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“The church should not be used as a place for politics where people convince Christians to vote for them, yet some of them do not belong to any faith. They do not believe in God,” Bishop Maurice Crowley of the Catholic Diocese of Kitale warned.

In his homily at St Peter Claver Catholic Church, Kiminini, recently, Bishop Crowley noted that politicians use places of worship to gain political mileage.

“I am aware of what is happening in most Churches in the region, and I ask you fellow Christians to shun leaders who misuse the Church,” he said.

He called for peaceful campaigns and urged congregants to vote wisely in the forthcoming party nominations and the 8 August General elections.

“I ask you to put God first and preach peace across Kenya as you exercise your democratic right to vote. We need a peaceful elections, so I urge you to elect leaders with a vision,” he said.

Bishop Crowley called upon worshippers to live in harmony and avoid a repeat of the 2007/2008 post-election violence that gripped Kenya. He said the Church should be at the forefront in preaching peace.

“We should not take Kenya back to where it was in 2007 when our people lost lives and others were left homeless. Instead, let us unite the masses for a better Kenya,” Bishop Crowley said.

The prelate joins a series of Catholic bishops who have publicly banned politicians from using the pulpit to woo voters.

On 2 November 2016, Bishop Paul Njiru Kariuki of the Catholic Diocese of Embu told politicians to “keep off Church for political campaigns” whereas Bishop Salesius Mugambi of the Catholic Diocese of Meru on 5 December 2016 called on politicians to “respect the church as a pace of worship.”

(CISA in Nairobi)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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The Bishop of Ho Diocese, Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD, has reminded the laity in Ghana that they were not passive objects of the Church and recipients of the pastoral care of the Clergy but active and unique participants in the Church’s inner life and mystery. The Bishop said the laity were sharers in the apostolic mission of the Church to the secular world.

He said there was the need to emphasise that the participation of the laity in the pastoral ministry of the Church should not only be seen in terms of standing side-by-side with priests at the Sanctuary or doing what the priest does.

Speaking in a Keynote Address at the opening of the 39th Plenary Assembly of the National Catholic Laity Council (NCLC) at Bibiani in the Wiawso Diocese last week, the Bishop told the lay faithful of Ghana to endeavour to discover and nurture their proper functions, service and ministry in the Church. This, the Bishop said, would make their work an authentic and unique one.

The Plenary on the theme, "Do This in Memory of Me: The Eucharist as the Foundation for the Participation of The laity in the Pastoral Care Ministry of the Church," was attended by over 200 delegates from all the dioceses in Ghana

Bishop Fianu, who is the Episcopal Chair for Laity, Women and Youth, said the lay faithful could participate in the pastoral ministry of the Church by breaking-up cliques that lead activities in parishes and by opening up to newcomers who want to contribute to the life of a parish.

He lamented that, “At times we have the same people serving on some Parish and Diocesan Committees for ages as if there are no other people.” He added that “we should not be afraid of change because change refreshes our groups and brings new ideas for greater developments.”

Bishop Fianu said, “We need to acknowledge that the lay faithful of today is composed of well-educated, intelligent, highly competent and intensely questioning men and women. It goes without saying that with the renewed understanding of the Church as people of God, the Church today is no longer faced with the question of what to do with educated laity who have left the Church.”

The Bishop noted that the Church must now face the question of the intelligent lay faithful who are very much a part of the Church and want to deepen their commitment to her life and mission.

He stressed that it was important to emphasise that all the faithful of Christ were called to the fullness of the Christian life and perfection of charity. Hence they were called to share in a ministry that was fully theirs.

On his part, Bishop-Elect Gabriel Kumordji of Keta-Aktasi, who is also Episcopal Chair for the Laity, urged the laity of Ghana to form a united front to play their respective roles as demanded by the Church through effectively involving themselves in activities of the Church for the growth and development of the Church.

He lamented that the formation of the lay faithful was diminishing, thus appealing to priests to let their laity know their roles and give them the opportunity to play their prophetic role.

(Damian Avevor, Bibiani in Ghana)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Monday. Reflecting on the Readings of the Day, the Holy Father focused on the significance of Jesus’ fulfilment of the law: what it means, and how He accomplishes it.

Taking his queues from the day’s Gospel, in which St. John’s account of Our Lord’s mercy toward the woman caught in adultery was proclaimed, and from the 1^st Reading, from the Book of the Prophet Daniel, which recounted the story of Susanna, the innocent woman and chaste wife falsely accused of adultery by the very men, who were appointed judges over God’s people, in which the Lord first raised up Daniel as His prophet, to secure justice in the form of vindication for Susanna and punishment for her false accusers, Pope Francis said:

“There have always been corrupt judges, and there still are corrupt judges everywhere in the world. Why is corruption in people? Sin is one thing: "I have sinned, I’ve stumbled, I’ve been unfaithful to God, but then I try not to do it again, or I try to set things right with the Lord, or at least I [admit] that all is not well.” Corruption, though: that is when sin enters ever more deeply, ever more deeply, ever more deeply into your conscience, and will not leave you room even to breathe.”

Click below to hear our report

Everything, that is, “becomes sin”: that is “corruption.” The corrupt, Pope Francis went on to say,  believe “with impunity” that they are doing good. In the case of Susanna, the elderly judges “were corrupted by the vices of lust,” threatening to give “false testimony” against her. Nor was it either the “first case” recorded in Scripture of false witness: The Pope recalled also Jesus own case, his condemnation on false testimony. In the case of the true adulteress, we find other judges, Pope Francis said, who were “out of their gourds” having allowed there to grow in their minds an interpretation of the law that was, “so rigid as to leave no room for the Holy Spirit”: that is to say, “the corruption of legality, of legalism, against grace.” Then there is Jesus, the true Teacher of the Law, before the false judges who had “perverted the heart” or gave unjust sentences “oppressing the innocent and absolving evildoers”:

“Jesus says few things, very few things. He says: ‘He that is without sin, cast the first stone at her.’ To the sinful woman [He says], ‘I do not condemn you. Do not sin any more’ – and this is the fullness of the law, not that of the Scribes and Pharisees who had corrupted their minds by making so many laws, many laws, without leaving room for mercy. Jesus is the fullness of the law and God judges with mercy.”

Leaving the innocent woman free, to whom Jesus says “Mom” because – Pope Francis said – “His mother is the only innocent one,” for the corrupt judges are reserved “not nice words” through the mouth of the prophet: “wizened with vices”. The Pope’s invitation therefore is to think of the evil “with which our vices judge people”:

“We, too, judge others in our hearts: are we corrupt, or not yet? Stop. Let’s stop ourselves, and let us look to Jesus, who always judges with mercy: ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go in peace and sin no more.”

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Santiago, Chile, Apr 3, 2017 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Fighting the scourge of discrimination that often accompanies HIV, the Santa Clara Foundation in Santiago de Chile has worked since 1994 to ensure that children with the virus experience God’s love and have a better quality of life.

“When you see a child it's very easy to see the face of Christ in him,” said Sister Nora Valencia of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Jesus, director of the home since 2008. “The child just by himself inspires a lot of tenderness, inspires you to protect him, to love him.”

It is a face “with hope, because we're…working so that the children live, and live well,” she told CNA.

The children at the home suffer from HIV – or human immunodeficiency virus. Despite common misconceptions, not all people with HIV will go on to develop AIDS – or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Sister Nora stressed.

Therefore, she clarified, it is incorrect to say that the children at their home have AIDS. “We are always making every effort so they don't develop AIDS” and if they ever do develop it, that it remains under control.

While there is no cure for HIV, there are treatments that can help “make the lives of these children normal” and slow the progression of the disease, greatly increasing life expectancies, she explained.

The Santa Clara Home is currently caring for 60 families and has three levels of care. The internal system offers care for up to 17 children living at the facility. The intermediate system offers follow up care, as well as psychological and sociological evaluations, for children living at home. The external system offers workshops and food baskets for families who need them.

Thanks to a system of sponsors and volunteers, five legal adoptions of children with HIV have taken place since 2008.

Sister Nora said that working with these children, “your maternal instinct develops 200 percent” and “if the Lord sent him here, it's so we first instill love and then all the rest.”

She hopes that the children “will be happy” and “tomorrow when they reach adulthood they won't have to lie about their illness.” She further has hope that society may “accept them the way they are and give them the opportunity that at times wasn't given to their parents. That no one be discriminated against because of ignorance.”

The Santa Clara Home obtained their own plot of land in Santiago after submitting a project to the Regional Government. They now must raise funds for the construction of a house designed for the children, since the place they are in currently is a former Franciscan convent from 1870 which will likely not withstand another earthquake like the one that occurred in 2010.

 

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