Where God Weeps - Latest News

South Sudan: Bishop Paride Taban calls for an end of the conflicts

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:08:53 +0200

“The people have suffered long enough. They want peace at last,” declared Msgr. Paride Taban, former Bishop of Torit in South Sudan, in a dramatic appeal condemning the most recent tensions in the border region between the two Sudans. “The oil conflict and the associated fighting threaten the development of South Sudan and the development work of the international community,” Msgr. Taban emphasized during a visit to the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

At the same time, he noted that the current hostilities represent a limited conflict, and not a new war. He identified as the cause the dispute between Sudan and South Sudan over the proceeds from oil production. The 76-year-old retired bishop, initiator of the peace initiative Holy Trinity Peace Village, described a compromise as both necessary and possible. Seven years ago, Bishop Taban founded his peace village in Kuron in South Sudan to show that different tribes and adherents of different religions and confessions can live together in peace.

With regard to South Sudan, Bishop Taban stated, “Even though the majority of the country is not affected, the most recent fighting benefits no one. I call on all parties to the 2005 peace agreement to rapidly come to a peaceful resolution.” In recent days, the government of South Sudan has complained of repeated bombardments of civilians by the north. The settlement area of the Nuba in the North Sudanese border region is particularly affected.

Experts estimate that during the Sudan conflict, which lasted over two decades, around two million people were killed and four million more displaced. The civil war did not end until 2005. The peace agreement was arrived at through international mediation. Following a referendum in January 2011, South Sudan officially declared its independence six months later. The young nation with less than nine million inhabitants is almost as large as France, but possesses neither functioning governmental structures nor adequate infrastructure. Everything is lacking: roads, schools, hospitals and water supply are needed most urgently. The two countries are at odds over distribution of revenues from petroleum resources and the precise border demarcation.

Cuba: Pope gives Golden Rose to sanctuary of the Virgen de la Caridad de Cobre

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:36:04 +0200

26 March 2012 (VIS) - Two hundred thousand people today participated in a Mass presided by Benedict XVI at Plaza Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba, to mark the four hundredth anniversary of discovery of the image of "Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre", patron of the Island. Among those attending the ceremony was Raul Castro, president of Cuba.

Before the celebration, which took place under driving rain, the original image of "Nuestra Senora del Cobre" was displayed in the square, before which, to mark the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the Holy Father placed a golden rose.

Watch our 11-minute documentary about the Marian shrine of El Cobre

In his homily, the Pope expressed his appreciation for "the sacrifices and the dedication" with which the Cubans have prepared their Marian Jubilee Year. "I was deeply touched to hear of the fervour with which Mary has been invoked by so many Cubans during her journey to every corner of the island", he said.

"These important events in the Church in Cuba take on a special lustre because of the feast celebrated today throughout the universal Church: the Annunciation of the Lord to the Virgin Mary. The Incarnation of the Son of God is the central mystery of the Christian faith, and in it Mary occupies a central place".

"In Mary", the Holy Father explained, "the Son of God is made man. ... The Apostle St. John expresses it in the following way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. The expression, “became flesh” points to our human reality in a most concrete and tangible way. In Christ, God has truly come into the world, He has entered into our history, He has set His dwelling among us, thus fulfilling the deepest desire of human beings such that the world may truly become a home worthy of humanity. On the other hand, when God is put aside, the world becomes an inhospitable place for man, and frustrates creation’s true vocation to be a space for the covenant, for the “Yes” to the love between God and humanity who responds to Him. And so Mary became the first fruit of believers with her unreserved “Yes” to the Lord.

"For this reason, contemplating the mystery of the Incarnation, we cannot fail to turn our eyes to her, ... seeing how our God, coming into the world, wished to depend upon the free consent of one of His creatures. Only from the moment when the Virgin responded to the angel ... did the eternal Word of the Father began His human existence in time. It is touching to see how God not only respects human freedom: He almost seems to require it. And we see also how the beginning of the earthly life of the Son of God was marked by a double “Yes” to the saving plan of the Father - that of Christ and that of Mary. This obedience to God is what opens the doors of the world to the truth, to salvation. God has created us as the fruit of His infinite love, and so to live in accordance with His will is the way to encounter our genuine identity, the truth of our being, while apart from God we are alienated from ourselves and are hurled into the void. The obedience of faith is true liberty, authentic redemption, which allows us to unite ourselves to the love of Jesus in His determination to conform Himself to the will of the Father. Redemption is always this process of the lifting up of the human will to full communion with the divine will".

"The Virgin Mary, by her unique role in the mystery of Christ, represents the exemplar and model of the Church. The Church, like the Mother of Christ, is also called to embrace in herself the mystery of God Who comes to live in her. Dear brothers and sisters, I know with what effort, daring and self-sacrifice you work every day so that, in the concrete circumstances of your country, and at this moment in history, the Church will better present her true face as a place in which God draws near and encounters humanity. The Church, the living body of Christ, has the mission of prolonging on earth the salvific presence of God, of opening the world to something greater than itself, to the love and the light of God. ... I encourage you in this task of sowing the word of God in the world and offering to everyone the true nourishment of the body of Christ. Easter is already approaching; let us determine to follow Jesus without fear or doubts on His journey to the Cross. May we accept with patience and faith whatever opposition or affliction may come, with the conviction that, in His Resurrection, He has crushed the power of evil which darkens everything, and has brought the dawn of a new world, the world of God, of light, of truth and happiness. The Lord will not hesitate to bless with abundant fruits the generosity of your commitment.

"The mystery of the Incarnation, in which God draws near to us, also shows us the incomparable dignity of every human life. In His loving plan, from the beginning of creation, God has entrusted to the family founded on matrimony the most lofty mission of being the fundamental cell of society and an authentic domestic church. With this certainty, you, dear husbands and wives, are called to be, especially for your children, a real and visible sign of the love of Christ for the Church. Cuba needs the witness of your fidelity, your unity, your capacity to welcome human life, especially that of the weakest and most needy".

The Pope concluded his homily: "Before the gaze of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, I appeal to you to reinvigorate your faith, that you may live in Christ and for Christ, and armed with peace, forgiveness and understanding, that you may strive to build a renewed and open society, a better society, one more worthy of humanity, and which better reflects the goodness of God".

Syria: Escaping the horrors of persecution

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:55:14 +0200

Charity gives urgent help after exodus of Christians from Homs
By John Pontifex

ALMOST the entire Christian population of the Syrian city of Homs has fled violence and persecution – and a leading Catholic charity is providing emergency aid to help them.

The mass exodus of 50,000 or more people to villages and towns around the city comes amid reports that the homes of Christians in Homs have been attacked and seized by ‘fanatics’.

Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which is today (Monday) announcing an urgent €80,000 aid package providing food and shelter, has been told that 90 percent of Christians have left Homs.

The exodus, mostly taking place within the past six weeks, is part of what respected news sources describe as an “ongoing ethnic cleansing of Christians” by militant Islamic groups with links to Al Qaeda.

Until now, Homs has been home to one of Syria’s largest Christian populations, and Church sources have said the faithful have borne the brunt of the violence, escaping to villages many of them in mountains 30 miles outside the city.

Islamists have reportedly gone from house to house in the Homs’ neighbourhoods of Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan, forcing Christians to leave without giving them a chance to take their belongings.

According to other reports, Christians have left their homes voluntarily, in effect making way for others to occupy them to shelter from the violence.

Desperate for food and shelter, the displaced people taking sanctuary in the Wadi Alnasara region and Marmarita and other villages, are to receive aid as part of the €80,000 ACN aid programme.

The assistance will provide each family with US$60 each month for basic food and lodging, with the hope that by the summer they can return home.

ACN is also helping families caught up in a car bomb explosion last Sunday (18^th March) which targeted the Christian quarter of Aleppo, close to the Franciscan-run Church of St Bonaventure.

Overseeing the aid programme, Bishop Antoine Audo SJ of Aleppo told Aid to the Church in Need: “The people we are helping are very afraid.”

Speaking today (Monday, 26^th March) from Aleppo, the bishop added: “The Christians don’t know what their future will hold. They are afraid they will not get their homes back.

“It is very important that we do whatever we can to help the people.”

In his application for ACN aid, the bishop stated: “Please speed up the implementation of the project because of the difficult circumstances that Christians face in Syria.”

The bishop, who heads Aleppo’s Chaldean diocese, paid tribute to ACN benefactors, adding: “Thank you for helping us. Pray for us and let us work together to build peace in Syria.”

His comments come as fears grow of Syria becoming a “second Iraq”, following a similar pattern of church attacks and forced expulsion and kidnapping of Christians.

If the attacks continue, Syria could suffer the same fate as Iraq where Christians have plummeted from 1.4 million in the late 1980s to perhaps less than 300,000 today.

In both cases, the Church has been targeted for perceived close links with regimes under fire from opposition parties and rebel groups.

The Homs crisis has prompted increased fears that Islamists are gaining influence in the region, filling the power vacuum left when decades-old regimes across the Middle East were overthrown at the start of the so-called Arab Spring.

Syrian Archbishop’s appeal for peace

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:38:05 +0100

By John Pontifex, ACN United Kingdom
Adapted by ACN Canada

A senior Middle East archbishop has appealed for all sides in Syria to put down their arms and negotiate, saying he fears a descent into full-scale civil war.

Describing the situation in Syria as “desperate,” Archbishop Paul El-Sayeh said action was needed to prevent violence from potentially spreading to his country of Lebanon, which has close links with neighbouring Syria.

Speaking from Lebanon in an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Archbishop El-Sayeh, Curia Bishop of Antioch based in Beirut, called on the international community to step up action to bring Syria’s Assad regime and rebel forces to the negotiating table.

The prelate, a Maronite-rite Catholic who until last year was Maronite Archbishop of Haifa and the Holy Land, said: “Everybody is suffering in Syria because there is violence coming from every side. It is a desperate situation. I wish everyone would sit down and negotiate. Problems cannot be solved by violence.

Avoiding Civil War

The archbishop said the threat of violence spreading to neighbouring Lebanon was highlighted by recent clashes in Tripoli between two sides active in the Syria conflict. But he also said that in Lebanon the desire to avoid a repetition of the 15-year civil war would discourage politicians and people from becoming embroiled in the Syria conflict.

He added: “There is a concern about the violence coming from Syria, but at the same time there is awareness that conflict will not help anyone and that everyone has an interest in not letting the situation deteriorate. I do not imagine that there will be a big flare up in Lebanon.”

The archbishop said he doubted if the suffering of Christians was notably different to that of other faiths adding: “You need to remember that Christians have been on very good terms with Muslims there. They have been living together for years.”

However, Church leaders in the region have expressed fears that, were Assad to fall from power, Christians would be among the worst to suffer, with Islamist groups filling the power vacuum.

The archbishop called on Christians and others to pray for peace: “We should pray that those in positions of power do what they can to alleviate the suffering of the people. The problem now is the suffering of the people and we should be praying that a new democracy is born and that human rights are respected.”

The Middle East is a priority region for ACN which was asked by Pope Benedict to help in a part of the world where “the local Church is threatened in its very existence”.

Interview with the appointed bishop of Karachi, Pakistan

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:06:49 +0100

Yesterday, Pope Benedikt XVI appointed Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad, Pakistan, as new Archbishop of Karachi, the country's capital. Bishop Coutts was guest on our show in 2009. On the occasion of his appointment, we reproduce the transcript of the interview.

Pakistani christians: second-class citizens?

Interview with Bishop Joseph Coutts

It is increasingly hard to be a Catholic in a Muslim majority country, says the bishop of the Faisalabad Diocese, where Christians are often treated as second-class citizens.

In this interview given to the television program "Where God Weeps" of the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN) in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need, the bishop speaks about his vocation, the situation of Christians in Pakistan, and the problems associated with the "blasphemy law" in that country.

Q: The official name of Pakistan is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; therefore it is obvious that the population of Pakistan is mostly Muslim, some 95%. So, the Christians are a minority in a predominantly Muslim country. How is it to be a small Christian Church?

Bishop Coutts: Yes, it is quite a challenge for us living in an Islamic milieu where we are, as Christians something like 2 % and as Catholics about 1% give or take, maybe a little more than 1%.

In fact it's becoming more difficult since recent years with the rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan and in the other parts of the world as well, and we do feel that since recent years things are becoming more intolerant than they were before.

Q: Where are these threats coming from? Who is threatening you?

Bishop Coutts: OK, let us not just use the word threat. As I said the real threat in that sense was in this northwestern province.

Pakistan is a fairly large country; if you compare it with the United States, it's about the size, I think if I'm not wrong, something like Texas and Oklahoma with a little bit more in area with a large population.

The difficulty we have is, for example, there are these Islamic groups who would like to see Pakistan become a purely Islamic state. If Pakistan becomes a purely Islamic state with all Islamic laws which we don't have now; we only have some Islamic laws, if we have all the Islamic laws then it means that as a non-Muslims we would be something like second class citizens.

Islam has a special term for that -- "dhimmi" they call them. We will not be the same. We would not have equality as the constitution talks about. We would have freedom, but it would be a limited freedom. That's what I mean by the threat.

We have some laws that have already been passed, for example, what we call the "Blasphemy Law," we refer to it very often as 295 C -- that's according to the code of law in our country.

Q: What is this "Blasphemy Law"?

Bishop Coutts: It's a very dangerous law because it say that if anybody speaks against or defiles the name of the holy prophet Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, either by word or by writing or by representation, either directly or indirectly the punishment is death.

So there is no mention here, within the law as it is formulated, of intention, whether you do it accidentally, whether you do it out of ignorance, or you do not intend to, it says the punishment is death. Now this is very dangerous [...]

Q: What does it mean for you Catholics?

Bishop Coutts: Actually to be very fair, this law is dangerous not only for Catholics or for Christians or for non-Muslims, but even for Muslims. There is another law. Let me explain a little further.

There is 295 C and there is also 295 B; now B says: If you desecrate the holy Qur'an, the holy book of the Muslims, that is also punishable. So even if you accidentally drop the holy Qur'an you can be punished.

I will give you a very concrete example: in my city Faisalabad, what happened two years ago. We had this poor Christian woman who was doing the cleaning work in the house of a rich Muslim family, while many old papers and cans and old bottles and other stuff were being thrown out of the house.

This woman, she had her old father with her and when they sorted out what could be recycled -- we do a lot of recycling in our poor country, all the cans, papers and bottles -- some papers were to be burned. So he took them out into the little poor area where they were living to burn these papers. The old man, her father, and a Muslim who was passing said: "There is a page of the holy Qur'an in there. You are going to burn the holy Qur'an."

And he created a big noise and everybody gathered and mind you it becomes something really very emotional because a Muslim, quite understandably, gets very disturbed if he hears that his holy book is being desecrated. It became a very big issue. This old man and another Christian were immediately taken to the police station; a case was registered under 295 B: desecration of the holy book.

They are both in prison now; two years have passed; they are fighting their case. The lower court has condemned them to prison for five years. We are appealing in the high court; we can do that.

Our Commission for Justice and Peace has taken it up. Other NGO's have also supported us. Even many moderate, fair-minded Muslims have supported us, but this is the kind of tension we live in.

You suddenly, something you do not expect, something you did not intend to do and you have to pay a heavy price. So all the Christians living in that area are also affected.

Q: How are they affected?

Bishop Coutts: There is a lot of fear.

Maybe the Muslims will attack us. In fact, many of them fled to the bishop's house and we kept them in the parish hall for the night, in fact more than a night, perhaps two or three days, before the emotions could calm down, and so also 295 C is much more dangerous.

Even if a Muslim does the same thing, he faces the same danger. So this is one of the things.

Q: But that is something positive, if you say that it is not just against the Catholics, or against the Christians, but also against the Muslim population?

Bishop Coutts: Statistically at the moment, there are more people in jail for section 295 C than there are Christians, but the danger of the law is, it's very easy to accuse somebody of having spoken against the prophet Muhammad, or saying or even writing something against the prophet Muhammad and then the emotion takes over and that is the dangerous part.

Nobody stops to ask you: "Excuse me, is it true that you did this or said this?" Before you have the chance to defend yourself, everything becomes so emotional.

There have been cases where people have been killed. Those who have been killed for blasphemy, none of them have been killed by the law, by a process of trial.

In fact, we have a few cases that were released by the law; the case was dismissed. But we do have cases where Christians and even Muslims have been just beaten by a mob, killed, or murdered even, stabbed to death.

Q: If we change topic for a moment, there is a special love for the Holy Virgin Mary for Christians and Muslims. How is this in your diocese?

Bishop Coutts: Yes, not only in my diocese but overall because the Virgin Mary is mentioned in the Qur'an, the holy book of the Muslims, and the Muslims regard her as the Mother of the prophet Jesus as they see her, a very holy and pure person, but they would not give Mary the same honor and veneration as Catholics.

Q: What about you own devotion to Mary? Where did you learn it? Where your parents influential in your devotion to Mary?

Bishop Coutts: Yes, because I was born and grew up in a Catholic family; we are practicing Catholics, and in the big city of Lahore, where I was born and grew up, the house was just opposite the church; and at home, mother always insisted on the family rosary and as a boy I was in the junior Legion of Mary.

So I already had it and I grew up in an atmosphere that was such that the devotion to our Blessed Mother was very strong.

Q: Was this one factor that influenced your vocation to the priesthood?

Bishop Coutts: Well looking back, I don't know if I can really focus on any one particular point about my vocation. I would broaden it much more.

We had the Belgian Capuchin Fathers working in our country. There are still a few of them left in Pakistan, and I was very impressed with their dedication and the way they dealt with us. I also studied in a Catholic school and we had the Irish Brothers teaching us.

We had annual retreats, and as I said earlier I had joined the Legion of Mary, so we had a lot of Catholic devotions and being not far from the church, my mother was very much involved with parish activities.

So it was an overall, I think, setting and with the milieu in which I was brought up that fostered this vocation in me. I wouldn't say it was any one particular point really.

Q: Are you the only one of your brothers and sisters?

Bishop Coutts: No, they are not and in fact my brother was not to happy when I joined the seminary.

Q: Why not?

Bishop Coutts: Initially he said: "What? You are becoming a priest, are you serious?" [and that] kind of thing, but now they all appreciate it very much and to even my friends, it was: "You are becoming a priest, you mean it!" That's it the others are not.

You know at that age, when you are in school you have a lot of ideals, and I was very keen on becoming a pilot. I like technical things and engineering either an aeronautical engineer because watching all these movies [...] but there was one movie, now that you have mentioned it, about the "Life of St. Francis of Assisi" and at that time, I don't know if you remember the name anymore, there was a Hollywood actor called Bradford Dillman, I think who use to play the role of a gunfighter or something and when he was there in the role of St. Francis of Assisi; I think that also had some sort of impact that there are other kind of heroes as well, not only wanting to be doing something like becoming a fighter pilot or something else, but there is another kind of heroism to which you can be called and I did have always in me wanting to help others.

I was, thank God, brought up in a family that was fairly well off; we never lacked anything. I got a good education. We had everything we wanted and I always wanted to help others.

* * *

This interview was conducted by Marie-Pauline Meyer for "Where God Weeps," a weekly television and radio show produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.