National

Dead nun’s congregation should get compensation: Court

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The Madras High Court has allowed a Women’s Religious Congregation to claim compensation for a nun, who died in a road accident 16 years ago.

The Madurai bench of the court asked Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation to pay the compensation, dismissing their argument that the congregation was not the legal heir of the nun.

The Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal in 2009 ruled in favour of Auxilum Sisters’ Congregation after a member of the congregation was hit and killed by a bus owned by the corporation in 2002. However, the corporation appealed against the tribunal verdict in the High Court arguing that the nun had no heirs, and no dependents.

Justice A M Basheer Ahamed on June 2 dismissed the appeal saying that the congregation suffered loss due to the death of the voluntary worker in the accident.

The transport corporation contended that the relationship between the deceased nun and her congregation was that of employee and employer and the employer cannot be held to a legal heir to claim compensation.

International

Sports on Sundays OK, except when used to skip Mass, says Vatican

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A new Vatican document cautions against the dangers of highly competitive children’s sports, political and economic pressures on athletes to win “at all costs” and the unsportsman like or violent behaviour of fans.

The document on sports also calls on every group or institution sponsoring sports programs to have expert-guided child protection policies in place and it urged bishops, parishes and lay Catholics to be proactive in helping “humanize” sports.

The 52-page document high-lighted the church’s positive view of the important values inherent to sport and blew the whistle on the growing threats in the sports world, including corruption, over-commercialization, manipulation and abuse.

The document — meant for all Catholics and “people of good-will” — also was an invitation to the church to offer itself as a valuable resource, partner and leader in safeguarding the dignity of the human person and all of creation.

In fact, it made specific reference to the need to protect the environment when it comes to hosting sporting events… ensuring “that they are treated in a morally appropriate way and not as mere objects.”

International

Priests, parishioners buried in Benue, Catholics protest nationwide

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The two Catholic priests and 17 parishioners slain by suspected herdsmen on April 24 in Benue State were buried on May 22 amid nationwide peaceful protest by the Catholic faithful. The two priests, Rev Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, and 17 members of the congregation while killed during an early morning mass at St Ignatius Catholic Church at Ayar Mbalom in the Gwer East Local Govern-ment Area of Benue State. The 19 were given a mass burial on May 22 at Se Sugh Maria Pilgrimage Centre, Ayati Ikpayongo in Benue State.

In attendance was the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who conveyed President Muhammadu Buhari’s condolence message to the Catholic Church and the people of Benue. Osinbajo, while lamenting the killing, said though nothing could be done to restore the lives of the slain, “we can ensure justice for them by apprehending and punishing the assailants.” The Christian Association of Nigeria called on Buhari to suspend his second term ambition, till he had addressed and stopped the killings by herdsmen.

Catholic faithful across the country embarked on a peaceful protests in compliance with the directive by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.

The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Abeo-kuta, Ogun State, Oluka-yode Odetoyinbo, and his counterpart in Jalingo, Taraba State, Dr Charles Hammawa, demanded Buhari’s resignation for failing in his responsibility of protecting lives and property of Nigerians.

Speaking during a requiem mass at St Anne Catholic Church, Ibara, Ogun State, Odetoyinbo noted that after the April 24 attack in Benue, more people had been killed by marauding herdsmen across the country with the government feeling helpless.

International

Argentina’s version of Romero declared martyr by Pope Francis

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Pope Francis on June 9 approved the martyrdom of Argentina’s version of Oscar Romero, a high-profile cleric who died during his country’s Dirty War. Just like Romero, he was killed by the military, though in his case through an alleged “car accident,” due to his denunciation of illegal repression being perpetrated by the army.

In a similar vein, Bishop Enrique Angelleli of La Rioja, Argentina, who was killed on August 4, 1976, for openly challenging abuses of power by the military, is already a saint to a wide swath of the population in the Pope’s native country.

From The States

Mumbai Marian shrine joins ‘rosary relay’ for priests

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India  joined more than 50 other countries in praying for priests on June 8. It is the ninth year of the initiative, in which people gather at over 150 Marian shrines around the world to pray the rosary in thanksgiving for the ministry of priests, and to ask Our Lady for their protection. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount – in the Bandra neighbourhood of Mumbai – hosted the faithful in praying the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, bringing together nearly 200 religious and over 250 lay faithful. “With the coming of midnight on June 8, 2018, the entire world, by then, will have been encircled in prayer for our priests on this The Annual Rosary Relay Day,” said Bishop John Rodrigues, the rector of the basilica.

From The States

Former judges see judicial failure in Kandhamal jailing

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Retired Supreme Court Justice Cyriac Joseph has flayed the delay in hearing the appeal of seven Christians of Kandhamal convicted to life imprisonment for the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati that triggered the bloodshed and mayhem in Kandhamal district of Odisha in 2008. “This (delay) is a failure of the judicial system. In the judicial process, appeal could be delayed for many reasons. But in this case there are no (technical) reasons to keep it pending. It seems to be deliberately delayed, perhaps so that it is brought before a suitable judge,” remarked Justice Joseph.

From The States

Syro Malabar Church joins anti-Nipah campaign

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In the wake of the Nipah outbreak, the Thamarassery Syro-Malabar diocese in Kerala has asked its parish priests to serve the Communion only on the hand during the Mass.

The custom of serving the Communion on the tongue by priests will be discouraged as part of the efforts to support the Health Department’s drive against the viral disease, an advisory from the diocese on June 1st said.

Priests in nearly 120 parishes under the diocese will heed the bishop’s advisory. The diocese has until now encouraged receiving the Communion only tongue. The decision comes as chances are high of the virus spreading from infected persons. Father Abraham Kavilpurayidathil, chancellor of Thamarassery said the diocese had voluntarily taken the decision to extend support to the preventive measures taken by the Health Department. “The custom of serving communion in the hands was there earlier for hygiene reasons. It was brought back mainly to avoid the chances of misuse,” he told The Hindu.

From The States

Two arrested for circulating ‘misleading videos’ of church attacks

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Police in Mangaluru have arrested two persons for allegedly circulating “old and misleading videos” about church attacks.

The arrested are Sunil Veigas, 34, and P P Sachith, 23, residents of Chikkamagaluru, some 150 km northeast of Mangaluru in Karnataka State.

Police on June 1st said that they have booked a suo motu (on its own) case considering how fake news could create law and order problem in the region. The two were arrested on May 30 and produced before a court.

They are accused of circulating a series of old and mis-leading videos and images claiming that some churches in Mangaluru region were attacked by right-wingers hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party won seven out of eight constituencies in Dakshina Kannada and all the five in Udupi.

However, what they circulated were videos of church attacks in Mangaluru that had taken place in September 2008. The video was circulated on WhatsApp after Karnataka assembly election results.

Asian

Philippine church groups condemn ‘tyrannical’ Duterte

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Priests, nuns, and seminarians staged a candle-lit prayer rally on May 17 to protest against what they called the “tyrannical tendencies” of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

The protest came days after Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila released a letter to parishes warning that the Philippines is “facing a crisis of truth.”

The Manila prelate noted that even Philippine legal experts have “given us conflicting interpretations on basic questions of law.” Cardinal Tagle issued the letter to priests and religious in his archdiocese days after the Philippine Supreme Court ousted the country’s chief justice.

The court decision has been widely criticized by various groups, including civil society organizations and Catholic Church leaders.

Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon said the removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno could be the start of “another dark period in the country’s history.”

“A real dictatorship of a strong man is emerging,” said the prelate, adding that “more controversial issues are surely coming.” He said the court decision “is the most shameful act in the history of the Philippine judiciary.”

Cardinal Tagle said the “crisis of truth” has already resulted in “suspicion, mistrust, and fragmentation.”

“Partisan politics has turned into political tribalization. The common good is one of the first casualties,” the Manila prelate said.

Asian

Indonesian Catholics want mercy for terrorist kingpin

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Leading Catholics in terrorism-plagued Indonesia have criticized prosecutors who demanded the death sentence for the alleged mastermind behind a deadly spate of suicide bombings and attacks against police that have left many dead.

From a moral perspective and the view of the church, the death penalty is wrong no matter what the crime is, said Father Antonius Benny Susetyo, an adviser to a presidential unit that promotes communal tolerance and understanding. “The death penalty does not provide an effective deterrent against perpetrators of these sort of crimes,” he said.

He was responding to calls on May 18 from prosecutors demanding that judges impose the death sentence on Aman Abdurahman, alleged leader of an Islamic State-linked terror group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), who is standing trial on terrorism charges in a Jakarta court. Abdurahman, 46, is standing trial for allegedly masterminding a series of attacks that included a February 2016 bombing in Jakarta that killed eight people and an attack in November 2017 against the Batak Society Christian Church of Oikumene in Samarinda, East Kalimantan that killed four people.

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