Catholic bishops in Malawi and across East Africa have appealed for humanitarian assistance on behalf of the victims of Cyclone Freddy. Reports from the city of Blanytre, one of the worst hit areas, indicate that at least 99 people have died, while facilities such as houses, bridges and roads have been damaged and destroyed.
The bishops said: “Because of the huge scale of the calamity and the immensity of the exercise, distribution of the collected donations should be done as soon as possible.”
They urged Catholics and all people of goodwill “to stand and feel with the victims of this devastating cyclone and immediately start to donate whatever they can, in form of money and in kind, to help the victims who have been affected and are suffering from the effects of the cyclone”.
According to eports from the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi, at least 134 people have been injured and another 16 reported missing following the cyclone. The bishops said they were working with the government in sourcing humanitarian assistance on behalf of the cyclone victims.
The disaster came after after a similar cyclone had hit neighbouring Mozambique.
The Philippines government is seeking to reverse the International Criminal Court’s plan to reopen an inquiry into the violent anti-drugs campaign by former President Rodrigo Duterte. It says the Hague-based tribunal has no jurisdiction in the country.
Police say about 6,000 people died in drug-related operations between 2011 and 2019, but the Philippines’s Commission of Human Rights puts the number closer to 30,000. The country’s Catholic Church criticised the campaign and supported families who lost members.
Church support for families permanently displaced by Pakistan’s devastating floods six months ago has included efforts to buy land to rehouse displaced people.
Floods submerged one-third of the country, wiping out villages, crops, and infrastructure, leaving 33 million people destitute. Discrimination against religious minorities has worsened since the disaster.
Tensions with Muslim neighbours over limited resources forced 45 Christian families from one village in Sindh Province to flee. They are still living in tents with malaria and skin diseases rife. Imtiaz Masih, a local activist said: “The Catholic church tried to buy a piece of land for these people, but the cost of the land is too high.”
A priest kidnapped from his parish in Haiti on 10 March is still missing. “Fr Jean-Yves Médidor is still in the hands of kidnappers,” reported a provincial superior of the Clerics of Saint Viator last weekend. “They are not answering our phone calls and the pressure is increasing.”
He added that “all our communities are united in prayer and we offer our Eucharistic celebrations for the liberation of our brother”. Around 40 CSV priests in Haiti work in two parishes and eight schools.
Kidnappings have increased in the Caribbean nation, and last week gang violence forced the temporary closure of a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders.
A bishop last week welcomed the South African Labour Appeal Court’s order to public health workers to end their week-long strike, which had affected major hospitals.
Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka of Umtata said that “fighting for fair wages must be balanced with the healthcare workers’ oath to save lives”. He said “their noble call for a decent wage” does not justify “preventing the sick poor from accessing health services”.
Members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union have now ended their strike. The government agreed to reconsider salary increases and its approach to negotiation with the union.
South Sudanese Church leaders have issued a written commitment to foster peace through nonviolence, after a five-day ecumenical retreat on Gospel non-violence.
Signatories included Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba and leaders of the country’s Episcopal, Presbyterian and Pentecostal Churches. The South Sudan Council of Churches and PAX (Netherlands) organised the retreat.
The leaders made practical suggestions to promote non-violence by reviewing the curriculum in Church schools and universities, promoting youth activities and compiling a manual on non-violence for Church leaders. The also called for control of guns in the country, and for recognition of the power of mothers.
The University of Notre Dame announced this year’s Laetare Award, the United States’ oldest Catholic award, will go to Sr Rosemary Connelly, RSM, former executive director of Misericordiae, a ministry that houses and offers instruction to children with intellectual disabilities.
“With her characteristic tenacity, grace and genius, Sister Rosemary has ensured that the residents of Misericordia – as wonderful children of God – have the quality of life and opportunities they deserve,” said Notre Dame President Fr John I Jenkins CSC.
“We are inspired by her vision, her leadership and her compassion and are honoured to bestow the Laetare Medal on her.”
Two more US dioceses filed for bankruptcy last week in the face of mounting costs for settling lawsuits related to the sexual abuse of children by clergy. The diocese of Santa Rosa, California and Albany, New York, announced that they were seeking bankruptcy protection.
“The decision to file was not arrived at easily and I know it may cause pain and suffering, but we, as a Church, can get through this and grow stronger together,” said Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger. In both states, the legislature lifted the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims for three years, allowing a flood of lawsuits.
A new Pew Research survey indicates that 40-60 per cent of Americans did not choose to offer an assessment of other religions than their own.
Of the rest, Jews were viewed the most favourably with 35 per cent of Americans expressing a very or somewhat favourable attitude towards them, compared to only six per cent who expressed an unfavourable assessment. Catholics were close behind, with 34 per cent viewing them favourably and 18 per cent unfavourably.
Mainstream non-evangelical Protestants were viewed favourably by 30 per cent of respondents and unfavourably by ten per cent. Mormons were viewed unfavourably by 25 per cent of respondents and favourably by only 15 per cent, while views of evangelicals were split evenly, 28 per cent favourable and 27 per cent unfavourable.
A community of Discalced Carmelite nuns have left their monastery in New York after 20 years, saying that the noise of parties in their street was disrupting their prayer life.
The ten cloistered nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Joseph left their Brooklyn house in February for rural Pennsylvania, where they were welcomed by the Bishop of Scranton, Joseph C Bambera. The New York Times reported that their situation had become intolerable in 2020, when street parties began blasting music through powerful car speakers. “Our walls shook sand our windows shattered,” said Mother Ana Maria.
Zimbabwe’s bishops are urging people to register as voters to exercise their “duty as responsible citizens” for the general election in five months’ time.
On 11 March the bishops’ justice and peace office said: “Will you be content living the next five years with other people’s choices when you had an opportunity to determine the future?” The bishops also called for a peaceful election.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s wife, Auxillia Mnangagwa, has asked churches to support her campaign to tackle domestic violence. When the campaign visits parishes, officials will offer voter registration services including processing birth certificates and national identity cards.
An international Pax Christi delegation, recently returned from a 10-day peace pilgrimage to the Holy Land, has reported on “brutal realities” of the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Members from six countries heard “harrowing” stories of home demolitions, forced evictions and attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers. “The escalating fears for the future as the new ultra-nationalist government takes control was palpable,” they said, reporting calls for the international community to intervene.
The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem has deplored an attack last Sunday on East Jerusalem’s Church of Gethsemane by “two radical Israeli men”, who attempted to harm the archbishop leading the service and another priest.
The head of the Church in Sri Lanka has called on the government to resign and hold elections. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, said that MPs and minister were responsible of the nation’s “sorry state of affairs” and “should resign from their posts if they have a backbone and pave the way for the people to elect a new administration”.
Sri Lanka is mired in economic crisis as it awaits an International Monetary Fund aid package to address its bankruptcy. Workers in hospitals and other essential services are on strike.
A survey of over 2,400 French Catholics “distanced from the Church” said 44 per cent of respondents were “rather” far and 20 per cent said they were “very” far from established Catholicism.
The report by the lay group Catholic Conference of Baptised Francophones said only 39 per cent of baptised Catholics still considered themselves Catholic and only eight per cent attended Mass once a month. Comparative figures for monthly Mass attendance were 36 per cent in 1960, 20 per cent in 1980 and 13 per cent in 2000.
“The prevailing feeling [among the young] is indifference,” it said. “It is not or it is no longer (if it ever was) their universe of reference. They are elsewhere.”
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