ICA, Peru (CNS) --- The cracks in the walls of Eliseo Cardenas Carhuapuma's adobe house are so deep that he is afraid for his son to play inside. The family has moved its scant possessions outdoors, rigging up a straw mat to shield them from the damp morning air. Like many people whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake that struck Peru Aug. 15, Cardenas and his wife, Nancy Cabrera Hernandez, had little to start with. Now they must rebuild. Earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts and floods leave searing images of desperate people who have lost what little they had. They also raise a question: Why do the poor suffer most from natural disasters? The answer may seem obvious. When the house, crops and livestock are swept away, a poor family loses its savings and sole means of livelihood. But the problem goes deeper. In fact, experts say, the question is wrong. "The disasters are not natural," said Guido Eguigure, who heads the Honduras office of Action by Churches Together, an interdenominational humanitarian aid organization. "The phenomenon may be natural, but the disaster is the result of human action." Examples include bridges or dams that are built without taking into consideration water flow when precipitation is unseasonably high, or a road built at the foot of a hillside that has been stripped of trees, where the next heavy rain may trigger a landslide.
Update on Peruvian relief efforts
LOS ANGELES --- As of Sept. 3 parishes and individuals of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have contributed $103,062.41 to assist Catholic Relief Services in its critical relief work in Peru. To make a contribution, make checks payable to CRS/ADLA-Peru Relief Funds and mail to: Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Office of Justice and Peace, 3424 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010.
Teacher dies in car accident
DOWNEY --- Funeral Mass was held Sept. 1 at St. Raymond Church in Downey for Sister of the Holy Faith Merlyn Galway, who died Aug. 26 as the result of a car accident.
Sister Galway came to Southern California from Ireland in 1972 and ministered in education in the local area until her untimely death. She served as teacher and principal at St. Linus and St. John of God Schools in Norwalk; principal of St. Raymond School; and teacher at St. Mary Magdalen School in Los Angeles. For the past nine years, she has been the 4th and 5th grade teacher at St. Emydius School in Lynwood.
According to the members of her congregation, she was "a dedicated teacher, a devoted daughter, sister and aunt, and a committed member of the Sisters of the Holy Faith. She is deeply mourned by her family [and] her religious community, the Sisters of the Holy Faith in the U.S., Ireland, Trinidad, Australia and New Zealand.
Sister Galway is survived by her father, Robert; her sister, Ruth; brother-in-law, Walter; nephews Mark and Paul; and her niece Clare. Interment will be in Ireland.
Photo: Obit-Galway in CNS/Tidings 09-07:
Sr. Merlyn Galway, CHF
Task force distributes $10 million to Katrina-stricken dioceses
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- More than $10 million was distributed by the U.S. bishops' Hurricane Recovery Task Force to the two dioceses hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina two years ago. The "Rebuild Church, Rebuild Hope" collection approved in June 2006 by the bishops distributed $6,175,103.41 to the Archdiocese of New Orleans and $4,116,735.60 to the Diocese of Biloxi, Miss., according to Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, retired archbishop of Galveston-Houston and task force chairman. The bishops of the two dioceses had previously agreed on a 60-40 division of the funds raised through the collection. The first national collection to support hurricane relief and recovery efforts generated more than $130 million.
Pope urges megagathering of youths to 'go against the current'
LORETO, Italy (CNS) --- Pope Benedict XVI urged a megagathering of Italian young people to embrace Christ and "go against the current" of a culture marked by violence, arrogance and selfishness. The pope also struck a strong ecological theme, saying young people need to press for courageous changes to save the planet "before it's too late." An estimated 500,000 youths applauded the pope's words at a prayer vigil Sept. 1 and at a Mass the following day, on a hillside next to the Marian shrine of Loreto. The weekend assembly also featured music and skits, but the highlight was clearly the pope's presence. "The (Christian) message is this: Do not follow the way of pride but the way of humility," the pope said at the Mass. "Go against the current: Don't listen to the persuasive and self-seeking voices that today promote lifestyles marked by arrogance and violence, by self-importance and success at any cost, by appearances and possession to the detriment of being," he said.
Bishop: U.S. should play role in restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks
JERUSALEM (CNS) --- The United States has a responsibility to play a vital role in restarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' international policy committee. "We have a certain responsibility. By not being engaged at this level it will certainly involve us in ways we do not want to be involved in (later)," said Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla. "There needs to be a negotiated solution. "The status quo is not tenable," he said. "The two partners are not on equal strength ... and the USA has to prevail on Israel to negotiate in good faith and not take advantage of the Palestinian weakness."
Koreans Christians reflect on work abroad after hostage crisis
SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) --- As 19 South Korean hostages returned safely to their country, Catholic and Protestant church leaders said it was time to reflect on overseas missions and service. "I welcome the release of all hostages and thank all who made great effort(s) to save their lives in and outside Korea. But I cannot restrain my grief toward the two men killed there," said the Rev. Kwon Oh-sung, secretary of the National Council of Churches in Korea. He spoke to UCA News, an Asian church news agency. The 19 Korean hostages, who were kidnapped July 19 in Afghanistan, arrived home Sept. 2 and were reunited with their families. The Koreans, all members of Saemmul Community Church in Seongnam, near Seoul, arrived in Afghanistan July 13 to provide free medical and educational services and were supposed to leave July 23. Their kidnappers were members of the Taliban, which controlled most of Afghanistan until a U.S.-led coalition ousted them in 2001. The captors killed two of the men in late July and released two women in early August. In exchange for the prisoners' release, the South Korean government promised to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and said it would stop missionaries from traveling there.
Chinese-elected bishop to be ordained Sept. 8 with Vatican approval
HONG KONG (CNS) --- Bishop-designate Paul Xiao Zejiang was to be ordained coadjutor bishop of Guizhou Sept. 8, the feast of Mary's birth, several church sources told the Asian church news agency UCA News. Bishop-designate Xiao has received papal approval for his ordination and will be ordained in the cathedral in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province. He was elected by priests and other representatives of the diocese last October. The bishop-designate, 40, is a vicar general in the diocese. As coadjutor, he would automatically succeed 89-year-old Bishop Anicetus Wang Chongyi of Guizhou upon the bishop's death or retirement. Bishop Wang is expected to preside at the ordination. Father Long Chengzhong, the other vicar general, told UCA News that Bishop Wang has asked Bishop Louis Yu Runchen of Hanzhong and Auxiliary Bishop Paul He Zeqing of Wanxian to serve as the co-ordaining prelates.
Mariazell lacks dazzle, but its simplicity helps its fame in Austria
ROME (CNS) --- The sanctuary at Mariazell may lack the dazzle of more famous Marian shrines, but its simplicity has helped make it Austria's most popular pilgrimage site. "Mariazell is not a 'spectacular' sanctuary. There are no apparitions or miracles that fill the pages of newspapers," said Benedictine Father Karl Schauer, superior of the sanctuary. "There is no particular form of religiosity here, and no particular group has taken over this place for itself," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Perhaps because Mariazell is "so normal," as Father Schauer put it, the place attracts about 1 million pilgrims each year. They make their way to a mountain valley that is off the beaten track, far from major transportation centers. Among past pilgrims was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who last visited Mariazell in 2004, a few months before his election as Pope Benedict XVI. He is coming back Sept. 8 to help mark the sanctuary's 850th anniversary.
Philippine Catholics express concern over arrest of communist leader
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) --- Philippine church leaders have expressed concern that the recent arrest of a communist leader could hamper efforts to revive peace negotiations between the government and communists. The Aug. 27 arrest of Jose Maria Sison on murder charges by Dutch police in his home in Utrecht, Netherlands, could affect peace talks, Bishop Deogracias Iniguez of Kalookan told the Asian church news agency UCA News. Bishop Iniguez, chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines' public affairs committee, added that there is dissent among leftists and a clamor to "look into the validity of the arrest." Last year, widows Gloria Kintanar and Veronica Tabara filed murder charges against Sison with the Philippine Department of Justice and in the Netherlands. They accused Sison of masterminding the killing of their husbands, Romulo Kintanar in 2003 and Arturo Tabara the following year. Sison led a revival of the Communist Party in the Philippines in 1968. The party formed the New People's Army in 1969 to pursue a Maoist rebellion aimed at establishing a socialist state. Sison currently serves as chief political consultant of the Communist Party's political wing, the National Democratic Front. He has lived in the Netherlands for about 20 years.
Taking stock of healing on anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks
NEWARK, N.J. (CNS) --- Six years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that left 3,000 people dead when four planes were taken over and crashed, Donna Pfluger-Murray and her mother, Carol Lee Murray, use the anniversary of the date to take stock of healing. Pfluger-Murray, who was working at Aon Risk Services that day in the south tower of the World Trade Center, escaped minutes before the building collapsed, losing 175 co-workers among those who didn't make it after a hijacked jet was crashed into the tower. Another jet took down the north tower and other hijacked planes were crashed into a Pennsylvania farm field and the Pentagon near Washington. "It was surreal," Pfluger-Murray said, describing her experience at the center of the Sept. 11 maelstrom. She acknowledges some feelings of survivor's guilt. "I went to a lot of the funerals and memorials," she said. "There were questions like: 'Why did you live and not my husband or wife?' My answer is: 'I don't know. I don't have an answer. Why did I do what I did that morning? What made me leave the building?'" |