Lay Catholics have joined dozens of priests in demanding Ruteng Diocese’s embattled bishop quit for allegedly misappropriating more than US$100,000 in church funds and having an affair with a woman.

In a July 1 statement signed by 30 people, they said “resignation” was the best course of action for Flores Island’s Bishop Hubertus Leteng as he had failed to perform his duties.

“The bishop is the shepherd, the representative of Christ, the spiritual leader, the model to live the Gospel value. Since his attitude and behaviour violate the nature and identity of a bishop, we urge him to resign from office,” they said.

If Bishop Leteng refuses to resign, they said, the Holy See must dismiss him.

“I think it would be a disaster if Archbishop Apuron were to return as the bishop of record,” said Coadjutor Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes, because of the extent of the loss of trust among the faithful and the “widespread disarray” left behind in church operations.

Byrnes, a former auxiliary bishop of Detroit, spoke to the press in Agana July 6, offering an update of the canonical investi-gation and trial of Apuron and his own personal thoughts about what would be best for the archdiocese moving forward.

The guidelines are expected to be ready in the next few months and implemented in Catholic schools when the next academic year begins. “What we are doing is in response to the current situation, where radicalism is so strong, including among teenagers,” Franciscan Father Vinsensius Darmin Mbula, chairman of the National Council of Catholic Education told ucanews.com on July 10. “To stem this, we believe one solution is through education,” he said.

Father Mbula referred to a 2015 survey in 171 schools in Jakarta and Bandung, West Java that revealed 9.5 percent of students supported violence committed by radical groups, including the so-called Islamic State group. An earlier survey by the Institute for Islamic and Peace Studies revealed that almost 50 percent of students supported radical ideas. He said advice would be sought from Islamic experts and thinkers from other religions.

An activist Catholic priest known for his human rights work and campaigns for social justice has been barred from leaving the country for “national security” reasons.

“Redemptorist Father John Nguyen Ngoc Nam Phong was stopped at Noi Bai Airport and prevented from travelling to Australia on a study trip as he was checking in on June 27,” a church source said.

In a post on Facebook, officials said Father Phong, from Thai Ha Parish in Hanoi, was prevented from travelling overseas “for the protection of national security, social order and safety.”

Catholic blogger John Baptist Nguyen Huu Vinh said on Facebook that Father Phong is well known for fighting for justice, truth and helping people who fall foul of the communist government.
“He struggles for religious freedom among people in northwest provinces and gives them opportunities to escape poverty,” he said.

The Dalits have decided to organize a secret meeting to pray to Jesus, to save them. Conversions and renunciations of the Hindu faith are occurring in the Surkhet district of western Nepal. The Dalits are marginalized because of their caste belonging. And they are tired of suffering serious discrimination and threats. Sanu Nepali, 21, was beaten by some senior caste members on July 5. They accused him of bathing in public drinking water, polluting it physically and above all “spiritually.” He ended up in the hospital. Two months ago, a nine-year-old Dalit boy, Bhim Bahadur, was brutally beaten with perhaps only because he dared to enter the kitchen of a family of a higher caste of his, in the village of Barahatal, in the same district. It is estimated that about 50,000 Dalits in Surkhet District, who were victims of serious discrimination, have decided to leave the Hindu faith and embrace the message of Christianity. The decision was taken in the meeting with a large number of representatives.

Lal Babu BK, one of the participants said, “We were more than 200. We have come together to convert to Christianity to save ourselves. We have all practised Hindu faith for generations since it was mandatory, but today the country is secularized and Hindu faith can not save us. Those who torment and who humiliate us are Hindus like us. By being named untouchables we are judged from the bottom down. We can not even touch lower caste people, can not enter their homes, we can not touch public drinking water and can not have access to public places. So what is this belief? Are we certain in this faith? We concluded ‘no’ and decided to convert to Christianity.” Jayasara, mother of Bhim Bahadur BK, said: “We made this decision from the moment we had no alternatives to save us.”

Rebel priests in Indonesia’s Ruteng Diocese have appealed to the Vatican to intervene and resolve a bitter dispute with their bishop, whom they accuse of misappro-priating more than US$100,000 in church funds.

Representatives of the priests, accompa-nied by a bishops’ conference official met Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, the outgoing apostolic nuncio in Indonesia on June 16 to call on the Vatican to help them achieve their demand that Bishop Hubertus Leteng heed their calls for a complete overhaul of how the diocese is run.

The move comes after dozens of priests in the diocese on Catholic-majority Flores Island quit their posts in protest against their bishop.

Father Alfonsius Segar, one of the priests who met the nuncio, told ucanews.com that Archbishop Filipazzi has promised to help resolve the dispute.

“He will immediately take this issue up with the Vatican,” Father Segar said.

Father Segar also said the nuncio will send someone to the diocese to appraise the situation. “We are looking forward to a swift Vatican decision on this,” Father Segar said.

A source close to Antonius Agus Sriyono, Indonesia’s Ambassador at the Vatican told ucanews.com that the Indonesian government was also raising the Ruteng dispute with the Vatican.

On June 12, 69 priests in Ruteng Diocese declared open revolt by quitting their posts as episcopal vicars and parish priests, and demanded Bishop Leteng completely change how the diocese is run.

Last year, Bishop Leteng was accused of secretly borrowing US$94,000 from the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference in Jakarta and US$30,000 from the diocese but failed to provide an accountability report. Accusing their bishop of embezzling funds and having an affair, 69 of the 167 priests in the Diocese of Ruteng, Indonesia, have resigned from their diocesan and parish posts.

The Vatican expressed “grave concern” today for a Chinese bishop who it says was “forcibly removed” from his office several weeks ago and whose whereabouts are unknown. The matter is the latest episode in a wider, decades old dispute between the Vatican and China’s communist authorities over papal authority to appoint bishops.

Shao was appointed by the Pope in September and posted to Wenzhou, an eastern city which has a large Christian community. A Vatican-affiliated missionary news service said Shao’s disappearance is believed to be part of an attempt to per-suade him to join the Communist-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association church. Chinese authorities don’t recog-nise Shao’s appointment by the Vatican. China has an estimated 12 million Catholics, many of whom worship in non-state sanctioned congre-gations that often overlap with the government-sanctioned church.

Buddhist, Christian and Muslim clergy are calling for the release of suspected Tamil separatists held for years under Sri Lanka’s controversial anti-terrorism laws.

The prisoners are believed to have been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act issued during Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war. The law gives the mili-tary sweeping powers to detain and arrest people deemed to be threats to national security.

Venerable Bellanwila Wima-larathana Thero said that there are 81 suspected Tamil rebels who have been detained for 22 years under the terrorism law. They were arrested on suspicion of having links with the Tamil Tiger rebel group during the war or soon after it ended in 2009. “Still the charges against them are not established,” he said at the Congress of Reli-gions at Maha Bodhi Society on June 21 in Colombo.

“If the state needs to rehabilitate them, please do it and release them,” said the Buddhist monk. Anglican Father Noel Fernando said the suspects were not yet indicted in a court of law. “It is a hu-manitarian issue and the state should take steps to produce them in courts,” he said.

Police have looked the other way as groups of youths have terrorized a Catholic community in northeast Vietnam.

Ucanews.com reported that, throughout June, gangs of youths — wearing red T-shirts with yellow stars and waving national flags — have attacked Catholics and their property in Song Ngoc Parish in Quynh Luu District of Nghe An province.

“We see that the attacks have been carried out in an orchestra-ted manner, and the police know well what is occurring, but are ignoring what is going on,” said 11 priests in a June 13 petition given to the Vietnamese govern-ment. The priests accused the government of “aiding and abetting those who intentionally violate laws, cause hatred and divide Catholics from others.”

The attacks have occurred at night, and at least two Catholics have been seriously injured, sources told ucanews.com.

Sunday marks the two-year anniversary of the publication of Laudato Si’. Explore Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical with ourcomplimentary readers’ guide.

Two Chinese nuns have been on a hunger strike since June 12 because they say they have not been properly com-pensated for the disbanding of their religious congregation.

They are sisters Gao Wanjuan and Jiao Jialin of Our Lady of Good Counsel in southeast Jiangxi province who launched their hunger strike outside the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) in Beijing. They claimed that they failed to get help from various government departments since their congregation was disbanded in October 2014. The nuns accuse Bishop John Baptist Li Suguang of Jiangxi(Nanchang) — who disbanded their congregation — for not providing adequate compensation.

“We are determined to die for justice in the hunger strike,” Sister Jiao told ucanews.com.

Following the congregation’s disbandment, Bishop Li allowed its 23 nuns to decide their own future. In a 2014 statement, the bishop said the nuns could join “other religious congregations, live a secular life or negotiate with parish priests to serve in the diocese [as laywomen].”

Whatever the nuns decide to do with their lives is a personal matter and has nothing to do with the diocese, said the statement.

Bishop Li said there were numerous reasons for the congregation’s disbandment, among them continuous arguments among the nuns after the diocese assigned a nun from Beijing as their acting superior. The bishop’s decision was “cruel” as the nuns’ ages ranged from 32 to over 50, have been in the congregation for 12 to 17 years and they would be stigmatized by Catholics if they returned home, she said.