Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow said on Sept. 28 that evangelization in China today should focus on communicating the love of God “without the agenda of turning them into Catholics.”
In an interview in Rome with CNA on Sept. 28, the bishop of Hong Kong, who will be made a cardinal in the consistory this weekend, spoke about his vision for evangelization in mainland China.
“I think it is important that we say that Pope Francis made a distinction. Evangelization is really to help people to understand the love of God — and the love of God without the agenda of turning them into Catholics — because that shouldn’t be the focus, as that focus would be very restrictive,” Chow said.
The cardinal-elect underlined that evangelization should help “them to come to understand our God means love, means goodwill and a better life.”
“Evangelization should be really coming to know God, who is love,” he said.
In Pope Francis’ travels to countries where Catholics are in the minority, the pope has made a distinction between “proselytism” and “evangelization.”
“Evangelization is essentially witness,” Francis told the Jesuits in Mozambique in 2019. “Proselytizing is convincing, but it is all about membership and takes your freedom away.”
During a Jan. 11. 2023, general audience, Pope Francis emphasized that evangelization and proselytism are not the same.
40 countries to participate in Men’s Rosary on Oct. 7
On Saturday, Oct. 7, the date on which the Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the fourth edition of the worldwide Men’s Rosary will take place with more than 40 countries uniting in prayer.
The initiative originated in Poland and Ireland in 2018 and in just a few years has spread to other nations on different dates.
In Argentina, a pioneering country in this global crusade, the purpose is for all cities to pray on the same date. A major location will be the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires.
The first worldwide Men’s Rosary was held on May 28, 2022, and the second on Oct. 8 of the same year, with the participation of more than 150 cities on all five continents. In Buenos Aires about 2,000 people attended.
On May 6, the third time the prayer event was held, men from more than 40 countries prayed for the role of men in society to be valued once again and for the conversion of the entire world.
Segundo Carafí, one of the organizers of the initiative in Buenos Aires, said on that occasion that “the importance of this rosary lies in the fact that it is precisely men who want to bring back faith to the public sphere, praying to recover their own essence in a world that criticizes and attacks them.”
The purpose is to demonstrate that “faith is not just a woman’s thing and that the man, as a male parent of the family, the priest as such, is ready to fight in the defense of his most absolute essence as a man.”
Carafí shared with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the prayer intentions of this new edition of the Men’s Rosary
Persecution worsens in Burkina Faso, Christians come back to the Church
An expert on anti-Christian persecution says that escalating jihadist violence in the African nation of Burkina Faso is producing the paradoxical effect of inducing lapsed Christians to return to religious practice.
Maria Lozano of the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) described the phenomenon as “a beautiful message of faith.”
In a conversation with Crux, Lozano said she has had conversations with clerics in Burkina Faso who tell her that the people know that “their lives are in danger” and are therefore more motivated to revert to Christianity as a preparation for eternal life should the worst happen.
“They face terrorism, so they believe the best way out is to become Christians,” Lozano told Crux.
“It is through faith that they have their consolation, and through faith, they know they could have eternal life,” she said.
“It tells me a lot about the faith that these people have, and it says a lot about the fact that this life on earth isn’t the last. There is life after death, but sometimes we forget that. It’s a beautiful message of faith,” Lozano told Crux.
The same paradox of a Church that has continued to grow despite the persistence of those trying to annihilate it also has been underlined by Father Pierre Rouamba, the Prior General of the Missionary Brothers of the Countryside.
“It is truly striking to note that Christians, who had to some extent abandoned religious practice before the crisis, are returning to the faith at a time when the terrorists are doing what they can to extinguish Christianity,” Rouamba said in an interview with ACN.
“While the terrorists prevent Christians from gathering in churches, families get together in their homes to rekindle the flame of faith through catechism classes and joint celebrations when there are no priests,” he said.
Pope appoints new bishop for Sivagangai
Pope Francis on September 21 appoi-nted Father Lourdu Anandam as the bi-shop of Sivagangai, a diocese of southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The 65 year old bishop elect is a clergy of the Archdiocese of Madurai, currently the parish priest of the Holy Rosary Church and director of the Pastoral Centre and Coordinator of the Archdiocesan Commissions.
Veteran journalist Jose Kavi receives prestigious ICPA Award
The Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA) has honoured Jose Kavi, the Managing Editor of Matters India with the prestigious Life Time Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to the Church Media.
The Louis Careno Award for Excellence in Journalism, including a citation, a memento and a cash award were handed over to Jose Kavi in a glittering ceremony on September 23 at the 28th National convention of ICPA at Ashirvhavan, Kochi.
Renowned Jesuit missiologist dies
A renowned Jesuit-missiologist, who had studied missionary life as part of his vocation within the vocation, has died.
Father Joseph Valiamangalam died of diabetic complication on September 14 at Vadodara in Gujarat state. He was 73. He was a member of the Jesuits’ Gujarat province for 54 years.
Pope surprises 95-year-old Indian grandmother of a priest with video call
Francis has a well-earned reputation as the “Cold Call Pope,” often phoning people out of the blue who’ve written him or whom he wants to contact for some other reason. He recently burnished that reputation with a video call to the 95-year-old grandmother of a member of his travel team.
On Sept. 2, Pope Francis made a video call to the home of the Kallukalam family in the southern Indian state of Kerala, which was answered by Father Thomas Kallukalam.
Pakistan pays Christians who lost homes to Muslim mobs $6,800
Pakistani authorities on Sept.19 handed out thousands of dollars to nearly 100 Christian families whose homes were destroyed or damaged by a Muslim mob angered over an alleged desecration of the Quran last week. The government of caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said each household was getting 2 million rupees ($6,800) in compensation on Monday. Police said they have arrested dozens more rioters in ongoing raids, bringing the total number of those detained over the attacks in the city of Jaranwala to 160.
“They are worried for their safety, they are worried for their children, who witnessed the tragedy and are traumatized,” priest Khalid Mukhtar said of the local Christians.
Jimmy Lai marks a thousand days in prison for calling for democracy in Hong Kong
September 26 marks a sad anniversary: a thousand days in prison for businessman Jimmy Lai.
Her was jailed for suppor-ting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. His newspaper, and his newspaper, the Apple Daily, was forced to close by Chinese authorities after they imposed a draconian national security law.
Baptised by Card Joseph Zen, Jimmy Lai, 75, has been in prison awaiting trial since 31 December 2020, exactly a thousand days ago.
Those who have met him since say that, inside, he has found solace in reading the Bible. In the meantime, after repeated postponements, his main trial, on violating the national security law, is set to start on 18 December.
The Apple Daily ceased publication in 2021 after its bank accounts were frozen and 500 police officers raided its offices.
A thousand days behind bars for crimes of opinion gave the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) an oppo-rtunity to put the spotlight on his story and on the fate of other leaders of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
The CFHK, an umbrella organisation of 67 human rights groups, published an open letter to the President of the United States Joe Biden, urging him to take action to secure Jimmy Lai’s immediate release.
It also calls on him not to invite Chief Executive John Lee and other Hong Kong officials to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (AP-EC) Summit in San Francisco on 15-17 November, as well as impose sanctions against Hong Kong officials and pro-secutors who have abused their powers under the anti-demo-cratic law.
“Since Beijing imposed the NSL in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, it has been broadly and arbitrarily applied in arresting 264 individuals for national security crimes, inclu-ding Jimmy Lai. In court cases to date, the government boasts a 100% conviction rate,” the letter states.
Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastian said that he was alarmed by his father’s conditions, openly ex-pressing fear that he could die in prison.
Sebastian Lai also slammed British authorities for their “shameful” failure to help his father who, like many people in Hong Kong, is a British national. On the one hand, the UK says it supports Jimmy Lai’s legal battle; on the other, it continues to do business with Hong Kong and China as if nothing happened.
Priest commits suicide after police complaint for protesting anti-Christian violence
A Catholic priest who faced a police complaint for a social media post protesting recent anti-Christian violence in the Indian state of Manipur committed suicide on Sept. 13, with his body found hanging from a tree in a cemetery.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Sagar in India announced the death of Father Anil Francis in a statement to the press on Sept.15, saying, “We are extremely pained and sad over the death of Fr. Anil Fran-cis, who was known for his commitment to the works given to him and dedicated to the values preached by him.”
According to the statement, Francis’s death is under police investigation and the diocese is cooperating fully. It also noted that in a suicide note, Francis had requested that his body be cremated.
The suicide came shortly after Francis had posted an image to social media depicting a woman wrapped in the colors of the Indian flag being held by two men, with a mob behind them, with the text, “Wounded Manipur: 2 women paraded naked, gang-raped, not none arrested since two months. We are ashamed. When will peace prevail? Pray for Manipur.”
“We realize that Fr. AniI Francis was under tension and pressure over an FIR lodged against him over a post he had shared on Manipur violence on social media,” the diocese said in its statement, referring to the police complaint.