Nine-member team to probe abuse in Ireland

Seeking renewal of Christian life in Irish Catholic communities, Pope Benedict on May 31 appointed nine senior prelates to investigate child abuse in Ireland’s Catholic institutions.
The pope urged the Irish church to support the investigation, saying it could be a chance for hope and renewal, Associated Press reported.
In a March letter to the Irish faithful, [...]

Vatican appoints team to probe Irish abuse

Pope Benedict on May 31 appointed nine prelates, including the archbishops of Boston and New York, to investigate child abuse in Ireland’s Catholic institutions.

Pigs, poultry key to Nargis widow program

Pigs, poultry and micro credit form the key elements of a Myanmar Church program assisting female household heads to meet the challenges resulting from the Nargis cyclone.
Female-headed households are among the lowest income groups in cyclone affected areas.
They are often burdened by crushing debts and are forced to borrow from relatives, friends and moneylenders, says [...]

Thai peace campaigners remember the dead

Bangkok’s Non Violence Network and Mahidol University’s Research Center for Peace organized a walk through central Bangkok on May 30, to commemorate those who died in the recent civil conflict and to call for forgiveness and peace.
Starting at the Rachaprasong intersection, the five-kilometer route took the walkers through many of the streets where the violence [...]

Ahmadis reel under terror attack

Heaps of shoes and body parts can still be seen lying among ashes at one of two Ahmadi places of worship in Lahore, after armed people threw grenades and fired at congregations at Friday prayer.
The director of the Ahmadi community in Pakistan condemned the May 28 deadly attacks on his members.
“The terrorists belong to so-called [...]

China arrests two “underground” priests

Security officials have detained two “underground” Catholic priests in the northwestern part of Hebei province.
Father’s Joseph Wang Jianchen and Joseph Li De of Xuanhua were stopped and “taken away” on the morning of May 30 in Hebei City, while traveling to hold Trinity Sunday Mass for parishioners in Huaian County.
Church sources told UCA News the [...]

Lay Catholic’s film bags international award

A film by a lay Catholic in Kerala that speaks of seven nuns and a divorcee has won the first prize at the 25th International Catholic Film Festival held at Niepokalanow, near Warsaw in Poland.
Leo Thaddeus used high degree of symbolism in photography, music, dialogue and art work in his 56-minute film titled Nurunguvettangal (gems [...]

Meghalaya clashes linked to dispute

A senior Presbyterian leader in Meghalaya says recent “ethnic clashes” in the Christian-dominated northeastern Indian state were part of a continuing border dispute with Assam.
Four people were killed and 26 injured on May 14 after police were forced to open fire on warring Khasi and Nepalese groups.
“Assam sends Nepalese people to settle in border areas, [...]

Mangalore air crash survivor thanks God

Surviving tragedies seems to run in the D’Souza family. Joel Pratap D’Souza, the youngest of three children in this Catholic family, was among eight survivors of the May 22 air crash in Mangalore that killed 158 people.
His father Joseph D’Souza was among four survivors from a boat that sank in the Arabian Sea with 14 people [...]

Site helps Catholics know canon law

The Saint Joseph Foundation of the state of Texas manages a website to help Catholics seeking to know and vindicate their rights within the Church, rights that the Church herself recognizes and protects.
Whenever individuals or groups believe their rights are threatened or have been violated, the Foundation assists them in using the means established by [...]

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