The Indonesian Catholic Students Association has called on police to process their blasphemy complaint against prominent Islamic cleric Muhammad Rizieq Syihab after Christian governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama was jailed for the same crime. Angelo Wake Kako, the student’s chairman, said the government must ensure that the law is equally implemented. “Ahok has been imprisoned so Rizieq Syihab’s case should also be processed,” Kako said.

Catholics in Laos have welcomed their first cardinal appointment in anticipation of improved religious activities within the communist-run country. “We are extremely happy to hear that our Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun has been named as the first ever cardinal in Laos,” Martha Le Thi Thuy Hanh from Sacred Heart Parish, in the southern province of Champasak, told ucanews.com.

The consistory is scheduled for June 28, the vigil of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The church is treated very poorly in Laos — probably the worst in ASEAN save for Brunei,” a well-placed diplomatic source noted. “One reason is that most of the Catholics are of Vietnamese heritage or hill-tribes — not Lao Llum — the lowland Lao who rule the country. Catholics number some 45,000, about 1 percent of an estimated 7 million population, mostly Buddhist.  There are only 4 bishops, 2 of them retired.  The faithful are served by 21 Lao priests and deacons and a few dozen nuns.

Jakarta’s Christian governor was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy against Islam on May 9, a harsher than expected ruling that is being seen as a blow to religious tolerance in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

The guilty verdict comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass demonstrations during a tumultuous election campaign that ended with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama losing his bid for another term as governor.

President Joko Widodo was an ally of Purnama, an ethnic-Chinese Christian who is popularly known as “Ahok,” and the verdict will be a setback for a government that has sought to quell radical groups and soothe investors’ concerns that the country’s secular values were at risk.

As thousands of supporters and opponents waited outside, the head judge of the Jakarta court, Dwiarso Budi Santiarto, said Purnama was “found to have legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy, and because of that we have imposed two years of imprisonment.”

Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch described the verdict as “a huge setback” for Indonesia’s record of tolerance and for minorities. “If someone like Ahok, the governor of the capital, backed by the country’s largest political party, ally of the president, can be jailed on groundless accusations, what will others do?” Harsono said.

Purnama told the court he would appeal the ruling.The governor was taken to an East Jakarta prison after the verdict, and his lawyer Tommy Sihotang said Purnama would remain there despite his appeal process unless a higher court suspended it.

Shocked and angry supporters, some weeping openly, gathered outside the prison, vowing not to leave the area until he was released, while others vented their shock on social media.

Chinese Christians in the eastern province of Zhejiang are proposing that crosses taken down from churches during a government cross removal campaign be re-erected as way of celebrating the departure of an official responsible for their removal. The proposal — made by some Protestants in the area — was sent out via social media not long after it was known that Xia Baolong, Communist Party secretary of Zhejiang, was being reassigned to Beijing. The proposition to re-erect the church crosses was a way to “bid farewell” to Xia who local Christians hold responsible for the removal of 1,700 plus church crosses in Zhejiang since late 2013.

Since Nepal legalized abortion in 2002 there has been an epidemic of gender-based abortions. At least 50,000 abortions a year are performed after parents find out their unborn child is a girl. Gender identifi-cation of fetuses is illegal but many clinics do not follow the 11th amendment to the country’s civil code that details how abortions can be performed.

In Section 28C, the code prohibits the termination of a pregnancy for the sole purpose of sex-selection with a maximum punishment of two years in prison.

However, the law is flouted so much that there was a marked decrease in the female birth rate. A study in 2013 by British researcher Melanie Dawn Frost and her team found there were 742 girls per 1,000 boys in 2007-2010, down from 1,021 girls per 1,000 boys in 1998-2000.

Many married couples prefer male children is because tradi-tionally, girls leave the family when they are married to serve their in-laws. They are also an economic burden due to the dowry system. Few people question the misogyny that underlies these cultural beliefs.

The desire for boys is higher in urban areas. The Nepal demographic health survey in 2011 found that the number of gender-based abortions in towns was twice as high as in rural areas.

The practice may be higher in educated and wealthy families given that the proportion of pregnancies ending in abortion rises proportionally with household wealth. It ranges from three percent in the poorest households to 18 percent in the wealthiest.

The Nepal medical council once suspended a reputable gynecologist for three months on the charge of sex-selective abortion in Patan city in 2015. Half of induced abortions are estimated to be unsafe. It’s a worldwide problem. According to the World Health Organization, about 22 million unsafe abortions are performed every year resulting in the deaths of 47,000 women and maiming an additional 5 million internationally.

A Catholic bishop in Indonesia’s Papua province has criticized a plan by local authorities in Jayapura to build “the world’s tallest statue of Jesus,” calling the move a waste of much-needed money. Djuli Mambaya, head of Papua’s public work agency, told reporters last week that construction would cost 300 billion rupia (US$23 million) and begin sometime next year. Planners say the statue at 73 meters high would dwarf the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is 38 meters high.

Three underground priests from Mindong Diocese in eastern China were briefly detained the same day Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin was freed on May 6 after one month’s detention. Fathers Zhu Ruci, Xu Wenmin and Peng Zhenshen, vicar general, chancellor and procurator of the diocese respectively, were summoned to a so-called learning class to study religious regulations the same day Bishop Guo returned to Luojiang village, the head-quarters of the diocese. The three priests were supposed to undergo a class lasting just over a week.

“The brainwashing class was meant to run for 10 days but the three priests returned after three days because officials found them too stubborn,” a church source told ucanews.com.

Officials had earlier informed the diocese that the underground bishop – who is not recognized by the Chinese government and who was released the same day the three priests were detained – had to attend a similar class for 20 days. They took him away before the start of Holy Week, the source said.

Catholics in South Korea have high expectations for unity, equality and an end to corruption under the country’s newly elected president, Moon Jae-in.

In a congratulatory message to Moon that also noted the national rift that led to the special election, the head of the Korean bishops’ conference, Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong of Gwangju, said the country needed “a credible leader who keeps principles and steps toward true peace and justice beyond today’s conflicts and confrontations.”

“May the new president be a great leader who can make democracy take root in this country and bring peace and prosperity to the Korean people,” Archbishop Kim said in his statement.
Moon, a Catholic and member of South Korea’s Democratic Party, won the election on 9 May with 41% of the vote among a slate of 13 candidates. Moon, 64, was buoyed by the growing dissatisfaction of ordinary citizens whose anger over corruption was years in the making under Park. From late 2016 to early 2017, tens of thousands of South Koreans filled the streets of Seoul every week calling for Park’s removal.

A new survey by the Hong Kong Diocese has found that parishioners accept perma-nent deacons but do not fully understand their ministry.

The survey was conducted by the Catholic Studies Centre of the Chinese University of Hong Kong over three years and was released on April 23 with a more detailed version coming in June. It interviewed over 4,000 parishioners, clergy, deacons, nuns and seminarians. Hong Kong Diocese in 1997 became the first Asian Diocese of the Latin rite to ordain permanent deacons.

“The latest survey is the first research on the ministry since the last one was done 25 years ago in 1992 when the ministry was under preparation,” said Father Dominic Chan, Vicar General of Hong Kong Diocese. “We feel grateful now that well over 90 percent of the clergy and faithful have accepted laymen to become permanent deacons. Less than 20 percent of the clergy accepted this in 1992,” he told ucanews.com.

Although 70 percent of respondents welcomed permanent deacons in their parish, Father Louis Ha, head of the research project, suggested more education was needed as many interviewees said they did not know the details of the diaconate ministry.

“The lay respondents thought that there was not much difference between permanent deacons and lay church workers as they do similar tasks. This shows that they do not have a clear vision of the ministry devised in the Second Vatican Council,” he said.

The failure of families to sustain values formation among young people is one of the factors that has led to a decline of church attendance in the predominantly Catholic Philippines.

“[Young people] don’t feel that it is important to attend Mass on Sundays,” noted Henrietta de Villa, former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican.

Results of a survey conducted last month showed that church attendance among Catholics is declining even as most Filipinos claim that religion is very important in their daily lives.

The survey by pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) noted that the proportion of those who attend religious services weekly was lowest among Catholics at 41 percent.

De Villa said the result of the survey shows the importance of a “solid Christian family” that can guide the so-called “millennials” in the practice of their faith.

The lay leader said while she was happy about the growing number of Filipinos who said religion is “very important” to their lives, “it is sad that few people are going to church.”
“It is very important that families should start to form their children in faith while they are young,” said De Villa.

Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz of Lingayen-Dagupan said “family and life apostolate” should be strengthened.
“It will have a big influence on people,” said the prelate.

Archbishop Cruz also blamed the proliferation of modern technology and other recreational activities as among the causes of Filipinos’ declining interest in church activities.

De Villa, meanwhile, said that aside from strengthening Catholic families, priests and bishops should also be conscious in sharing “meaningful” homilies, especially to young people. Results of the SWS survey, conducted in late March, showed that Catholics are the least active among Filipino groups in attending weekly religious services.

Of the surveys on church attendance conducted by the pollster since 1991, weekly attendance at religious services has always been lower among Catholics.