The Australian Bishops’ Commission for the Plenary Council to be held in 2020 has announced the appointment of Catholic Mission’s Lana Turvey-Collins (pictured) as facilitator of the first such gathering since 1937. “The Bishops’ Commission for the Plenary Council made the decision to move away from the more typical executive secretary position, which had been previously advertised, and have instead appointed a facilitator and engaged a facilitation team which will be better equipped to respond to the realities of preparing for and celebrating the Plenary Council,” a bishops’ statement said on 4 August, adding that “Ms Turvey-Collins … believes there is great strength and wisdom in the diversity of the Australian Catholic community.” The Council will be held less than three years after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse delivers its final report in December.
More than 2,000 young Catholics from 21 Asian countries attended the seventh Asian Youth Day in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with the theme, “Joyful Asian Youth: Living the Gospel in Multicultural Asia”. The opening Mass on 2 August, concelebrated by six cardinals, 52 bishops and 158 priests, followed preliminary visits to 11 Indonesian dioceses. Pope Francis sent a message calling on the young people to be courageous and missionary. In Jakarta, a large group visited Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral Church and the nearby Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia.
Schönborn Islam warning
The increasingly violent conflict within Islam between Sunni and Shia could lead to an “immense firestorm” with worldwide consequences, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has warned. Islam was going through a “dynamic process of internal upheaval” triggered by a bitter conflict between US-supported Sunni Saudi Arabia and Russian-supported Shia Iran, Schönborn pointed out in an interview for radiostephansdom.at on 6 August.
He called on the US and Russia to cooperate in finding a peaceful solution for Syria. “If this conflict escalates further, it could lead to a large-scale inferno in the Islamic world”, the Austrian cardinal warned.
Pope Francis sent a letter to participants in the thirtieth annual interfaith prayer meeting on Mount Hiei in Kyoto, Japan, inviting all religions to “open new paths for peace in our human family”. The meeting ended on 6 August, the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, killing 90,000 people.
Fears for patriarch
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a group that advocates for religious freedom for all peoples and faiths, has voiced concern that the Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios, has not been seen in public since attending Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Asmara on 16 July.
Patriarch Antonios, 90, has been under house arrest since January 2007, after being removed from office, in violation of canon law, for repeatedly objecting to government interference in church affairs.
He is reported to have been moved on 19 July to a residence surrounded by guards. The Patriarch’s reappearance in public on 16 July initially sparked speculation about his imminent release and reinstatement, but is increasingly considered to have been a charade to pave the way for a pro-government successor.
Be political, urges Ndlovu
Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare has urged Catholics in Zimbabwe to take an active role in politics ahead of the country’s General Election in 2018. “I encourage you to be part of politics ... it is your duty” he said recently at St Canisius Parish, Marlborough, during a pastoral visit. He urged the congregation to bring Christian values to politics and “don’t lose your saltiness as a Christian, don’t lose your light”. Ten Christian organisations, including the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, recently launched a campaign, “The Christian Vote 2018”. The campaign lobbies against political candidates who promote violence and abuse political power. President Robert Mugabe, 92, in power since 1980, has confirmed that he will run again for president.
Francis salutes Tettamanzi
Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi (above), whom Pope Francis described as one of the Archdiocese of Milan’s “most illustrious sons and one of its most loving and beloved pastors”, died on 5 August at the age of 83. The former archbishop of Milan and prolific writer on themes related to family life and to bioethical issues was described by Italian media as being “small in stature, but big in heart”. Tettamanzi’s appointment to the College of Cardinals in 1998 put him near the top of Italian pundits’ list of possible future popes.
(Tablet obituary next week.)
The US bishops’ conference forcefully opposed a new proposal to change immigration laws to favour immigrants with advanced degrees and specialised training as opposed to the current system, which balances professional expertise with family connections.
The bill, called the RAISE Act, is supported by President Donald Trump. “Had this discriminatory legislation been in place generations ago, many of the very people who built and defended this nation would have been excluded,” said Bishop Joe Vasquez, chair of the Committee on Migration.
During a memorial Mass for Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Bala of Bafia, Cameroon, the apostolic administrator of the diocese accused members of the congregation of complicity in the bishop’s death. Bishop Bala’s body was found in a local river on 2 June four miles from where his car had been abandoned on the night of 31 May. Mgr Joseph Akonga Essomba claimed that the bishop was assassinated, rather than committing suicide as police allege. The bishop was killed, he said, because he stood up against homosexuality in the Church and the priesthood.
Pointing to the front rows of the church where government ministers and other important personalities sat, and casting a sweeping look at fellow priests and bishops, Mgr Essomba charged: “Shame to all those in black suits and black spectacles always sitting in the front rows of the church … These are the people who killed our bishop, because he said ‘no’ to the homosexuality perpetrated by those priests.”
Compiled by James Roberts
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