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“Jesus ‘opened for us the gates of heaven,’ says the liturgy, and made it our inheritance: ‘Where He has gone, we hope to follow.’ Heaven is our destiny.”
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the high levels of unemployment caused by the financial and economic crisis have already caused social unrest in at least 25 countries. And the situation can deteriorate worldwide because this United Nations work agency foresees a long labor market recession that will affect even some recovering emerging economies.
Several representatives from the Malaysian government, such as Minister Idris Jala, a Christian, are visiting the Christian communities in Malaysia, trying to convince Christian citizens to abandon the term “Allah” and use “Yahweh” in the texts in the liturgy and in publications.
After having been distinguished as the Best Local Community/Parish Newspaper for the last three consecutive years, World Mission was awarded a Hall of Fame trophy at the 32nd Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA).
Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, European bishops have told a Brussels conference. A report issued this week by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) said that at least three-quarters of all religious persecution was directed at Christians, the Catholic Herald reports. In the report, the bishops urged the European Union to apply more pressure to countries around the world that failed to protect the religious freedom of their citizens. They called on the EU’s foreign ministry, headed by the Labor peer Lady Ashton, to set up a “religion unit” to promote the cause of religious freedom more effectively.
A Catholic organization in Korea is raising funds for African children by collecting used mobile phones to recover valuable parts for sale. The Korean Catholic Solidarity for the Integrity of Creation, on Oct. 2, donated 44 million won (about US$40,000) to the Sisters of Christian Doctrine in Andong. It discovered that dilapidated cell phones, mostly discarded as waste, contain valuable parts that can be turned into money for supporting children in central Africa affected by civil war and environmental problems.
Blessed Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola (1845-1912), the Spanish founder of the congregation of the Daughters of Jesus, was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 17. She was an educator who never went to school; a teacher who never had the chance to be a student. Yet, because of her childlike faith, Blessed Candida Maria de Jesus made it possible for tens of thousands of women and children around the world to enjoy quality Christian education, especially in countries where opportunities are limited. Not only did she establish schools for higher learning, she also worked for the betterment of societies afflicted by many ills, such as poverty, ignorance, war and discrimination.
The announcement of the Norwegian Nobel Committee provided an upset ending for a week of public diplomacy by China in Europe. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had toured European capitals showering goodwill and lucrative investment deals for cash-strapped European economies. But if there was ever any speculation that the allure of China’s burgeoning market and its development model can make the West forego universal values such as freedom and democracy, it evaporated with the award given to one of China’s most courageous dissidents, Liu Xiaobo.
The community of democratic activists and dissidents is overcome with joy at the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the writer Liu Xiaobo. And although police have blacked out television coverage and gagged Liu’s wife, Xia Liu, the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to this writer, is of great comfort to all those who had the courage to fight and sign together with him the Charter 08 document, that led to his sentence to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.”
Every single ancient wisdom and religion tells us the same thing: Don’t live entirely for yourself; live for other people. To give is the highest level of living.
