The bishops of Kansas expressed their disappointment after voters in that state overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that would have stripped abortion “rights” from the state’s constitution. Fifty-nine per cent voted to retain the “right” to abortion to 41 per cent who voted to allow the legislature to restrict abortion. Kansas is considered a Republican stronghold. The bishops contributed $3 million to the campaign to restrict abortion rights, half of the total amount raised in the unsuccessful effort. “We are sorry to see that the most vulnerable human being in our society —the unborn child — will not be protected but further treated with indifference and injustice,” the bishops said. “Please be assured that we will continue our efforts to protect and support life. We fully believe that all life is sacred and valuable by God’s design, especially the unborn. Despite the outcome, the Church will continue to help mothers in crisis pregnancy situations. We will still promote ways in which a mother may say yes to life instead of choosing an abortion.”
A federal court ruled that a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis did not violate the constitutional rights of a teacher when it refused to renew her contract because she had entered into a same-sex marriage. Lynn Starkey, a former guidance counselor at Roncalli High School, sued the school and the archdiocese in 2019 after her contract was not renewed, alleging unjust discrimination. It is settled law that teachers in religious schools perform a ministerial task, and therefore the “ministerial exception” from anti-discrimination laws applies.
At the end of last week’s Assembly in Ghana of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), the bishops issued a statement lamenting the migration of young people from Africa. The bishops urged Africa’s socio-political decision-makers to create structures and conditions that discourage migration.
The bishop of Matagalpa, in the north of Nicaragua, Rolando Álvarez, is once again being harassed by the Sandinista authorities. Since 4 August he and six priests and six laypeople, have been blockaded in the diocesan offices by riot police. “I am being investigated, I don’t know what for,” the bishop commented. He has protested against the shutting down by the broadcasting authorities of all the diocese’s radio stations. Bishop Álvarez, in charge of communications for the bishops’ conference, is nevertheless communicating through Facebook, including broadcasting mass. In a homily from the chapel inside the offices, the bishop prayed for the police operating the blockade and their families. “We are men and women with the capacity for dialogue, for agreement, for understanding, for reconciliation,” he said.
Hong Kong Catholics face a shortage in Chinese-language Bibles since Beijing requires mainland printing houses to register to produce them, the Asian Catholic news agency UCANews reported. The city’s Catholic Bible society said its sole contractor in Nanjing could not produce another print run, citing the need to register now with Beijing. Other mainland printers turned down the order because of the communist government’s tighter policies.
Maronite Patriarch Béchara Boutros Raï has called out all those responsible for the explosion that devastated the Port of Beirut, Lebanon, in August two years ago. Speaking at a mass for the 221 victims killed and 6,000 injured in Beirut’s Cathedral of St George on 4 August he demanded an independent international investigation. The authorities, he said, “cannot ignore what happened: some caused the explosion; others knew the existence of explosives and their dangers, and escaped; others were silent; still others blocked the investigations”.
Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan in Mindanao, the Philippines, warned last week that a rise in the age-old practice of cockfighting for gambling purposes could negatively impact poor youths. “Many people are poor and they lack job opportunities, so they go gambling thinking they can make quick money out of it,” he said.
Speaking ahead of Kenya’s presidential and parliamentary elections on 9 August, Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri urged young people to vote and to steer clear of election violence. "Young people, this is your future! Go and vote", he said; and "you must reject all forms of corruption or manipulation towards violence." The Apostolic Nuncio in Nairobi, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, appealed to Kenyans to accept the democratically elected leader, whatever his tribe or region. Of the two front-runners Raila Amollo Odinga, 77 a former prime minister running under the Azimio la Umoja (Promise of Unity) party says he is Anglican, while the current Vice President William Samoei Ruto, 55, leading the Kenya Kwanza ( Kenya first) alliance, says he is evangelical Christian.
The Congolese Episcopal Conference has condemned recent violence in the eastern Ituri and Kivu provinces after dozens died in recent protests over the ineffectiveness of UN peacekeepers. DRC Conference president, Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani, said he "understands the anger of the Congolese" over insecurity that has plagued the east of DR Congo for more than 20 years but, “the use of violence or looting constitutes an act that can only amplify or perpetuate evil as well as the suffering of the populations."
A new Trappist monastery, the fourth in Muslim-majority Indonesia, will be built on the island of Borneo in the diocese of Ketapang, West Kalimantan. Bishop Pius Riana Prapdi of Ketapang has blessed the site, saying, "the presence of the Trappist monastery in our diocese is important because we need your prayers".
Catholic bishops in Ethiopia have warned that insecurity is forcing churches to close as consequences of the war in the northern province of Tigray are felt across the country. For more than 20 months in Tigray, Bishop Tesfaselassie Medhin of Adigrat, his priests, and people have remained cut off from the rest of the country by a government blockade. Cardinal Souraphiel Berhaneyesus, chairman of the Ethiopian bishops' conference, has urged, "the government and the people to work together to ensure peace in our country so that citizens can live in freedom.”
A Catholic volunteer group in South Korea that has provided free dental services to disadvantaged communities for four decades is struggling to survive with a drop in volunteers and funding. The group in North Chungcheong province is composed of mainly Catholic dentists, technicians and hygienists, but only six dentists are left out of an original 40. Refusing to abandon people with toothache, they have increased efforts to recruit and find funding. “You don’t know the joy of using your outstanding skills as a dentist as a talent donation for others unless you experience it,” said Kim Il-gyu, the group’s president.
Israel reopened border crossings into Gaza on Monday following an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with the militant Islamic Jihad group that ended the most serious outbreak of fighting in Gaza in more than a year. Gaza’s health ministry said 15 children were among 44 people killed in three days of intense bombing.
A federal court ruled that a Catholic school in the US Archdiocese of Indianapolis did not violate the constitutional rights of a teacher when it refused to renew her contract because she had entered into a same-sex marriage. Lynn Starkey, a former guidance counsellor at Roncalli High School, sued the school and the archdiocese in 2019, alleging unjust discrimination. It is settled law that teachers in religious schools perform a ministerial task, and therefore the “ministerial exception” from anti-discrimination laws applies.
Japanese faith groups helped mark 77 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by US nuclear bombs on 6 and 9 August 1945. Commemorations in Nagasaki noted that the city, which had a substantial Catholic population, experienced the bomb exploding some 500 meters from Urakami Catholic Cathedral. Catholics attending a Mass were killed along with thousands in the surrounding area. Speaking at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park ceremony, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that current geopolitical crises mean that, “we are one mistake, one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from Armageddon and leaders must stop knocking on doomsday's door.”
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