Catholic News 2
Reaction to the death of rock 'n' roll legend Chuck Berry at age 90:...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Chuck Berry, rock 'n' roll's founding guitar hero and storyteller who defined the music's joy and rebellion in such classics as "Johnny B. Goode," ''Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Roll Over Beethoven," died Saturday at his home west of St. Louis. He was 90....
Nepal's ruling Maoists on 16 March offered to hold talks with minority ethnic parties that withdrew support for the coalition because of long-standing differences over a new constitution. The minority Madhesi in the southern plains say that the new charter consolidates the power of the country's hill elite and marginalises them in the way new states will be created in a federal structure.Nepal has been struggling to establish a stable republic following the abolishment of a 239-year-old Hindu monarchy in 2008 and is set to hold local polls in May that will be followed by national elections under the charter adopted in 2015. But seven Madhesi parties issued a statement late on Wednesday saying they were cutting off support for Prime Minister Prachanda's government for failing to amend the constitution to reflect their grievances and vowed to disrupt the elections.Govinda Acharya, an aide to Prachanda, said the former Maoist rebel commander was ready to meet ...
Nepal's ruling Maoists on 16 March offered to hold talks with minority ethnic parties that withdrew support for the coalition because of long-standing differences over a new constitution. The minority Madhesi in the southern plains say that the new charter consolidates the power of the country's hill elite and marginalises them in the way new states will be created in a federal structure.
Nepal has been struggling to establish a stable republic following the abolishment of a 239-year-old Hindu monarchy in 2008 and is set to hold local polls in May that will be followed by national elections under the charter adopted in 2015. But seven Madhesi parties issued a statement late on Wednesday saying they were cutting off support for Prime Minister Prachanda's government for failing to amend the constitution to reflect their grievances and vowed to disrupt the elections.
Govinda Acharya, an aide to Prachanda, said the former Maoist rebel commander was ready to meet Madhesi leaders to bring them on board but would not cancel the polls. The government remains in majority in parliament despite loss of support. The elections for village assemblies and city municipalities are scheduled for May 14, the first such poll in 20 years.
Hridayesh Tripathi, of the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP), campaigning against the constitution, warned of trouble in the plains where more than half of Nepal's 28.6 million people live if the polls went ahead without amending the constitution.
Five people were killed last week when police opened fire to break up protests against the constitution in the Tarai. (Source: Reuters)
BADEN-BADEN, Germany (AP) -- The world's top economic powers dropped a pledge to oppose trade protectionism amid pushback from the Trump administration, which wants trade to more clearly benefit American companies and workers....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump defiantly refused to back down from his explosive claim that Barack Obama wiretapped his phones, and sidestepped any blame for the White House decision to highlight an unverified report that Britain helped carry out the alleged surveillance....
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Somalia's government on Saturday blamed the Saudi-led coalition for Friday's attack on a boat that killed at least 42 Somali refugees off the coast of war-torn Yemen, calling the assault by a military vessel and a helicopter gunship "horrific."...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Saturday that Germany owes "vast sums of money" to NATO and the U.S. "must be paid more" for providing defense, reiterating his stance that European allies need to meet their end of the bargain if they are to continue benefiting from the military alliance....
PARIS (AP) -- The Latest on incident at Orly Airport in Paris where a man was shot to death after attempting to seize a soldier's weapon (all times local):...
(Vatican Radio) Bishops in Scotland have criticized the comments of a Member of Parliament as “chillingly intolerant” after it emerged recently that he would work with humanists to put an end to Catholic education in the country.Tommy Sheppard is a senior member of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and an MP for the capital city of Edinburgh. He is also a member of the Humanist Society Scotland (HSS), and was recorded while speaking at an HSS event during last year’s SNP conference.The event was promoting the HSS ‘Enlighten Up’ campaign, which seeks to put a stop to mandatory religious representation on local authority committees. Speaking about a secular school system in Scotland, Sheppard said, “Some of the things in the Enlighten Up campaign are, I believe, exactly the way to do that.” He added, “Chip away at the power organized religion has within our school system.”A spokesperson for the Bishops’ Conference of Scotla...
(Vatican Radio) Bishops in Scotland have criticized the comments of a Member of Parliament as “chillingly intolerant” after it emerged recently that he would work with humanists to put an end to Catholic education in the country.
Tommy Sheppard is a senior member of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and an MP for the capital city of Edinburgh. He is also a member of the Humanist Society Scotland (HSS), and was recorded while speaking at an HSS event during last year’s SNP conference.
The event was promoting the HSS ‘Enlighten Up’ campaign, which seeks to put a stop to mandatory religious representation on local authority committees. Speaking about a secular school system in Scotland, Sheppard said, “Some of the things in the Enlighten Up campaign are, I believe, exactly the way to do that.” He added, “Chip away at the power organized religion has within our school system.”
A spokesperson for the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland told the national Catholic newspaper, the Scottish Catholic Observer, that this was “a blatant attack on religious freedom and chillingly intolerant.”
Explaining that the Registrar General in the country categorizes humanist weddings as part of the ‘Religion and Belief’ marriage statistics, the spokesperson suggested that “they don’t seem sufficiently proud” of their belief system to argue for humanist schools. He added that “advancing the rights of humanists by demolishing the educational rights of Catholics is hypocritical in the extreme.”
Currently, over 20 percent of the school population in Scotland attend Catholic schools, a fact which the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland maintains “reflects the educational values of Catholic schools.”
A spokesperson for the SNP rejected any suggestion that Sheppard’s comments represent the position of the SNP or the Scottish Government, insisting that they were “simply the personal views of Mr Sheppard.”
“The SNP is a strong supporter of faith schools. They play an important part in Scotland’s education system, and the SNP Government believe it’s important for parents and pupils to have the choice to attend a faith school if they want.”
When approached by the Scottish Catholic Observer, Sheppard declined to comment.
The African chapter of a global grassroots interfaith network for peace and justice has honoured a Catholic priest and an imam from Pakistan for their efforts toward interreligious harmony. Dominican priest Father James Channan and Abdul Khabir Azad, the great Imam of the royal mosque in Lahore, one of the largest in Asia, have been given the “Award for Interreligious Harmony” 2017 by the African branch of United Religions Initiative (URI). The two were held up as models to the entire African continent for interreligious harmony active in daily work."It is a recognition of the work to promote interreligious dialogue in Pakistan and around the world and to promote a culture of peace, justice, reconciliation and dialogue,” Fr. Channan told the Vatican’s Fides news agency. Fr. Channan who is URI Regional Coordinator for Pakistan and Executive Director of Peace Center, Lahore said t...
The African chapter of a global grassroots interfaith network for peace and justice has honoured a Catholic priest and an imam from Pakistan for their efforts toward interreligious harmony. Dominican priest Father James Channan and Abdul Khabir Azad, the great Imam of the royal mosque in Lahore, one of the largest in Asia, have been given the “Award for Interreligious Harmony” 2017 by the African branch of United Religions Initiative (URI). The two were held up as models to the entire African continent for interreligious harmony active in daily work.
"It is a recognition of the work to promote interreligious dialogue in Pakistan and around the world and to promote a culture of peace, justice, reconciliation and dialogue,” Fr. Channan told the Vatican’s Fides news agency. Fr. Channan who is URI Regional Coordinator for Pakistan and Executive Director of Peace Center, Lahore said that “recognitions like this feed the courage and daily work in order to break the walls of hatred between Christians and Muslims, and to build bridges of trust and respect". Fr. Channan and Abdul Khabir Azad have been working together for over for over 20 years. The two have visited numerous countries in the world to promote Islamic-Christian dialogue. "I thank God for the gift of my vocation to priesthood and to the Dominican Order because it gives me the opportunity to work for this important apostolate in Pakistan and around the world. I thank the Dominican Order because it supports every step in this field" Fr. Channan said.
In the current situation of violence and terrorism in Pakistan, Fr. Channan reaffirmed his commitment to "promote, with all men and women of good will, peace, justice and harmony to make Pakistan a better country in which all citizens, of any religion, can live peacefully". (Source: Fides)
