A High Court in Nepal on November 18 granted bail to two Catholic nuns and two volunteers from South Korea, who were arrested for “illegal conversion” in Nepal slums.
“Thank God for praying for Korean Sisters and volunteers. They got bail finally, thank you all for praying,” says a note from Father Silas Bogati, the vicar general of Nepal, posted on the “Couples for Christ – Nepal” WhatsApp group.
Sisters Gemma Lucia Kim and Martha Park Byongsuk, members of the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres Congregation, and two volunteers wee arrested September 14 after being accused of converting Hindus by coercion and allurement. The Koreans were kept in a jail at Pokhara, the nuns’ base in Nepal some 200 km northwest of Kathmandu, the national capital.
The High Court granted the bail after the district court in Pokhara rejected the nuns’ application. The bail was given at around 4 pm (local time). The nuns are expected to be released November 19 after the bail is paid and formalities are done at the lower court, a source in Kathmandu told Matters India.
The nuns will have to appear for hearing in case at the lower district court at a given date.
Nepal’s Catholic Church, which has been praying for the nuns and their companions, was relieved and happy, the source added.
The two nuns have been managing “St. Paul’s Happy Home,” a center in Pokhara that provides accommodation, food, education, medical services and skills training to about 120 slum children at Bus-Park. The home is named St. Paul’s in honor of their congregation’s patron.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the nuns distributed food rations to the poor, but some people accused them of alluring them to become Catholics by giving low-quality food.
Bishop Paul Simick, the Apostolic Vicar of Nepal, has told Aid to the Church in Need that the nuns’ arrest and denial of bail has shocked the Nepalese Catholic community. The allegations against the nuns “are utterly baseless and unjust,” he asserted.
The prelate clarified that Catholics do not indulge in forceful conversion and “the Korean sisters are known for doing exclusively social work.”

Nearly 200 Catholic priests in Papua have called on the international community, includ-ing the United Nations, to play a more active role in bringing peace to Indonesia’s violence-plagued easternmost region.
In addition to diocesan priests, Franciscan, Augustinian, Jesuit and Missionaries of the Sacred Heart clerics were among 194 priests who said their call was part of an effort to be “pro-actively involved in the fight for justice, truth and peace” in Papua.
The region is caught in the grip of an insurgency being waged by separatist rebels against security forces in which innocent civilians are caught in the middle, they said in a statement.
The priests asked other countries to join them in urging rebels of the National Liberation Army of the Free Papua Organi-zation and security forces to call and observe an immediate cease-fire.
“We also firmly support inviting the UN high commissi-oner for human rights to come, see and hear the actual human rights conditions in Papua,” they said.
They also called on the go-vernment and agencies providing funds for development in Papua to review certain policies being conducted such as increasing troop deployments, which trigg-ers more violence and increased state oppression.
“There are even those in government who accuse priests who talk about human rights issues of being among the separa-tists,” they said.

Violent crime targeted by disgruntled locals at family members and acquaintances has been claiming victim after victim in southern Thai provinces notorious for hair-trigger tempers and rampant gun violence.
In one recent incident in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, which has been dubbed “the murder capital of Thailand,” the assistant head of a village shot dead his two-year-old daughter on Nov. 16 during a heated, drunken quarrel with his 27-year-old wife.
The man, who took umbrage at his wife for berating him for getting visibly drunk at home, reached for his gun and took a shot at his wife but missed. He then shot his daughter, killing the toddler instantly.
The villager then tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head but survived with a severe head wound, according to police.
The day before, a 60-year-old man in the southern province of Songkhla, which borders Nakhon Si Thammarat, shot his 88-year-old father dead following a quarrel in an incident that was recorded on a home surveillance camera. The man tried to flee but was arrested by police.
Gun violence has long been a serious problem in Thailand, especially in the South, with a per capita murder rate that is higher than that in the United States, according to experts.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, which has a population of some 1.5 million, scores of locals have been shot dead this year alone and many more are likely to die before the year is out.

Nahla and Valentina like to stop and pray at Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church in the centre of this small majority Christian community. The grounds of the church once shelt-ered several hundred Christians who were forced to flee their homes in 2014 when Islamic State militants attacked Mosul and surrounding villages some 50 miles away.
The tents and caravans that dominated the property are gone, but the women say many Christian families remain unable to return home.
“Although we are from Ankawa, there are still many displaced in our midst from Mosul, Qaraqosh, and other towns, but they are now in apartments, having to pay rent and wondering if they will ever be able to go back,” Nahla told the Catholic News Service after lighting a candle near the saint’s statue.
“The pope gave us a lot of hope with his visit in March. It was wonderful to see our churches united in welcoming him and enjoying the many Masses, but in practical ways, we don’t feel much has changed in the circumsta-nces,” she said. “Being separated is so difficult.”
Chaldean Catholic Abp Bashar Warda of Irbil and other church officials acknowledge the pain that many still feel, but Abp Warda said the papal visit helped to inspire and recharge Iraq, which has struggled to regain a firm footing after years of conflict and sectarian violence.

Catholic Surobhi Minj never misses a Sunday Mass. And, the November Sunday of the feast of Christ the King has become a harvest festival for her community in Bangladesh.
On the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe on November 21 Surobhi and family members wore new clothes to go to the church. They carried with them 15-kilogram rice from the latest harvest and offered it to Christ the King.
Surobhi also carried a cake she baked from the newly harvested paddy and shared it with everyone including the priest and nuns after the priest blessed the harvest offerings.
Local Catholics like Surobhi offer a share of their farm produce during the feast, making it a sort of harvest festival for indigenous Catholics across Bangladesh.
Surobhi planted paddy in her 0.251 hectors of land. “We harvested and stored it in the house. I am yet to measure this year’s yield but it’s better than previous years. I devoted a little to God because, without His grace and blessings, we cannot consume this crop at home,” the 34-year-old Oraon indigenous farmer said.
The premises of her Saint Anthony’s parish Church in Rajshahi Diocese were flooded with a variety of fresh crops on Sunday morning.
Like Minj, several Catholics in the parish had come to offer their harvests to Christ the King. Some even sold a part of the yield to gift new clothes to the priest.

Religious buildings including Catholic churches and convents continue to be the primary target of Myanmar’s military, which is reinforcing its troops to crush local militias.
Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Pekhon town, which belongs to the Diocese of Pekhon in Shan state, was hit by military artillery on Nov. 9.
There were no reported casualties despite the windows and pews being damaged, according to church sources.
The cathedral was also struck by artillery fire in June. The attack came three days after a convent in the same township was hit by military shelling on Nov. 6.
No casualties were reported at the convent of the Sisters of Zetaman, which is situated in Jeroblous Marian shrine in Pekhon township. Fighting between the military and the combined forces of the Karenni army and Karenni People’s Defense Force has intensified since Nov. 2.
More than 10,000 people from Pekhon township have been newly displaced due to the fighting and indiscriminate attacks with heavy weaponry by the military, according to aid workers.
A Catholic social worker said his family were forced to flee from their homes in Pekhon town as artillery shelling fell on his neighbours.
“It was intense fighting, so the majority of people have fled from their homes to safe areas,” he told.
He said the fighting has impacted their response to displaced people as church social workers have also fled their homes and taken refuge in safe areas.
Pekhon Diocese is one of the worst-affected areas along with Loikaw Diocese in Kayah state due to the escalating conflict since May.
More than 100,000 civilians have been forced to seek refuge in churches, convents and makeshift camps even while the military is targeting priests and pastors, bombing and vandalizing churches in the predominantly Christian region of Kayah and Chin states.

Ankawa, the Christian suburb of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, has been designated a district. In the past it welcomed thousands of Christian families who fled from Mosul and the Nineveh plain following the rise of the Islamic State group.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani made the announcement on Monday during a visit to the area.
Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of Erbil welcomed this major recognition. It is a “very important decision for Ankawa,” said the prelate, a “strategic” move to maintain the Christian presence in the region and an incentive for Christians to remain and invest in their community.
The decision to increase the degree of autonomy and repre-sentativeness of what was just once a (Christian) suburb is shared by the Kurdistan Interior Ministry, the governor of Erbil and the local provincial council.
With the new status, Ankawa passes under the “administrative control” of its Christian reside-nts, most of whom fled perse-cution from Iraq’s Nineveh plain and Syria, and will become “the biggest district of Christians in the Middle East.”
From sub-district to full-fledged district, residents will be able to elect officials and repre-sentatives, run their admini-strators, be in charge of security and benefit, unlike the past, from a mayor with “direct authority”.
For Kurdish leaders, who took in Christians during the rise of the Islamic State, the goal is to show the international commu-nity that the region is safe for Christians (and non-Christians), thus attracting investments and opportunities for economic development.

Thai authorities are stepping up their campaign against human traffickers who continue smuggl-ing large numbers of migrants from neighbouring countries.
They are issuing arrest wa-rrants for people smugglers whose assets will be seized if they are convicted of human trafficking, money laundering and other crimes, according to Labour Minister Suchart Chom-klin.
In addition, the Ministry of Labour is seeking to make it easier for migrant workers to enter Thailand legally in order to discourage migrants from relying on people smugglers for entry.
“Migrant workers should not have to wait longer than three weeks before they can enter the country legally under new me-morandums of understanding [between Thailand and its neighbours],” Suchart said at a press conference this week.
Under these pacts with Myan-mar, Laos and Cambodia, up to 80,000 migrant workers from these nations will be allowed to work in Thailand in the first phase, especially in sectors such as construction and food processing that are experiencing severe labor shortages.
At the same time, however, large numbers of migrants continue streaming illegally into Thailand through porous national borders despite stepped-up border patrol measures.
Last week alone, nearly 3,000 illegal crossings were detected, though many more are likely to have managed to stay undetected.
The migrants told police that had each paid either 25,000 baht (US$760) or 26,000 baht to job brokers before entering Thailand with the help of smugglers.

The Archdiocese of Gwangju in South Korea has installed 14 catacomb murals in a Catholic cemetery to help the faithful pray and meditate as well as to learn about the early days of the Church and the persecution of Christians.
Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong of Gwangju blessed the murals on the wall behind Catholic Park Cemetery in Damyang county of Gwangju on All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2.
The murals on tiles are based on scenes from the Bible, seven each from the Old and New Testaments. Scenes from the Old Testament include Noah’s ark, the Exodus and the story of Jonah. In the New Testament, there are the parable of the lost sheep, the miracle of the five fish and the resurrection of Lazarus.
The initiative for catacomb murals is the brainchild of Archbishop Kim, who took photos of catacombs in Rome when he studied and obtained a doctoral degree in church history from the Pontifical Gregorian University from 1976-86.
His photos have been improved by a team of professionals and transferred to a tiles format.
Father Andrew Heo Woo-yeong, director of the cemetery, said the murals will help the faithful know about Christians of the early Church and how they gathered secretly to avoid persecution from rulers.

More than 160 buildings in a town in north-western Myanmar, including at least two churches, have been destroyed by fires caused by shelling by government troops, local media and activists reported Saturday.
The destruction of parts of the town of Thantlang in Chin state appeared to be another escalation in the ongoing struggle between Myanmar’s military-installed government and forces opposed to it. The army seized power in February from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, but has failed to quell the widespread resistance.
The Chin state is a heavily Christian area in the otherwise majority-Buddhist country. Over 90 percent of the ethnic Chin people identify as Christian, many of them Baptists after the history of Baptist missionaries in the region.
A government spokesman denied “nonsense allegations being reported in the country-destroying media,” and blamed insurgents for instigating the fighting and setting the fires.