Police in the eastern Indian State of Jharkhand have arrested three people for killing three members of one family for alleged witchcraft in a crime described as an “inhuman act” by a Catholic official.
The bodies of Birsa Munda, 48, his wife Sukru Purty, 43, and daughter Somwari Purty, 20, of Kuda village in Khunti district, were found by police on October 28 after they went missing on October 7.
“It is an inhuman act and we condemn it because we have no right to take away anybody’s life. It is a matter of concern and civil society has to take it very seriously as it can’t be acceptable in modern times. The Church is always pro-life and these kinds of incidents sadden us,” said Father Vincent Ekka, who heads the department of tribal studies at the Jesuit-run Indian Social Institute in New Delhi.
“When the whole country is talking about development and progress, killing in the name of witchcraft is certainly a setback to all of us. We have to address it collectively be-cause it needs the involvement of government machinery, non-government organizations, civil society and missionaries.”
Agra gets new archbishop
Pope Francis on November 12 promoted and transferred Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Allahabad as the archbishop of Agra, the mother diocese of the Church in northern India.
He succeeds Archbishop Albert D’Souza, who has headed the Agra Archdiocese since 2007. Archbishop D’Souza last year turned 75, the canonical retirement age for bishops.
Bishop Manjaly was born on February 7, 1958, in Vendore, in southern India’s Kerala State. After school in Kerala, he joined St Lawrence Minor Seminary, Agra, in 1973. He then studied philosophy and theology at St Joseph’s Regional Seminary, Allahabad. He was ordained a priest on May 11, 1983.
He has studied master’s degree from Agra University and obtained a doctoral degree from Angelicum University of Rome, Italy.
Baoding, priests, nuns and seminarians seized by government officials
Catholic sources in Hebei say that on the morning of November 2, two priests from the unofficial community of Baoding and more than a dozen seminarians and nuns from the same community were forcibly taken away by government officials. After a few hours, two seminarians were released.
On the same day, Fr Lu Genjun, former vicar general of Baoding, was taken away. Until now, no one knows where they are being held.
A priest from the underground community of Baoding, commenting on the incident, pointed out that the abduction took place shortly after the renewal of the provisional agreement between China and the Vatican. He asked all Catholics to pray for the kidnapped and for full religious freedom in China.
The diocese of Baoding, with over 500,000 faithful, is one of the cornerstones of the unofficial community. Its bishop, Msgr Giacomo Su Zhimin, has been missing in police custody since 1997 and nothing is known about his fate since then.
His coadjutor bishop Francesco An Shuxin, after a long period of imprisonment, decided to enter the official church.
-AsiaNews
Karachi: Court approves the conversion and marriage of 13-year-old Arzoo Raja. The mother’s desperation
The High Court of Sindh in Karachi has agreed with the kidnappers of Arzoo Raja, a 13-year-old girl who, after being kidnapped, was converted to Islam and forced into a forced marriage with a 44-year-old man.
The court, to which the kidnappers had turned after being accused by the girl’s family, agreed with them, stating that Arzoo had freely accepted Islam and freely married 44-year-old Ali Azhar. The court also ordered that no arrests be made.
During the court proceedings, Arzoo’s mother, Rita Masih, burst into tears (see video): “Let me see my daughter, she’s in there but they [the kidnappers, the police and the court] won’t allow me to see my innocent little daughter. Arzoo, my sweet-heart, come to your mom and give me a big hug, my dear daughter. Your sister got sick from what happened to you; your brother no longer eats because they want you home. My daughter is only 13, she is innocent. They [the kidnappers] keep lying and won’t let me meet my little girl. I want my daughter back! Please, please, help me!”
Then Rita Masih passed out, but the court, the police and the kidnappers did not allow her to meet her daughter. In another room, Arzoo was crying (see photo 1) and spread her arms as if to hug her mother, but the police blocked her and kept her away.
In recent days, demonstrations were held throughout the country to denounce the violence against minorities, forced marriages and the specific case of Arzoo Raja.
Xiaoyu, left standing in class because he believes in God
A young teenager named Xiaoyu has had to endure stand-ing in class for over a month, in punishment because he believes in God and because he dared to challenge his teacher who wanted to convince him not only of the theory of evolution, but also of non-existence of God.
The testimony sent to us by Fr Stanislaus, a priest from north-eastern China, is anonymous out of respect for the young man and the teacher. But it is very significant of the campaign implemented by the United Front to curb the faith among young people. This happens not only with the ban on going to Mass for minors under 18, but also with checks and disciplinary measures among teachers and students if any of them declare themselves a believer.
I was surprised, but also moved when a faithful told me about his son. In class, the professor declared: “The Bible says that man was created by God, this statement is wrong. God does not exist, man evolved from apes, proof of this is Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the fossil anthropoids…”
After that, the professor asks Xiaoyu and he replies: “Professor, I don’t understand. How does the Theory of Evolution prove the non-existence of God? Although humans evolved from apes, where did they [the apes] come from? How can it be proved that they were not created by God? How is the beginning of all existence?…”
Asian Catholic bishops welcome Biden’s victory in US elections
The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) welcomed the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States of America.
“We warmly send our prayerful wishes and congratulations to the people of America and the President-Elect Joe Biden,” read a statement signed by Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, FABC president.
The prelates noted that with the election of Biden the United States “enters into a new phase in their glorious history, affirming democracy and universal good.”
“President-Elect Joe Biden comes from a long tradition of Catholic faith-based life. His concern for the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor is a refreshing welcome,” read the bishops’ statement.
“The world with its poor and its climate challenges look forward to the USA fortifying the global fight against global warming and poverty,” it added.
“With prayerful wishes we welcome him and do hope his tenure will pay greater attention to countries in the margins like Myanmar,” read the statement.
The federation of Catholic bishops’ conferences expressed hope that the United States “will play its leadership role in the company of international organizations like the UN.
Pope Francis appoints new Indonesian archbishop in Papua
Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Petrus Canisius Mandagi of Amboina as archbishop of Merauke in Papua.
The appointment was announced by the archdiocese’s secretary-general, Fr Hendrikus Kari-wop, on Nov. 11 during a Mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral Church that was broadcast online. Abp. designate Mandagi of the Congregation for Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has been the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator since August last year following the death of its previous administrator, Bishop John Philip Saklil of Timika. “Because I believe it is God’s will. I must not reject God’s will,” he said on Nov. 12.
Catholic Church no ‘little bubble:’ Brunei’s cardinal-designate
Cardinal-designate Cornelius Sim certainly was surprised to learn Pope Francis had chosen him to be one of 13 new cardinals.
“For me, it was a bit of a shock and unexpected,” Cardinal-designate Sim told Vatican News.
Sim, 69, is Vicar Apostolic of Brunei. His 1989 ordination marked the first time a native Bruneian was ordained a Catholic priest for the country, which shares the island of Borneo with Malaysia and Indonesia.
He was appointed Prefect of Brunei in 1999, then Vicar Apostolic in 2004, and he was consecrated a bishop in January 2005. Besides Sim, the vicariate has three Catholic priests. Sim said he wanted to thank the Pope for “choosing someone from the peripheries.” He described the Church in Brunei as a “periphery within a periphery.”
Joe Biden will be the second Catholic president Here’s what you need to know about his faith
The morning of Election Day, Joseph R. Biden Jr. prayed during Mass at the Catholic parish near his home in Delaware. Late that night, when it became clear that no winner would be determined, Mr Biden spoke to supporters. He urged patience, told them that he believed he would be elected president and asked them to “keep the faith.” The president-elect kept the faith, and major news outlets have projected Mr. Biden has captured enough electoral votes to win the presidency. He will be just the second Catholic to hold the office.
In a 2015 interview with America’s editor in chief, Matt Malone, S.J., Mr Biden called his faith a “gift,” saying his parents inculcated in him Catholic values.
“Jesus Christ is the human embodiment of what God wanted us to do,” Mr Biden said. “Everything Jesus did was sort of consistent with what generically we were supposed to do: treat people with dignity.”
In that interview, Mr Biden spoke about his meeting with Pope Francis in 2013. “He’s the embodiment of Catholic social doctrine that I was raised with,” the former vice president said. “The idea that everyone’s entitled to dignity, that the poor should be given special preference, that you have an obligation to reach out and be inclusive.” Mr. Biden traces his Catholic faith back to Catholic schools in Delaware and Pennsylvania. He wrote in his memoir, Promises to Keep, that during a visit to a Catholic grade school, a child asked Mr Biden if he wanted to be president, and he replied that he was happy being a senator. But a Catholic sister corrected Mr Biden. “You know that’s not true, Joey Biden,” she said, before showing him an essay he had written as a child saying he wanted to be president. He wears a rosary around his wrist, a gift his son, Hunter, gave to Mr Biden’s late son, Beau. Mr Biden has said his faith has helped him cope with personal tragedy, including the death of his wife and daughter in a 1972 car crash and then again in 2015, when his son Beau died from cancer. Mr Biden had a health scare himself in 1988, shortly after he dropped out of the presidential race. He was admitted to Saint Francis Hospital in Wilmington. With his family gathered around, a priest visited to administer the sacrament of anointing. Mr Biden healed following surgery, and for the next two decades, he returned to work in the Senate.
“He’s the embodiment of Catholic social doctrine that I was raised with,” the former vice president said. “The idea that everyone’s entitled to dignity.” Later, in 2008, Mr Biden’s political fortunes changed when then-Senator Barack Obama chose him as his running mate. According to Mr Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, Mr Obama chose Mr Biden, in part, because “he came from a working-class Catholic family in a pivotal part of the country and still spoke of that experience.”
Victims in McCarrick report show fear, courage, anger, need for action
The Vatican Secretariat of State’s report on Theodore E. McCarrick provides a glimpse into how a number of witnesses and victims of the former cardinal’s abuse sought numerous ways to alert church officials and were disturbingly aware their allegations might trigger repercussions.
Over its 460 pages, the report also reveals how much difference 30 years can make when it comes to flagging misconduct and abuse. The report begins with a New York mother’s account of writing to every U.S. cardinal and the papal representative in the mid-1980s detailing McCarrick’s “dangerous” behaviour toward her underage sons. Having left no address or legible name, her red-flag warnings went unheeded.
Decades later, in 2017, when the Archdiocese of New York received an allegation of the sexual abuse of minor by McCarrick in the early 1970s, the report showed how the archdiocese’s now mandatory reporting system and procedures resulted in McCarrick’s eventual dismissal first from the College of Cardinals and, later, from the priesthood.
But for decades in between, the victims and witnesses described in the report recount how they struggled to figure out if and how they should or could make their claims in essentially a no-man’s land for accusations.
Haphazardly handled, ignored or dismissed allegations meant spotty paper trails, ineffective investigations that failed to find “hard” credible evidence and a climate of incessant gossip and rumors about McCarrick’s proclivities that ended up being leveraged by some to paint him as “a victim” of envy and enemies.
A New York woman, called “Mother 1” in the report, describes how McCarrick groomed her family into trusting him and feeling special by receiving his kind and generous attention during the 1970s and ’80s.
But she began to see the then-bishop as a threat when she caught him massaging her sons’ inner thighs in front of her husband, who seemed, in her words, “oblivious to Ted’s behaviour.”
While she felt they needed to get him “out of our lives,” her husband “refused to understand,” and she proceeded to witness ongoing inappropriate touching and massaging by McCarrick with her oldest son.
–CNS