– Tej Francis
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
SRI LANKA EASTER ATTACKS DRAW INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION, PRAYER FOR VICTIMS
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(CNA) Religious and civil leaders have responded with condolences, prayer, and calls for justice after several explosions at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka killed more than 200 people and injured hundreds more on Easter Sunday. Calling it “a very, very sad day for all of us,” Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, canceled all remaining Easter Masses for the day in the Colombo district. He expressed his “deepest sorrow and sympathy to all those innocent families that have lost someone, and also to those who have been injured and rendered destitute,” Vatican News reported.
At the conclusion of his Urbi et Orbi address on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis said the violence in Sri Lanka has brought “grief and sorrow” to the people there. “I wish to express my affectionate closeness to the Christian community, struck while it was gathered in prayer, and to all the victims of such cruel violence,” he said. “I entrust to the Lord all those who have tragically perished,” he said, adding his prayers for those who are injured and suffering from the attacks.
In a post on Twitter, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the attacks “in the strongest terms.” “These attacks demonstrate the brutal nature of terrorists whose sole aim is to threaten peace & security,” he said. “We offer our deepest condolences and stand with the government & people of #SriLanka.” A spokesperson for UN Secretary General António Guterres voiced outrage at the attacks and calls for justice for perpetrators.
MANIKGANJ, BANGLADESH
UTHOLI: FIVE NEW BAPTISMS, WITH LIVES AT RISK
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(AsiaNews) In the Archdiocese of Dhaka, Catholics welcomed into their community five converts who were baptized on Easter night at the church in Utholi (pictured), Manikganj district. For security reasons, it is not possible to reveal their names but all five were full of joy for welcoming Jesus into their hearts. “I am very happy, because from now I can pray to the true God, who died for us on the cross,” a 23-year-old woman said. Like the others who were baptized, she has had to overcome many obstacles to become a Christian and now risks being killed by radical Muslims.
The parish priest Fr Thomas Corraya told AsiaNews that “the first seed of Christianity in Utholi was planted by the Bangladesh Baptist Fellowship (BBF). This Protestant church operated in the area between 1988 and 1997. When the Baptists left, the priests of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) arrived,” he said. “The latter began to preach God’s message with a sincere heart and worked here until 2015. Today there are about 250 good Catholics, all converts, and the leaders of this young community are local priests and nuns.”
Still, many dangers hang over converts in Utholi. “Last November,” Fr Thomas explained, “we baptized 12 former Muslims. Since then they have received death threats. Some of the parishioners come to church wearing a burqa, so as to confound Islamic fundamentalists.” A young man who was baptized recently was the latest victim of violence. He was beaten and had to be hospitalized.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.,
COURT RULES AGAINST CATHOLIC FOSTER AGENCY IN PHILADELPHIA
(CNA) After a yearlong legal struggle, a federal appeals court has ruled that city contractors in Philadelphia must place foster children with same-sex couples, a ruling that threatens the future of the local Catholic archdiocese’s foster placement program. “We’re disappointed that the court decided to let the city place politics above the needs of kids and the rights of parents, but we will continue this fight,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at the legal group Becket, which is representing the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Catholic Social Services.
Becket noted that despite being hundreds of beds short of what is necessary to serve the children in the foster care system, the City of Philadelphia failed to renew the Catholic foster care agency’s contract. “The need to find those children homes is so dire that earlier this year the city put out an urgent call for 300 new families to become foster parents,” the institute wrote in an April 22 release.
“But shortly after this call for help, the city inexplicably prohibited Catholic Social Services from placing any more children with the families it has certified—solely because of the agency’s religious beliefs. There are dozens of families licensed to foster through Catholic Social Services who are willing to take in children, but because of the city’s actions, their beds have remained empty for close to a year.”
Catholic Social Services has never been the subject of discrimination complaints by same-sex couples. The agency says that it assists all children in need, regardless of a child’s race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. The U.S. Supreme Court in August 2018 declined to grant an injunction that would require the city to continue its foster-care placement with the agency during litigation over the matter.
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