– Tej Francis
Washington D.C.,
Bring down ‘Iron curtain’ of persecution, Religious Freedom Ministerial told
(CNA) U.S. leaders called for a worldwide “grassroots” movement to fight religious persecution at a global religious freedom gathering on Tuesday. The “iron curtain” of religious persecution must “come down now,” U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback stated on Tuesday at the opening of the State Department’s Second Annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. “Let this be the beginning of a global grassroots movement for religious freedom,” he said. The Ministerial, held in Washington, D.C. from July 15-19, features over 1,000 religious and civil society leaders from around the world, along with over 100 foreign delegations and leaders of non-governmental organizations. Over 20 survivors of religious persecution are also in attendance at the Ministerial, which will feature discussions of global religious persecution and on forming policies and partnerships to advance and promote religious freedom around the world.
Eighty percent of the world’s population lives in an area with religious restrictions, the State Department estimates. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday emphasized that freedom of religion is a fundamental, and public, right. “All people must be permitted to practice their faith openly” whether at home, in public, or at a house of worship, Pompeo stated in his remarks opening the Ministerial. The right to practice and live out one’s own religion is fundamental and is already found in a “common foundation,” Brownback said, in the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and “also in the constitutions of most countries.”
Washington D.C.,
Where hospices are at their worst, Christians have a mission
(CNA) In the wake of terrible conditions of negligence and abuse reported at some U.S. hospice facilities, several Catholic doctors are emphasizing the need for Christians to embrace a ministry of aiding hospice patients and their families.“How can anyone be other than shocked and saddened by the cases reported?” Dr. Barbara Golder, M.D., J.D. told CNA July 10. “It breaks my heart, and I suspect anyone who has a loved one in hospice or extended residential or skilled nursing care worries about these things. This report makes it clear such worries are not unreasonable.”The Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services on July 9 released two reports on U.S. hospice care, CNN reports. These reports said that more than 80% of end-of-life facilities had at least one deficiency. Over 300 facilities, about 18%, had serious problems that jeopardized patients’ health and safety, the reports said.
Golder, the editor-in-chief of the Catholic Medical Association’s official journal, the Linacre Quarterly, told CNA that such reports are designed to highlight problems which must be fixed immediately.“It’s also important to remember that there are excellent hospices that provide splendid care for their patients,” she said. The worst cases of negligence and abuse in the new reports included a dying man whose feeding tubes had maggots growing around it, and a case in which caregivers failed to treat a patient with Alzheimer’s disease to such an extent that his leg had to be amputated. In yet another case, those responsible for a hospice patient failed to recognize signs on her body of sexual assault. Hospice care in the U.S. received $17 billion in Medicare funds in 2017, serving over 1.5 million patients.
Massachusetts, U.S
Facebook labels St Augustine quote as ‘hate speech’
(Catholic Herald) A quote from St Augustine has apparently been banned from Facebook. Domenico Bettinelli, a pro-life activist from Massachusetts, said in a blog post that a passage by St Augustine from the Divine Office was taken down because it violated Facebook’s “Community Standards on hate speech”. The quote says: “Let us never assume that if we live good lives we will be without sin; our lives should be praised only when we continue to beg for pardon. But men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others. They seek to criticize, not to correct. Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others.”
In a post on Facebook, Bettinelli said the quote “is just a reformulation of Jesus’ own words from Matthew 7:3 “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” Is the Gospel hate speech by Facebook’s standards?” Bettinelli posted the quote after he saw that two priests had posted the excerpt from the Office of Readings and that it had been flagged by Facebook. They believed that an algorithm was flagging the content.
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