Father Nico Syukur Dister who is is Professor at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology in Jayapura accepts there are a variety of opinions on the question of independence for for West Papua.

While he understands why church leaders see it as their duty to unify the people, he says, "the real politics in West Papua make it impossible for the churches to remain neutral."

Dister pointed out that leaders of three Papua churches (GIDI, Baptist and KINGMI), whose members and leaders are predominantly native Papuans, recently released a pastoral letter condemning the ongoing violence and discrimination against Papuans.

"As far as I know, the Catholic Church seldom or even never made such a clear statement," he said. "Why is that the case?"

Dister's comments were made after Catholics staged a protest outside the annual bishops' meeting in Jayapura.

They were protesting because the bishops had not spoken out against the marginalisation and social injustice they suffer.

"The bishops stay silent instead of speaking up more about injustices faced by indigenous people. They let our dignity be torn up by unfair developments in areas such as health, education and even politics," protest organizer, Christianus Dogopia said.

Responding to the protesters, Bishop Aloysius Murwito of Agats-Asmat he and other bishops will work together with priests and parishes to deal with the issues.

"We will pay more serious attention to their demands," he said.

(A translation of the words on the placard the protesters are holding in the image above has been supplied. It says: "Where are the shepherds when their sheep are being hunted by wolves?")

Source

• UCAnews
• West Papua Daily
• Facebook

Image: Vatican Radio

The nine leaders from different Church traditions were protesting the deportation of 267 men, women and children to detention camps on the Pacific island of Nauru.

The majority of them are asylum seekers who were brought from the island to Australia because they needed treatment for serious medical conditions.

More than 30 are babies born in Australia to asylum-seeker mothers.

A one-year-old baby named Asha and the child of Nepalese asylum-seekers, was held on Nauru with her parents before being brought to the Australian mainland for medical treatment last month.

On Sunday Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Asha and her parents would be sent to community detention from Brisbane's Lady Cilento Children's Hospital.

Refugee advocates welcomed Dutton's announcement, hailing it as a victory for their campaign against the deportations to Nauru of Asha and 266 other asylum-seekers also in Australia for medical care.

"No-one should be in detention on Nauru, where there is no functioning hospital - but it would be particularly cruel to rip children out of classrooms and send away these 37 babies born on Australian soil," said Love Makes a Way spokesperson Kate Leaney.

About ten church communities are supporting refugees.

All are willing to open doors and provide hospitality to the asylum seekers.

"We offer this refuge because there is irrefutable evidence from health and legal experts that the circumstances asylum seekers, including children, would face if sent back to Nauru are tantamount to state sanctioned abuse," said Peter Catt, the Anglican Dean of Brisbane.

Source

• christiantoday.com
• christianitydaily.com
• channelnewsasia.com
• Image: d.christiantoday.com

"It was a spontaneous demonstration to denounce the repeated attacks against holy places carried out by an irresponsible minority, that threatens the peaceful coexistence among peoples," said Bishop William Shomali, vicar of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Since February last year, militant groups have attacked Christian churches, monasteries, and cemeteries, as well as Islamic mosques.

The most recent attack was aimed at the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where tombstones were damaged and racist graffiti written on the walls.

Some of the damaged graves belong to famous figures from the 19th and 20th centuries, a key period in Jerusalem's history. Among them are a German diplomat, the founder of an orphanage who was a significant contributor to modernising the city, and a relative of the owners of a prominent hotel.

More than 100 Christians took part in the demonstration, which went from the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre to Catholic and Protestant cemeteries which had been vandalised.

The participants sang and recited prayers along the way, spreading a statement in which they denounced acts of intimidation against monasteries, cemeteries, churches and mosques.

High-profile Christian sites that have been vandalised within the past year include the Trappist monastery at Latrun, outside Jerusalem, where vandals burned a door and spray-painted "Jesus is a monkey" on the century-old building, a Baptist church in Jerusalem, and other monasteries.

Christian clergymen often speak of being spat at by ultra-Orthodox religious students while walking around Jerusalem's Old City.

Over the past three years, 17 Christian sites in the Holy Land have been reported vandalised, apparently by militant extremist groups close to the Jewish settler movement.

But Search for Common Ground, a nongovernmental group that monitors press reports of attacks on religious sites, says the number is actually higher, but Christian leaders choose not to report many attacks.

Sources:

Associated Press

Fides

Image: Fox News