Bishops' fears over Islam
CATHoLic bishops in Malaysia have expressed alarm over the increasing politicisation of Islam in the country during their 70th plenary meeting in Plentong, northeast of Johor Baharu. Malaysia has witnessed the "process of Islamization of our laws and regulations" they protested.
An additional concern was the imposition of rules and regulations which have infringed upon religious freedom of both Muslims and non-Muslims, with the trend worsening.
Church reaches out to defectors
A CATHOLIC Church group in South Korea is helping young North Korean defectors adjust to a new life through personto-person contact.
The Seoul Archdiocese's Meeting for Unity group, founded in 1999, aims to help defectors settle into their new life. Perpetual Help Sister Sophonia Oh Hye-jung said: "That the defectors don't have any friend or relative on whom they can rely and they really need psychological support.
"That is why we stress person-to-person relations as one of our main activities."
Each group member takes one defector, whom they call "younger brother" or "younger sister" as his or her partner and offer chances for interaction through meetings, sports, outings and educational pursuits.
End war, says new archbishop
THE NEW Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, has urged his fellow countrymen to end the island's 19-year civil war that has led 64,000 people dead.
During his installation, Archbishop Oswald Gomis, stressed the importance of all ethnic and religious communities working together to resolve the conflict between Tamil separatists and Sinhalese-led government over the issue of a separate Tamil state in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.
In his homily, Archbishop Gomis said that all will perish if people of different religions and ethnic communities fail to work together, reminding Catholics of the part they have to play.
Jailed nun wins solidarity show
THE HEADTEACHERS of some Catholics schools in eastern India were charged with contempt of court for closing their schools in a show of solidarity with a nun jailed for violating conversion laws.
Ursuline Sister Bridhi Ekka was jailed in mid July after she failed to inform a district magistrate in Ambikapur, in Madhya Pradesh, of a 1988 conversion of some tribal families to Christianity.
The judge was upholding a 1996 court decision to punish Sister Ekka and a Belgian Jesuit missionary. The nun spent a week in jail before being released later on bail.
The principals were accused also of protesting "in large numbers before the gates of the jail" and of making "comments against the verdict in the media."