Aid for tsunami victims
Caritas Internationalis, the federation of Catholic charities worldwide, has mobilised to assist Caritas Indonesia in bringing aid to those hit by the tsunami that struck the rim areas of the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra islands, on 22 December.
At least 430 people were killed and more than 1,400 injured on the two islands. The tsunami was caused by the eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano, which triggered underwater landslides. In St Peter’s Square on 23 December Pope Francis led 20,000 people in praying a Hail Mary for the victims and survivors. Cafod chief executive Chris Bain said Cafod had deployed aid to Indonesia and was grateful for the help of its supporters in England and Wales.
Pakistani Catholic refugees caught up in a Thai immigration crackdown hope Pope Francis will support them. “Our only hope now is that the Vatican will get involved,” a refugee in Bangkok told UCA News. “In the past Pope Francis asked people to welcome and protect Syrian refugees,” he added, “and perhaps he can do the same for us.” In recent months the Thai authorities have stepped up their campaign against illegal migrants and visa over-stayers. In their operation, called “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigners”, immigration authorities have arrested more than 2,200 foreign nationals nationwide, including hundreds of Pakistani Christian asylum seekers who arrived on tourist visas, now expired. In Pakistan, police provided extra security, including CCTV monitoring and parking restrictions, for churches over Christmas.
An appeal for peace during DR Congo’s volatile election period was issued by the Archbishop of Kinshasa at a Christmas Eve Mass. Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo warned the authorities to stick to their electoral promises. “We must have elections on the set date of 30 December,” he said. The 23 December date was deferred after 8,000 voting machines were destroyed in a fire.
Centre director resigns
The director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi (above), has resigned following an allegation of sexual misconduct.
In a statement posted on the centre’s Facebook page, the governors say they have accepted the resignation of Archbishop Ntahoturi “following his suspension last week over an allegation of sexual misconduct. The governors are now taking urgent steps to appoint an interim director, who will also act as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See”. Archbishop Ntahoturi was appointed director just over a year ago, moving from Burundi where he was primate. Bishop Stephen Platten, chair of governors, recently announced his retirement at the end of 2018. Rt Revd Michael Burrows, Bishop of Cashel, Ferns and Ossory in the Church of Ireland, took over on 1 January.
In the United States, Democratic Senators Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono questioned Brian Buescher, nominated by US President Donald Trump to serve on a federal court in Nebraska, about his membership of the Knights of Columbus, as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s review of the Buescher nomination.
Hirono described the Knights as taking “extreme positions” against legal abortion and same-sex marriage. Harris also asked about those issues. A Washington D.C. chapter of the Knights invited the senators to join them in the group’s charitable work at either of the two Catholic churches located on Capitol Hill.
Bethlehem reported an increase in visitors over Christmas, after numbers were down in recent years. Palestinian tourism officials confirmed a strong season, with a 20 per cent increase in Christian visitors over Christmas compared to last year. It capped a record-breaking year that included 3.5 million tourists to the Holy Land. On social media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “It’s a pleasure for me, on Christmas Eve, to be here, standing in Jerusalem, the holy city. I’m very proud to be the Prime Minister of Israel. A country that says Merry Christmas, first to its Christian citizens, and to our Christian friends around the world!”
Migrants welcomed
Church groups made special efforts at Christmas to support Venezuelan migrants arriving in Peru. The Scalabrini welcome centre (above) in Lima hosted about 80 people, for a special Christmas dinner of Venezuelan ham bread and a Venezuelan version of tamales. There was a “chocolatada”, a hot chocolate party traditional during the holiday season in Peru, and an outing to a zoo. Other shelters in Lima were run by the Comboni Missionaries, Salesians and Jesuits, with many other initiatives throughout Peru. More than half a million Venezuelan migrants and refugees have entered Peru, fleeing the ruinous regime of President Nicolas Maduro.
Hundreds of Hong Kong Protestants attended church services on consecutive Sundays dressed in black to protest the crackdown on Christian house churches in the lead-up to Christmas on the mainland by the Chinese Communist Party. In recent weeks, three unofficial Protestant churches have been closed and members detained: the Zion church in Beijing, the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu and the Rongguili Church in Guangzhou.
Thousands of people gathered on 14 and 15 December for the blessing ceremony of the diocesan pastoral centre and the new cathedral in Pekhon, Shan State, Myanmar.
The apostolic nuncio Mgr Paul Tschang In-Nam, two archbishops and three local bishops, as well as many priests and religious, took part. The original church on the site was built by the missionaries of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions 150 years ago, but was damaged by an earthquake in 2005. The Diocese of Pekhon, home to 50,000 Catholics, was established by Pope Benedict XVI in that same year.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II joined religious leaders to celebrate Christmas in central Amman on 18 December.
Fr Rifat Bader, Director of the Catholic Centre for Studies and Media in Amman, said: “Jordan is always moderate in its religious points of view, and we have a very high level of interreligious dialogue.”
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