South Korean government is moving ahead to launch commercial operation of the Samcheok coal power plant in Gangwon-do province in October defying opposition from civil society groups and Catholic Church.
Since October 2021, Catholic groups have been staging protests every month at Maengbang Beach close to the construction site.
The plant is expected to generate 2,044 megawatts of power. The government says the plant uses “green technology” with a focus on reduced emissions.
Catholic climate action groups joined hands with environmental groups to form an alliance, the Committee for Struggle Against Samcheok Coal Fired Power Plant.
The group has drawn local residents and people from other provinces who say the nature of Samcheok including the famed Maengbang beach would be in ruins when the power plant starts operating.
Media reports say parts of the beautiful beach turned black recently following the construction of a seaport to transport coal to the power plant.
“The crying sea over the praying people may soon turn into the tears of the people of Samcheok,” a protester said.
Environmental groups alleged South Korea’s heavy dependency on coal for power generation has become “a disaster” for mankind.
Daily Archives: September 13, 2023
Pope Francis quotes Buddha at interreligious event in Mongolia
In a meeting with Mongolian Buddhists, Shamans, Shintoists, and other religious representatives, Pope Francis said Sunday that interreligious dialogue is “not antithetical to proclamation” but helps religious traditions to understand one another.
“With humility and in the spirit of service … the Church offers the treasure she has received to every person and culture, in a spirit of openness and in respectful consideration of what the other religious traditions have to offer,” Pope Francis said in a speech in Ulaanbaatar’s Hun Theater on Sept. 3.
“Religious traditions, for all their distinctiveness and diversity, have impressive potential for the benefit of society as a whole,” he added.
Pope Francis met with 12 religious leaders and representatives in the performing arts center on the Bogd Khan Uu mountain overlooking Mongolia’s capital city. The theater is built in the circular shape of a traditional Mongolian nomadic yurt dwelling called a “ger.” The rector of the only Orthodox church in Mongolia, Father Antony Gusev, represented the Russian Orthodox Church at the meeting.
In his speech, Pope Francis twice cited the “Dhammapada,” the most widely-read Buddhist text that is a collection of sayings of the Buddha.
Young Mongolian Catholics thrilled to join papal Mass
Some 2,500 people filled the Steppe Arena stadium in Ulaanbaatar two hours before Pope Francis arrived for the afternoon Mass on Sept. 3, his final full day of the four-day visit to Mongolia.
When the 86-year-old arrived, the atmosphere was already abuzz with excitement and enthusiasm with a significant presence of young people. In several pockets inside the stadium, various dances were taking place, each carrying a unique Mongolian cultural essence.
Although the tiny Catholic Church here has only some 1,400 members, Mongolia houses an estimated 40,000 Christians. Hundreds of Catholics also came from South, Korea, Singapore, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
As the crowd filled the external ring of the stadium, an unexpected scene greeted people – popcorn vendors, much like those found at any entertainment spot. The juxtaposition of the sacred and profane painted a picture of the unity in diversity that defines the Catholic experience in Mongolia.
Amid the buzz, Mungunbolor Gantumur, a 30-year-old graduate of Don Bosco School in Ulaanbaatar, says she plans to have a unique business.
“Now my dream is to write quotes from the Bible and sell them,” said Gantumur, who has embarked on a journey as an artist specializing in Mongolian traditional calligraphy.
Mungunbolor is not Catholic but said she is “learning to become Catholic,” guided by the encouragement of her uncle, who suggested she explore Don Bosco School.
Indonesia to replace ‘Isa Almasih’ with ‘Yesus Kristus’
The Indonesian government announced a change in the use of terms referring to Jesus Christ in official documents responding to longstanding demands of Christians not to use Islamic terms.
In an announcement on Sept. 12, the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, said that the government had decided to officially replace the term Isa Almasih with Yesus Kristus, the official term that Indonesian Christians use for Jesus Christ.
In official documents, such as in the list of national religious holidays, the government will use the term Yesus Kristus, he said.Bottom of Form
“The change in nomenclature was based on a proposal from the Ministry of Religion Affairs,” Effendy said during a conference.
He said the change of the nomenclature would be approved by a presidential regulation.
Saiful Rahmat Dasuki, Deputy Minister of Religion Affairs, said that the change was initiated by a proposal from Christians.
“This is a suggestion from Protestants and Catholics that the name of the nomenclature be changed to what they believe in,” he said.
In the official calendar, the government determines three national holidays related to Christianity, namely Christmas, Good Friday and the Ascension.
These Christian feasts have been associated with the term Almasih and are expressed as the birth of Isa Almasih, the Death of Isa Almasih and the Ascension of Isa Almasih.
Christians face violence over cow slaughter in Nepal
Christian groups in Nepal have appealed for peace and religious harmony in the Hindu-majority country, following a spate of attacks against their people in the past two weeks.
The growing “incidents of attacks and abuse, particularly targeting Christian minorities, is worrisome,” said Father Silas Bogati, vicar general of the Vicariate Apostolic of Nepal, which covers the entire nation on the foothills of the Himalayas.
At least seven churches were attacked in Nepal in the last two weeks, Christian leaders say.
The latest attacks happened on Sept. 5 in Nepal’s Lumbini province when two churches were vandalized in the southern Nawalparasi district of Lumbini, along the border with India’s Uttar Pradesh state, leaders said.
“We have been raising our voices for religious harmony. Nobody should harm the feelings or sentiments of others’ religion,” Bogati told on Sept. 7.
The harassment and attack against Christians began after a video went viral on social media on Aug. 15, claiming the visuals showed members of an indigenous community eating beef in a village near Dharan town in eastern Nepal.
The cow slaughter and beef eating have hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, who consider the cow a revered animal, said Mohan Shrestha, spokesperson of Hindu right-wing party Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP or National Peoples’ Party).
“Some people from outside are inciting ethnic violence and disturbing the existing religious and social harmony in their attempt to push the country towards ethnic violence,” he said.
Hundreds of ethnic people in Nepal have become Christians in the recent past. Several Christian missionaries, including from South Korea, are active among ethnic groups, that local Hindus resist.
Catholic charity resumes bringing meals and hope to war-torn Tigray
Catholic charity providing thousands of free meals daily to schoolchildren in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, recently resumed operations after a brutal civil war precluded it from its mission for almost three years.
Since 2017, Mary’s Meals has worked with the Daughters of Charity in Tigray to bring food to schoolchildren there. Pre-2020 they fed an estimated 24,000 children a day, but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent commencement of the country’s devastating civil war halted the program. Mary’s Meals had every intention of reopening in the fall of 2020 following COVID, but the start of the conflict precluded those plans.
“It was really heartbreaking to see that what we were expecting to be quite a joyous occasion in terms of the resumption of school feeding, children being welcomed back into schools and being able to return to what must have felt a bit more like normal life, suddenly being decimated by this terrible conflict,” Alex Keay, director of programs at Mary’s Meals International, told CNA.
Schoolchildren in Tigray, Ethiopia, eat biscuits and tea provided by Mary’s Meals. Copyright Mary’s Meals
Schoolchildren in Tigray, Ethiopia, eat biscuits and tea provided by Mary’s Meals. Copyright Mary’s Meals.
Prelate Defends Giving Communion to Muslim Sheikh
A pro-LGBT Brazilian archbishop is invoking Pope Francis’ apostolic letter on liturgical formation and the documents of Vatican II to justify his choice to administer Holy Communion to a Muslim sheikh at a funeral service.
“Every reception of Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ was already desired by Him in the Last Supper,” argues the archbishop of Londrina, Geremias Steinmetz, quoting Pope Francis in a clarification issued on the diocesan website on Aug. 30.
A video of Abp. Steinmetz giving the Sacred Host to Sheikh Ahmad Saleh Mahairi at the funeral of Cdl. Geraldo Majella Agnelo on Aug. 28 went viral on social media, sparking outrage among faithful Catholics.
In the video, Sheikh Mahairi, founder of the King Faisal Mosque in Londrina, accepts the host in his hand and leaves without consuming it.
The Muslim leader told the diocese’s vicar general that he consumed the Eucharist after sitting down in his pew.
In his clarification, the archbishop defends the sheikh’s reception of Communion on the grounds that “he participated in the Eucharistic celebration, as a friend, and, entering the communion line, received the Body of Christ.”
Steinmetz said that Mahairi was friends with the late Albano Cavallin, a former archbishop of Londrina, who had explained to the Muslim leader many years ago that “the Eucharist is the body of Jesus, who is considered to be a prophet of Islam.”
Quoting Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate, the declaration on the relations of the Church with non-Christian religions, Steinmetz noted that the Church regards Muslims “with esteem” since “they adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the creator of Heaven and earth, who has spoken to men.”
Muslims “take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God,” Steinmetz continued, quoting verbatim from Vatican II.
Catholic Bishops Laud Corruption “whistleblowers” in South Africa, Pledge Support
Members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) have lauded corruption “whistleblowers” in South Africa.
In a statement shared with ACI Africa on September 1, SACBC members liken entities and persons who have exposed corruption, including civil societies and activists to John the Baptist.
“We gratefully acknowledge your contribution to the disclosure of corruption in government departments, municipalities, and state-owned companies heard by the Zondo Commission,” they say.
Catholic Bishops of the three-nation Conference, including Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa express their support for those who have denounced the vice of corruption, saying, “We stand with whistleblowers who have raised concerns about the delays being made by the National Prosecution Authority in holding to account the people and the businesses that the Zondo Commission recommended for prosecution.”
“Successful prosecution in cases of corruption has often been made possible through your contribution as whistle-blowers. You are a threat to those whose god has become their stomachs and are doing their best to let corruption define the character of our country. Thank you for standing up against them,” SACBC members say in the statement following their August 14 to 18 plenary.
Catholicism is being extinguished In Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s seizure of the Jesuit-run Central American University in Managua on Aug. 16 was only the latest episode in the government’s five-year campaign to silence the Catholic Church.
Described by President Daniel Ortega’s regime as a “center of terrorism” for having attempted to shield student protesters during widespread anti-government demonstrations in 2018, the university has had its buildings, bank accounts and even its furniture seized. If past practice is any guide, it will soon be either shuttered or run by the state, with faculty and curriculums censored by the Sandinista government.
Since 2018, Catholic priests and laity critical of the government have been harassed, exiled, imprisoned, tortured and murdered. The regime has shut down more than 700 nonprofits and nongovernmental agencies, including the Catholic charity Caritas and the Red Cross.
This year, the government prohibited more than 1,000 Catholic processions during Lent and Easter. Priests were barred from anointing the sick, conducting baptisms and celebrating Mass. Even saying the rosary is now considered a subversive act in Nicaragua.
In February, Bishop Rolando Alvarez was arrested and sentenced to 26 years in prison for “anti-government activities” after he criticized the regime’s closure of Catholic radio and television stations. The religious order of nuns founded by Mother Teresa has been expelled from the country.
Pope tells Jesuits inclusivity, doctrinal evolution, synodality are crucial to Church
The Jesuit publication “La Civiltà Cattolica” publishes a transcript of the dialogue between Pope Francis and the Jesuits of Portugal during the Pontiff’s visit to Lisbon for WYD 2023. In the conversation, the Holy Father addresses a range of topics, sharing insights on the Church’s challenges and his vision for inclusivity, doctrinal development, and the Synod.
In an open dialogue with the Jesuits of Lisbon during his visit to Portugal for World Youth Day, Pope Francis engaged with them in conversation and covered a wide array of topics, sharing profound insights on the Church’s contemporary challenges and his vision for inclusivity, doctrinal progression, and the Synod. Central to the discussion was the theme of inclusivity. Throughout World Youth Day in Lisbon, the rallying cry for an all-embracing Church resonated powerfully with the words “Todos, todos” (Everyone, everyone), pronounced by Pope Francis as he stressed that the Church “has space for everyone.” He emphasized the pivotal importance of creating a space for all individuals, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity, within the Church. This message continued to echo through his exchange with the Jesuits of Portugal.