News Briefing: The Church in the World

University atones for slave sale
Georgetown University (above) in Washington D.C. is to give preferential status in its admissions process to descendants of slaves sold by the university. The provisions will be similar to those offered to children and grandchildren of alumni. The President of the Jesuit institution, John J. DeGioia, said the measure was in atonement for the university’s past. Georgetown profited from the sale of 272 slaves in 1838, when it was experiencing financial difficulties. Two campus buildings were named after the university leaders who orchestrated the sale – Fr Thomas F. Mulledy S.J. and Fr William McSherry S.J. One of these will be renamed Isaac Hall to commemorate one of the slaves shipped to Louisiana in 1838, and the other will be known as Anne Marie Becraft Hall, in honour of a nineteenth-century founder of a school for black girls in Washington.

The success of the anti-immigration AfD (Alternative for Germany), which came second after the Social Democrats (SPD) and pushed Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) to third place in elections last weekend in Mecklenburg – Western Pomerania, is an alarm signal for German society according to religious leaders.

The SPD won the election with a reduced count of 30 per cent, the AfD gained just under 21 per cent, while Chancellor Merkel’s CDU won just 19 per cent of the vote in her home region. The vote came one year ahead of federal elections and one year after Mrs Merkel opened Germany’s borders to more than one million refugees.

Citizens’ fears must be taken seriously and solutions to them found, Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin (in whose diocese Western Pomerania lies) and Archbishop Stefan Hesse of Hamburg (in whose diocese Mecklenburg lies) said in a joint statement issued after the election results became known on the evening of 4 September. It was essential to discuss people’s concerns and to make compromises, the bishops said.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, visited Germany from 2-4 September, and took part in the informal special Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit at Potsdam. According to the Vatican press office, Gallagher had wanted to give OSCE members “impulses for political dialogue” on the following issues: security in Europe, refugees and migrants, and conflicts such as the Ukraine crisis which appeared to have reached a stalemate.


Cardinal Raymond Burke has told a teleconference that abortion and euthanasia must take precedence over issues like immigration or poverty in the US presidential election campaign. “I would be very concerned that in any way the questions about the protection of human life, either at its beginning – here questions regarding abortion and other questions regarding the artificial creation of human life, etc. – or at its conclusion – questions regarding euthanasia – be in some way seen to be at the same level as questions regarding immigration and poverty,” the cardinal said. He acknowledged that other issues have “moral importance,” but added: “It doesn’t make any sense to be concerned about immigration or poverty if human life itself is not protected in society. It’s an absolute contradiction.”

Hundreds of Cubans have taken refuge in Catholic churches and at the Caritas headquarters in Panama City in recent weeks. Since 2014, when the opening of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba was announced, the number of Cubans leaving the communist-run island has soared.

Many are concerned that the Cuban Adjustment Act, known as “Wet Foot, Dry Foot”, which sets them on a path to citizenship as soon as they enter the US, will be rescinded. Most Cubans arrive in South America and travel through Central America to the United States. But hundreds unable to cross the border from Panama to Costa Rica due to problems with transit visas. A representative for Caritas in Panama, Denia Manguelis, said 80 Cubans are staying at the headquarters and another 300 at local parishes.  

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines called for prayers to end the upsurge in extrajudicial killings of suspected drug traffickers in President Rodrigo Duterte’s fierce war against drugs gangs. “We are disturbed by an increasing number of reports of suspected drug-peddlers, pushers and others being shot, supposedly because they resist arrest,” said a conference press release. “Vigilantism, too, seems to be on the rise.” More than 1,000 people have reportedly been killed at the hands of police or vigilantes over the past three months since Mr Duterte was elected president.

Arrest claim over prayer protest
Seven religious leaders said they were “arrested” after they staged a prayer protest in the Australian Prime Minister’s constituency office in Sydney over the treatment of asylum seekers. Sr Susan Connelly, a Sister of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, said the protest was “an act of civil disobedience” against conditions in the detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru. She and clergy from the Anglican, Baptist and Uniting churches prayed, sang and recited poetry in Malcolm Turnbull’s electoral office on 29 August for several hours, refusing to leave. Police said the members of the group were not arrested but simply “moved on”, with no charges laid.

Mexico mourns singer
Iconic singer songwriter Juan Gabriel died unexpectedly on Sunday 28 August aged 66.

Alberto Aguilera Valadez was born in Michoacán in 1950 and moved to the border city of Ciudad Juárez at a young age, where he began his musical career under the name Juan Gabriel. His hits such as “Hasta que Te Conocí” (Until I Met You) and “Amor Eterno” (Eternal Love) are classics of Mexican popular music. Juan Gabriel was elusive about his sexual orientation in interviews, but his fans generally assumed he was gay because of his flamboyant stage presence.

Ciudad Juárez bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos presided over a Mass on 3 September in front of Gabriel’s home in the border city. In a press release, Bishop Torres Campos wrote: “Juan Gabriel uplifted the name of Ciudad Juárez and all of us who live here along the border are grateful for the adoration he always showed for the city … where his artistic career began.” Bishop Torres Campos took part in a march against gay marriage before presiding over Juan Gabriel’s Mass.