Trinitarian International Solidarity
News on perscuted Christians
May 17, 2008
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MALAYSIA - Catholic weekly takes government to court over use of the word "Allah"
Tomorrow is the first day in court for the lawsuit charging the federal government with violating freedom of expression and religion. The archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur is suing the authorities after the ban imposed on its newspaper against using the word "Allah". Bishop Pakiam: the law is on our side.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews 28/o4/08.) - The lawsuit by the archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur against the government of Malaysia has been adjourned until tomorrow, April 29. The archdiocese is claiming the right to use the word "Allah" in its Catholic weekly, the Herald. Between last December and January, the case had raised serious controversy and accusations from minorities and activists against the Malaysian authorities, who are charged with violating freedom of expression and religion.
The standoff over the use of the word "Allah" is just one more chapter in the difficulties facing the majority Muslim country, where a secular constitution is accompanied by Islamic courts charged with applying sharia. On December 10, the domestic security ministry - which oversees media permissions - had prohibited the Malay-language section of the Herald from using the word "Allah" to designate the Christian God, claiming it could be used in this way only by Muslims. Fr Andrew Lawrence, the director of the newspaper, was forced to accept the restriction, but the archdiocese decided to sue the government.
The archbishop of the capital, Murphy Pakiam, maintains that the domestic security minister and the federal government are making a mistake: "I am advised by my solicitors that I have a legal right to use the word 'Allah' in the Herald, and this legal right stems from the right to freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution", the archbishop explains in an article for the next issue of the Herald. Archbishop Pakiam further reports that he has been under constant pressure from the government to conform to the "directives". At the same time, numerous threats have been issued, creating a climate of "apprehension". The bishop concludes by describing as "unreasonable and irrational" the justification of the ministry, according to which the use of the word "Allah" is a "security issue which is purportedly causing much confusion and which threatens and endangers peace, public order and security". Over thirteen years of publication, he adds, no article in the Herald has ever caused any incidents.
VATICAN - Pope: in the Caucusus, a "small flock" has grown, in spite of difficulties and violence
The situation remains difficult for Catholics who live in contact with believers of other religions and who have the problem of seeing the erosion by "insidious forms of pressure" of their identity, which communism was not able to eliminate.
Vatican City (AsiaNews 24/04/08.) - The pope has encouraged the "small flock" of Catholics living in the countries of the Caucusus, which has witnessed sometimes violent opposition, even in the recent past, and continues to live between difficult social challenges and contact with other religious communities.
After the fall of communism, among the current problems for the Catholic Church, to which Benedict XVI made reference while receiving this morning the bishops of the southern Caucasus, is that of obtaining recognition of legal personality in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, which is necessary to "prevent that, where communism was not able to erode Catholic identity, insidious forms of pressure might weaken in some the sense of ecclesial belonging ".
"After the fall of the Soviet Union", the pope observed, "your populations witnessed significant social changes along the road of progress, but difficult situations still remain: there are many poor, unemployed, and refugees whom the wars have driven away from their homes, leaving them in a precarious state. The tormented events of the past century have not, however, extinguished the flame of the Gospel, which through the generations has found fertile ground in the Caucusus, although violent opposition has not been lacking, both inside and from the outside, causing many victims, among which the Church counts not a few martyrs of the faith".
"Your pastoral activity", he added, "is therefore carried out in a territory where many social and cultural challenges remain, and where the Catholic community constitutes a 'small flock', which lives its faith in contact with other Christian faiths and other religions: there coexist, in fact, Catholics of the Armenian, Latin, and Chaldean rite, together with Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Jews, and Muslims. In such a multireligious context, it is important that Catholics should continue and increasingly intensify their collaboration with other Churches, and also with the followers of other religions, as already happens in many places".
GUATEMALA - BISHOP RECEIVES DEATH THREATS, EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE: “COWARDLY ACT”
“We do not know the source of the threats, but we believe that they are related to Monsignor Ramazzini’s pastoral work in favour of the poor and marginalised in his diocese”, said the Bishops of Guatemala in regard to the death threats received by Monsignor Alvaro Ramazzini Imeri, Bishop of San Marcos, in a statement signed by Monsignor Pablo Vizcaíno Prato, Bishop of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu and president of the Episcopal Conference of Guatemala (CEG), and Monsignor Gonzálo de Villa y Vásquez, Bishop of Sololá-Chimaltenango and secretary general of CEG. The Bishops reminded that Monsignor Ramazzini had already received a death threat on March 31in San Marcos, through a nun stopped in her vehicle by unknown individuals. “We are certain that this cowardly act undoubtedly comes from those who want to hide, under a cloak of impunity, a ring of injustice, exclusion and death in our country. This is how they acted with Monsignor Gerardi (Auxiliary Bishop of Guatemala, killed on 26 April 1998), as we set to mark the tenth anniversary of his assassination in these days. In this way, they continue acting against those who work for a different, just and united Guatemala”. The Bishops launch an urgent appeal to competent authorities for “an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident and immediate measures to guarantee the necessary security to Monsignor Ramazzini”. Already in 2005, reminds the Fides news agency, the Bishop of San Marcos received death threats and escaped assassination attempts, while backing the causes of the poor and landless farmers of the region. Misna 23/04/08.
ASIA : Religious freedom at risk across Asia (overview) click here
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Trinitarian International Solidarity is an organism of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, born eight centuries ago to free the slaves, mainly those persecuted because of faith.
SIT commits itself to incarnate the Trinitarian charism in the specific field of liberation.
SITworks in favour of those who are confined to slavery, who are oppressed and excluded or suffer persecution because of their religious faith, of faithfulness to their own conscience or faithfulness to Christ as well as to the Gospel values.
SIT works with specific means and is respectful of the freedom and dignity of persons; it favours dialogue and tolerance. It is open to the participation in and collaboration with non Government Organisms (ONG), with different religious confessions or with any other type operating for the same objectives.
SIT is open to all persons. The Institutes and the laity of the Trinitarian Family partake in it, but also other persons and organisms that accept its principles and objectives, apply for it and receive an agreement on behalf of the Minister General of the Order (Statutes no.4).
Prayer, reflection and action
for the freedom of today’s oppressed people and
for a freer world of the future
Translation : Sr Imelda Fortuna
THE NAMES OF PASTORAL WORKERS, PRIESTS, MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND LAY CATHOLICS KILLED DURING 2007
“Stephen's story tells us many things: for example, that charitable social commitment must never be separated from the courageous proclamation of the faith. He was one of the seven made responsible above all for charity. But it was impossible to separate charity and faith. Thus, with charity, he proclaimed the crucified Christ, to the point of accepting even martyrdom. This is the first lesson we can learn from the figure of St Stephen: charity and the proclamation of faith always go hand in hand. Above all, St Stephen speaks to us of Christ, of the Crucified and Risen Christ as the centre of history and our life. We can understand that the Cross remains forever the centre of the Church's life and also of our life. In the history of the Church, there will always be passion and persecution… But in our life too, the Cross that will never be absent, becomes a blessing. And by accepting our cross, knowing that it becomes and is a blessing, we learn Christian joy even in moments of difficulty. The value of witness is irreplaceable, because the Gospel leads to it and the Church is nourished by it. St Stephen teaches us to treasure these lessons, he teaches us to love the Cross, because it is the path on which Christ comes among us ever anew”.
(Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience 10 January 2007)
THE NAMES OF CATHOLICS KILLED WHILE ON MISSION IN 2007
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Once again this year, as 2007 comes to an end, Fides has drawn up a list of the names of pastoral workers killed during the past 12 months. As far as we know the total number of Catholic priests, men and women religious and seminarians killed during 2007 was 21, three less than last year and four less than two years ago.
In recent years our list has included not only the names of missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but all pastoral workers who died a violent death, sacrificing their lives, aware of the risk they were taking preferring to remain at their post, rather than give up their commitment to Christian witness and charity. “Charitable social commitment must never be separated from the courageous proclamation of the faith… charity and the proclamation of faith always go hand in hand. ” Pope Benedict XVI recalled as he reflected on the figure of Saint Stephen (General Audience 10 January 2007).
We choose not to refer to these persons as “martyrs”, since it is up to the Church to judge their possible merits, and also because of the scarcity of available information in most of cases, with regard to their life and even the circumstances of their death. We wish simply to remember them and to ask everyone to pray for them that they may rest in peace. Each in their own way, and in different parts of the world, gave their life to further the growth of the Church.
As Pope Benedict XVI recently recalled, “If loving Christ and one's brethren is not to be considered as something incidental and superficial but, rather, the true and ultimate purpose of our whole existence, it will be necessary to know how to make basic choices, to be prepared to make radical renouncements, if necessary even to the point of martyrdom. Today, as yesterday, Christian life demands the courage to go against the tide, to love like Jesus, who even went so far as to sacrifice himself on the Cross.” (pastoral visit to Velletri, 23 September 2007).
Each of these pastoral workers without a doubt made a radical decision: to be witnesses of God's Love often in situations of violence, degradation, material and spiritual poverty, total disrespect for the dignity and rights of the human person. This year again the bodies of some of these persons were not found until hours or days later, victims - apparently - of those acts of aggression, robbery, theft to which the people whom they served were indiscriminately subject and which are continually denounced by the voice of the local Church and the local Catholic Bishops' Conferences. This was the case of ninety year old missionary Fr. Mario Bianco, who died in Manizales (Colombia) of the consequences of an attack by bandits searching for money and objects of value. And the same was true of Fr. Fernando Sanchez Duran, a parish priest in the Mexico City area known for his work with young drug addicts, abducted and murdered, and with him the parish motor vehicle, television set and a computer also disappeared. Another missionary Fr Ricardo Junious, found dead inside the parish priest's house with his hands and feet tied, had been strangled and there were evident signs of torture. Deeply appreciated for his missionary work, his pastoral zeal and assistance to the poor, he was also committed to eradicating drug trafficking and the sale of alcohol to minors.
We remember also South African Fr. Allard Msheyene, a member of the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (OMI), killed by car-jackers. Car-jacking in South Africa is widespread with more than 12,000 cases every year, although in recent years since a peak 16,000 in 1998 they have diminished slightly in number. Another example of altruism and generosity was Fr. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith, Jesuit Refugee Service coordinator in the Mannar district of Sri Lanka, killed in a bomb explosion on the road the priest was travelling to bring assistance to people at a refugee camp and an orphanage in Vidathalvu.
How can we forget, Sr Anne Thole the only women religious who died a violent death in 2007. She was not murdered, she sacrificed her life to save the lives of others. After pulling five AIDS patients from the fire which was devouring the poor structure in which they were hospitalised, Sr Anne went back to fetch three more, but the ceiling collapsed and she was killed. “We can still save the others” were her last words as she walked into the flames. Continue...
Agenzia Fides
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