Thus Jesus wishes to let his friends know that, although he will soon be leaving them, and even though this departure will bring them grief, he will not leave them orphans; he will come back to them, but in a different way. He will send them someone who will be their Advocate, their Counsellor, and who will continue doing what Jesus wanted to bring about in them.

These words of Jesus make no sense to the disciples. Their hearts are weighted down with sorrow on his imminent departure, and confused by what he has said about there being a traitor in their midst. They are disturbed and can think of nothing else.

Jesus uses the metaphor of childbirth. A woman in labour and about to deliver is wracked with tension and pain. But once her child is born, she is full of joy. So too the disciples. They are confused and full of grief now, but once the resurrection takes place, once they receive the fullness of the Spirit, there will only be joy and enlightenment, courage and peace of mind. These “birthpangs of the Messiah”, as the Prophet Isaiah described them, are necessary, but only temporary. When the Spirit comes, “you will be joyful” says Jesus, “and that joy no one will ever take away from you.”

Patil praised the Deepika newspaper for playing “an important role in the renaissance and reformation” in the 19th century in Kerala, where the newspaper is based, and for its efforts during the country’s struggle for independence.

Deepika, which celebrated its 125th anniversary this week, is run by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate congregation.

The advertisement which has been endorsed by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and approved by district officials reads: “Everyone has the right not to be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.”

It is the brainchild of Lee Gye-duck, a gay activist who is also funding the campaign.

Lee said he wants the public to be better informed about homosexuality and how wrong discrimination is.

“Every citizen has the right not to be discriminated against” on the ground of sexual inclination, Lee said citing the constitution.

However, conservative and religious groups have branded the advertisement immoral, say it advocates gay sex and are calling for it to be banned.

The Christian Council of Korea (CCK) issued a statement yesterday urging district offices to immediately ban the advertisement.

“The Seoul mayor’s endorsement and approval by district officials may lead people to think that government offices are a window for the interests of minorities,” said Reverend Hong Jae-chul, president of the CCK.

The Protestant Korean Association of Church Communication went as far as saying on Monday that the advertisement will encourage homosexuality among people and “finally make South Korea a country of homosexuals.”

However, an official from the Seoul city government said the advertisement is not breaking any laws and that “each district office has the right to approve advertisements on the streets.”

Gay and lesbian groups have praised Lee’s initiative.

The opposition by conservative groups is “a violation of human rights itself,” said Chang Byoung-gwon, director of the Solidarity for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Human Rights group.

“By criticizing, they think gay people deserve to be discriminated against,” he said.

Related reports:

Gay marriage not on agenda, say activists
Korean Catholics back banned gay TV drama

Peasant groups and residents are blocking Nicua Mining Corporation from bringing heavy machinery into the village, demanding the immediate suspension of mining activities in the area. The company extracts magnetite sand some 200 meters from the shore of Lake Bito in MacArthur town.

After the first kill, on March 14, fecal coli from human and animal wastes was found during water testing by the Bureau of Food and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). Many houses on stilts surrounding the lake were found to have no sanitary toilets.

Authorities also blamed overpopulation in fish pens and cages to have caused  depletion of oxygen. Fish enclosures occupied 49 of the lake’s 115 hectares, well beyond the 10 percent limit.

Dr. Nancy Dayap, regional head of BFAR’s environmental and monitoring sector, said the fish kill was due to domestic pollution, aquaculture malpractices and “possible” contamination from a nearby mine site.

The lake provides a living to almost 90 percent of residents around the body of water, which holds fish pens and cages for tilapia, carp, milkfish, shrimps and other freshwater fish.

Around 22 tons of tilapia worth about 1.87 million pesos US$43,500) were lost when the first fish kill hit.

The Promotion of Church People’s Response, Eastern Visayas, blames the mining corporation for the kills, said spokesperson Rev. Irma Mepico-Balaba.

The government granted the company a permit to operate in the area in 2010.

Balaba said the local government and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau allowed mining operations without properly consulting the affected villages.

Tests also found traces of oil and grease coming from the mining site. Mercury intake of fish, however, was below international standard and no heavy metal contamination was found in water samples.

Roger de Dios, mines director for Eastern Visayas, said his office is awaiting the result of another investigation conducted by the Environmental Management Bureau to settle the issue.

BFAR has called on the local government of MacArthur and the villagers to address domestic pollution in the area as a condition for the release of new fingerlings to fishermen and to ensure that government aid will not be wasted.

The provincial government has also approved a resolution regulating fish pens and cages in Lake Bito.

The president met with Kim Yong-nam, chairman of North Korea’s Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly – the impoverished country’s highest organ of power – in Jakarta yesterday to discuss bilateral cooperation.

“President Yudhoyono should have urged North Korea to curb its human rights abuses, which have long been a global concern,” Haris Azhar, coordinator of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), told a press conference today.

He said the meeting was the perfect moment for the president to raise the subject of human rights violations in North Korea.

Azhar said the commission, which is also a member of the Tokyo-based International Coalition for North Korea, has recorded many serious human rights violations in the Stalinist country, including the repression of press freedom and harsh crackdowns on any forms of dissent.

He pointed to what he said were around 154,000 political prisoners being held in six big camps in North Korea.

“They were sent to these camps without trial even though North Korea’s new constitution claims to respect human rights,” he said.

The Indonesian government showed its ignorance during the meeting by only searching for benefits through economic cooperation, he said.

Related reports:

Rights groups want end to violence
Police ‘commit most rights violations’

The charity organization that deals with global health, safety and environmental issues yesterday said it was suspending a “distinction” award to Vedanta Aluminum Limited in view of pollution allegations from activists and the firm’s failure to disclose the death of a worker in April at its refinery at Lanjigarh in Orissa state.

A BSC press release called for a proper investigation into the allegations.

The council was to present the award at a gala dinner on Friday in London.

Welcoming the BSC decision, Prafula Samantara, convener of the National Alliances of Peoples’ Movements, wondered how a firm that he alleged was looting natural resources and tribal people could be chosen for the award and invited to an event billed as the Oscars of health and safety measures.

“It makes a mockery of safety measures,” he said.

Sandeep Pattnaik, who coordinates the National Centre for Advocacy Studies in Orissa, alleged tribal and dalit (former untouchable) groups face harassment and arrests for protesting pollution and an ash pond near their villages.

The Orissa Pollution Control Board has noted that the pond has caused tuberculosis and skin diseases among people living nearby, Pattnaik said.

He said the award would have validated the crimes committed by the mining group and regretted that the state government remained a mute witness to it all.

“This shows that life in India is cheap,” he said and demanded stringent action against the Vedanta group for hiding facts from the BSC.

Another activist Dhirendra Panda says the BSC decision would boost the morale of those protesting the refinery and highlight the need for stringent safety measures.

“We need to appreciate the suspension of the award as a corrective measure,” he said.

Two years ago, BSC denied a safety award to another subsidiary of the multinational Vedanta Resources mining group,after the media reported that at least 40 workers in neighboring Chhattisgarh state were killed when a chimney collapsed.

Vedanta spokespeople were not available for comment.

Related reports:

Activists praise rethink over Orissa steel plant

Tribal people protest Orissa steel giants

“Our leaders have brought us to this sickening state where Nepalese are fighting among ourselves,” Chintamani Yogi told religious leaders.

Three weeks of protests have paralyzed western Nepal, and two dozen people were reportedly injured Tuesday. The same day, the government announced Nepal would be divided into 11 states, governed by a president elected by the people and a prime minister elected by a 376-member parliament.

The government refrained from naming the 11 states and will form a Central Federal Commission to address the issue later. Two of the 11 states haven’t even had their boundaries set.

Conflicts over how Nepal will be divided has sparked the strikes and protests, which have been largely in the western region. Kathmandu is expected to be hit with strikes this week, while hill districts are seeing food, water and gas shortages.

Yogi, highly regarded throughout the nation, is president of the Nepal Interfaith Manch (forum), a popular Hindu spiritualist, and the founder of Hindu Vidyapeeth schools. In his statement, he said Nepalese have been forced to identify themselves solely by caste or tribe.

“We Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians have to fight against this trend and unite Nepal this week – even though that may mean that our call for unity will curtail the expansion of our temples, stupas, mosques or churches,” Yogi said.

The deadline for the new constitution is May 27.

Related reports:

Constitution protests paralyze Nepal
Countdown for new constitution

Sikh leaders accused the corporation’s Asian Network of displaying “irresponsible and misleading” attitude and suggesting that their religion was simply a “hotchpotch” of other faiths.

It followed a phone-in broadcast in March in which the presenter DJ Nihal Arthanayake – best known as a Radio 1 DJ – touched on the relationship between Sikhism, which was founded in Punjab in the 15th Century, and the other two predominant religions in India at the time.

A text message from a listener was read out complaining about the “incredibly offensive” way the presenters had suggested that Sikhism was “made up from other religions ie Islam and Hinduism”.

The DJ, known simply as Nihal on air, replied: “I’m sorry with all due respect, it is, absolutely it is.”

He added: “It came around in the 15th and 16th Centuries in India, how could it not be influenced?”

He went on: “A Muslim laid the stone to the holiest places, with all due respect I know more about your religion than you do.”

The comment was a reference to the tradition that a Muslim divine was asked to lay the foundation of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the centre of Sikh worship.

But the Network of Sikh Organisations, headed by Lord Singh – who is himself a regular on the BBC, as a contributor to Radio 4’s Thought For the Day – complained, accusing the programme of a “skewed” approach.

They asked: “Is the BBC similarly willing to take the view that Islam is a religion made up of Christianity and Judaism?”

Full Story: BBC expresses regret over suggestion Sikhism is ‘made up of other religions’

Source: The Telegraph

The fire in Aurahi, in Siraha district which borders India, killed a 3-month-old infant and injured at least half a dozen other people. Cattle were also killed and injured.

“We are trying to assess the damage. Villagers in Siraha have been sleeping out in the open without food and even drinking water since yesterday,” said Father Pius Perumana, director of Caritas Nepal, the Catholic Church’s social arm. He noted that his team is currently in India for disaster-relief training.

The army and the two fire trucks that both arrived from neighboring districts hours after the fire started have not been able to contain the blaze, which has left more than 10,000 people homeless, the chief of the Nepal Red Cross, Siraha Yadav, told local media.  Villagers reportedly did not have time to save their belongings.

“It is the dry, windy season, and a spark can cause untold damage,” said Fr Amal Raj, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service.

“We still do not know what caused a fire on April 29 in one of our refugee camps at Sanischare. The solution is to focus on prevention.”

Related reports:

Fire destroys UN refugee camps

Led by Cardinal Donald W. Wuerle, the archdiocese’s statement declared that the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) had revealed an “apparent lack of unity with and disregard for the bishops.”

The statement follows: 

During the past week there has been much in the national and local news regarding the controversial selection of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to be a featured speaker at an awards ceremony at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute.  Yesterday, the President of the University, John J. DeGioia, issued a public statement in response to the concerns, objections and even outrage that have been expressed.

The Archdiocese of Washington reserved public comment to permit Georgetown University and its sponsor, the Society of Jesus, the opportunity to address the controversy.  While the explanation of how this unfortunate decision was made is appreciated, it does not address the real issue for concern – the selection of a featured speaker whose actions as a public official present the most direct challenge to religious liberty in recent history and the apparent lack of unity with and disregard for the bishops and so many others across the nation who are committed to the defense of freedom of religion.

Full Story: A ‘schism’ among Catholics over Sebelius’ address at Georgetown University

Source: Spero News