Rostiana Bareto, 49, experienced tough living conditions as a refugee when she and her family settled in Atambua, western Timor, on the border with Indonesia. Despite the fundamental challenge of making ends meet, she and her husband decided to stay and avoid the political instability back home.

More than 250,000 people fled Timor Leste or were forcibly transferred west following violence that escalated around an independence referendum, Aug. 30, 1999. The initial attacks on civilians by anti-independence militants expanded to general violence throughout the country.

Many returned to Timor Leste after the declaration of independence in 2002. But some 100,000 people chose to continue their lives in East Nusa Tenggara province, including 60,000 people in Belu regency.

Since her arrival, Bareto, now widowed, has not received any assistance from the government, causing great frustration for her family and many others living in similar conditions.

Their lives began to change when they met Holy Spirit Sister Sesilia Ketut, 59. Seven years ago the nun gave Bareto some money to start her own cloth-weaving business. Working in a group of widows she learned to weave and cook, and make bags, rosaries, flowers and wallets, which were then sold to markets.

“Every day our job was weaving and we never stopped, although the products were sold at a cheap price,” said the mother of six.

Now, more than 300 widows — whose husbands either died before or after the 1999 conflict — are receiving help from the nun.

A Catholic woman has been appointed to one of Bangladesh’s top bureaucratic posts, drawing praise from the country’s minority Christian community.

Nomita Halder from Shelabunia Church in Khulna Diocese was appointed acting secretary of the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry.

She is the first Christian in Bangladesh to hold such a high post in the civil service since independence from Pakistan in 1971. Halder had served as a personal secretary to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since 2014.

Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario of Dhaka hailed the appointment.

“Nomita Halder’s appoint-ment is a matter of joy and honour to minority Christians in Bangla-desh. She has been very helpful to the church in times of need, and hopefully her new post will broaden the scope of her support to the community further,” Cardinal D’Rozario said.

Nirmol Rozario, president of Bangladesh Christian Association described Halder’s appointment as an “inspiration” to the Christian community. “She has been appointed to the post deservedly.

She has proved the notion that minorities can’t get top govern-ment posts is wrong. We had a state minister from the Christian community and now we have a secretary. It is not just a matter of joy but also a great source of inspiration,” Rozario told ucanews.com.

As in Papuan society, so also in churches, there are members who opine that the western part of New Guinea has the right to be an independent state. There are also members who consider this region a province of Indonesia.

But what is the attitude of church leaders? Seen from a theological perspective, it is the duty of the ecclesiastical hierarchy to unify people. That’s why bishops and pastors think they are not allowed to take sides.

Government authorities in central Vietnam offered no gesture of goodwill in dealing with a long-standing land dispute with Benedictines at a meeting between both sides, the monks have said. Twelve Benedictines led by Father Anthony Nguyen Van Duc, superior of Thien An Monastery, met 15 officials of Thua Thien Hue Province at the headquarters of the People’s Committee of the province on July 12.

Also present at the meeting were Fathers Anthony Duong Quynh and George Nguyen Thanh Phuong representing the Hue Archbishop’s House.

“The meeting lasted three and half hours but had no successful result because government officials showed no positive sign of openly having dialogue with us to resolve the dispute,” Father Peter Khoa Cao Duc Loi, who attended the meeting, told ucanews.com.

A Catholic Church building is part of a Chinese island’s inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage list which is being seen by local Catholics as an opportunity for more people to learn about their faith. The former Catholic cathedral of Xiamen Diocese on Gulangyu Island of eastern Fujian province was included by the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee held in Krakow, Poland, on July 8.

The decision in recognizing the Christ the King Church as one of the 51 notable sites on the island comes as the church celebrates its 100th anniversary.

“The renovation of the church has almost come to an end,” Bishop Joseph Cai Bingrui of Xiamen told ucanews.com. “There is a tour guide service to introduce the church. It is a good chance to let more people feel the religious culture on the island,” said the bishop.

The church is located at the centre of the heritage area so “priests and laypeople in the church are very happy and excited,” said Joseph Chen, a full time worker of the church.
The Christ the King Church was built by Spanish Dominican Bishop Mamaunel Prat in 1917.

A Catholic family in Pakistan has fled their home fearing attack by local Islamists after their eldest son was arrested on blasphemy charges on July 13.

“We left the city same evening the clerics captured him,” Shfaaqt Masih told ucanews.com. “I switched off my phone fearing they will trace my family.”

Shfaaqt, whose name Masih is not a surname but identifies him as a Christian male, said that local police station will not tell them where 16-year-old Shahzad is currently being held.

“My relatives even visited the jail but he is not there. We don’t know what to do,” he said.

The father of four has been hiding since Shahzad was taken into custody for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed, a crime that carries a mandatory death sentence in Pakistan.

Shfaaqt, a builder, is liaising with his parish priest in the hope to somehow resolve the situation. “We are poor people and I am out of work now. The clerics did not listen to our please; they will kill my son,” he said.

Shahzad worked as a sweeper in a hospital of Dinga City, Punjab province, where a Muslim shopkeeper accused him of blasphemy. He was later taken to a madrassa by activists from the Islamist party Tehreek-e-Tuhafaz Islam Pakistan and was then arrested by the police.

More than 50 party activists later protested in front of the police station.

Dinga has a population of about 80,000 people of whom 150 are Christians who live in a Christian colony near the city’s railway station.

In response to the allegations, an X-marked photo of Shahzad is now being shared on social media captioned laanat (shame).

Raja Nadeem Ahmad, the main complainant of the blasphemy allegation, said Shahzad said abusive things about the Prophet Mohammed.

“We brought him to my shop and he repeated the same insulting remarks … he has hurt our feelings and tried to disrupt the peace in the area,” stated Ahmad in the first information report made with the police.

Ghazi Saqib Shakeel Jalali, from Tehreek-e-Tuhafaz Islam Pakistan said, “We will not forgive even if the court releases him. We are not cowards.”