Boston police are investigating an arson attack on a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary last Saturday night, the second attack in the US on a statue of the Virgin Mary in two days, and during the same weekend in which two Catholic church fires are being investigated for arson. Local police confirmed that a statue of the Blessed Virgin, located outside the church of St Peter’s Parish, had been set on fire while on 10 July the Diocese of Brooklyn announced that New York City police were investigating the vandalisation of a statue of the Virgin Mary at Cathedral Prep School and Seminary in Queens. On Saturday morning sheriffs in Marion County, Florida, reported that deputies were called to Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Ocala which was set on fire while parishioners were inside preparing for Mass. A 24-year-old man reportedly admitting to crashing a minivan into the church and then setting it on fire. No injuries were reported. Also on Saturday, a fire ravaged the San Gabriel mission in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a 249-year-old mission founded by St Junípero Serra, whose statue in a San Francisco park was destroyed by rioters last month. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed an exorcism at the site on 27 June.
A strategy to promote interfaith harmony underlies a church and a mosque being built next to each other in a new housing development in al Moqattam, a suburb of Cairo. Egypt’s government is fostering architectural projects providing housing for former slum dwellers and promoting the peaceful coexistence of faiths. Last Sunday, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi opened the third stage of the project, which is set to house thousands of residents. Al Moqattam is supported by Muslim and Christian businessmen who hope to replicate it in other neighbour- hoods in Cairo and in other Egyptian cities.
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai last Sunday called on the UN, the international community and the Arab nations to guarantee Lebanon’s “neutrality”. He implicitly criticised the Iran- backed Shia group Hezbollah and its allies, which include Lebanese President Michel Aoun. Rai was particularly critical of Hezbollah’s support for Iran in conflicts with Sunni- led Gulf Arab states.
The leader of Myanmar’s Church has blamed “greed” and “injustice” for the deaths of 174 people at a jade mine in Kachin state earlier this month. “Those who died were not only buried under a landslide of the mountain but by the landslide of injustice,” said Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon.
The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh has urged the faithful to overcome the fear of the coronavirus and return to religious gatherings. Fewer than 20 per cent of Catholics have returned to public Masses because they fear infection. “We must take preventive measures and go back to church,” said Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario, Archbishop of Dhaka, adding: “Moving away from human relationships ... is not good.”
Last Saturday, in a service at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York blessed the ashes of 250 Mexicans who died in New York of Covid-19. More than 1,500 Mexicans have died of the virus in the US, including 728 in the tristate area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines is supporting a national petition asking the Supreme Court to strike down a controversial anti-terror law that President Rodrigo Duterte signed earlier this month. They accept that the Philippines has serious security issues but fear the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 could be used to target critics of the government.
Jihadist attacks in northern Mozambique have killed dozens and destroyed a church, school, houses and shops. The town of Moci´mboa da Praia was hit hard, local missionaries report, and after a gunfight with government forces, “the streets were full of bodies”. Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa of Pemba said that the “militiamen” defined themselves as “affiliated to the Islamic State”.
Caritas has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in Burkina Faso, with two million people facing starvation as a result of Islamist attacks and poor harvests. The figure is three times higher than last year. “People have been unable to cultivate their lands, so there have been no harvests,” reported Fr Constantin Sere, Caritas director in the country on 6 July.
Haiti’s bishops have denounced a draft decree of President Jovenel Moi¨se, which they say attacks the culture and values of the Haitian people. The proposed new penal code legalises abortion and lowers the legal age for consensual sex to 15.
An English version of a book by Japan’s bishops appealing for the abolition of nuclear power is now available on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan. Abolition of Nuclear Power: An Appeal from the Catholic Church in Japan says the bishops believe that after the severe nuclear accident at Fukushima in 2011, Japan has a duty to inform the world of the reality of the damage.
Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo voiced solidarity with Bosnia- Herzegovina’s Muslims in a message marking Saturday’s twenty-fifth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre of 8,100 Muslim men by Bosnian Serb forces. The Pope also recalled the “terrible tragedy”. He regretted that “the hatred that contributed to this kind of bloodshed is still too often present in different parts of the world”.
The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (Accu) in the United States denounced the Trump administration’s decision to bar foreign students from entering the country if their college or university is offering its courses online. Many private and religious colleges rely financially on foreign students who pay full tuition.
Spain’s Catholic bishops have reminded their country it owes a “debt of gratitude” to the elderly, who have suffered most during the Covid-19 pandemic. The statement, in preparation for the 26 July Day of the Elderly, warned that “a society that abandons its elderly and disregards their wisdom is a sick society with no future, because it lacks memory”.
The diocese of Pyongyang in North Korea has been dedicated to the Virgin of Fatima by its apostolic administrator, Archbishop Andrew Soo-jung Yeom of Seoul. The ceremony took place as a beatification process neared completion in South Korea for 81 victims of the 1950-52 Korean War, including 24 martyrs from the communist-ruled north.
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