Fisherfolk’s protest against an under construction international seaport in Kerala has been called off after nearly five months, paving the way for re-starting the stalled construction work.
Announcing the end of the stir on December 6, Father Eu-gene Pereira, the convener of the protest, said they decided to end agitation not because they were satisfied with the steps taken by the government but because it had reached a certain poin.
The priest of the Trivandrum Latin archdiocese also maintained that it was a temporary truce indicating that if the government failed to fulfil the promises they might consider restarting the protest.
The construction work of the 75 billion rupee Adani Vizhinjam International Seaport came to a halt after the fisherpeople, mostly Catholics, launched an indefinite protest on July 20 under the leadership of bishops and priests of archdiocese with a seven point charter of demands. The protesters said after the port construction started in 2015 close to 500 fishermen lost they houses to seawater and we-re forced to live in unhygienic warehouses and other places.
Indigenous people feel abandoned by Philippine Church
A group of some ten women stood away from everyone else in a corner of the church as Sunday Mass progressed in San Lorenzo parish, in the hilly tourist district of Loakan in the Philippines.
The women belonged to the Igorot tribe in Mountain Province, a landlocked province in the Cordillera Administrative Region. They looked reluctant to speak with other members of the congregation even after the Mass was over as they were not comfortable conversing in English or in the popular Tagalog language.
They said they would live to participate in things a bit more but have been left with the sense that they do not really fit in.
“We tried to join several parish activities before but we were never voted or even nominated as members of the parish pastoral council. I think those seats were reserved for those who are rich and be of more use to the church in a material sense,” said Manang Trining, who spoke for the group.
The isolation that the Inibaloy people feel in parishes is reflective of their social exclusion within the Church itself and wider society, their leaders say.
Be prophetic communicators, Catholic journalists told
The bounden duty of the media to become prophetic communicators was stressed at a national convention of journalists in Chennai, southern India.
“As the members of the Fourth Estate and proud citizens of India, we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the unsavoury developments in the social, economic, political, technological and religious spheres,” asserted the 27th convention of Christian Journalists, hosted by the Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA).
The convention was held during the association’s December 8-11 annual general body meeting.
Salesian Sisters dedicate shrine to mark centenary
The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco of Guwahati province has launched the centenary celebration of their arrival in northeastern India with a shrine dedicated to St. Mary Domnica Mazzarello, their co-founder at St. Mary’s Convent in Guwahati, Assam.
Leading the December 8 function, Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati said, “I join with you to thank God for his blessings upon you and I congratulate you for your presence and for the 100 years of selfless service to North East India in so many ways.”
Six pioneers from Italy led by Sister Innocenza Vallino, arrived in Guwahati on December 8, 1923, and began their educational mission in a dilapidated cottage in the premises of Don Bosco, Pan Bazar, Guwahati.
Indian bishop wins reprieve from likely arrest
An Indian court has granted anticipatory bail to Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune, averting his likely arrest as a co-accused in a case of alleged clergy sexual abuse.
Bishop Dabre was named by Pune city police in the western Indian state of Maharashtra in a case under pro-visions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The case involves Father Vincent Pereira of Pune diocese, who was accused of abusing a 15-year-old schoolboy.
Pope makes Vatican foundations subject to control of Curia’s economic bodies
“The person who is trust-worthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones.”
Pope Francis quotes Lk 16:10 at the start of the Motu Proprio released on Tuesday concerning instrumental juridical persons, including funds, foundations and entities that refer to the Holy See, and are registered in the list referred to in Article 1 § 1 of the Statute of the Council for the Economy, and having their headquarters in Vatican City State.
“Although these entities have a formally separate juridical personality and a certain administrative autonomy, it must be recognized,” the Pope says, “that they are instrumental in the realization of the ends proper to the curial institutions at the service of the ministry of the Successor of Peter.”
‘Synodal way’ architect says political tactics built pressure for change
An architect of Germany’s “synodal way” has explained how organizers used tactics employed successfully in politics to build pressure for change in the Catholic Church.
Thomas Sternberg said in a Dec. 2 interview that issues such as married clergy, women priests, and homosexuality were “opened up” by the initiative and were now being “discussed internationally, not only in Germany.”
Sternberg was co-president of the synodal way when it was officially launched on Dec. 1, 2019, until he stood down as president of the influential Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) in 2021.
He told the Cologne-based Catholic news website Domradio.de that the multi-year process — which brings together Germany’s bishops and select lay people to discuss power, the priesthood, women in the Church, and sexuality — was “running much more successfully” than he had first imagined.
He noted that Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, had “want-ed to stop the whole thing” three years ago.
“What is now happening here in Germany is a non-binding discussion process from the per-spective of canon law.”
U.S. Catholic population shows growth, trends southward
The Catholic population in the United States has grown by about 2 million people in 10 years. With nearly 62 million people, it continues to constitute the largest religious body in 36 U.S. states, according to the latest religion-focused survey of America’s religious congregations.
Over the last decade, many Catholics, the survey found, have moved to the South.
“Perhaps the most notable changes were by region,” Clifford Grammich, a political scientist involved in the U.S. Religion Census, told CNA Dec. 5. “Fifty years ago, 71% of U.S. Catholics were in the Northeast and Midwest; in 2020, 45% were. And the South now has more Catholics than any other region. I was surprised to see there are now more Catholics than Southern Baptists in Missouri and Virginia.”
The U.S. Religion Census is conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies every 10 years. Its latest report was released last month.
Its 2020 survey reported that there were 61.9 million Catholics in the U.S., about 18.7% of the population. The survey identified 372 religious bodies with more than 356,000 congregations and 161.4 million adherents in the United States.
Americans overwhelmingly support right to practice religion, new survey says
Support for Americans’ right to practice the religion of their choice rose dramatically this year, a new study by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty found.
Becket’s “2022 Religious Freedom Index,” released Dec. 7, showed a substantial increase in support for “religious pluralism” — the ability to choose and practice one’s religion without fear of persecution.
“Support for the right to choose and practice the religion of your choice has never been higher,” Becket’s index reports.
Becket’s index published the results of a 21-question online survey taken by Heart+Strategies this fall. The survey polled a nationally representative sample of 1,004 American adults.
Only 3% of Americans could correctly identify all five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (speech, religion, assembly, press, petition).
Americans’ opinion on religious people is at an all-time low, with a 50-50 split in viewing them as part of the problem versus part of the solution.
The U.S. government’s treatment of religious communities contributed to a decrease in trust in the government among 26% of those surveyed, while it increased trust in the government in 9%.
59% of Americans believe the government should not force employers or medical workers to pay for or provide abortions again-st their consciences. Meanwhile, 41% of Americans believe the opposite.
54% of respondents believed that the government should not force businesses or medical workers to pay for or provide sex-change procedures, while 46% believed the opposite.
The Vatican Is Buzzing with Conspiracy Theories as Hackers Take down the Pope’s Website
It is no secret that Pope Francis has been ruffling feathers on the global stage in recent weeks. He has angered Russia, Ukraine and China over his comments in the last month alone. So when the Vatican’s official website went dark on Wednesday, it was hard to determine just which of the pope’s enemies might be behind it.
While the Vatican spokes-person initially said the site was undergoing maintenance and technical difficulties, he finally admitted that the Holy See had been hacked. “Technical investigations are ongoing due to abnormal attempts to access the site,” Matteo Bruni said in a statement late Wednesday.
But those “abnormal attempts” could be a warning of more to come. The prime suspect is Russia, which has a history of conducting cyber warfare against enemies of its state. The holy hack came just 24 hours after Francis angered the Kremlin by singling out Chechens and Buryati troops within the military contingent invading Ukraine, leading to accusations of ”race baiting” against the pontiff.
Ukraine Angry After Pope Francis Calls Darya Dugina ‘Innocent’ War Victim.