With the approval of Pope Francis, the Vatican has ordered the dissolution of an Italy-based lay movement, citing problems with the group’s origins, catechesis, governance, respect for members’ consciences, handling of donations and with the divisions it allegedly has created among clergy of the Archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace, where it is based.
The decree ordering the suppression of the “Apostolic Movement” founded 40 years ago by Maria Marino was dated June 10 and signed by Cardinals Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy; and Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.
“The presumed revelations that gave birth to the Apostolic Movement through its founder, Mrs. Maria Marino, are to be considered not of supernatural origin — ‘constat de non super-naturalitate,’” the decree said.
While Marino has not been public about what she says were apparitions of Mary to her, she said they inspired her to establish the movement in 1979 and form the basis of the two key texts used to educate members.
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Australian brothers’ ordination completes hat trick of religious vocations
For the first time in Sydney’s history, two brothers have been ordained to the priesthood on the same day. Siblings Daniel and Stephen Drum were ordained May 29 by Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher at St Mary’s Cathedral in front of more than 700 people, including 90 of their closest family.
The family’s vocations story does not stop there; younger sibling Rosie has been a sister with the Missionaries of God’s Love for more than 10 years. Known to friends as the “Holy Trinity,” the spiritual siblings are the beating drums of the Catholic Church in Australia and prove that the family that prays together stays together.
Syro-Malabar priests to appeal Vatican congregation’s order to sell land
A controversial land deal that rocked India’s Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Church four years ago has resurfaced after a group of priests called a Vatican restitution decree unjust and unethical.
Syro-Malabar priests in India say the new archdiocesan administrator bypassed canonical channels to sell property to pay off debt. They will appeal to the Vatican’s Apostolic Signature against a decree from the Congregation for Eastern Churches, a senior priest told.
The Vatican decree, leaked to the media June 27, seeks to reduce the arch-diocese’s losses by selling two plots of archdiocesan land at a price and a buyer approved by the permanent synod of the church.
The demand for restitution began in November 2019 after a group of arch-diocesan priests publicly accused Cardinal George Alencherry of bypassing canonical bodies to sell off several plots of land over a period of two years, incurring a loss of some $10 million to the arch-diocese. Alencherry, major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, was archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly at the time.
The Vatican intervened two years ago and removed Cardinal Alencherry from administrative duties in the archdiocese. It later appointed Archbishop Antony Kariyil as its administrator.
The Vatican also asked the church’s synod to find a way to recover the losses.
Earlier this year, the synod suggested the sale of two pieces of land bought during the time Alencherry led the archdiocese, suggesting that price appreciation of the land could make up for the losses incurred.
However, members of the archdiocesan college of consultors and finance body opposed the suggestion, saying the land legally belongs to them because they bought it with their own money. The consultors say income from its sale cannot be considered restitution of the losses.
More than 385 of about 400 priests in the archdiocese also signed a petition to the Vatican congregation rejecting the synod proposal.
Tribal Catholic gets post in India’s new cabinet
Church leaders and activists have welcomed the appointment of a tribal Catholic as India’s new minister of state for minority affairs.
John Barla, an MP who represents Alipurduar in West Bengal state for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest cabinet reshuffle on July 7.
“We are quite delighted after John was given the chance to look after minority affairs and will be directly responsible for day-to-day activities of minorities’ groups. We hope he does justice to his responsibilities,” Father Nicholas Barla, secretary of the Indian bishops’ commission for tribal affairs, told.
“It feels good when someone from the same community is chosen as a federal minister, and we pray and wish him good luck. “Since John himself belong to an Oran tribe, he is the right person who can understand the sufferings, difficulties and socioeconomic condition of the tribal people. It will be easy for him to work for the downtrodden people.
“We have a big list of demands concerning tribal rights and we hope the new minister will be able to address all these issues.”
North East bishops condemn Delhi church demolition
The Catholic bishops in north-eastern India on July 13 condemned the demolition of a church in the national capital the previous day.
“It is shocking and sad news,” said Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati, who is president of North East India Regional Bishops’ Council (NEIRBC). The Little Flower Church in Lado Sarai was demolished by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation citing encroachment of government’s agricultural land “by some people by instalment of reli-gious structures.”
Speaking on behalf of NEIRBC, Archbishop Moolachira said, “Demolition of the Church in Delhi has hurt the religious sentiment of the peace loving Christian community not only in Delhi but across the country. The number of such incident has been on the rise in the recent past, including many parts of North East India.”
Indians account for one third Covid victims among Jesuits
Every third Jesuit who succumbed to Covid-19 in the world since June 2020 was Indian, according to a list circulated by Father Arturo Sosa, superior general of the Society of Jesus. The list, sent with a letter to all heads of 83 provinces, six independent regions and ten dependent regions, shows that as many as 158 Jesuits died of Covid-19 within a year starting June 2020. Among them 50 were Indians and two Sri Lankans.
Father Sosa recalled the death of another 44 Jesuits due to Covid in the previous year. “This list is long, and it would be even longer if we added the names of all our relatives who have left us,” he says.
The Covid toll adds to the already dwindling numbers among the Jesuits. As of 2018, the Society of Jesus had 15,842 members: 11,389 priests and 4,453 men in formation. This was 56 percent less than 36,038 in 1965, when the congregation’s membership peaked.
First leader of India’s “radical” Catholic priests dies
Father John Fernandes, founder president of the Catholic Priests’ Conference of India (CPCI), died in Mangaluru on July 3, the feast of Saint Thomas. He was 85.
The funeral is scheduled at 9:30 am on July 4 at St.Joseph the worker Church, Vamanjor, Mangaluru.
Father Fernandes, a priest of Mangalore diocese, had made a mark as a renowned human rights activist and a promoter of interreligious dialogue. He had led a number of movements for justice for Dalits, farmers and villagers while serving as pastor of rural parishes under the diocese of Mangalore.
He also fought for the rights of the Catholic diocesan priests in India the leader of CPCI, which was once the national forum of priests influenced by liberation theology.
As a dialogue activist he had addressed several meetings of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS), the umbrella organiza-tions of the Hindu nationalist groups, as an invitee on topics related to interreligious har-mony. He was the recipient of the Herbert Haag Award for Freedom in the Church from Lucerne, Switzerland in 2007.
Fr Onil D’Souza, the dire-ctor of the St Anthony’s poor homes where Father Fernandes spent his last days, said he was “deeply touched by his passion for the poor, his secular app-roaches and sense of justice all through his priestly life.”
India hands over martyred queen’s relics to Georgia
In a rare diplomatic gesture, India has returned the relics of a Christian saint and Georgian queen killed in Iran for refusing to give up her faith 400 years ago and buried in Goa.
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar handed over the relics of St Queen Ketevan to his Georgian counterpart David Zalkaliani on July 10 during a two-day visit to Georgia.
Ketevan was the queen of Kakheti, a kingdom in eastern Georgia in the 17th century. Iranian King Shah Abbas I took her hostage after he conquered her kingdom in 1613-14.
She refused to convert to Islam or join the Iranian ruler’s harem and is believed to have been tortured to death on Sept. 22, 1624.
Some Augustinian friars in 1627 brought her body to Goa, then a Portuguese colony. It was buried and remained hidden inside the Augustinian convent in Goa.
Nun opens facility in Assam to help transgender people
The Rainbow Home of the Seven Sisters (RHoSS) aims to provide a home for homeless transgender women and help them build a better future. The new facility – located in Guwahati, Assam’s commercial capital– is the brainchild of Sister Prema Chowallur, a member of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod, who has been working with marginalized people since 2016.
Fr Swamy, a modern day martyr, is laid to rest
Fr Stan Swamy, who died on Monday at the age of 84, was laid to rest today. His fellow Jesuits described the service as “The funeral of a saint of our time”, held in St Peter’s Church in Bandra (Mumbai). Only 20 people were able to take part in the ceremony due to COVID-19 restrictions, but the Mass was streamed live.