HOLY CROSS NEWS FROM ASIA, AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA, HAITI, MEXICO
1. HAITI: New Start or Familiar Pattern? Holy Cross Ministries Affected
2. BANGLADESH: 150th Jubilee of Holy Cross in Bengal
3. KENYA: Formation Community Assists Neighbors Affected by Slum Demolition
4. CANADA: Holy Cross Collaborates in Eye Clinics for the Distant Poor
5. INDIA: C.S.C. Bishop Protests Anti-Christian Activity by Fundamentalists
6. NORTH EAST INDIA: Tripura Catholic Youth Pledge to Work for Peace
7. NEWS BRIEFS: Uganda, Bangladesh, Peru
8. CELEBRATING SERVICE, CALL AND COMMITMENTCURRENT ISSUES OF CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN AREAS OF HOLY CROSS INTERNATIONAL MISSION
A. UGANDA: Massacre by Lord's Resistance Army in Camp for the Displaced
B. KENYA: Lenten Campaign Takes Theme "I Will Be With You to the End of Time"
C. PERU: Tolerance of Corruption Challenges the Church
D. 29 CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES SLAIN IN 2003
HOLY CROSS NEWS FROM ASIA, AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA, HAITI, MEXICO
The departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti is interpreted variously as a chance for a new start or the continuation of an all-too-familiar pattern in a country that has endured some 30 coups in its two centuries of independence, with only a group of badly tainted rebel leaders lining up for power. The present crisis, brewing since disputed legislative elections in 2000, began in earnest on February 5 when anti-Aristide rebels took the city of Gonaives where Holy Cross religious Yves-Marie Paen is coadjutor bishop, 170 miles north of the capital Port-au-Prince. Several Holy Cross religious, including Bishop Paen, were caught in the capital at the time of the rebel movement into Gonaives and not allowed to return to their people and ministries. Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second city, where many Holy Cross men and women live and serve in a variety of ministries, including College-Notre Dame-du-Perpetuel-Secours, fell to the rebels by February 20, and though the take-over was relatively peaceful, the situation has been tense and the city is without electricity and gasoline. The Haitian bishops, through their conference president, Archbishop Hubert Constant of Cap-Haitien, appealed for an end to the violence, fearing that the "complete confusion" gripping the nation of 8.1 million people might slide into civil war. Holy Cross provincial in Haiti, Fr. Rodolphe Arty, reports that he succeeds in communicating with the majority of C.S.C. houses each morning, but there is widespread pillaging and anarchy everywhere. In Port-au-Prince where he lives automatic machine gun fire has made sleep difficult. He voiced the opinion that a multinational intervention force, with a long term commitment, is necessary and urgently needed to avoid a bloodbath. Fr. Thomas Streit, C.S.C., director of a research and treatment program to eliminate elephantiasis in Haiti, reports that both rebels and armed gangs loyal to Aristide have disrupted the program's efforts. "The people of Haiti are just so totally fed up with the whole political class," he said. There are approximately 90 professed Holy Cross religious in Haiti, around 55 men and 35 women.
Three days of speeches, presentations, liturgies, and special meals marked the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Holy Cross in East Bengal. The February 9-10-11 event had the joyful aura of a huge family reunion, with most of the 185 professed Holy Cross religious in Bangladesh present, and another 100 or so who are in formation programs for the priests, brothers, and sisters, as well as many diocesan clergy, religious of all the orders serving in Bangladesh, and lay leaders and collaborators. Also in attendance were the two Holy Cross bishops, two provincials and district superior from India, along with all the Holy Cross superiors general and several other provincials and superiors. A permanent marker was unveiled in front of the St. Joseph Province of Brothers' provincial house. The ceremonies took place under clear sunny skies and a bright-colored tent on the grounds of St. Joseph High School and College. In his message on this occasion, the Apostolic Nuncio in Bangladesh, Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, stated "You, people of Holy Cross, have been a great gift to this country! I pray that you may continue to be both an expression of God's caring love for Bangladesh and a sign of Bangladeshis' generous answer to God." A special jubilee program and a 300-page book, 150 years of Holy Cross in East Bengal Mission, were distributed to all the guests. During the festivities, Fathers Edward (Monk) Malloy, president of the University of Notre Dame, and Hugh Cleary, superior general of the priests and brothers, were honored at a festive celebration and dinner at Notre Dame College.
Church and Human Rights organizations have joined together in an effort to stop government-sanctioned demolition of homes, businesses, markets, churches, mosques, schools and children's homes affecting tens of thousands of people in the informal settlement area called Kibera, adjacent to McCauley House of Formation in Nairobi, Kenya. While recognizing that the people who have built their shelters under electricity lines, on road reserves and next to railway lines are in danger, protest statements to the government insist that evictions must respect the people affected and follow the international agreements to which the Kenya Government is committed, agreements that require (1) genuine consultation and planning with those affected, (2) adequate notice, and (3) provision for resettlement. Br. Cleophas Kyomuhendo, professed formation director at McCauley House, reports that the staff, seminarians and brothers there are constantly being requested for help by the many who have already lost their homes or businesses. The assistance they are trying to offer includes rent for those who find another place to live, transport for sending children to rural homelands, meeting with Small Christian Communities to help neighbors discuss how to help one another, assisting with seed money for new business efforts when old ones have been destroyed, and helping those who need medical care due to sleeping in the open. The demolitions began on February 7. On February 20 the district officer of Kibera told protesters that "the exercise must go on…" and "there is no room to resettle those affected." Reports as of February 27 indicate, however, that the demolition exercise has been "temporarily postponed."
A cooperative effort between Holy Cross in Canada, the Lions and Rotary Clubs, and political and church officials in places as diverse as Mexico, Cameroon, Romania, Tunisia, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Cuba and El Salvador is offering free eye examinations and distributing prescription glasses to thousands of poor patients every year. Fr. Pierre Labine, one of the project coordinators, reports that a typical clinic group is made up of 10 optometrists from various parts of Canada, 4 or 5 doctors from the country being visited, 8 optometry students, and 5 opticians, assisted by volunteers from Canadian universities and from the local area being visited. During a clinic in Mexico in November 2003 over 5,200 patients, mostly poor plantation workers, were treated. A group went to Cameroon in January 2004, another will go to Romania in May, and a group will go back to Mexico in November. In addition to technical formation for all volunteers, there is orientation to the history and culture of the place to be served. The eye-health missions have enabled Holy Cross to meet a large number of university students, and spiritual formation weekends for the volunteers involved are planned.
In the latest issue of Link, the newsletter of the Diocese of Agartala, Bishop Lumen Monteiro, C.S.C., expressed "deep concern at the threats to eliminate the Christian community in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh." Bishop Lumen explained that a heinous crime that all condemn - the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Jhabua - is being "exploited to the hilt by unscrupulous elements to further their agenda of dividing society on the lines of religion. Some fundamentalist groups held rallies in different townships of the district, burned effigies of the Catholic Bishop and priests in public places, shouted very inflammatory slogans and distributed leaflets containing derogatory remarks on Christianity. There was also a physical assault on two priests and a driver and the burning of a jeep belonging to an institution meant for handicapped children." The Tablet reported in December the opinion of another Indian bishop that recent electoral victories of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in three "Hindu heartland states," including Madhya Pradesh, augur "hard times" for Christians in India. He sited the targeting of Christians in newspaper advertisements falsely depicting a bishop forcibly converting tribal members while a henchman stands guard over others in cages waiting to be baptized by the Pope's orders. On December 10, eighteen Catholic bishops in western India joined activists in a sit-down demonstration to voice concern over the growing violations of human rights. A recent report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the U.S. State Department to add India to its list of "countries of particular concern" for violations of religious freedom.
Youthfest 2003, a convention of over 800 Catholic youth of Agartala Diocese, was held at Holy Cross School Agartala, 27-31 December 2003, with the theme, "Blessed are the Peacemakers." The convention marked the culmination of a series of peace initiatives taken by the Catholic Youth Movement of the diocese over the past year. These initiatives, organized by the youth themselves, have included conflict resolution workshops in 15 places, two-day youth seminars on peace in13 parishes, and 90 performances of a much-acclaimed street play called Shanti - a 25-minute presentation that focuses on the obstacles to peace and ways in which everyone can contribute to peace building. Holy Cross bishops Steven Rotluanga and Lumen Monteiro led prayer and spoke at the convention. Inter-parish competitions in singing, dancing, drawing, and, of course, football, in addition to teaching on peace by a team from Kolkata, were highlights of the convention. Participants from each parish agreed on an action plan for the coming year.
*Uganda: Holy Cross Lake View Secondary School had its best results ever in the 2003 Uganda Certificate Examination. Of the 94 students who took the exam, 76 received a Division One score, 17 a Division Two, and 1 a Division Three. This ranks Lake View among the top schools in Uganda after only 10 years of existence. Four Holy Cross brothers of the District of East Africa, including John Flood, headmaster, and two Holy Cross lay missionaries now work at the school. Sr. Mary Louise Wahler, CSC, was headmistress of the school for its first ten years.
*Bangladesh: St. Placid High School in Chittagong celebrated its 150th anniversary of founding on December 18, 2003. In 1853 newly-arrived Br. Benedict Fitzpatrick, C.S.C., was assigned to the school. It received its name from the Benedictines who administered the school in a ten-year absence of Holy Cross. Holy Cross Br. Prodip Placid Gomes is the present headmaster.
*Bangladesh: On February 8 St. Joseph High School and College celebrated its 50th year. Founded in 1954 in an old house near the brothers' trade school, it moved to its present location in Mohammadpur, Dhaka, in 1965. Br. John Rozario is its longtime headmaster.
*Peru: Correction: A report in the last issue of this newsletter stated that "Holy Cross" is withdrawing from its commitments in the Diocese of Chimbote and in the Prelature of Juli in Peru. The report should have specified that this withdrawal is of the Holy Cross men's District of Peru. The Sisters of the Holy Cross continue their ministry in the Diocese of Chimbote, and the Sisters of Holy Cross in the Prelature of Juli.
*Br. Orlando (Edward) Gozdowski died of heart failure at the age of 88 on January 13. While at Holy Cross College and the Generalate in Rome, where he served for 18 years as secretary, purchaser, banker and in maintenance, he met Bishop Vincent McCauley, there for the Vatican II Council, who requested his help in Uganda. He was assistant treasurer for the Diocese of Fort Portal from 1965-77, and his "weekend" service to the many Rwandese refugees in the diocese was untiring. From 1980-83 Orlando served with Holy Cross in Ghana, tending the bookkeeping needs of the Diocese of Sunyani. A radically simple life-style and commitment to the poor characterized his entire life as a religious.
*On February 24 Fr. Jean-Paul Gladu died in Canada. Fr. Gladu, an accomplished teacher, parish minister and administrator, was superior of the District of Haiti from 1951 to 1963.
*Fr. Lawrence T. Bauer died peacefully on March 1 at the age of 97. He spent 40 years in Bangladesh (1935-75), working in Bengali parishes and among the Mandi (Garo) people. Upon his return to the USA, he continued working in parishes in Texas until the age of 90 when he retired to Holy Cross House at Notre Dame. He was the last of the four Bauer brothers in Holy Cross (Fathers Larry and Edwin, and Brothers Protase and Christopher). Five of his sisters also joined the Sisters of Mercy
* Father Ponen Paul Kubi, assistant provincial of the Sacred Heart Province and rector of Holy Cross Seminary in Rampura, Dhaka, was ordained auxiliary bishop for Diocese of Mymensingh on February 13. Bishop Francis A. Gomes of Mymensingh presided, along with all of the bishops from Bangladesh, two Holy Cross bishops from neighboring Agartala and Mizoram (India), and the papal nuncio in Bangladesh. The three-hour ceremony took place under a colorful tent on the grounds of the Salesian Sisters Holy Family Convent in Mymensingh, with several thousand in attendance, including people representing all the ten parishes and many sub-parishes in the diocese. Bishop Ponen, a Mandi (Garo), is the first tribal bishop for Bangladesh. The Diocese of Mymensingh is made up entirely of tribal people. Three of the parishes are staffed by Holy Cross, Corpus Christ in Jalchatra, St. Paul's in Pirgacha, and St. George's in Mariamnagar.
*Bangladeshi Holy Cross deacon, Vincent Bimal Rozario, was ordained priest under a large tent in front of the parish primary school in his home village of Golla on December 29, by Archbishop Michael Rozario. Vincent studied theology in Pune, India and worked as a deacon at St. Augustine's Church in Mothbari near Dhaka. He is now assigned to St. Joseph's Church in Srimangal, among the tribal peoples and tea-estate workers.
*On February 22, at the Santa Cruz Church in Canto Grande, Lima, Peru, Anibal Andres Nino and Edison Chuquisengo were ordained to the priesthood by Most Reverend Norberto Strotmann, M.S.C., Bishop of Chosica. Both are natives of Canto Grande. Anibal studied at the Lima Conservatory of Music and holds a S.T.L. from the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile. He will be an associate pastor in Our Lady of Hope Parish, Canto Grande, and assist in the educational work of the Family Rosary ministry in Peru. Edison studied engineering, and holds a S.T.L. degree and also an M.A. in Education from the Catholic University of Santiago. He will continue as Director of the Fe y Alegria School in Canto Grande.
*Holy Cross seminarians Dominic S. Sarker and Lawrence Rebeiro were ordained to the diaconate on February 14. Bishop Theotonius Gomes, C.S.C., was the ordaining bishop at the liturgy which took place in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Banani National Seminary, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
*Six Holy Cross novices pronounced first vows on January 6, the feast of Blessed Brother Andre, at Holy Cross Novitiate, Huaycan, Lima, Peru. They are Cesar Chayna Percca, of the District of Peru, Silvio Cesar Lopes da Silva, Ivan Rondon Trivino, and Jose Carlos da Silva, of the Priests' District of Brazil, Marcelo Solar Tobar, of the District of Chile, and Carlos Jacobo de los Santos, from Mexico (Southern USA Province).
CURRENT ISSUES OF CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN AREAS OF HOLY CROSS INTERNATIONAL MISSION
A.
UGANDA: Massacre by Lord's Resistance Army in Camp for the Displaced
On February 21, between 170 and 190 people, the majority of them women and children, were killed by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) at a special, "protected" camp for internally displaced refugees located near Lira, Uganda. Most were killed brutally by machete or burnt alive in their huts. A large number of people in the war zones of northern Uganda have been gathered into these camps where they are supposed to be protected by the Uganda army. President Yoweri Museveni has blamed the weakness of his own army unit in the north for what U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has strongly condemned as "a senseless massacre." Some reports state that child-soldiers of the LRA participated in the killing. The Uganda Joint Christian Council, which includes heads of the Orthodox, Catholic, and Church of Uganda (Anglican), called upon the government to undertake a national recruitment to strengthen the army so it can effectively respond to the rebels. Archbishop John Baptist Odama, head of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), however, has asked instead for the creation of a negotiation forum that rejects a military solution to the 16 year old conflict. He urged the intervention of the international community to end the atrocities and to monitor human rights violations. Violence triggered by the LRA, led by self-proclaimed mystic Joseph Kony, with financing and arms from the Sudanese government, has left more than 120,000 dead and led to the kidnapping of 25,000 children. In early February the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced the start of an investigation of Kony and the LRA.
The 17th annual Lenten Campaign of the Catholic Church in Kenya asks that religious, small Christian communities, and parish liturgies focus attention this year on the theme I Will Be With You to the End of Time (Mt 28:19-20). There are five sub-themes, one for each week of Lent: Family and the Child, Government at Local Level, Insecurity, Corruption, and HIV/AIDS. A booklet in both English and Kiswahili and a color poster are available to help the faithful in reflection, discussion and action. In many parishes, small Christian communities dramatize each week's theme within the Sunday liturgies and preachers deal with questions related to the theme in homilies.
Survey results revealing that more than half of Peruvians say they have a fair or high degree of tolerance for corruption pose a challenge to church leaders, said Bishop Miguel Irizar Campos of Callao. What is striking, he says, is "people's passivity, the acceptance of corruption as something normal, even cultural." The corruption issue is a sensitive one in Peru. Scores of former president Fujimori's government officials, legislators, business officials and military officers are in jail awaiting trial on hundreds of corruption charges, but the government officials and allies of President Alejandro Toledo, who took office in 2001, have been accused of continuing the same corrupt patterns. "We need to create a much stronger ethical and civic culture," said the bishop, "the problem has not ended with Fujimori."
A report by Fides, the Vatican missionary agency, states that at least 29 Catholics - 4 lay people, 20 priests, 1 religious brother, 3 seminarians, and 1 Archbishop - were killed in 2003 while carrying out their missionary work. Ten were killed in Latin America, including 6 in Columbia, 17 died in Africa, including six in Uganda, and two died in Asia. The most recent death was that of Irish Archbishop Michael Courtney, apostolic nuncio in Burundi, who was victim of an assassination ambush there on December 29, 2003.
