes us all the same, it destroys the individuality of every person.  Freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental right which shapes the way we  interact,  alone  or  in  community,  with  our  neighbors  whose  religious  views  differ  from our own. Religious freedom is rooted in respecting the freedom of conscience.  By  its  very  nature  it  transcends  places  of  worship  and  the  private  sphere  of  individuals and families and seeks to build the common good of all persons. As Pope  Francis says, religious freedom allows us to seek “the truth and dignity of the human  person and human rights. In a world where various forms of modern tyranny seek to  suppress religious freedom,  or try to reduce it to a subculture without right to a voice  in  the  public  square,  or  to  use  religion  as  a  pretext  for  hatred  and  brutality,  it  is  imperative that the followers of the various religions join their voices in calling for  peace, tolerance and respect for the dignity and rights of others.”

Mr. President,

For the Holy See,  freedom of religion and  freedom of speech  are called to coexist  as  fundamental  human  rights.  There  is  a  truth,  however,  that  must  not  be  overlooked;  namely, that everyone  has the right to practice his or her religion freely,  without offending others. Furthermore, we must not offend other believers, make war  or kill in the name of one’s own religion, in God’s name. “To kill in the name of God  is  an  aberration.  I  believe  that  this  is  the  most  important  thing  about  religious  freedom: to  exercise it in freedom, without offending, but also without imposing it or  killing for it.”

 “Everyone not only has the freedom of expression, the right, but also  the obligation, to say what they think in order to promote the common good. We have  the obligation to speak openly, to enjoy this freedom, but without offending others.  We cannot provoke others, we cannot insult their faith, we cannot mock their faith.”

In this sense, there is a delicate interplay of these two fundamental rights that must be  carefully maintained by respecting the freedom of conscience of others, by exercising  our freedom in a responsible and respectful way, not as complete autonomy or license  but  rather  as  the  freedom  to  choose  what  is  truly  good  for  the  individual,  his  community and for the common good, and by treating others as we wish to be treated.

Another essential aspect to the respect for freedom of religion or belief and its  relationship with freedom of expression is the limitation that some forms of national  legislation impose by not permitting an open exercise of the freedom of religion, a  fundamental  human  right  as  articulated  in  the  Universal  Declaration  of  Human  Rights. For a diminution of violations of this essential right,  it is imperative that all  persons of all religious persuasions, or of no religion, are treated equally as citizens in  the fullest sense, without discrimination and  persecution because of their convictions  or beliefs.

Mr. President,

In  conclusion,  the  enjoyment  of  the  freedom  of  religion  or  belief  is  a  fundamental human right that cannot be simply  brushed aside, as if our societies have moved beyond any religious belief or sentiment. With many conflicts occurring at  the hands of some extremists, religion has unfortunately been portrayed as the culprit  that must be excised from modernity by way of the scalpel of freedom of expression.  This effort is not only misguided, but contrary to the nature of the human person.  In  fact,  freedom of religion and freedom of expression  cannot  exist  separately, for they  are interdependent and united.  Thus, they should  always  be  enjoyed together through  a reasonable and respectful exchange.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio to Colombia, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, on Thursday visited the “Servidores del Servidor” community in the Santa Fe slum of Bogotá.

Archbishop Balestrero – who previously served Undersecretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of the Vatican State – helped prepare and serve meals to about 150 people.

Photos provided by the ACI Prensa news service show the smiling Nuncio in an apron making lentil soup, and greeting those served by the charity.

"We are here to follow the Gospel,” Archbishop Balestrero told ACI Prensa.  “We are in Lent and 2016 is the Year of Mercy, and  one of the works of mercy is to feed the hungry.”

The “Servidores del Servidor” provides a daily meal in the Santa Fe neighborhood, as well as offering spiritual counseling. It also has an orphanage, offers support for addicts, and conducts workshops to help people caught up in the sex trade.

Archbishop Balestrero encouraged them in their work, and reminded all those present that “in the midst of us all is always the Lord.”

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(Vatican Radio) A new report from humanitarian aid agency Save the Children says more than a quarter million children in besieged areas of Syria are at daily risk from the ongoing civil war.

Syran children are faced with lack of food and medical care, as well as the emotional and psychological impact of air strikes and bombings.

People in besieged areas of Syria are surrounded by soldiers, landmines, and checkpoints, making it difficult to receive necessary food and medical supplies, or to leave those areas to obtain medical care. “They’re basically like prisons,” said Save the Children’s regional spokesperson Alun McDonald.

Speaking with Vatican Radio, McDonald described the situation in Syria. “People can’t get medicine, and nearly everyone that we spoke to knew of children who’d died because of the lack of medicine, or because they can’t get past the checkpoints, go to hospital.” Children are often malnourished, he continued. “We spoke to parents who were in tears, really, because their children have had to eat leaves or animal feed, or one daily meal of a bit of stale bread dipped in water, and that was all that they could find to eat. And we spoke to teachers who told us of children who were fainting in class, because they were so hungry.”

McDonald also spoke about the psychological and emotional toll on children who live in constant fear of violence. “Children are not just sick and hungry, but they’re also scared and terrified.”

While all of Syria is facing shortages and security concerns, McDonald said, areas that are being besieged are the most vulnerable. “There’s very little humanitarian access allowed to these areas. To get to these areas, because they’re surrounded by military or soldiers or checkpoints, you have to have permission from the parties to the conflict who are in control of the areas, and it’s very, very difficult to get this permission. Last year more than 90 percent of the applications made by the UN to get to these areas were rejected. So it’s very difficult to provide aid.”

Save the Children, with other humanitarian aid agencies, is calling “for a complete end to the sieges.” A cessation of hostilities has led to some improvements in offering aid, McDonald said, “but it’s very limited at the moment, and it is a very small amount compared to what’s needed in these places.”

Listen to the Vatican Viewpoint featuring the full interview of Save the Children’s Alun McDonald with Christopher Wells:

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