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 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."

"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.

"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU

He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.

The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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(Vatican Radio)  Prosecutors say at least 55 people have been detained and several were injured following violent protests in Azerbaijan. The unrest was triggered by soaring food prices in the energy-rich Caspian Sea nation.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

At least one person was treated in hospital and several others were injured as police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators who blocked streets in the city of Siyazan, near the Caspian Sea coast, about 100 kilometers north of the capital, Baku.

The Prosecutor General's office said that policemen were among those injured and that two police vehicles were damaged in the violence. 

Authorities have accused what they called "religious extremists" and the opposition Popular Front and Musavat parties of provoking the riots.

National currency plummets

Musavat rejected the accusations, saying the protest was triggered by price hikes following a sharp devaluation of the national currency of as much as 40 percent against the U.S. dollar, due to plummeting global oil prices.

There have been demonstrations in other areas in the country of some 10 million people, but soldiers reportedly prevented at least one protest march.  

The economic difficulties people experience have been linked to dropping oil prices which slumped by 70 percent in the past 15 months, down to around $30 a barrel on international markets.

Additionally critics say that poverty and corruption continue to overshadow the former Soviet nation's development.

Presiden Ilham Aliyev has come under pressure to allow more freedom as a reported government crackdown on human rights activists and journalists has raised concern over Azerbaijan's democratic credentials.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis is urging us to take up the challenge of receiving and integrating, in the best possible way, the growing numbers of migrants and refugees arriving on our shores and across our borders.

In his message, entitled “Migrants and Refugees Challenge Us. The Response of the Gospel of Mercy” for this year's World Day of Migrants and Refugees which recurs on January 17, the Pope notes that migration is growing worldwide as the victims of violence and poverty increasingly flee their homelands in search of a better life.

“Today – he says – more than in the past, the Gospel of mercy troubles our consciences, prevents us from taking the suffering of others for granted” and asks us to respond with charity and with practical solutions that respect the human dignity of each person.

The Pope also points out that integration offers the possibility of mutual enrichment and that hospitality grows from both giving and receiving.

Tom Smolich SJ is the director of the Jesuit Refugee Service which accompanies, serves and advocates on behalf of refugees and forced migrants.

He reflects on Pope Francis message for World Refugee Day and tells Vatican Radio that JRS’s “Mercy in Motion” campaign which aims to expand and strengthen education programmes for refugees as a concrete sign of commitment to the Jubilee Year of Mercy:

Listen to Linda Bordoni’s interview with Fr. Tom Smolich:

Fr. Tom Smolich notes that in his message Pope Francis captures three essential realities of migrants and refugees in our world today.

“The Holy Father begins by saying this is a structural reality – there are 60 million people who are refugees right now. People who are forced migrants either inside or outside of their own countries”.

He says that “a few years ago we may have been able to say ‘it’s happening here or it’s happening there and they’re not connected’ but Pope Francis is reminding us that this is part of our world right now: we cannot be citizens of the earth and not deal with the fact that people are on the move and that millions of people are on the move against their own will: how are we going to respond to that?”

“The Holy Father’s very powerful point in that response is that we are all brothers and sisters” he says.

Smolich highlights the fact that in the final paragraph of the message the Pope says ‘Dear brothers and sisters, migrants and refugees!’ – We are all one – he says - we all start out as children of God.

He points out that it is wrong to consider oneself different and distant from a migrant or a refugee because as the Pope says we are all children of God: “we have to begin from that graced moment”.

Smolich says Francis is also calling us to put the Year of Mercy into motion, to put it into practice and to take responsibility for the safeguard and wellbeing of our brothers and sisters.

The JRS director goes on to talk about his organization’s “Mercy in Motion” campaign which is a direct response to the Pope’s call for commitment during this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

It was decided – he says – “to increase the number of folks that we serve through education by 100,000 – almost doubling the number we already serve”.

He explains that to do this it takes resources and that is where the campaign comes in inviting people to join putting their “mercy into motion”. He says that so JRS has met with a generous response from donors all over the world – old friends as well as new.

He says that JRS is very grateful the Pope himself has expressed support for the campaign. 

Smolich also speaks of why education is such a precious tool for refugees  as well as being one of the basic human rights and of how it help them rise up to the challenge of making a new life for themselves and make a huge difference in their individual lives.

“All of us have challenges, but the life of a typical refugee or migrant poses challenges that many of us who have not had to make that struggle can’t even imagine. Being able to think, to understand what others have to say, being able to write, perhaps speak a different language –  the language of the country I am going to arrive in -  makes a huge difference” he says.     

Smolich talks of having recently visited the island of Lesbos to see the work JRS are doing there and of having been very moved by an encounter with a Syrian man who said: “when I landed here you extended your hand, you didn’t have to do that”.

“That to me was one of those moments where the challenge that Pope Francis talks about not only made sense in a very visceral way, but it also said ‘this is a man who has been touched by this human encounter within this challenge’, and in a sense he could articulate what this experience was for him. This was someone whose education in that very small moment made a difference in his experience of what had happened, his experience of being connected to the folks he met” he says.

“Education does things like that in many moments that we can imagine”.   

For more information on JRS click here.

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis in Saturday appointed a Hong Kong bishop to the diocese of Macau, a former Portuguese colony, now a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China.  Auxiliary Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang of Hong Kong, a former British dependency, now a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, is the new bishop of Macau.  Bishop Sang takes over from Bishop José Lai Hung-seng, who has stepped down.   A native of Macau, Bishop Lai has been heading Macau Diocese since June 30, 2003.  Bishop Stephen Lee  who was born in Hong Kong on 10 November 1956, speaks English and Spanish besides Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.

‎In 1951, Communist China, which is officially an atheist state, ‎expelled foreign missionaries, severed diplomatic relations with the ‎Vatican and by 1957 set up its own church - the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association - in defiance of ‎the Rome-based Catholic Church headed by the Pope.  However, both Hong Kong and Macau, that reverted to China in 1997 and 1999 respectively, enjoy a high degree of autonomy because of their Special Administrative Region status, and hence the Pope can appoint bishops in the two former colonies.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis visits Rome’s synagogue on Sunday to meet with leaders and members of the local Jewish community, including several Holocaust survivors. During the afternoon event, the Pope will pay tribute to the 2.191 Jews who were deported by the Nazis in Rome in October 1943, as well as to a young boy who was killed during a terrorist attack on the synagogue by Palestinian gunmen in 1982.

His visit marks the third time a pontiff has been invited to the synagogue, following on from the visit by Benedict XVI in January 2010 and the historic encounter of Pope John Paul II with former Rabbi Elio Toaff there in 1986.

Sunday’s visit follows on from the publication, last December of an important new document from the Vatican’s Commission for religious relations with Jews, exploring the theological developments during the past half century of dialogue between Catholics and Jews.

Fr Norbert Hofmann is secretary of that Commission – he talked to Philippa Hitchen about the importance of Pope Francis’ visit to the synagogue and his hopes for the future of the Catholic-Jewish relationship…

Listen: 

Fr Hofmann notes this is the third visit of a Pope to the Roman synagogue, but he says it is an important sign that Pope Francis wants to deepen and foster Jewish-Catholic friendships. Such friendships, he says, are in the Argentinean pontiff’s DNA, because during his years in Buenos Aires he visited synagogues, celebrating Jewish festivals together with friends and now he is continuing this in Rome on the international level.

Meeting with Holocaust survivors is significant, Fr Hofmann says, because the Shoah was “a very decisive experience” and remains “a pillar of identity” for Jews so this encounter is a sign of “reconciliation”.

Commenting on the new document from his Commission, Fr Hofmann says it’s the first publication dealing explicitly with theological issues and therefore it raises significant hopes for a deepening of the dialogue between people of the two faiths.

Commenting on concerns of Jewish observers over the Holy See’s official recognition of the State of Palestine last year, Fr Hofmann says it is understandable that they find it hard to recognize this as a part of the Vatican’s normal diplomatic activity. But he says progress on the religious and theological level can help to influence positively the political discussions.

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The Catholic Church in India has begun collecting data for the canonization process of Christians killed some 7 years ago during anti-Christian violence in eastern India’s Odisha state.  "The official process has not yet started. But we are working on it and hope to start it in a few months," said Father Ajay Singh, secretary of the Odisha regional bishops' Commission for Justice, Peace and Development.  The efforts are aimed at the Vatican declaring as martyrs those killed when Hindu extremists attacked Christians in the tribal-dominated Kandhamal district in Odisha state in 2007 and 2008. 

A reign of terror was unleashed on Christians following the August 23, 2008 assassination of Hindu spiritual leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, by Maoists which Hindus blamed on Christians.  The anti-Christian violence engulfed more than 600 villages and killed about 100 people, including disabled and elderly people, children and women. Some 350 churches and 6,500 houses were looted and burned down, making 56,000 people homeless. Several rapes were reported, including that of a Catholic nun. The state had also witnessed an earlier round of anti-Christian violence during Christmas of 2007.

According to Father Santhosh Digal, spokesman for the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Archdiocese, which covers the area, documentation of the victims is "not an easy job" as most official documents were destroyed in the rioting.  However, they are collecting evidence and data on the victims" to help start the canonization process.  Archbishop John Barwa told UCANEWS that the process will start "within few months" after consultation among India’s bishops, who are to meet in March for their biennial general conference.

Father Singh said although the process will be initiated at the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Archdiocese, they want it to become a national Christian affair that would help people reaffirm their faith.  He noted that many would not have been killed if they had simply abandoned their faith and hailed Hindu gods. “Although very poor and living in huts without basic amenities, they stood up for their faith, and dared to be butchered,” he said. “These are remarkable witness stories, good enough to embolden Christians facing persecution anywhere in India," Father Singh added. (Source: UCAN)

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis is set to release a new children’s book in February, entitled “Love before the World”.

The book – published by Loyola Press (orig. Italian title “L’amore prima del mondo”) – contains the Holy Father’s responses to letters written by children from around the world.

What did God do before creating the world? “God loved.”

Why do my parents fight sometimes? “They are human.”

These are some of the questions put to Pope Francis by children between the ages of 6-13 from 26 countries, including Albania, China, Nigeria, and the Philippines.

Fr. Antonio Spadaro, SJ, director of ‘La Civiltà Cattolica’, met with the pope at the Casa Santa Marta several times during the last months, giving the Holy Father a chance to respond to the children’s letters spontaneously.

“These are hard questions,” Pope Francis said, smiling.

The drawings and questions of 31 children were chosen for the book, which will be presented to the Holy Father by several of the children who wrote the letters on 22 February.

The book hits shelves in Italy on 25 February 2016, and on 1 March in the rest of the world.

It comes just after the release of the Holy Father’s book The Name of God is Mercy.

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Washington D.C., Jan 16, 2016 / 06:23 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The recent deportation raids targeting Central American immigrants will not discourage immigrants who are fleeing their countries as a last resort, the U.S. bishops said.

From Jan. 2 to Jan. 4, the Department of Homeland Security searched communities in Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina for immigrants who were in the country illegally. Federal officials took 121 people into custody.

Many of the detainees now being held in federal detention centers awaiting deportation back to Central America are mothers and children, the bishops said.

“To send migrant children and families back to their home countries would put many of them in grave danger because they would face threats of violence and for some, even death,” Bishops Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle, and Kevin Vann of Orange, Calif. said in a Jan. 8 letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson on behalf of the U.S. bishops.

Bishop Elizondo serves as the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration and Bishop Vann heads the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

The bishops said the administration’s actions do not discourage other Central American immigrants from making the dangerous journey to the U.S. Many are fleeing the area as a last resort to escape life-threatening violence and persecution. The raids have “generated fear among immigrants and have made their communities even more distrustful of law enforcement and vulnerable to misinformation, exploitation and fraud.”

“While we recognize the vital role that the federal government plays in ensuring orderly and coherent migration processes,” the bishops said, “we disagree with the underlying rationale behind this action: that sending children and families back to the dangerous environments they fled will serve as a deterrent for other children and families who are considering fleeing Central America.”

They noted that these raids “contrast sharply” with President Obama’s November 2014 claims that his administration would target deportation of “felons, not families; criminals, not children; gang members, not a mom who’s working hard to provide for her kids.”

“These actions, which force people to live in fear and terror and separate families, deny the dignity of the human spirit,” Bishop Vann and Bishop Elizondo said.

They discouraged deportation, especially without first checking whether these individuals have any “meaningful opportunities to present their asylum claims at hearings in immigration court.” They called for an outright end to detaining mothers and children.

“While the mothers who were the targets of DHS’s recent actions had deportation orders, we note that already the Board of Immigration Appeals has recognized that some of these deportation orders involve serious due process concerns,” they said.

The bishops said the Obama administration and Congress should encourage long-term solutions to help solve what they said is the root problem of forced migration. Such solutions would include more support for humanitarian efforts in Central America.

They also recommended increased resources for the American immigration court system, such as providing more attorneys and judges to handle the growing number of Central American immigrants coming to the U.S.

On Jan. 13, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the U.S. will expand its Refugees Admissions Program and seek help from humanitarian organizations including the United Nations to manage the huge influx of Central American migrants.

Bishops Elizondo and Vann offered their concerns for the families who they said have already been harmed by the deportation raids.

“Believing that we are all made in the image and likeness of God, we recognize the God-given dignity of every person,” the bishops said.

“We cannot support such actions and urge you to reject future enforcement efforts of this kind,” their letter concluded. “We promise to continue our efforts to work with you to reform our immigration system and make it truly reflective of American ideals and values.”

 

 

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