Support for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government in Japan has dropped to its lowest level since his election amid a quest to investigate lawmakers suspected of entertaining “connections” to the Unification Church.
Kishida’s support has fallen to 36% from 52% a month ago, according to a survey. As much as 87% of the survey participants said the Unification Church was either an “extreme problem” or “somewhat a problem” for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
It’s easy to figure out why. The Unification Church’s name has been essentially rendered synonymous with a religious scam following an unrelenting media campaign.
Thousands of Unification Church followers rallied in the South Korean capital Seoul last week protesting the negative Japanese media coverage of their religion. The protesters, mostly Japanese believers who moved to South Korea, say the Japanese media, in its improbable attempt to rationalize Shinzo Abe’s assassination, has unduly targeted their church.
Church members fear that the social persecution, on top of family pressure, will force them to recant their faith.
However, the social pressure could have nothing to do with the actual belief as the church in question is a sort of esoteric cult whose main surreptitious undertaking is to convince their faithful into donating all their savings to the organization.
“The mere suspicion of being in the wrong is already a sentence in East Asian countries”
What is important, particularly in East Asian culture, is the shame family members feel on being seen as relatives of someone who is part of a group whose public image is forever tarnished. That is what matters.
The mere suspicion of being in the wrong is already a sentence in East Asian countries. The substance of the claim doesn’t matter when evaluating reputation.
Daily Archives: August 30, 2022
China’s Catholic leaders vow to accelerate sinicization
Two state-sponsored Church bodies in China have elected new leaders during a five-yearly national conference who promised to invigorate the Catholic faithful pastorally in line with the socialist principles of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The three-day 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China ended in Wuhan, the capital of Hebei province in central China, on Aug. 20. Senior officials from the CCP also attended the gathering and delivered speeches.
The meeting attended by some 345 Catholic bishops, clergy, and religious from across China ended with the election of new leaders of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) and the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC), says a report on the BCCCC website.
Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing was elected chairman of the CCPA and Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Haimen was voted in as the new BCCCC chairman.
The delegates also unanimously accepted the Work Report of the 9th Standing Committee on Church efforts and activities in the promotion of patriotism, socialism, and sinicization in the Catholic Church as outlined by President Xi Jinping.
The new leaders have issued a statement to commit themselves to engaging priests, religious, and laypeople including elders across the country for pastoral evangelization and further promotion of sinicization for “truth, pragmatism and inspiration” to move ahead toward a “bright future.”
“It is important to adhere to the direction of sinicization of Catholicism in China”
Cardinal Bo opens FABC jubilee, speaks of Asian church at crossroads
The Catholic Church in Asia stands at the crossroads of history amid poverty, climate change, political conflicts, disagreements and economic collapse, said a leading Asian church leader.
Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, made the comments during his address at the opening of the federation’s golden jubilee celebrations August 22. The jubilee programs will conclude Oct. 30, with a two-week FABC gathering in Bangkok.
“We gather amidst suffocating clouds of conflict and displacements, the collapse of the economy, frightening climate change, pandemic and starvation of millions. Secularism is on the ascendency in the traditionally Christian world,” said Bo.
Authoritarian leadership is also becoming the norm in too many countries, he added.
“Democracy faces stiff challenges. Fundamentalism and religious violence threaten global peace. We are called upon to examine ourselves as to what could be the role of Asian churches in these challenging moments,” the cardinal said.
“Asia is a virtual mosaic of cultures; the church reflected that diversity,” Bo said.
He said Asian Christianity is in the process of shedding its alien baggage and becoming truly indigenous to the region.
“The incorporation of the cultural and the religious is what theologians refer to as inculturation,” he said.
Cardinal said much had been achieved in the past 50 years, and he thanked the theologians and others who provided the intellectual identity to the FABC.
Papal nuncio hailed for empowering Bangladeshi Church
Catholics in Bangladesh have thanked the outgoing apostolic nuncio, Archbishop George Kocherry, for empowering the local Church and strengthening Church-state ties during his nearly ten years in the country.
“Today, all Catholic bishops express our heartfelt gratitude to you for your presence, accompaniment, and dedicated service. You are an experienced diplomat and pastor who built a very strong relationship between the government and the Church. Through your presence, the Catholic Church became more visible in Bangladesh,” said Oblate Archbishop Bejoy N. D’Cruze of Dhaka, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB)
Archbishop D’Cruze made the remark during a thanksgiving ceremony for Archbishop Kocherry arranged by the bishops at the CBCB centre in the capital Dhaka on Aug. 22.
Some 180 guests, including two arch-bishops, five bishops, vicar-generals, major superiors, and heads of Church-run organizations attended the event.
Archbishop D’Cruze also hailed the 77-year-old diplomat, who is scheduled to retire at the end of August, for his seminal efforts in realizing Pope Francis’s visit to Bangladesh in 2017 and guiding Catholic charity Caritas in supporting Rohingya refugees.
“During your time, the Church and Caritas Bangladesh came to the forefront. Especially, during the visit of Pope Francis and your loving care to the Rohingya, it is an extraordinary effort you have shown, a great sense of solidarity to Rohingya refugees,” the prelate added.
“He knew well how to maintain good relations with the government and people.”
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims Flee Violence in Burma
The United Nations Refugee Agency reports that 123,000 people—mostly Rohingya Muslims—have fled into Bangladesh since August 25, escaping a new round of violence in Burma’s western Rakhine state. The refugees have walked for days, after a series of Rohingya insurgent attacks on Burmese police were met with a strong government response and the burning of thousands of homes. The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority living in parts of a hostile and overwhelmingly Buddhist Burma. U.N. officials say their relief camps are reaching full capacity as thousands of refugees continue to cross into Bangladesh.
Theologian at Academy for Life claims one may dissent from Church teaching on contraception
The Pontifical Academy for Life has published an interview with a theologian who says Catholic teaching on contraception is open for “theological discussion, within the Church, and even the possibility of dissent.”
The interview with Father Maurizio Chiodi, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2017, was published in Italian and English and shared on the pontifical academy’s Twitter page. It was conducted by Fabrizio Mastrofini, the communications and social media manager of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
The Pontifical Academy for Life present-ed the interview with Chiodi as a clarification of the work of a 2021 seminar on ethics in which theologians debated a “basic text.”
One of the drafters of the Basic Text and participant in the conference, Fr. Maurizio Chiodi, answered some questions to clarify the meaning of the work done.
A Vatican-published book synthesizing the three-day conference recently came under fire for suggesting that the Catholic Church’s constant opposition to the use of contraception in marriage — clarified in the encyclical Humanae vitae — could change.
Father Chiodi in 2017 publicly argued that some circumstances in marriage could “require contraception” as a matter of responsibility.
In the Aug. 19 article, Chiodi said, “Humanae Vitae, like any encyclical, including Veritatis Splendor, is an authoritative document, but with no claim to infallibility.”
“When it comes to Humanae Vitae, and the earlier stance contained in Casti connubii — which was even stronger — we are in the realm of doctrina reformabilis (‘reformable doctrine’),” he said.
“This,” Chiodi added, “does not legitimize hastily substituting one’s own idea with the teaching of the magisterium, claiming for oneself an infallibility denied to the magisterium, but it does open up theological discussion, within the Church, and even the possibility of dissent, both for the individual believer and the theologian.”
St. Peter’s house believed to have been found on shore of Sea of Galilee
A team of archaeologists’ uncovered evidence this month that may be the “smoking gun” con-firming the location of the house of St. Peter.
While excavating a fifth-sixth century Byzantine basilica at the el Araj archaeological site located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in Israel, the team discovered a large Greek mosaic that seems to bolster the theory that the church was built over the home of Ss. Peter and Andrew.
Steven Notley, the academic director at the excavation of what is being called “The Church of the Apostles,” is a professor of the New Testament and Christian Origins at Nyack University. He told in a phone interview that the basilica’s mosaic is the “most definitive archaeological connection [we have] with [St.] Peter.”
The mosaic is inscribed with a petition that asks for the inter-cession of St. Peter, who is referred to as “the chief and commander of the heavenly apostles.”
Byzantine Christian writers commonly referred to the Apostle Peter by this title.
The inscription also mentions a donor named Constantine, “a servant of Christ,” and is framed in a round medallion with two strands of black tesserae, or glass mosaic pieces, that are part of a larger mosaic on the floor of the basilica’s sacristy.
The mosaic is inscribed with a petition that asks for the inter-cession of St. Peter, who is referred to as “the chief and commander of the heavenly apostles.” Steven Notley.
As nuns freed, critics complain of campaign to ‘wipe out’ Christianity in Nigeria
Four Nuns who were kidnapped in Nigeria’s southern Imo State on Sunday, Aug. 21, have been returned to their community.
Sisters Johannes Nwodo, Christabel Echemazu, Liberata Mbamalu and Benita Agu were freed unconditionally – meaning without the payment of a ransom – according to a statement issued Aug. 23 by members of the Sisters of Jesus the Savior (the Saviourite Sisters, or SJS) to which the nuns belong.
“With hearts full of joy, the Sisters of Jesus the Savior wish to announce the unconditional and safe release of four of our sisters who were abducted around Okigwe-Umulolo on the 21 of August 2022,” reads the statement signed by the director of the order, Sister Zita Ihedoro.
“Today is a memorable day for us, therefore we wish to share this joy with all men and women of goodwill who, in one way or the other, have contributed to the quick and safe release of our dear sisters,” the statement adds.
“We sincerely appreciate and thank you for your prayers and moral support during this difficult moment,” Ihedoro said, before imploring Jesus “to bless, protect and provide for you, especially in times of difficulty.”
The four nuns were kidnapped along a local highway on Sun-day morning on their way to a thanksgiving Mass.
It’s still not known who kidnapped them or why, but it is increasingly becoming clear that Nigeria’s Christians in recent years have become targets for attacks, kidnappings and even killings.
Catholic Church in Argentina opposes legalization of euthanasia
The Committee for Life, the Laity, and the Family of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference ex-pressed its opposition to four bills introduced in Congress to legalize euthanasia. The committee said the country is facing “a new manifestation of the culture of death and the throwaway culture.”
In an Aug. 18 statement, the committee said that “the Gospel commits us not to be indifferent in the face of discussions on the beginning and end of life.”
There are currently four bills to legalize euthanasia: two introduced last year and two this year.
In its statement, the Church in Argentina warned that “we are facing a new manifestation of the culture of death and the throwaway culture” and at the same time, “we are a people that wants such important needs as health, work, housing, and land” to be taken care of.
“Although a society cannot eliminate suffering, it can always commit itself with all its energies to the lives of those who suffer,” the committee said, noting that Argentina “has a rich history of doing so” with multiple alternatives “to accompany physical and spiritual pain with science and humanity.”
“In the hospices and in the cottolengos (homes for the physically and mentally disabled), we see a great example of this,” the committee said.
In its statement, the Committee for Life, the Laity, and the Family pointed out that “even in cases of diseases that have no cure, all patients must be cared for and accompanied so that their lives are respected until natural death. We are not the masters of life and therefore we place our-selves at its service.”
The bishops’ committee call-ed for valuing “palliative and comprehensive care, which relieves pain in serious illness and helps those who suffer and bears much fruit in the human person and in their family.”
Invite for accused cardinal doesn’t necessarily imply rehabilitation, Vatican source says
Speaking on background, a Vatican source has said Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu’s apparent invitation to participate in a high-profile meeting of cardinals next week represents a personal gesture on the part of Pope Francis, but that it does not necessarily mean Becciu’s rights as a cardinal, stripped by the pope two years ago, are being restored. Over the weekend Becciu made headlines for telling attendees of a small, private Mass, which he celebrated Sunday, that he is being “reinstated” by Pope Francis. According to Italian media outlets, Becciu told congregants at Italy’s Golfo Aranci that, “On Saturday, the Pope phoned me to tell me that I will be reinstated in my cardinal duties and to ask me to participate in a meeting with all the cardinals that will be held in the coming days in Rome.”