Catholic News 2

Full Article

(Vatican Radio) Aid agencies are stepping up their efforts to help 16 million people facing starvation across East Africa. The dire situation in the affected countries of South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia has been caused by conflict and drought.

The UN is warning that the world faces the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of the Second World War.

CAFOD the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has joined up with the Disasters Emergency Committee DEC which brings 13 leading UK aid charities together in times of crisis.

Matthew Carter is CAFOD’S Director of  Humanitarian and Emergencies. He spoke to Lydia O’Kane about the scale of the crisis.

Listen: 

“This is huge, the level, I mean of the emergency across the whole region from Ethiopia, Northern Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan; 16 million people in desperate need of food aid and of those 800,000 children,” he said. Mr Carter added, that “we need to respond quickly, that’s the critical bit.”

Conflict and drought

Speaking about relief efforts and the difficulties that are being faced, he explained that, “logistics are really difficult within the region… particularly Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, they’re countries that are wrecked with civil war ongoing…”

The CAFOD Humanitarian Director said that overwhelmingly it was drought and climate change that was a major cause of the current crisis. He added South Sudan has had four consecutive failed rains.

“We need to do more”, said Carter, “we are responding to the needs of 16 million people and he went on to say that governments and individuals can play their part in helping those who are suffering.

Full Article

Pope Francis on Saturday appointed a new head to the Archdiocese of Semarang in Central Java, Indonesia.  Fr. Robertus Rubiyatmoko, the judicial vicar as well as formator of the Major Seminary of Semarang is the new archbishop. The archdiocese has been without a head since Archbishop Johannes Pujasumarta passed away on 10 November, 2015.   The papal appointment comes ahead of the 7th Asian Youth Day of the Catholic ‎Church that is being hosted by Semarang Archdiocese from July 30 to August 9 this ‎year.  "Joyful Asian Youth! Living the Gospel in Multicultural Asia," is the theme of the  youth rally that is taking centre stage in Yogyakarta.

Born in Sleman, 10 Oct., 1963, Fr. Rubiyatmoko entered St. Peter Canisius Minor Seminary of Mertoyudan.  He later completed his philosophical and theological studies at the Pontifical Faculty of Yogakarta and was ordained a priest on 12 August, 1992 for Semarang Archdiocese.

Thereafter, Fr. Rubiyatmoko has taken up the following responsibilities:

1992-1993:      Assistant parish priest of Santa Maria Assumpta Church in Pakem

1993-1997:      Graduation in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy.

Since 1998:     Professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology Wedabhakti in Yogyakarta; formator at St. Paul’s Major Seminary of Yogyakarta

2004-2011:      Vice president of the Pontifical Faculty of Theology Wedabhakti, Yogyakarta

Since 2011:     Judicial Vicar of Semarang Archdiocese.

Spread across an area of over 21 sq.km., Semarang Archdiocese provides pastoral care to over 404,000 Catholics out of a total population of 22.8 million.  There are 98 parishes where 399 priests (203 diocesan and 196 religious) are working. The archdiocese also has 221 men religious, 1162 women religious as well as 60 major seminarians.  

Full Article

(Vatican Radio) A statement from Greg Burke, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, has confirmed that Pope Francis will visit Egypt at the end of April.

Here is the full text of Greg Burke’s statement: “In response to the invitation from the President of the Republic, the Bishops of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and the Grand Imam of the Mosque of Al Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayyib, His Holiness Pope Francis will make an Apostolic trip to the Arab Republic of Egypt from 28 to 29 April 2017, visiting the city of Cairo. The programme of the trip will be published shortly.”

The Apostolic Voyage to Egypt will be Pope Francis’ eighteenth pastoral visit outside of Italy. 

Full Article

Philadelphia, Pa., Mar 18, 2017 / 05:32 am (CNA).- As fears of deportation threaten to keep many immigrants home from a prayer service on Sunday, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia is calling on citizens and legal residents to attend the event in support.

“As a Church that herself bore the cross of hatred toward immigrants, our Catholic past is a compelling reason to welcome the immigrants and refugees among us today,” the archbishop said in his latest CatholicPhilly column.

“These persons and families need our help. They are not strangers but friends. And how we treat them will prove or disprove whether we take our Christian discipleship seriously.”

A statement from the archdiocese noted that Archbishop Chaput is planning to lead a prayer service for immigrants and refugees at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul at 4:00 p.m. on March 19.

However, the statement noted, “because of recent ICE actions to detain and deport the undocumented, immigrants may avoid the very service intended to show them the Church’s support.”

Archbishop Chaput called on all Catholic citizens and legal residents in the Greater Philadelphia area to attend the prayer service in a demonstration of solidarity for the immigrant community in the region.

He also addressed the broader issue of immigration in his column for the archdiocesan paper.

“For immigrants and refugees now in the United States, or who hope to come here in the near future, recent weeks have been a steady diet of anxiety and confusion,” he said, pointed to the legal battle on travel bans that has created uncertainty for those seeking to flee persecution or be reunited with their families.

Inside the U.S., renewed deportation efforts have left children traumatized and families torn apart, he added.

The archbishop acknowledged the complexity of immigration policy, noting that there are good people on both sides of the issue. It is important not to demonize those who hold different views, he said, pointing to the polarization that has been created among families, friends and colleagues.

But true immigration reform must balance government’s duty to ensure national security with the country’s rich history of welcoming newcomers, particularly the oppressed, Archbishop Chaput said. “The U.S. bishops have repeatedly called for deep immigration reform aimed at meeting both goals.”

The archbishop outlined key ways that the Church in Philadelphia offers social services, legal aid and pastoral care to immigrants. “The Office for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees coordinates a network of priest chaplains, religious sisters and lay leaders who provide for the spiritual and material needs of persons from places like Indonesia, Haiti, West Africa, Vietnam and Brazil,” he said.

“Our ministry to Hispanic Catholics likewise provides support for Catholic immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America,” he continued. “These are faith communities that enrich the devotional life of our whole Archdiocese. We do and always will welcome all Catholics to worship and fellowship with us, regardless of their legal status. They’re our family in Jesus Christ, first and foremost, and being undocumented diminishes neither their dignity nor personhood.”

Meanwhile, Catholic Social Services offers low-cost legal services to help with visas, permanent residency documents, work authorization, and citizenship. The organization also works in other ways to resettle refugees, connecting them with housing, employment opportunities, schools and medical care.

Furthermore, the U.S. bishops’ conference has offered a grant as part of its Parishes Organized to Welcome Refugees initiative. The money is being used to create a coalition of resources, parish-based groups and independent Catholic organizations working to support immigrants and refugees.

Recalling that many times, “Catholics originally came to this country as poor, often non-English-speaking immigrants seeking a better future,” Archbishop Chaput reminded his local Church of past discrimination against their community by the “bigoted Nativist movement whose adherents torched Catholic churches in urban areas all along the East Coast.”

With this in mind, he said, it’s important to remember that those seeking a home in the United States are God’s children in need of help from Christ’s disciples.

 

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article