The first was that he was gay.

The second was that his life would never be the same.

"I did know immediately that basically, I was lost," he tells ABC RN's Soul Search.

"I lost my parents' world, their political world, their religious world."

As a queer person in a religious environment, he felt alienated, an experience he'd spend the next few decades trying to understand.

His journey led him to religious orders in South America, to the forefront of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and to the work of a groundbreaking French philosopher, who helped him understand why some people scapegoat others.

Love could be real'

Dr Alison grew up in the UK with parents who were "hardline evangelicals" in the Anglican Church.

The family was also politically conservative; his father was a conservative member of the British Parliament and a minister in Margaret Thatcher's government.

"[That's] not a safe place to be if you're a gay kid growing up, realising that you're not fit for purpose in that world," Dr Alison says.

At 18, after reading the biography of Italian Catholic priest and Saint Padre Pio, he found that Catholicism offered a different interpretation of the bible.

It made him feel able to accept both his sexuality and his relationship with God.

He converted to Catholicism, and four years later he joined a religious order in Mexico, where he began training to become a Catholic priest.

Part of his training involved pastoral work with people diagnosed with HIV and AIDS in the UK and Brazil, as the illness swept through queer communities across the world in the mid-1980s.

But while Catholicism had made him feel he could accept his own queerness, he saw serious shortcomings in the Church's response to the AIDS crisis.

"At that time, the official language in the Catholic Church around gay love [described it as] hedonistic and self-centred," Dr Alison says.

It didn't align with the reality he'd observed.

He knew, from working with and counselling queer people facing serious health prognoses, that "[gay] love could be real" and, indeed, that it could be "stronger than death".

Dr Alison felt queer people were being targeted with the language of fear, but he couldn't quite understand why.

The scapegoat

In the late 1980s, as Dr Alison continued his theological studies, he stumbled upon the work of French philosopher René Girard, known for his seminal work on the "scapegoat mechanism".

Girard identified scapegoating as an important part of human adaptation.

Dr Alison, who went on to become an expert in the works of Girard, explains why:

"In situations of pressure, a group which is fighting amongst itself [and] which is full of rivalry, will mysteriously be able to move from an all-against-all to an all-against-one," he says.

Girard's theory is that the scapegoat is a "wrongly accused victim", cast out "for the convenience of the group", he says.

Girard argues that the result of that is increased group cohesion and a better chance at survival.

Dr Alison says it's an age-old practice.

"The celebration of the survival of the group at the expense of a 'wicked other' has been absolutely part of human survival techniques and at the basis of so many mythologies all over the world," he explains.

Indeed many scholars have identified this behaviour across cultures and even across species — studies have pointed to similar behaviour in primates.

Girard's explanation of scapegoating behaviour had a profound impact on Dr Alison.

Suddenly, his own experiences and those he'd heard from the queer community fell into place: they had been scapegoats.

"[Girard] was saying something basically true about me and about the world that I knew," he says.

A personal epiphany

The scapegoat concept can be traced back to the Bible.

In the Book of Leviticus, God instructs Aaron, the brother of Moses, to lay the sins of the Israelites on the head of a goat, then drive it "into the wilderness" to atone for their sins.

Even earlier in history, records of Ancient Greek and Middle Eastern rituals make mention of scapegoating, when a single individual — usually a slave, criminal or pauper — would be sacrificed or cast out in response to a societal ill.

For Dr Alison, the concept "turns on its head the old-fashioned [understanding] … of the death of Christ".

Rather than seeing Jesus Christ's death as a sacrifice to a wrathful God, Girard's interpretation sees Christ as a scapegoat "created by us at our worst" — that is, the judgement and wrath comes from us, not God.

This understanding sees God as loving and compassionate, as he has self-sacrificially given over Christ as a way to meet our demand for violence once and for all.

Dr Alison believes understanding how and why we scapegoat allows us to empathise with minorities, rather than attack them. It also gives us power to push back against the status quo.

"It's a fantastic piece of learning [to] automatically think, 'Well, if the majority says it ... then [they] must be right'."

The psychology of scapegoating

Australian National University's Benjamin Jones, an expert on the social psychology of scapegoating, says at its core scapegoating is a group response to a threat.

That threat can be real, like a food shortage or health crisis, or symbolic, like a threatened sense of group identity or nationalism.

Dr Jones says it's about a group trying to determine and define their own identity.

"Once you exclude a particular [person or group], that does serve to intensify this understanding of what you're like and who you are," he says.

While scapegoating is a deeply ingrained "adaptive" human behaviour, he says it can also be co-opted for evil.

"The classic example is the Holocaust, [which saw] a subgroup being blamed for something without any evidence, and that being used to leverage a particular political interest."

Plenty of minority groups have been subject to scapegoating in recent history, says Enqi Weng, a research fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University.

From post-9/11 Islamophobia to anti-Asian sentiment through the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Weng says there's "a lot of overlap" between scapegoating and prejudice in Australian society. Continue reading

• Anna Levy has worked as a journalist and producer for news, local radio, television and national programs at ABC Brisbane. She is the deputy digital editor for Radio National.
• Rohan Salmond is a producer and presenter with ABC RN's Religion and Ethics Unit.

It says that surveillance technology and states' monitoring of social media has been combined with censorship and disinformation on digital platforms to target religious minorities.

Open Doors, which campaigns for persecuted Christians worldwide, published the report in partnership with the universities of Birmingham and Roehampton. Its release coincided with the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief, which meets in London today and tomorrow.

"We watch on as mobs and terror groups around the world are making use of digital platforms to tighten their grip over religious minorities," said Dr David Landrum, director of advocacy and media for Open Doors UK.

"Most shocking of all, governments are turning a blind eye to this, or even actively encouraging the violent, oppressive behaviour." Continue reading

The a diminution of the true identity of the Church and her mission, from which distorted or diluted efforts to evangelise can only bring about mediocrity he said in his homily.

"Today — more than ever before — the world is strongly opposed to those who uphold sanctity as the purpose of life,".

Persecution of Christians happened in ancient times and still happens today in some parts of the world, the Apostolic Nuncio said.

It is "still very frequent in many countries where killing a Christian is sometimes considered as a holy service to Almighty God (John 16:2)".

He also pointed out in developed countries, the methods some people use "appear in a form of ideology, legislation, deceit, foul propaganda, calumny, bullying, etc. against Christianity, especially against Catholicism".

He said the weight of these methods make it difficult for baptised Christians - especially in countries where secularist states declare laws against Christianity.

"We are living in an epoch that is telling us not to present in public a religious point of view, even in matters regarding life, culture and morals; that religion must be taken as a mere private matter; not to pray; not to expose any religious sign, such as a cross, in public — in schools and hospitals and squares...

"Consequently, even children at school and in higher education institutes are intentionally induced to regard religion as irrelevant, superstitious and ridiculous. We can say that we — as Christians — are living moments of suffering; moments of both aggressive and non-aggressive persecutions."

At the same time, these difficulties offer Christians many opportunities — "to bear witness ... not to yield or cave in; to persevere, not to despair; to evangelise more and more, not to dilute the doctrine of the Church; to be the salt of the earth, not to be tasteless; to be the light, not darkness.

"Unfortunately, it is becoming frequent, even among Catholics, that some individuals think that many people will be attracted to the faith if we follow the spirit of the world, or if we reduce our belief to mere actions of convenience and nicety!

"There are even people who are happy to see the Church lose her identity, transforming herself into a ‘non-governmental organisation', thus with nothing to do with conversion of the people and salvation of the souls."

Rugambwa asked those at the Mass to intensify "permanent formation in the discipleship of Jesus Christ in our families, our schools, our workplaces, and in our parish communities.

"We can bear fruits only if we are truly and fully in Christ, just as the branches remain connected to the vine," he explained,

Throughout his homily, Rugambwa cited teachings by St José Maria Escriva, whose Feast day he was commemorating. Escriva's teachings focus on carrying out one's ordinary daily activities with love, following Jesus, and lovingly embracing sufferings on the path to being saints.

Source

• NZ Catholic
• Image: Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North
  

The panel discussion, held during the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly, was co-hosted by the permanent missions of Hungary and Brazil.

The event, "Rebuilding Lives, Rebuilding Communities: Ensuring a Future for Persecuted Christians," addressed both recent episodes of violence against Christians and continuing efforts to ensure religious freedom internationally.

In his opening statement before the panel, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade for Hungary, stated, "This is a fact that Christianity is the most persecuted religion all over the world," a sentiment echoed in 2012 by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

An independent review completed in 2019 of Christian persecution, spearheaded by Anglican Bishop Philip Mounstephen of Truro, England, supported that claim and found that "evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution but also its increasing severity."

In June 2017, the Pew Research Center reported that in 2015, Christians endured harassment in 128 countries but faced the most instances of harassment in Christian-majority countries.

Mr. Szijjártó said he believes that political correctness contributes to a lack of discussion on this topic. "In global politics, the fact that the Christians are persecuted is kind of being ignored," he said.

He also highlighted the efforts undertaken by Hungary to combat anti-Christian violence, which included providing aid to 1,000 Christians displaced by ISIS attacks in Teleskof, a northern Iraqi town on the Nineveh Plains.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, recalled his visit last December to Mosul, the Iraqi city ravaged and then captured by ISIS militants, who were driven out in 2017.

"As I walked through the city of Mosul, there was still rubble everywhere, making it difficult to traverse," the cardinal said.

He saw the recent movement of exiled Iraqi Christians back to their homeland as "a sign that evil does not have the last word."

The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the United Kingdom's minister of state for the Commonwealth, the United Nations and South Asia, broadened the scope of the discussion beyond the persecution of Christians.

"Individuals all around the globe are persecuted and discriminated against because of their religious beliefs," he said.

The Lord Ahmad also said that it is because of his Muslim faith, not in spite of it, that he supports religious freedom for all people. He said that Islam is a peaceful religion and that he does not view attacks by ISIS as acts of faith. He called perpetrators of such violence "evil" and "demonic." Continue reading

• Image: GodTV

The display will honour Christians and others persecuted for their peacefully-held beliefs.

The UK "All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief" supports #RedWednesday.

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need is organising #Red Wednesday with Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

"Turning Parliament red is a wonderful way to get the message about religious freedom to as wide an audience as possible," a constituent, Trevor Harrison, says.

"We all need to get behind #RedWednesday - we need to stand together against violence carried out in the name of religion - we need to speak up about regimes which persecute people of faith."

This is the second time the Houses of Parliament have turned red for #RedWednesday.

All cathedrals, minor basilicas and national diocesan shrines have been invited to join in the #RedWednesday movement.

So far 10 UK cathedrals have pledged to go red and 50 public buildings are expected to join in.

They include schools, colleges and churches.

In addition, there will be vigils and other events across the country during the week.

A solidarity service will be held at 6pm tomorrow outside Westminster Cathedral, which will have its facade lit up for the day.

A number of church-based organisations will take part in the service.

Talks, witness testimonies, a video message by MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, music and speeches will be incorporated into the service.

Throughout Wednesday, a traditional London red bus emblazoned with #RedWednesday slogans will be driving around London.

Source

• Independent Catholic News
• GMA News Online
• Catholic Herald Online
• Image: Twitter

"Sad news has reached us of the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and sisters, a religious minority," the Holy Father told pilgrims and tourist in St Peter's Square.

"I would like to express my full closeness to them - and let all of us ask the Lord to save them, and to raise up men and women of good will to help them, who shall give them their full rights."

Later in the week, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis will visit Burma (Myanmar) and Bangladesh in November.

The Rohingya are an ethnic minority who live mostly in Rakhine State on the western coast of Burma and practice Islam.

The government of Burma - also known as Myanmar - does not recognize the citizenship or the ethnic minority status of the Rohingya.

The Catholic Bishop's Conference of Myanmar (CBCM) have suggested to Pope Francis not to use the term "Rohingya" when he visits.

The CBCM put forward their suggestion to the pope's representative in the country Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, during their biannual meeting in June.

"We just gave suggestions that the word Rohingya remains a sensitive issue in the country and it is better not to use it during his visit," said Archbishop Alexander Pyone Cho of Pyay, whose diocese covers Rakhine State.

Some Myanmar Catholics have voiced their concerns online. "We pray that pope will not use Rohingya," "It is better not to use Rohingya and raise Rakhine issue," and "Church leaders should suggest pope not to use Rohingya," were some online comments made by Myanmar Catholics.

However, several faith leaders speaking with ucanews.com hold different views.

Wunna Shwe, joint secretary general of the Myanmar's Islamic Religious Affairs Council, said he welcomed the news of the pope's visit.

"As a religious leader, Pope Francis can use Rohingya in his prayers in Myanmar as this is not an attempt to interfere with another country's politics," Wunna Shwe told ucanews.com.

He said that the pope's visit would accelerate harmony and dialogue among the country's different faiths.

Ashin Thuriya, a Yangon-based monk involved in interfaith activities, said he is very glad that Pope Francis will visit Myanmar and agrees it will bring harmony to the country.

"I have no concerns on whether the pope will talk about the Rakhine issue as I understand that the Catholic leader already understands the reality of Myanmar," Ashin Thuriya told ucanews.com.

Bishop Pyone Cho said the pope's Nov. 27-30 visit is for all of Myanmar's people and is aimed at helping bring peace to the country. The visit is not about the Rakhine issue unlike how the international media try to link it to, he said.

Kyaw Min, chairman of a Yangon-based Rohingya party said the pope should decide himself whether to use the term Rohingya. "I appeal to Pope Francis to discuss the plight of Rohingya when he meets with government's leaders," Kyaw Min told ucanews.com.

Source

• Vatican Radio
• aljazeera.com
• Asian Correspondent
• Catholic Herald
• UCANews
• Image: The Wire

The US Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested those waiting deportation on 11 June. Their arrests sparked protests as many of them are Christians and are likely to be persecuted when they get back to Iraq. Read more

Cardinal Robert Sarah did this during a speech at National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, on May 17.

The Guinean cardinal spoke of a religious persecution and threat being visited on families through a "demonic gender ideology".

He called this a "deadly impulse that is being experienced in a world increasingly cut off from God through ideological colonisation".

Cardinal Sarah spoke of the challenges posed by individualism, the exclusion of the poor and the "despicable" discarding of the unborn and the elderly.

The greatest challenges, however, he said, are the challenges facing the family.

Quoting Pope Francis, Cardinal Sarah said that proposing less than what the Church teaches on marriage proposes less than what Christ offers the human person.

"This is why the Holy Father openly and vigorously defends Church teaching on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, the education of children and much more."

Cardinal Sarah referred in his speech to the physical persecution suffered by Christians in many parts of the world.

But he added "violence against Christians is not just physical, it is also political, ideological and cultural".

"This form of religious persecution is equally damaging, yet more hidden. It does not destroy physically but spiritually."

The "violence" of cultural and ideological pressure seeks to separate the Christian from his or her conscience and blend them into society.

The cardinal said the devil wants to destroy the family in order to make it harder for people to hear "the Good News of Jesus Christ: self-giving, fruitful love".

He said divorce, cohabitation and gay marriage "cause damage to little children through inflicting upon them a deep existential doubt about love".

Cardinal Sarah called on Catholics to respond to a multitude of threats by being prophetic, faithful, and prayerful.

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Lifesitenews

But for so many other Christians throughout the world who courageously refuse to deny Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior - with all that that means - persecution means torture, rape, enslavement and death.

In his well-researched book, "The Global War on Christians," Catholic journalist John Allen, cites studies that indicate the number of Christians killed for the faith every year ranges from 7,300 to 100,000 worldwide.

Even the lower figure of 7,300 people murdered every year because of their faith in Christ is shocking, and sadly alarming.

It is incumbent on those of us who are safe and sound to tirelessly pray, advocate for, and work on behalf of hurting and vulnerable Christians.

While followers of Jesus have a strict obligation to help all people in need to the best of our ability - regardless of their race, ethnicity, nationality or religion - we have a special responsibility to reach out to our suffering brothers and sisters in Christ.

For as St. Paul teaches, "So then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all, but especially to those who belong to the family of the faith" (Gal 6:10).

Allen writes, "Christians today indisputably are the most persecuted religious body on the planet, and too often their new martyrs suffer in silence."

Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel said, "We must take sides. … Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

So, what should we do to help end the genocide?

Pray!

Every day let's remember in our personal and liturgical prayers those who suffer in any way - especially for their faith in Jesus.

Parishes can sponsor a refugee family. Pope Francis has asked every parish in Europe to do just that. In the spirit of Francis, parishes throughout the world should likewise open their doors to our persecuted brothers and sisters. It's really not that hard.

And many of us can increase our individual contributions to help. An excellent international Catholic organization dedicated to helping persecuted Christians worldwide is Aid to the Church in Need. Please go to this link to make a donation http://bit.ly/25dsdoy.

Bill O'Keefe, vice president for government relations and advocacy for Catholic Relief Services shared with me that it is also essential for every believer to email and call (Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121) their congressional delegation urging them to provide significantly increased humanitarian funding and support for the immediate and long-term needs of refugees in the Middle East, full support for a negotiated peace in Syria, and a comprehensive plan to rebuild Syria once the fighting ends.

According to U.S. State Department figures, since March of 2011 - when the Syrian conflict started - approximately 1,550 Syrians have been admitted through the U.S. refugee resettlement program. The U.S. can certainly do far better than this, especially since it has just recently declared that the Islamic State is committing genocide against Christians and other minorities (see: http://bit.ly/1R2lt2A).

As I write, the solemness of Good Friday is close at hand. And many of the followers of the crucified Jesus are being crucified with him. Let us do everything we can to remove them from their crosses, and lighten the weight of our Lord's cross who suffers with them.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings about Catholic social teaching. His keynote address, "Advancing the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century," has been well received by diocesan and parish gatherings from Santa Clara, Calif. to Baltimore, Md. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.

Catholicism came to the region in the 16th century with the arrival of Portuguese sailors. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh was established in 1971, the same year Bangladesh achieved its independence from Pakistan.

In a nation with a total population of about 150 million, the Bangladeshi Catholic population is 350,669, according to the 2014 Catholic Directory, which also says that there are 367 Catholic priests, 1,051 nuns, and 107 religious brothers, along with 97 parishes and 49 Catholic secondary schools.

Owing to the Portuguese influence, many current-day Bangladeshi Catholics have Portuguese names. However, there is an increase of Catholics with non-Portuguese names, according to "S," a Catholic journalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who, for security reasons, requested that his full name not be used.

Based on multiple news reports, it appears that anti-Christian attacks are on the increase. Such groups as World Watch Monitor, which reports on persecution of Christians around the world, recently published an article, "More Attacks on Christianity in Bangladesh," which tells how the country "continues to see a rise in attacks and intimidation" against Christians.

Despite this information, S sees the overall situation as less religiously volatile and contends that the persecution takes place over issues of land. As Bangladesh is a "tiny but overpopulated country," the price of land is rising, so "some land-grabbers try to occupy Christians' land illegally," and this is the motivation behind most anti-Christian persecution.

Perhaps the most infamous anti-Catholic attack took place in June 2001, when a bomb exploded in a Catholic church during Sunday Mass, killing nine and maiming dozens.

More recent attacks include a January 2014 incident, in which homes were set ablaze and eight Catholics were injured, allegedly for exercising their right to vote in the nation's parliamentary elections. Continue reading

Sources

• The Catholic World Report, from an article by Ray Cavanaugh, a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).
• Image: Jihad Watch

The Fathers expressed fraternal sorrow for families forced to flee their homes, and gratitude for those nations that have welcomed refugee families with generosity.

To better understand the the difficulties endured, Catholic World Report recently interviewed the Titular Bishop of Tarsus of the Maronites, Antoine Nabil Andari, Vicaire Patriarcal Maronite de Jounieh, Lebanon.

CWR: Can you please describe the political and spiritual situation in the Middle East?

Bishop Andari: You know, in Lebanon and in the Middle East, it's been many years now that we've been living in a situation that is not normal, an instability in part from the lack of security, economic, and social.

This began in Lebanon following the 1975 War, and continues in Syria, Iraq and other Middle-Eastern countries. And this has repercussions on the residents, on both the civil and ecclesial societies, and in a special way on the family.

Families are chased from their homes, they are displaced, and therefore there are repercussions to this, sometimes breakups, or else there is emigration which is in large part that of persecuted Christians because of their faith.

For this reason these families must be supported, not only locally but also internationally, whether political or by the Church. In the current Synod on the Family, this approach is taken.

We speak of the challenges. In terms of social, cultural and anthropological challenges, we speak of the refugees, the persecuted, everyone. Yet how does one realize, implement this support? For it demands a welcoming, an assistance, a solidarity.

Therefore these three essential points—how do we realize them on the ground? For this, we need support from everyone. Society and the Church can do something. But not only the Church alone.

Diplomatic support is also required, by disseminating information, supporting the Christian presence in the Middle East which, without Christ, without Christians, is not the cradle of Christianity. Continue reading

Sources

• The Catholic World Report, from an interview by Mary Jo Anderson, a Catholic journalist and speaker whose articles and commentaries on politics, religion, and culture appear in a variety of publications.
• Image: CDN

"Christians are fast disappearing from entire regions - most notably a huge chunk of the Middle East but also whole dioceses in Africa. In large part, this migration is the product of an ethnic cleansing motivated by religious hatred," says Persecuted and Forgotten?, published on Tuesday by the Catholic campaign group, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Christianity was "changing from being a global faith to a regional one, with the faithful increasingly absent from ever-widening areas".

Its latest report, covering the past two years, concludes that the difficulties facing Christians have worsened in 15 out of 19 countries under review.

Militant Islamism is the main - and increasing - threat, but Christians have also been targeted by extremists of other faiths and totalitarian regimes such as North Korea.

The report repeats claims that Christians are being "driven out of [the church's] ancient biblical heartland" of the Middle East, saying they are "on course to disappear from Iraq possibly within five years - unless emergency help is provided at an international level on a massively increased scale".

In Africa - described as "the one continent which until now has been the church's brightest hope for the future" - the rise of militant Islamic groups in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and Sudan is destabilising Christian presence, the report says.

It says that Christians are the most persecuted faith group in the world, citing the Frankfurt-based International Society for Human Rights 2012 report, which estimated that 80% of all acts of religious discrimination were against Christians.

The Centre for the Study of Global Christianity in the US estimates that 100,000 Christians die every year, although some question the legitimacy of this figure. Continue reading

Sources

• The Guardian, from an article written by Harriet Sherwood, the Guardian's religion correspondent.
• Image: The Right Planet

According to the Catholic Professionals Society of PNG (CPSPNG) president, Paul Harricknen, the bishop was attacked when he tried to stop some street preachers carrying pictures of the Pope and cardinals and abusing the Catholic Church.

"When the street preachers were preaching, a Catholic nun walked past the crowd, who were listening to the preaching, and they booed at her," Harricknen said.

"She was upset so she went and reported the incident to police and also rang Bishop Christian and told him of what the street preachers were saying."

Harricknen said when Blouin arrived there and approached those street preachers and told them to stop such preaching, the crowd reacted and started throwing stones at the bishop and one hit him on the head.

"This is totally uncalled for and an unprovoked assault, a clear case of people abusing freedom of speech and a breach of the right to freedom of religion of other street preachers."

"Their actions, without doubt, amounted to criminal offence of breach of the peace, assault and spreading false rumours and we want to know what the Lae police has done or is doing with these street preachers."

Subsequently Lae Met Supt Iven Lakatani cautioned the public speakers after he had confirmed that he had received a complaint.

He said street preachers should stick to the Word of God rather than discriminate against or criticise other denominations in public.

"Nobody is stopping them (street preachers) from preaching in public places. But I have been advising them to avoid preaching in places or locations that are risky," Lakatani said.

Deputy Prime Minister Leo Dion has called for respect among churches when preaching the gospel.

"Churches need to respect each other's faith,'' said Dion.

"The government needs the churches to work with it in addressing the spiritual and physical welfare of the people and in our development planning.

"Such messages being preached on the streets are disrespectful to the Catholic faith and it's deceitful because it is misleading the public,'' Dion said.

Source

• thenational.com.pg
• the national.com.pg
• looppng.com
• Image: Screenshot youtube.com

The Pope said this during a meeting with members of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) in Rome.

The Pope said ecumenism is not a "secondary element" in the life of the Church.

Referring to the current persecution of Christians around the world, the Pope said the signs of the times were calling all Christians to unity and common witness.

"There is a strong bond that already unites us which goes beyond all divisions," he told the ARCIC members.

Continue reading

Prince Charles recorded a video message for the launch of a report by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

He said that faith leaders must ensure their followers respect believers in other faiths "rather than remaining silent".

The report concludes that Christians are the "most persecuted religious minority" in the world.

It notes that Muslim countries dominate the list of places where religious freedom is most under threat.

It also argues that religious freedom is in "decline" in western countries, because of a fear of extremism and a growing belief that faith should have no place in public life.

The Prince spoke of his anguish at the plight of Christianity in the region of its birth.

"It is an indescribable tragedy that Christianity is now under such threat in the Middle East - an area where Christians have lived for 2000 years, and across which Islam spread in 700AD, with people of different faiths living together peaceably for centuries," he said.

"It seems to me that our future as a free society - both here in Britain and throughout the world - depends on recognising the crucial role played by people of faith.

"And, of course, religious faith is all the more convincing to those outside the faith when it is expressed with humility and compassion, giving space to others, whatever their beliefs."

Setting out his own suggestions to improve the situation, he said: "First and foremost, rather than remaining silent, faith leaders have, it seems to me, a responsibility to ensure that people within their own tradition respect people from other faith traditions.

"We have yet to see the full potential of faith communities working together."

He said this would require people to have both a "maturity in one's own faith" and an "essential humility".

Prince Charles emphasised the importance of his own personal Christian faith, but he also signalled that he saw his role as to "defend" followers of other faiths including Islam.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Aid to the Church in Need
• Image: The Independent

Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo in Malta made the call during a homily on the feast of Our Lady of Victories.

"I have in my heart all those who are victims of atrocity, fighting in Iraq and Syria, but particularly to our fellow Christians. In the words of Pope Francis, these persecuted Christians are in the heart of Mother Church," the bishop said.

Bishop Grech asked how it was possible to stay passive when countless Christians are being killed or exiled for their faith.

"Each parish should adopt a family and undertake to provide accommodation where they live and the means to live," he said.

"I know that our people have a big heart and could be generous with those in need," he added.

The bishop said he would write to civil authorities and the apostolic nunciature to tell them of the parishes' readiness to help.

Continue reading

"We should be glad and rejoice.

"As the Shanghai Catholic youths said: ‘We are greatly honored to have been born and lived at this important time.'" — Cardinal Kung Pin-mei, Sermon for Catholics in China (Rome, June 30, 1991).

When I published my book, China's Saints, in 2011, I thought that only a few interested scholars would read it.

I wrote it, after all, as an academic study, a work for curmudgeonly professors like myself more inclined to read objective history than pious hagiography.

So I was surprised when a Jesuit priest mentioned to a large crowd of academics and ecclesiastics recently gathered in Chicago that he had been reading my book "for his daily devotions."

Results seldom match expectations, and that is the theme of my final entry in this four-part series on China's Catholic martyrs from Mao to now.

In truth, even the most objective historian—secular or religious—must admit that decades of suppression, persecution, and suffering have resulted in a vibrant Catholic community.

I shall here outline the "ongoing growth of these communities," as Father Jeremy Clarke puts it, "even in spite of attempts to make them disappear."[1]

In the first three installments of this series I focused on a very dark era in the history of Chinese Catholicism: the attack against Yangjiaping Trappist Abbey and the massacre of many holy monks, Chairman Mao's malicious media campaign against the Church, the wave of arrests that followed, and the atrocious martyrdoms of such priests as Father Beda Chang and Father Wang Shiwei.

I have also recounted the Maoist destruction of Catholic churches during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and more recent efforts to suppress popular Catholic devotions in China, such as the annual pilgrimage to honor Our Lady of China at Donglü. Continue reading

Sources

• The Catholic World Report
• Image: Opuscula Theologica

In perhaps the only sign of action from the West to the increased intensity of Christian persecution, France has opened itself up to refugees from Iraq, who are being driven out under pain of death by ISIS.

This is a welcome reversion to form for France, which ever since the Middle Ages has periodically found ways to protect Christian minorities abroad.

This is a great beginning — but it is such a small response to the magnitude of Christian persecution, happening not just in Iraq and Syria, but in Nigeria and Egypt as well.

Why hasn't there been a greater response from the once-Christian West to the plight of Christians?

It's not for lack of outrageous events.

The International Society for Human Rights estimates that 80 percent of acts of religious discrimination in the world have Christians as their victims.

And these are starting to poke through the headlines.

The purge in Mosul attracted some attention, the kidnapping and threatened murder of mostly Christian girls by Boko Haram even more.

But much less is said about the fate of Syrian Christians or Copts.

Still less is said about even more obscure religious minorities like Yazidi and Druze who face discrimination from ISIS.

One reason for our silence, suggested by John Allen Jr. in his book The Global War on Christians, is that the modern humanitarian West has difficulty seeing Christians as "native" to third-world nations.

Their imagination of "global" Christianity is one of a religion implanted by Europeans and Americans through a violent, racist, and discredited colonialism.

Of course this isn't true in these cases, as there were Christians in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt long before there were any in Britannia or Biloxi.

Allen also cited French philosopher Regis Debray's view that in Christian persecution the victims are "'too Christian' to excite the Left, and 'too foreign' to excite the Right." Continue reading

Source

• Michael Brendan Dougherty in The Week

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com.

My family tradition tells the story of my ancestors' expulsion — along with hundreds of thousands of other Jews — from the Iberian Peninsula by royal Spanish decree in 1492 following an era of great success and coexistence there.

Jews (and many Muslims) were given three options: convert to Christianity, leave their country and belongings, or die without trial.

My family changed our name to "Maron" as a reminder that we were "marranos," the term for Jews who were forced to publicly join the church and kept their Jewish identities in secret.

"Marrano" was a derogatory term literally meaning "pig" or "dirty"; this, of course, was meant to humiliate these Jews.

While historians continue to debate the exact figures, many believe that approximately 200,000 Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, hundreds of thousands more were expelled, and thousands were cruelly executed by auto-da-fé (burning alive on the stake).

So how was this brutal persecution enacted en masse?

The answer lies in the little-discussed fact that the Inquisition in fact began 200 years earlier, during the 13th century, under religious decree of Pope Gregory IX.

King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain greatly enhanced its far-reaching, destructive capacity in the late 1400s when they supplanted papal authority by assuming responsibility for the Inquisition themselves.

Their edict of expulsion called to "banish the ... Jews from our kingdom" for having "been most guilty of the said crimes ... against our holy Catholic faith."

The political monarchy's adoption of a radical religious agenda granted it dangerous power.

At a time when the pope and the king struggled with one another for political clout, only radical religion enabled by political legitimacy could mobilize and coordinate the massive discrimination and persecution including, but not limited to, the Spanish Inquisition.

So what does medieval Spain have to do with 2014 Iraq, Syria, and ISIS? Continue reading

Source

• Sam Maron in The Huffington Post

Sam Maron is a student at Princeton University.

After finally being released two days ago from a death sentence for converting to Christianity, she and her family have been arrested by Sudanese security agents after trying to flee for US shores.

But as well as hoping that she is finally liberated, her plight should draw attention to the persecution of Christians across the globe.

It is an issue not discussed enough by progressives, partly perhaps because of a fear that it has become a hobby horse of Muslim-bashers.

Anti-Muslim websites like Jihad Watch seize on examples of Christian persecution to fuel the narrative of Muslims as innately violent and threatening.

According to Rupert Shortt, who wrote Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack, the persecution of Christians is a "liberal blind spot", suggesting that we are "very, very sensitised to the perceived sufferings and complaints of Muslims, many of which I will be the first to say are justified."

I think this counterposing is unhelpful.

According to the Pew Research Centre, Christians and Muslims are united in being the two most persecuted religious groups on Earth: in 2012, Christians faced oppression in 110 countries, and Muslims have suffered in 109.

What should worry us is a general deterioration in inter-religious relations: according to Pew, 33% of countries had high religious hostilities in 2012, a dramatic jump from 20% in 2007. Continue reading.

Owen Jones is an English columnist and speaker, and author of Chavs: The demonization of the working class.

Source: The Guardian

Image: El Diaro