Song of Freedom and Resilience

As Bono explained, the band purposely revived the enduring Crowded House classic for its inspirational essence:

"The idea is to record something special to honour Alexei Navalny's widow, Yulia, who is continuing the fight against Vladimir Putin" Bono told the audience.

"It's a song about freedom, that's the truth."

The iconic New Zealander gave his full blessing, feeling honoured that his uplifting lyrics carry such a powerful message.

"The other day, we got a beautiful e-mail from Neil Finn who wrote this bewilderingly beautiful song" said Bono.

"Attached to the e-mail was a version of the song he said we could play whenever we wanted.

"It's a new version that he did, and we're going to try and record it. Neither party has spoken to our record label [about releasing this], so this might be the only recording that might ever exist.

"Please take your phones and send it to whoever loves freedom you know.

"Maybe send it to people that don't. There's a few of them around."

With that, the band kicked off the song's recording, which featured Finn singing the verses, thereby allowing U2 and their fans to sing the chorus.

Unsurprisingly, the crowd was happy to participate, resulting in an emotion-filled collaboration.

Poignant words that resonate

The soaring 1986 hit has resonated across generations with its message to keep persisting through struggles:

"Don't dream it's over, 'cause every night I will lie awake..."

For Navalny's wife Yulia, continuing her husband's democracy movement requires resilience.

Trailblazing virtual collaboration

The collaboration took place on March 3rd during the final night of U2's Las Vegas residency.

Finn told RNZ's Culture 101 that he was grateful for the enduring popularity of Don't Dream It's Over.

"I just see it as a great privilege for it to communicate so much to so many people."

Finn's mother, a devout Catholic, moved to New Zealand from Ireland at the age of two. She maintained a religious influence over the family.

Speaking of Catholicism, Finn stated "It's a great fertile ground for pulling lyrics out.

"[There's] lots of good stuff going on in there, good rituals and imagery and lots of guilt. It's a very potent combination.

"I think you're blessed, really, to be brought up with some kind of weird dogma like that."

Finn and his brother Tim were educated at Sacred Heart College, Auckland and Te Awamutu College in Te Awamutu, Waikato, New Zealand.

Sources

• RNZ
• Wikipedia
• Qthemusic

When Dong Luobin, now 39, fled from Auckland's Consulate for the People's Republic of China nearly five years ago, he told NZ police he feared his Catholicism was putting his life in danger.

Six months later New Zealand authorities granted him refugee status. They concluded he faced persecution over his religious and political views were he to return to China.

"Defections are a particularly rare occurrence," says Rhys Ball, a senior lecturer in security studies at Massey University. This is the first defection of a foreign government official or employee on New Zealand soil that Ball is aware of since the 1947-1991 Cold War.

Dong says he's speaking out publicly about his experiences to help New Zealanders understand the importance of their democratic freedoms.

He describes his early working life in Auckland as one where he and others were constantly watched, monitored and controlled.

He worked in a multi-building compound surrounded by a high barbed-wire-topped wall. Staff, mostly non-English speakers lived on site, had to surrender their passports to the consulate, and were able to leave the compound only in groups of three or more.

When Dong started work at the consulate in 2016, physical security wasn't as tight, enabling him to sneak out during lunchtimes or evenings to visit a nearby church.

Dong is a third-generation Catholic. He says practising his faith in China was subject to surveillance and repression.

His absences to attend church secretly were noticed and on 7 May 2018 he was questioned by consulate staff about his whereabouts the previous day and why he did not answer his phone.

He began to fear the crucifix he wore around his neck may also have been noticed and his religious beliefs would soon be discovered.

Coincidentally that morning he had been given possession of his passport to take to the Automobile Association for his New Zealand driver's licence: It presented an opportunity for escape.

The Catholic defector first tried seeking asylum in the church he had surreptitiously visited, but the pastor he sought was not present and staff called police. He was taken to an Auckland police station where he was interviewed with the assistance of a Mandarin-speaking officer.

"I said to the translating officer, ‘If you send me back to the consulate I will die'. Then the police perhaps understood my situation. The officer said, ‘Don't worry, we will protect you.'"

The following day Dong made contact with a lawyer who immediately filed an application for asylum.

National Party MP Simon O'Connor says while most New Zealanders will be aware of the [Chinese Communist Party's] repression of Uighur Muslims or suppression of freedoms in Hong Kong, they mightn't know Christians are also aggressively targeted.

O'Connor, a staunch Catholic, said Dong's story should be a warning for New Zealand: "His story, and why he defected, illustrates the paranoia of authoritarian regimes."

Source

• NZ Herald

The vocally loud and unmasked protesters took over the Capital's streets and pavements as they snaked their way from Wellington's Civic Square, through Mercer and Willis Streets and down Lambton Quay to Parliament.

At one point it seemed there would be no end to the protest as more and more people just kept coming.

They were very loud.

A local business person told CathNews it was one of the largest protests in Wellington she has seen for a while.

The protestors' message was clear.

They were freedom marchers; chanting a range of phrases in opposition to what they labelled an experimental Pfizer vaccine and the vaccine mandate.

They protested the lack of choice for other vaccines, and a strong distrust for Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.

The pro-Government and uninquiring role of the media also featured prominently in the protest; one placard saying the "Media is the virus".

Many also opposed the vaccine roll-out for children, with one young person emblazoned in a hand-painted T-shirt reading: "My mother calls the shots".

Others protested lockdowns, business closures, mental health and the rights of New Zealanders being trampled on.

One protester told CathNews she was there to support Aucklanders' whose mental health is under pressure and their livelihoods in jeopardy.

"Jacinda's not interested in Auckland, Aucklanders and their struggle.

"Her kindness is just for the cameras, and is fake", she said.

Also among the protestors were a number of religious fundamentalists, claiming New Zealand had lost faith in a God who will protect us all.

Commenting on the role of pentecostal protest, senior lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Waikato, Fraser Macdonald says Pentecostals seem unwilling and are unable to accept epidemiological explanations and strategies.

"Pentecostals' steadfast assertion that the raw power of the Holy Spirit will prevail over the principalities of darkness has run up against the cultural and environmental realities of the modern world", he writes.

Macdonald's comments were amplified, Tuesday by a protester who told CathNews: "They've removed Jesus from the Parliamentary prayer and the vaccine is all part of a new world order, Satin's agenda".

This fundamentalist pentecostal agenda is however at odds with mainstream churches; Cardinal John Dew again today is urging people to get vaccinated in order to help keep themselves and others safe.

Speaking with a Wellingtonian after the event, a woman said she's re-thinking what pro-choice means.

"I'm pro-choice on everything.

"Choice is good, but these people really annoy me", she volunteered.

"They're making me think about what being pro-choice actually means.

"Do they have any sense of social responsibility?" she posed.

"This protest was just socially irresponsible", she said through her mask.

Other reactions also condemned the protest, calling it "shocking" and those involved as having a "toxic underbelly".

Among those reacting was Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who dismissed the participants, saying they did not represent the vast bulk of New Zealanders whom she thanked for getting vaccinated.

National's leader, Judith Collins however was more moderate, saying some of the messages were unhelpful, but that the protesters highlighted an issue of trust.

"There are people who don't trust the vaccine, who don't trust Pfizer, and who don't trust the Government".

"It is best not to dismiss them, it is best to deal with their concerns", said Collins.

On Monday, Singapore announced that anyone who is unvaccinated by choice will no longer receive free Covid-19 treatment.

Sources

• Supplied
• NZ Herald
• Stuff

He made the comments to Catholic Church clergy and lay leaders in St Martin's Cathedral, Bratislava during his pastoral visit to Slovakia.

"The centre of the Church is not the Church itself" the Pope said encouraging the leaders to avoid "self-absorption" and attempts to "make ourselves look good."

Francis urged the leaders to foster dialogue with both believers and those who do not believe.

"How great is the beauty of a humble Church, a Church that does not stand aloof from the world, viewing life with a detached gaze, but lives her life within the world," he said.

"Living within the world, let us not forget: sharing, walking together, welcoming people's questions and expectations. This will help us to escape from our self-absorption, for the centre of the Church ... is not the Church."

Warning against becoming nostalgic for the past or defending Church structures, Francis "We have to leave behind undue concern for ourselves, for our structures and for what society thinks about us".

"The Church is not a fortress, a stronghold, a lofty castle, self-sufficient and looking out upon the world below," he said.

"Here in Bratislava, you have a castle and it is a fine one!" he exclaimed.

"The Church, though, is a community that seeks to draw people to Christ with the joy of the Gospel, not a castle!" he emphasized.

Francis said the Church throughout Europe must face the challenges in front of it and find "new languages for handing on the Gospel," asking, "Isn't this perhaps the most urgent task facing the Church"?

The Holy Father told the leaders that it was useless to complain and to hide behind a defensive Catholicism that blames the evil world.

Calling for creativity in name of the Gospel, Francis suggested the solution is a fine balancing act.

What the solution is not is on one hand being "content doing what we did in the past" nor on the other hand falling prey to "what the media decide we should do".

He went on to praise a Church that leaves room "for the adventure of freedom", rather than "becoming rigid and self-enclosed".

"In the spiritual life and in the life of the Church, we can be tempted to seek an ersatz peace that consoles us, rather than the fire of the Gospel that unsettles and transforms us," the pope said in Bratislava.

In concluding his address Francis encouraged the Church leaders to develop people for a mature relationship with God and not to control them too much.

"If you watch how a plant grows all the time, you kill it," he said in an impromptu aside from his written text.

Returning to his call for creativity Francis said Catholic preachers and those responsible for pastoral care of people "can no longer enter by the usual way, let us try to open up different spaces, and experiment with other means".

"No one should feel overwhelmed. Everyone should discover the freedom of the Gospel by gradually entering into a relationship with God, confident that they can bring their history and personal hurts into his presence without fear or pretense, without feeling the need to protect their own image."

"A Church that has no room for the adventure of freedom, even in the spiritual life, risks becoming rigid and self-enclosed. Some people may be used to this.

"But many others — especially the younger generations — are not attracted by a faith that leaves them no interior freedom, by a Church in which all are supposed to think alike and blindly obey."

He offered three words to help guide Catholics: freedom, creativity, and dialogue.

Then addressing the priests he urged them to "Please think of the faithful… A homily, generally, should not go beyond ten minutes… unless it is really engaging."

Those gathered in Bratislava's cathedral for the pope's address vigorously applauded the remark.

Sources

• La-Crox International
• CNA

The proposal, which the Government "agrees to in principle", is to make illegal "hate speech" against a range of different groups of people.

This is a very dangerous step for any society to make.

It seems incongruous, doesn't it? Surely protecting people from hatred is a good thing, especially if those people are a vulnerable minority.

The trouble comes, as the 20th century has so violently taught us, that the moment governments take the authority away from people to speak freely and openly (even forcefully) about things we disagree on, is the moment we open the door to tyranny.

Jim Flynn eloquently stated before his death last year, that in the pursuit of truth, you either have a contest of ideas or you have a contest of power.

"When you forbid certain ideas, the only way you can be effective is by being more powerful. So it becomes a contest of strength," Flynn said.

He is right.

It doesn't matter if the ideas outlawed come from the left or the right of the political spectrum, the end result will inevitably be violence.

Under Lenin and Stalin's Russia, it was the voices on the right who were silenced and exterminated.

Under Hitler's Nazi Germany it was the voices on the left who were silenced and exterminated.

Chris Trotter writing in this page last month (July 2, 2021) described "the urge to suppress ideas and beliefs which contradict what one fervently believes to be the truth is not a healthy urge. It is a totalitarian urge."

Currently in Western culture, the dominant voice on social media that ruthlessly silences opposing voices comes from the political left of centre.

But it will not always be so.

There have been and are currently today, many regimes that are just as dominant on the political right.

It could be argued (if we are allowed to argue) that there is truth in both directions; the left's desire for equality for all people and the right's desire to see freedom for the individual, both need to have their contest of ideas allowed to be voiced / spoken / printed / drawn and sung, for truth to be discovered.

I wonder what Jacinda Ardern means by "hate speech"?

I wonder how our judges will interpret this phrase should it pass into law?

In the discussion document from the Ministry of Justice called: "Proposals against incitement of hatred and discrimination", it is stated that: "Hate speech is a broad term that is not used in Aotearoa law. It is generally defined as speech that attacks an individual or group based on common characteristics, for example ethnicity, religion or sexuality."

Well that doesn't really help me much.

The next question in my mind is what does "speech that attacks" mean? Continue reading

• Stu Crosson is the senior minister of Hope Church, Dunedin.

The government of China has imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong. This was done without systematic consultation with the general public.

This law seriously diminishes Hong Kong's freedoms and destroys the city's "high degree of autonomy" promised under the "one country, two systems" principle.

This action brings the most significant change to Hong Kong's constitution and is offensive to the spirit and letter of the 1997 handover agreement between Britain and China.

Hong Kong is one of the jewels of Asia, a "Pearl of the Orient", a crossroads between East and West, a gateway to China, a regional hub for free trade and until now has enjoyed a healthy mixture of freedom and creativity.

A national security law is not in itself wrong.

Every country has a right to legislate to safeguard protect national security.

However, such legislation should be balanced with the protection of human rights, human dignity and basic freedoms.

The imposition of the law by China's National People's Congress seriously weakens Hong Kong's Legislative Council and Hong Kong's autonomy.

It radically changes Hong Kong's identity.

I am concerned that the law poses a threat to basic freedoms and human rights in Hong Kong.

This legislation potentially undermines freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, media freedom and academic freedom. Arguably, freedom of religion or belief is put at risk.

According to many reports, freedom of religion or belief in mainland China is suffering the most severe restrictions experienced since the Cultural Revolution.

Even if freedom of worship in Hong Kong is not directly or immediately affected, the new security law and its broad criminalization of "subversion", "secession" and "colluding with foreign political forces" could result, for example, in the monitoring of religious preaching, the criminalization of candlelit prayer vigils, and the harassment of places of worship that offer sanctuary or sustenance to protesters.

It is my prayer that this law will not give the government license to interfere in the internal affairs of religious organizations and the services they provide to the general public.

Clear assurance should be given for my brother bishops and fellow priests as they prepare their homilies, Protestant clergy as they ponder their sermons, and for religious leaders of other faiths too who must instruct their communities.

The participation of religious bodies in social affairs should not be disturbed.

Provisions in Hong Kong's Basic Law guarantee freedom of belief.

Will religious leaders now be criminalized for preaching about human dignity, human rights, justice, liberty, truth?

We have learned from heavy experience that wherever freedom as a whole is undermined, freedom of religion or belief — sooner or later — is affected.

Over the past year, there have been many protests in Hong Kong, most of them peaceful.

However, while over 9,000 protesters have been arrested, not a single police officer has been held accountable for their disproportionate brutality.

We hold that all — protesters and police officers — are accountable according to the law.

It is imperative that the underlying causes of unrest should be attended to and that meaningful reforms and compromises are reached.

This national security law threatens to exacerbate tensions, not to provide solutions.

For these reasons and in the spirit of the prophets, martyrs and saints of our faith, I urge people to pray for Hong Kong today.

Pray for the leaders of China and Hong Kong that they respect the promises made to Hong Kong, the promise to protect basic liberties and rights. May I urge all to pray for peace.

Source: UCANews.com

• Cardinal Charles Bo is the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.

They are:

• Existential security (you have enough money and food)
• Personal freedom (you're free to choose whether to believe or not)
• Pluralism (you have a welcoming attitude to diversity)
• Education (you've got some training in the sciences and humanities).

If even one of these factors is absent, the whole secularization process slows down. Read more

Speaking at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University last week, Cardinal Pietro Parolin stressed that celibacy is a gift that must be received and nurtured with "joyful perseverance".

He acknowledged that the lack of priests in some parts of the world is regarded as a "sacramental emergency".

But it is nevertheless necessary "not to take rushed decisions, or decisions based solely on the basis of present need", The Tablet reported him saying.

The cardinal added that that the call to celibacy is a different way of giving one's self completely in a loving relationship.

This offers "an opportunity for the priest to live a rich affection for his own personal journey and for the exercise of his mission".

"It is not an absence of profound relationships, but a space for them," he continued.

"It is a ‘path of freedom' that the priest disciple fulfils together with Christ, by his sustained and animated grace, for the Church and the world".

Cardinal Parolin acknowledged that celibacy is not demanded by the "very nature of the priesthood".

But it offers "special advantages" for clergy in their pastoral ministry, he said.

These include the "freedom to serve".

Celibacy, the cardinal said, is "suitable for those called to the priestly ministry".

It allows priests to "travel light" so that they can "reach everyone, carrying only the love of God".

He stressed that celibacy is a gift that must be received and nurtured with "joyful perseverance" so that it may "fully bear fruit".

He noted that celibate priests ensure the "People of God always have radically free shepherds".

Later this week, the Pope will visit Mexico, where there is a marked shortage of priests, with only one priest for every 6500 Catholics.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Reuters
• Image: The Telegraph

Sir Michael Tegendhat said soaring numbers of lawsuits involving religion pointed to an increasing denial of human rights.

Sir Michael was the UK's top libel and media judge until he retired last year.

His comments came in a speech at Tyburn Convent, just metres from the site of gallows upon which 105 Catholics were executed between 1535 and 1681.

The Catholic Herald reported Sir Michael saying the concept of secularism should guarantee a neutral space.

But instead it was being used as a pretext for hostility towards religion and religious practices.

He said the changes came when a succession of equality legislation was passed without giving adequate protection to the religious convictions of Christians.

This led to a series of complaints of harassment and unfair dismissal.

One of the most high-profile cases involved Nadia Eweida, who was told by British Airways that she could not wear a cross on her uniform.

The Catholic Church in the UK was forced to close or hand over about a dozen adoption agencies because it could not meet the statutory demand to assess gay couples as adoptive parents.

Sir Michael said secularism comes in different forms.

"It can be neutral, as it usually is in the United States and sometimes is in France, but it can also stand for hostility to belief in the ‘super-human'," he said.

"Those who are hostile to belief in a super-human being or to religious practices, I am afraid, sometimes exhibit an attitude to freedom of religion and freedom of speech which are as restrictive of that of Elizabeth I or Burghley [her chief minister].

"They seek to limit those freedoms to the private sphere, but that is a denial of the rights that these freedoms enshrine and that is what the Jesuits and the Puritans fought against," he said.

"Their fight was ultimately successful, as we all know, but at enormous personal cost."

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Image: The Guardian

During her visit to Brno, I had a chance to interview Kuby about her book and ask how her Catholic perspective helps her understand one of the most important issues of our time: the continuing sexual revolution that is leading not only to private lifestyle changes but a new legal understanding of sexuality and the family.

Kuby warns that the global trend of "gender mainstreaming" threatens the fundamental understanding of our very human nature, with dire consequences for children, families, and society as a whole.

For example, until 2014 users of Facebook had to indicate their sex - whether they are a man or a woman.

But now the popular internet social network gives users 58 different options to indicate their gender.

Also in 2014, the winner of the popular "Eurovision" song contest was an Austrian man named Thomas Neuwirth, known by his stage name Conchita Wurst, who attracts curiosity by cross-dressing in women's clothing while wearing a thick beard.

Kuby points out that these kinds of situations create confusion and real psychological and spiritual harms for individuals and society.

CWR: For the benefit of our readers, would you please summarize the main thesis of your new book?

Gabriele Kuby: After my conversion to the Catholic faith, and given my background in the study of sociology and interest in political and social developments, I began to realize that sexuality is the issue of our time.

We live in a time when sexual norms are being turned completely upside down, which is unique in human history.

No society does has done this. No society has ever said, "Live out your sexual drive any way you like," but our society does. Continue reading

Sources

• The Catholic World Report
• Image: Gloria.tv

• I wondered if this behaviour applies to humans as well as canines.
• I wondered what it is about restraint or constraint or restrictions that cause us to bellow so loudly.

The Catholic Church (and other institutional churches, I suspect) is sometimes defined by its restrictions and prohibitions. No talking about ordination of women or a married priesthood. Exclusion from Holy Communion if one is divorced and remarried (without the comvolutions of the annulment process). A long and often onerous preparation to become Catholic, so long as your marriage is proper, of course. Imposition of archaic language and rituals on a populace seeking relevance and meaning. Prohibition on receiving Eucharist in other churches.

Sometimes I think the bureacrats have forgotten the difference between obedience and oppression. One is about listening and response - based on a fully formed and informed conscience. The other is about power and conformity.

• Why have religious sisters been rebuked for speaking out?
• Why are married priests forbidden from active and relevant ministry in their new communities?
• Why are ordinary Mass-goers denied from corporate worship in their own vernacular, despite a loud and raucous response to the new, awkward, Latinised, English translation?

Unlike my canine friends, I suspect that every day Catholics have been subjected to an apparently deaf, autocratic hierarchy for so long, that they simply acquiesce. Like the Israelites held in captivity in Egypt, we choose the path that requires the least confrontation, expends the least energy, convinced that nothing will change - in our life-time, at least. Even euphoria - experienced after Vatican 2 - or escape across the Red Sea - quickly subsides into ennui and disillusionment. We may go through the motions;

• say the right prayers - but our hearts are not in it;
• our minds not convinced;
• our bodies and souls out of sync.

Simply …

• we choose not to gather for worship at Catholic Churches any more;
• we ignore rulings on contraception and remarriage;
• we talk in small, safe, non-judgemental groups about our heartfelt, raw, feelings and frustrations;
• we receive Eucharist wherever we are invited - one with the Lord, with those gathered in God's name;
• we drift away.

We reconnect with the divine - stripped of rules and regulations and prohibitions:

• in the beauty of a sunrise;
• in the smile of gratitude of a busker;
• in the holy pause of silence;
• in the random act of kindness from a stranger;
• in the sacred touch of a loving embrace;
• in the generosity of friends and family;
• in acts of compassion;
• in attentiveness to the present moment.

There is a delicious freedom;
a wonderful communion with God, with self and with others;
a unique experience of what it is to be fully, consciously, human;
when we are free to grow into the people we were created to be; and are continually invited to be. We choose boundaries and parameters as mature women and men of faith -

• our faith community;
• our prayer discipline;
• the spiritual precepts we follow;
• the physical and emotional environment in which we are immersed (or are immersed by circumstances); and
• our learned and chosen responses to transitions in our life situations.

And within these boundaries, we are free to reflect who we are -

beloved children of God.

• Not fearful;
• not defensive;
• not territorial;
• not possessive;
• not arrogant.

Simply loved.

Liz Pearce, a mother of three adult children, loves story, writing, and dollmaking www.heartfeltdolls.weebly.com

He gave the example of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, as a model of attention to the voice of one's conscience.

"When the Lord had made it clear, in prayer, what was the step he had to take, he followed, with a great sense of discernment and courage, his conscience, that is the will of God speaking to his heart," Pope Francis said.

The Pope said Jesus wants neither selfish Christians, who follow their egos and do not speak with God, nor weak and "remote-controlled" Christians, who have no will and are incapable of creativity, "who seek ever to connect with the will of another, and are not free".

"Jesus wants us free, and this freedom — where is it found? It is to be found in the inner dialogue with God in conscience.

"If a Christian does not know how to talk with God, does not know how to listen to God, in his own conscience, then he is not free — he is not free.

"So we also must learn to listen more to our conscience. Be careful, however: this does not mean we ought to follow our ego, do whatever interests us, whatever suits us, whatever pleases us. That is not conscience.

"Conscience is the interior space in which we can listen to and hear the truth, the good, the voice of God. It is the inner place of our relationship with him, who speaks to our heart and helps us to discern, to understand the path we ought to take, and once the decision is made, to move forward, to remain faithful."

Sources:

Vatican Radio

AsiaNews

Image: Pope of Hearts

"In the history of the Church there have been two classes of Christians: Christians of words — those who say, 'Lord, Lord, Lord' — and Christians of action, in truth," he said.

Pope Francis was commenting on the passage from the Gospel of Matthew on houses built on rock or sand at a morning Mass celebrated in Casa Santa Marta.

Those Christians who are all talk, he said, fall into two categories.

He defined one group as "gnostics" who, instead of loving the Rock that is Christ, "love pretty words" and follow a "liquid Christianity".

These superficial "Christians of words" are "floating on the surface of the Christian life", he said. "And this has happening and is happening today: being Christian without Christ."

He defined the other group as "pelagians", who "believe that the Christian life must be taken so seriously that they end up confusing solidity and firmness with rigidity. They are rigid! They think that being Christian means being in perpetual mourning."

This group, he said, "stare at their feet" and do not know how to enjoy the life that Jesus gives us because they do not know how to talk to Jesus.

There are "so many" of these Christians, the Pope said, but "they are not Christians, they disguise themselves as Christians".

"They do not know what the Lord is, they do not know what the rock is, do not have the freedom of Christians. To put it simply 'they have no joy'."

"They are the slaves of superficiality … and the slaves of rigidity, they are not free. The Holy Spirit has no place in their lives. It is the Spirit who gives us the freedom!

"Today, the Lord calls us to build our Christian life on Him, the rock, the One who gives us freedom, the One who sends us the Spirit, that keeps us going with joy, on his journey, following his proposals. "

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Vatican Radio

Image: Catholic Herald

The strongly worded document, entitled Welcoming Christ in Refugees and Forcibly Displaced Persons, was released jointly by the Pontifical Council for Migrants and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

It says Catholic laity have an obligation to root out traces of xenophobia in their hearts and recognise refugees as their brothers and sisters — children of God whose dignity must be protected.

Since the mid-1980s, the document says, the debate surrounding refugees and other asylum seekers has become "a forum for political and administrative election purposes, which fed hostile and aggressive attitudes among the electorate".

At a news conference, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio, said many governments have adopted policies that subject refugees to "confined detention, interment in refugee camps, and having their freedom to travel and their right to work restricted".

In effect, he said, countries are focused more on deterring newcomers from reaching their shores than they are on offering protection and a welcome to suffering people fleeing situations that threatened their lives and dignity.

From a Catholic point of view, he said, "every policy, initiative or intervention in this area must be inspired by the principle of the centrality and dignity of the human person".

Data compiled by Cardinal Veglio's office indicates that in 2012 there were some 16 million officially recognised refugees in the world and 28.8 million internally displaced persons.

In addition, an estimated 21 million people have been trafficked, including 4.5 million for sexual exploitation and 14.2 million for what amounts to slave labour.

The document treats the whole field of migration as a field for Catholic missionary activity.

In addition to supporting Catholic groups, particularly women's religious orders that are rescuing victims and helping them recover, the document says lay Catholics need to look at how their investing or buying habits may actually promote trafficking for low-cost labour, including in the fields of manufacturing, textiles and agriculture.

Sources:

Vatican Information Service

Catholic News Service

Image: UCANews

Already, however, governments had bought the pill for another reason: as a means of thinning the ranks of the poor. To reduce the burden of supporting them the United States government, for example, has funded birth control for those on welfare or near the poverty line ever since 1972.

Today, both agendas are incomplete; if anything, they are more formidable than ever.

Millions of women the world over are raising children on their own; countless others have endured an abortion, suffered a sexually transmitted disease, lost their fertility, developed cancer. Birthrates have plunged — although not as much as desired among the target populations — but welfare spending continues to grow as states replace fathers and breadwinners in an increasing number of homes.

To address these problems the American President has authorised a bold new scheme. From August 1st next year, all contraception and voluntary sterilisations will be free, sort of.

Continue reading "Can contraception make America better?"

Source

• Image: Kora Organics

Increased restraints on religious activity were now more noticeable in 23 countries, however restrictions were released in another 12 countries, the study showed.

The study also shows

• intolerant countries growing more hostile to religious freedom, and tolerant ones growing more accommodating
• more adverse government policies in countries such as France, Egypt, Algeria, Uganda
• social hostility grew, in places like China, Nigeria, and Russia
• among those nations where government restrictions declined, were: Greece, Togo, Nicaragua, Republic of Macedonia and Guinea-Bissau
• it is scarcest in the Middle East and North Africa
• Europe, however, has the largest proportion of countries where social hostilities related to religion rose
• more than other groups, Muslims and Christians suffered harassment based on their religion
• smaller religious groups that suffered disproportionately, the study found, included Jews
• representing less than one percent of the world's people, Jews were harassed in 75 countries
• North Korea, one of the most repressive regimes, could not be included for lack of reliable data
• overall, about 70 percent of the world lives in nations with significant religious repression.

"There seems to be somewhat of a polarization," particularly in countries with constitutional prohibitions against blasphemy, said Brian Grim, the primary researcher of the report. "When you have one set of restrictions in place then it's easier to add on."

The report, took data from 198 countries and territories from 2006 through 2009. About 2.2 billion people live in nations where restrictions on religion have substantially increased the report showed.

Sources

• The Christian Century
• Huffington Post
• Pew Forum
• Image: A Reluctant Sinner blog

A statement issued Thursday after the bishops visited Swaziland said the king should lift a state of emergency that has been in place for nearly four decades, reinstate "the full range of human rights" and open talks on democratization.

The bishops said Swazis are deprived of rights of expression, assembly and association.

"This makes Swaziland a police state in which political parties remain banned," the bishops said. "Swaziland is a country in turmoil; a country tearing itself apart from the inside by the actions of an uncaring head of state and a regime that is getting more brutal by the day."

While Swaziland's constitution "supposedly guarantees the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," it simply enshrines the king's 1973 decree, in which the king suspended the constitution.

The powers enshrined in that decree "need to be curtailed since their abuse by those in authority is the primary cause of the current crisis, in which dissenting views meet with brutality of the highest order," the bishops said.

"Human rights activists have their homes arbitrarily raided" and "are arrested, detained and beaten up by security forces, presumably under orders of the king, who is the commander-in-chief," they said.

Swaziland's prime minister has said his country will resist outside pressure.

Swaziland's King Mswati III lives lavishly in a country of 1 million beset by high levels of poverty, unemployment and AIDS. Mswati is accused of repressing human rights and harassing and jailing pro-democracy activists.

Besides the government crackdown, reformists have had to contend with reverence for the monarchy among many Swazis.

Source

• Associated Press
• Catholic News Service
• Image: IBN Live