A Protestant pastor in Singapore has issued an apology following a heavy backlash from young netizens after asking women “to refrain from reveal-ing or provocative dressing” in order to avoid inciting “lustful thoughts” in men.
Pastor Joanne Chow, 38, a mother of two and youth minister of Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church in Singapore, came under fire after she posted PowerPoint slides in blog post on Christian website Thirst on Feb. 21, titled “In the fight against sexual temptation, defence is not enough.”
“Can I also make a special appeal to the girls? Let’s help our brothers by not dressing in a revealing or provocative way. Of course you don’t have control over their lustful thoughts, and it may not be a sin to wear that skin tight dress or post that bikini photo, but if we can help our brothers, why not?” she wrote in the post.
Chow’s post was triggered by revelations of the sexual abuses of Ravi Zacharias (1946-2020), an internationally famous Indian-Canadian evangelical preacher and Christian apologist who founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM).
“I realize that my comment on dressing modestly has sparked many responses and comments, and even angered many people. I’m truly sorry if it has hurt any-one, especially victims of sexual abuse. I understand how it ended up coming across as insensitive and that it caused offence to some in light of the recent revelations around Ravi Zacharias,” Chow wrote.
Catholic university traces Philippine Christian roots
A Catholic university in the Philippines has launched a series of online lectures on church history tracing the country’s journey to Catholicism since the arrival of the Spanish.
The University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) wants people to know how Christianity spread in a country composed of thousands of islands.
The lectures titled the “Philippine Church History Webinar Series” are being held every Saturday from February 13 until April 17, to mark the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan first set foot in the Philippines as part of a Spanish expedition in 1521.
They also aim to deepen a sense of history in appreciating the Catholic faith as a gift.
“The webinar series will examine and analyze the challenges and responses that the Church encountered as it expanded and developed throughout the Philippine islands,” the department said in a social media post. Distinguished Catholic historians Paul Dumol and Grace Conception are among the speakers.
Iraq: Full of historic sites important to understanding Christianity
Pope Francis hopes to embark on the first-ever papal visit to the biblical land of Iraq in early March in a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts to the place known in Arabic as the “land of the two rivers” — the mighty Tigris and Euphrates — and once renowned as Mesopotamia, the “cradle of civilization.”
The Garden of Eden is believed possibly to have been in ancient Iraq, but certainly the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel were located there. Jews exiled to ancient Iraq in Old Testament times, such as the prophet Daniel, experienced God’s miraculous grace; Daniel was rescued from the lion’s den and his friends from the fiery furnace.
“The pontiff said he looks forward to visiting our country, which is also where Abraham began his journey,” Cardinal Louis Sako of Baghdad said of the March 5-8 trip.
The historically rich country is full of religious sites important to understanding the antecedents of the Christian faith, making the visit significant for Pope Francis. Here’s a snapshot of some of these places.
Old Testament patriarch Abraham is recognized as the father of faith in one God by Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike and was born in the southern town of Ur. The place, which dates back to 6000 B.C., lies on a former course of the Euphrates and is one of Iraq’s oldest sites.
The pope will see a dry, flat, and ocher- coloured plain renowned for its well-preserved stepped platform or ziggurat, which dates back to the third millennium B.C. Also, some of the earliest known writing, cuneiform, has been uncovered at Ur.
Around 2000 B.C., Ur was a bustling urban centre, drawing traders from both the Mediterranean and the Indian subcontinent, until its conquest by Alexander the Great a few centuries before Christ. Pope Francis will participate in an interreligious meeting there.
Expert sees changing religious landscape in the Middle East
A Jordan native and expert on Islamic affairs has said the Middle East is currently undergoing an in-depth reflection on the role of religion in society and governance, leading to a changing religious landscape in the region.
“Violence perpetrated in the name of religion contributed to this change,” said Monsignor Khaled Akasheh, Bureau Chief for Islam at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
“The quest for enhanced liberty and better life conditions also contributed to reflecting on the role of religion in society and to eliciting religious responses to particular questions and doubts,” Akasheh told Crux.
Akasheh stressed that while he is Jordanian and follows developments in issues of social and religious interest in the Middle East closely, he has not lived in the country for years, and thus “cannot claim to have an extensive and complete vision of the reality.”
Saving the Middle East’s Last Bastion of Christianity
At September’s annual In Defense of Christians (IDC) 2020 summit, an IDC board member described Lebanon as the “last bastion of Christianity in the Middle East.” Recently, the advocacy organization hosted a panel discussion titled “The U.S. Needs a Better Lebanon Policy,” which brought together Lebanese and American politicians, clergymen, and experts to discuss how to save Lebanon — and why the changes in policy must be dramatic.
“If Lebanon fails, it may be a small state, but it’s where all the triangles in the Near East touch,” concluded Nicholson.
Beijing sets new rules that ignore Vatican deal
The Chinese Communist Party has promulgated an order establishing a procedure for the selection of Catholic bishops in China that makes no provision for any papal role in the process.
On 11 February, the magazine Bitter Winter translated the new regulations, that will come into force on 1 May, into English, and the Catholic News Agency summarised the new process: “China’s state-run Catholic Church and bishops’ conference will select, approve, and ordain episcopal candidates – with no mention of the Vatican’s involvement in the process,” it said.
In September 2018 the Vatican and Beijing struck a still secret deal understood to provide for the Communist Party offering three names of possible bishops to the Pope, who would choose one of them.
Pope Francis told reporters at that time that the agreement envisions “a dialogue about potential candidates. The matter is carried out through dialogue. But the appointment is made by Rome; the appointment is by the pope. This is clear.”
Vatican officials have defended the September 2018 deal as a good first step towards ensuring greater freedom and security for the Catholic community in China. This would be achieved by bringing about one Church, in a process that combined the Chinese Patriotic Church, under the authority of the Communist Party, with the Under-ground Church whose first allegiance in ecclesial matters is to Rome.
This secret deal expired on 22 October 2020 and was renewed on the same day. The Vatican issued a communique saying Beijing and Rome had “agreed to extend the experi-mental implementation phase of the provisional agreement for another two years.”
National Cathedral tolls bell 500 times to honour 500K Americans who died from COVID-19
The Washington National Cathedral tolled its 12-ton bell 500 times in memory of the approximately 500,000 Americans who have died due to COVID-19 on Monday. The cathedral, affiliated with The Episcopal Church and is known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City, livestreamed the event in the afternoon. The ceremony included prayers and reflections from individuals representing multiple faith traditions.
Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope, provost of the National Cathedral, read a passage from the Book of Common Prayer. “We thank you for giving them to us,” she read from the prominent Anglican Commu-nion liturgical resource, “to know and to love as companions on our earthly pilgrimage.”
COVID-defying French nun toasts 117th birthday with wine and prayer
It was packed. Some of Sister André’s’s great-nephews and great-great nephews were expected to join a morning video call for her, and the bishop of Toulon was due to celebrate a Mass in her honor.
“She was very proud when I told her. She said, ‘A Mass for me?’” Tavella said.
The menu for her birthday feast included a starter of foie gras, followed by capon with fragrant mushrooms and wrapping up with baked Alaska, the nun’s favorite dessert.
“All of it washed down with red wine, because she drinks red wine. It’s one of her secrets of longevity. And a bit of Champagne with dessert, because 117 years have to be toasted,” Tavella said.
As for packing dozens of candles onto a cake, “we stopped trying a long time ago,” he added. “Because even if we made big cakes, I’m not sure that she would have enough breath to blow them all out. You would need a fire extinguisher.”
Sister André’s birth name is Lucile Randon. The Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, lists her as the second-oldest known living person in the world, behind only an 118-year-old woman in Japan, Kane Tanaka.
Tavella told French media earlier this week that Sister André tested positive for the coronavirus in mid-January but she had so few symptoms that she didn’t even realize she was infected. Her survival made headlines both in France and beyond.
“When the whole world suddenly started talking about this story, I understood that Sister André was a bit like an Olympic flame on a ‘round the world tour that people want to grab hold of, because we all need a bit of hope at the moment,” Tavella said.
By strange coincidence, Tavella was celebrating his 43rd birthday.
Record numbers leave Church in Cologne as anger grows
Anger is increasing in the Cologne archdiocese over Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki’s refusal to publish the results of the investigation into the handling of abuse cases, as record numbers of Catholics opt to quit the Church. The number of Catholics officially leaving the Church has increased at an unprecedented rate, by 70%, and is now a record 1000 a month.
In order to leave the Church in Germany and stop having to pay 8-9% of net income in compulsory church tax which is collected at source, Catholics have to make an appointment with their municipal office and state that they intend to leave in writing.
The number wanting to leave in the Cologne archdiocese has risen so sharply in recent weeks that hundreds of extra appoint-ments have had to be squeezed in. The archdiocesan council, an elected body of representatives of the parishes and Catholic associations in the archdiocese which advises the archdiocesan leadership, has taken the unprecedented step of terminating its cooperation with the archdiocese.
According to the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, the council decided at a plenary meeting on 28 January to suspend active cooperation with the archdiocese. The decision was unanimous.
More than 50 priests, including the secretary of the priests’ council, have, moreover, sent highly critical, urgent letters to Cardinal Woelki accusing him of forcing them to distance them-selves from the archdiocese and pointing out that he is responsible for their conflict of loyalties.
Portugese Church welcomes challenge to euthanasia law
Church leaders in Portugal have welcomed moves by their country’s president to block a new euthanasia law, citing its imprecision and implications for human rights.
“I find it strange that the Twenty-First Century state feels entitled and duty-bound, in the name of civilisational progress, to foster a culture of death,” said Bishop Antonino Fernandes Dias of Portalegre-Castelo Branco.
“Nobody is going to ask parliamentarians to enter upon a metanoia process… We merely ask them not to forget the real problems of those who trusted them and whom they promised to serve.”
The 72-year-old bishop was reacting to a weekend letter from President Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa to the Constitutional Tribunal, questioning the compatibility of the law on “medically assisted death”, passed on 29 January, with Portugal’s legal order.
Preaching on Sunday, he said “omniscient and omnipotent” legislators had ignored advice from top medical professors, jurists and bioethicists, while the centre-left government of premier Antonio Costa also appeared intent on using “fracturing causes” to conceal a crisis caused by Covid-19 and other national problems.
The law, merging five right-to-die bills, passed by 136 votes to 78 in the 230-seat Lisbon parliament, and will enable mentally fit over-18s to request assistance in dying if faced with “intolerable suffering, with extremely serious and permanent harm… or incurable and fatal disease.”