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PHOENIX (AP) -- The former city bus driver arrested in a string of 2016 serial killings that terrorized several Phoenix neighborhoods declared "I'm innocent" during a brief court hearing....
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- State Sen. Mary Lazich was adamant: The bill Republicans were about to push through the Wisconsin state Senate, requiring that voters present identification at the polls, would do no harm....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration has begun hunting for evidence of crimes committed by Haitian immigrants as it decides whether to allow them to continue in a humanitarian program that has shielded tens of thousands from deportation since a devastating earthquake....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A luxury Caribbean property Donald Trump purchased four years ago is for sale, raising the possibility that a buyer could see it as a way to get on the president's radar....
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) -- A judge on Tuesday erased a 2013 murder conviction against former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, ruling that case law in Massachusetts has long established that defendants who die before their appeals are heard should have their convictions vacated....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration announced Tuesday it will arm Syria's Kurdish fighters "as necessary" to recapture the key Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, despite intense opposition from NATO ally Turkey, which sees the Kurds as terrorists....
His Eminence Cardinal Berhaneyesus, C.M., Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Ababa, President of CBCE and AMECEA Chairman has called on parents to be a primary and reliable means of information for their children.He said that this post modern era is a challenging time for the youth to make an informed decision about their life and the path they want to choose. His Eminence said this in the speech he delivered at the national forum on building integral being of adolescents and youth organized by the Ethiopian Ministry of Youth and Sports in Addis Ababa.The forum focused on the many challenges youth and adolescents in Ethiopia are facing today such as different addictions, identity crisis and others and the effects of such challenges on the overall development of the youth and their achievements.Speaking on the occasion H. Em. Cardinal Berhaneyesus, C.M., said that the youth are the main actors called by God for a country’s religious, political, cultural and economic advan...
His Eminence Cardinal Berhaneyesus, C.M., Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Ababa, President of CBCE and AMECEA Chairman has called on parents to be a primary and reliable means of information for their children.
He said that this post modern era is a challenging time for the youth to make an informed decision about their life and the path they want to choose. His Eminence said this in the speech he delivered at the national forum on building integral being of adolescents and youth organized by the Ethiopian Ministry of Youth and Sports in Addis Ababa.
The forum focused on the many challenges youth and adolescents in Ethiopia are facing today such as different addictions, identity crisis and others and the effects of such challenges on the overall development of the youth and their achievements.
Speaking on the occasion H. Em. Cardinal Berhaneyesus, C.M., said that the youth are the main actors called by God for a country’s religious, political, cultural and economic advancement; they are endowed with courage and capacity to create new things and contribute to development.
However the Cardinal pointed out that living in this digital age where the youth are bombarded with different unfiltered information they are highly influenced to fall onto undesired habits. “Today our young and adolescent children are exposed to various positive and negative life philosophies which reach them instantly. Many youth are lucky enough to be able to make the right choices, they are dedicated to developing themselves with knowledge and life skills and they are ready to take over their country as the new generation but at the same time many others find themselves challenged to choose the right path and make informed decisions. These groups fall on the traps of drugs, harmful practices and end up being weak achievers in their lives,” said Cardinal Berhaneyesus, C.M.
He added that in a country like Ethiopia where the majority of the populations are youth such obstacles have a negative impact in development efforts. Moreover, he said such influences are taking away from them their God given talents to identify their true calling and engage themselves in the road to reach their destiny.
His Eminence stressed that parents, religious leaders, teachers, media and the society as a whole have big roles to play in alleviating these challenges and called on all to engage in a more organized, manner to protect the young generation from addiction and related problems.
He also recalled that the Catholic Church in Ethiopia is paying attention to addressing the needs and questions of the young and adolescents through various programs. He also mentioned that only recently the Church implemented the Teen STAR program in 155 Catholic and other public and private schools, and 5 universities reaching 355 teachers, 70,870 parents and more than 35,435 youths providing them holistic life skills that would help them know their worth and expect to reach the maximum of their potential.
He lauded the Ethiopia Ministry of Youth and Sports for recognizing the critical needs of the young and adolescents and organizing the forum and said that all stakeholders should pay greater attention to alleviating these challenges that are threatening their spiritual life and ethics.
By Makeda Yohannes (Ethiopia Catholic Secretariat).
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his appreciation for the people and Catholics of Bangladesh who regard the appointment of the country’s first cardinal as a blessing. “I expressed all the feelings and joys of the people of Bangladesh and the Catholic community, and the blessings they have received through this appointment,” Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario of Bangladesh told Vatican Radio, referring to his private meeting with Pope Francis on May 5. “I communicated it to him and he really liked it, and he also saw the much deeper meaning… of the appointment he has made,” the Archbishop of Dhaka said on the sidelines of a Mass and felicitation programme organized on May 7 by Bangladesh’s Catholic community of Rome, at the Parish of Santa Maria Maggiore in San Vito. The 73-year old cardinal is in Rome for a formality to take possession of a titular church in the city on Saturday, May 13. The Pope tradi...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has expressed his appreciation for the people and Catholics of Bangladesh who regard the appointment of the country’s first cardinal as a blessing. “I expressed all the feelings and joys of the people of Bangladesh and the Catholic community, and the blessings they have received through this appointment,” Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario of Bangladesh told Vatican Radio, referring to his private meeting with Pope Francis on May 5. “I communicated it to him and he really liked it, and he also saw the much deeper meaning… of the appointment he has made,” the Archbishop of Dhaka said on the sidelines of a Mass and felicitation programme organized on May 7 by Bangladesh’s Catholic community of Rome, at the Parish of Santa Maria Maggiore in San Vito.
The 73-year old cardinal is in Rome for a formality to take possession of a titular church in the city on Saturday, May 13. The Pope traditionally assigns to cardinals parish churches of his Diocese of Rome. However, the cardinals are not personally responsible for the pastoral care of the faithful of their titular churches.
When the Pope made Archbishop D’Rozario a cardinal at the consistory of Nov. 19, 2016, in the Vatican, the 73-year old prelate became Bangladesh’s first ever cardinal and the first cardinal from among the Bengali-speaking people who are on either side of the divided Bengal, inhabiting Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal state.
Card. D’Rozario presented Pope Francis a ‘nakshikantha’, a traditional quilt embroidered in centuries-old Bengali art. He said he requested the Pope to ‘come to Bangladesh’ and that all were waiting for him there, but he said, “he could not give a specific date due to technical reasons.”
Pope Francis first hinted about a possible visit to India and Bangladesh in 2017 during and in-flight press conference on October 02, 2016, while returning from a visit to Azerbaijan. That was a week before he announced the 17 new cardinals from around the world, among them the Archbishop of Dhaka. Again in an interview to German weekly Die Zeit in March, the Pope spoke about his visit to India and India, without giving dates. However, Card. D’Rozario told reporters that given the weather conditions of Bangladesh, October-November would be ideal for a papal visit.
Card. D’Rozario earlier served as Bishop of Rajshahi from 1990 to ’95, and then Bishop of Chittagong from 1995 to 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Coadjutor Archbishop of Dhaka. He succeeded as Archbishop of Dhaka the following year. Since December 2011 he has been president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh (CBCP), and in that capacity he participated in the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family in October 2014.
With over 86% of its estimated 156 million population (2016) adhering to Islam, Bangladesh is home to the world’s 4th largest Muslim population after Indonesia, Pakistan and India. Around 10% is Hindu, and Christians and Buddhists make up less than 1 percent each of the population.
IMAGE: By Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Indian Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil,who was kidnapped in Yemen more than a year ago, in a video message pleaded forthe Indian government and the Catholic Church to do more to secure his release.The video was posted on YouTube by the news site Aden TimeMay 8; the heavily bearded and very thin Father Uzhunnalil is shown seated witha cardboard sign in his lap with the date April 15, 2017. A similar video wasposted in December.An official at the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia,which includes Yemen, said May 9 the person in the video is the kidnapped Salesian,but he would not comment further. Bishop Paul Hinder, the apostolic vicar, isaway from the vicariate headquarters in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on apastoral visit.Father Uzhunnalil was kidnapped in Aden March 4, 2016, in anattack in which four Missionaries of Charity and at least 12 others were killedat a home for the aged.In a meeting May 3 with Salesian novices studying i...
IMAGE:
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Indian Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was kidnapped in Yemen more than a year ago, in a video message pleaded for the Indian government and the Catholic Church to do more to secure his release.
The video was posted on YouTube by the news site Aden Time May 8; the heavily bearded and very thin Father Uzhunnalil is shown seated with a cardboard sign in his lap with the date April 15, 2017. A similar video was posted in December.
An official at the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, which includes Yemen, said May 9 the person in the video is the kidnapped Salesian, but he would not comment further. Bishop Paul Hinder, the apostolic vicar, is away from the vicariate headquarters in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on a pastoral visit.
Father Uzhunnalil was kidnapped in Aden March 4, 2016, in an attack in which four Missionaries of Charity and at least 12 others were killed at a home for the aged.
In a meeting May 3 with Salesian novices studying in Italy, Pope Francis once again offered prayers for the kidnapped priest.
In the new video, Father Uzhunnalil began by stating his name and date of birth and thanking "my dear family people" for their messages of concern, which he said he has received.
Without describing his captors or referring to them as such, he said, "they are treating me well to the extent that they are able."
"My health condition is deteriorating quickly and I require hospitalization as early as possible," he said.
Father Uzhunnalil said his captors have contacted Indian government authorities "several times" and the replies, which he said he has seen, were "very, very poor."
"They also contacted the bishop, bishop of Abu Dhabi," he said. "There, too, the response was not encouraging. Neither the bishop nor the Indian government authorities ask them what they really want to get me released. It is a poor response, and I am sad about that."
Asking his family and friends to pressure the authorities, he said, "Please, please, do what you what you can to get me released. May God bless you for that."
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KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- Indicted for killing thousands and kidnapping children to become soldiers and sex slaves, Joseph Kony has been Africa's most notorious warlord for three decades. Now that the United States and others are ending the international manhunt for him and his Lord's Resistance Army, it appears Kony may never be brought to justice....
