The Vatican’s liturgy czar has intervened against the implementation of resolutions of the German Synodal Way that demand laypeople should be able to regularly baptize and preach the homily at Mass in churches across Germany.
In a letter to the German Bi-shops’ Conference president da-ted March 29, Cardinal Arthur Roche said neither was possible despite at least one German diocese already announcing both practices.
The written intervention by the Vatican’s prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments was addressed to Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, which has obtained a copy of the document.
Apart from covering the question of homilies and baptisms by laypeople, the seven-page letter also reminded the German bishops that liturgical translations must be confirmed and approved by the Vatican.
On the issue of homilies, Roche wrote that the reason why laypeople cannot regularly preach at Mass is not due to their need for “better theological preparation or better communication skills.” Nor is the intent to create “inequalities among the baptized.”
China installs new bishop in Shanghai, despite local opposition
Bishop Joseph Shen Bin, 52, the erstwhile Bishop of Haimen, was installed as Shanghai’s new bishop with no formal announcement from the Vatican, or even from his own diocese before the liturgy commenced.
In an unusual move, priests in Shanghai were sent last week invitations to the installation of a new bishop, who was not named on the invitation.
In an April 4 installation at the diocesan Cathedral of St. Ignatius, Bishop Shen, who is also the president of the state-sanctioned Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China, promised to lead the Shanghai diocese with “patriotism and love.”
One cleric in China told The Pillar Tuesday that local priests had expected Shen to be installed as their bishop – he said word of the appointment was “in the wind” among the city’s presbyterate in the days preceding the mysterious installation.
The cleric, who requested anonymity because of the possibility of government reprisal, said that Chen’s name was likely omitted from the invitation to avoid the possibility of protests against his installation.
Describing Bishop Shen as “a capable man, who believes the faith” the cleric said Shen “recognizes the reality of life in China means that if you want room to maneuver for the good of the faithful, you sometimes have to make compromises.”
Saudi Arabia Embraced Coptic Christmas. Could Its First Church Be Next?
Saudi Arabia stunned foreign policy observers this month by publicly agreeing to normalize relations with Iran, under Chinese sponsorship. The deal between the neighbouring Sunni and Shia arch-rivals, known for sectarian proxy fights, is expected to ease tensions within Islam.
Meanwhile, the kingdom has recently taken less publicized steps toward another religious normalization: public Christian faith. In this case, Egypt is the supporting nation.
“Nine years ago, I was told, ‘Pray, but don’t publicize it,’” said Bishop Marcos of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church. “This time, Saudi Arabia is publicizing it themselves.”
On January 7, Marcos headlined a month-long pastoral visit by celebrating the eastern Christmas liturgy amid 3,000 Coptic Christians residing in the kingdom. Facilitated by the Egyptian embassy, additional services in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Khobar, and Dhahran were “held under the full sponsor-ship of the Saudi authorities.”
It was the first public Christmas celebration admitted by the Islamic nation, home to the pilgrimage sites of Mecca and Medina. Muslim traditions cite Muhammad as forbidding the existence of two religions in Arabia, though scholars differ as to the geographic scope.
But Marcos’s trip was not the first Christian worship permitted.
He began praying about visits to Saudi Arabia after being sent in 2012 to help solve a dispute between authorities and an Egyptian Christian migrant worker. Marcos estimates there are about 50,000 Copts in the kingdom, among 2.1 million Christians – mostly Filipino Catholics.
None have a church to worship in. Open Doors’ World Watch List ranks Saudi Arabia No. 13 among the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian today. Visiting Coptic clergy used to meet the faithful in neighboring Bahrain.
The idea had been broached as early as 2008 by Catholic officials. Various Saudi figures have stated “definitely …it’s coming” and that it is “on the to-do list” of the authorities. Speculation about its location centers on the diplomatic district in the capital, Riyadh, or on Neom, a $500 million planned megacity in the northwestern desert.
Archbishop’s “assurance” to BJP unacceptable: Forum
An advocacy group for Catholic religious in India has termed as un-acceptable an archbishop’s conditional offer of support to the Bharatiya Janata Party saying it would have serious long term repercussions.
“We are shocked by the recent statement made by Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany of Tellicherry, given wide coverage by all sections of the media. According to media reports, “Archbishop Pamplany assured to extend support to BJP if the union government raises the price of rubber to 300 rupees,” says a statement of the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace.
Catholic school sealed, priest principal arrested in Madhya Pradesh
A Catholic school in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has been sealed and its principal arrested after an investigation team found objectionable materials in the pre-mises.
A Church official in the state, who refused to be identified, told Matters India March 27 that efforts are on to get bail for the priest. He also said only the priests’ residence inside the school campus has been sealed. Earlier, a report in the Free Press Journal said the collector of Morena district ordered the closure of Saint Mary’s School in the town after a surprise inspection by the state’s Child Protection Commission along with District Education Officer and the police.
Indian state backs welfare benefits for Dalit Christians
A provincial government in southern India has urged the Indian federal govern-ment to award scheduled caste status to Christians who were former untouchables to enable them to claim welfare benefits.
The Andhra Pradesh government on March 24 passed a resolution in its legislative assembly to support Christians from the Dalit community becoming a Scheduled Caste (SC) which, if approved by the central government could one day allow them social benefits they are currently excluded from.
These benefits include reservations in legislative bodies, educational institutions, and job quotas in state-run institutions.
“Somewhere or somebody has to start it for this noble cause, hence we appreciate and thank the Andhra Pradesh govern-ment for taking such a step as it is in the right direction and at the right time,” Father Vijay Kumar Nayak, secre-tary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes, told on March 27.
“The Andhra Pradesh government’s support will have an immense impact.”
“It’s the need of the hour,” he added.
Father Nayak said other states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal already support the claim by Dalit Christians to social benefits which are currently enjoyed by their counterparts from the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh religions.
Indian Church leaders seek action against speech insulting pope
Church leaders in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mo-di’s home state have demanded strict legal action in a case of hate speech circulating on so-cial media insulting the pope and Catholic nuns.
Archbishop Thomas Igna-tius Macwan of Gandhinagar in western Gujarat state on March 21 wrote to Chief Mi-nister Bhupendra Patel to take “immediate and stringent” act-ion against a speaker, who is yet to be identified, and organi-zers of the event where defa-matory statements were made against the supreme leader of the Catholic Church.
A video of the event has been circulating on social media for the past few days and contains provocative sta-tements against local Christians and a Catholic pilgrimage cen-ter called Unteshwari Mata Mandir in Kadi village.
“We do not know the name of the speaker. But from the podium and background of the stage, it is clear that he was speaking at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad [World Hindu Coun-cil] function in Kadi, Mehsana district, north-western Guj-arat,” said Father Telesphoro Fernandes, secretary of Gujarat Education Board of Catholic Institutions.
The speech in the local Gujarati language makes sex-ually explicit references to the pope and nuns and calls on the crowd to not tolerate Christian priests and nuns in their midst.
He said the pope is the hus-band of thousands of nuns the world over because nuns during their initiation ceremony need to accept him so. Therefore, the pope is committing adul-tery, he said.
Church cautious to demand to end reservation for converted tribals
Church leaders in India have reacted cautiously to the demand of an organization representing indigenous people that the government remove the reservation for tribal people to Christianity or other religions.
A March 26 rally organized by the Janajati Dharma Sans-kriti Suraksha Mancha (JDS SM) in Assam’s Guwahati city also demand a ban on religious conversion of tribal people in Assam. Hundreds of Boro, Karbi, Tiwa, Dimasa, Rabha, Mising and other tribes from 30 districts of Assam report-edly attended the rally.
“Conversion of tribal peo-ple in Assam and elsewhere in India to foreign religions has been a threat to indigenous faiths and cultures for decades. The rate of conversion has in-creased and the ST people fall prey to communal theocratic foreign religious groups,” alle-ged JDSSM working president Binud Kumbang.
He said conversion could be checked if the converted tribal people are stripped off the Scheduled Tribe list. “The converted people completely give up their original tribal culture, customs, rituals, way of life, and traditions,” he alleged.
Allen Brooks, spokesper-son of the United Christian Fo-rum of Assam, says Christians would respond to the issue, but would to do it collectively tak-ing all denominations together.
Church commits to welfare of India’s tribal peoples
Each morning, 46-year-old Shailaja rises at 5 a.m. Before 8 a.m., she has eaten breakfast and walked a mile up a mountain to an Indigenous village, where she tutors 22 teens in grades 8 to 10 in math and the Marathi language. Before the students begin attending the government school at 10 a.m., she also tries to help them with any other problems they have encountered.
Shailaja, who has been a teacher for 14 years, is one of a group of animators – teachers, health workers and social workers – trained and paid by the Archdiocese of Bombay to work with Indigenous, or tri-bal, villagers. She works out of the mission station in Alibag, a beach town about 60 miles south of Mumbai.
Tribals, sometimes referred to as Adivasis, make up nearly 9% of the Indian population. The Indian Constitution ensures their educational interests, provides economic safe-guards and takes steps for political empowerment. The 2006 Forest Rights Act empowers forest dwellers to access and use the forest resources in the manner to which they were traditionally accustomed and aims to protect forest dwellers from unlawful evictions — much of their land is mineral rich, and corporations have exploited the lack of documen-tation of ownership.
Church cautious to demand to end reservation for converted tribals
Church leaders in India have reacted cautiously to the demand of an organization representing indigenous people that the government remove the reservation for tribal people to Christianity or other religions.
A March 26 rally organized by the Janajati Dharma Sanskriti Suraksha Mancha (JDSSM) in Assam’s Guwahati city also demand a ban on religious conversion of tribal people in Assam. Hundreds of Boro, Karbi, Tiwa, Dimasa, Rabha, Mising and other tribes from 30 districts of Assam reportedly attended the rally.
“Conversion of tribal people in Assam and elsewhere in India to foreign religions has been a threat to indigenous faiths and cultures for decades. The rate of conversion has increased and the ST people fall prey to communal theocratic foreign religious groups,” alleged JDSSM working president Binud Kumbang.
He said conversion could be checked if the converted tribal people are stripped off the Scheduled Tribe list. “The converted people completely give up their original tribal culture, customs, rituals, way of life, and traditions,” he alleged.
Allen Brooks, spokesperson of the United Christian Forum of Assam, says Christians would respond to the issue, but would to do it collectively taking all denominations together.