NEWS

OTTAWA - A religious freedom expert warns the Parti Quebecois leader's proposed Charter of Secularism should the PQ win Quebec's provincial election Sept. 4 would violate the Charter and push many religious believers out of public service.

"Religions in Quebec have rights and one of these rights is not to be forced out of the public sphere by the beliefs of atheism and agnosticism dominating the public," said Iain Benson, a constitutional lawyer and international religious freedom expert.

Benson said he was "startled" by PQ Leader Pauline Marois' proposed Charter of Secularism that would prohibit government employees from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs, kirpans (ceremonial daggers required by baptized Sikhs), turbans and kippahs (or yarmulke, the skullcap worn by Jewish men). It would allow the wearing of an unobtrusive crucifix. Marois' Charter later clarified the crucifix in the National Assembly could also remain because it is part of Quebec's heritage, explaining moves towards ensuring state neutrality do not mean Quebeckers have to deny who they are.

"It would mean that only those who do not have an orthodox traditional view of their religious tradition could work in a public sphere setting while maintaining their beliefs about religious garb and that doesn't seem fair," Benson said. "We just need to get over the secularist prejudice that only religious people believe things. Everyone is a believer and not wearing religious symbols is an indication what one does not believe as much as wearing them indicates what one does."

Marois is not alone in her support for the crucifix or other Christian symbols as a nod to Quebec's past. Other leaders also chimed in to support it, including Liberal Leader and Premier Jean Charest.

Previously the Quebec National Assembly voted unanimously to keep the crucifix over the Speaker's chair despite recommendations it be removed by the Bouchard-Taylor Commission that investigated religious accommodation in the province.

Quebec's Catholic bishops will not be weighing in on the election, if at all, until later in September. The Quebec bishops have the matter on the agenda for their upcoming meeting, said a spokesman for the Assembly of Catholic Bishop of Quebec and no statement will be coming out before then. Assembly president Archbishop Paul-Andre Fournier has issued a pastoral letter urging Catholics to exercise their right to vote and to reflect seriously on the issues in light of Gospel values.

"The Catholic bishops have a difficult time in Quebec owing to historical over-reach by certain Catholics in the past when the Church was so dominant," said Benson. "This has left a very deep and lingering resentment in that province."

Benson urged religious leaders of all faiths, however, to be more vocal in defense of religious freedom and critical of secularism as "an anti-religious ideology."

"Quebec seems confused about the fact that the better understanding of 'secular' or 'public' is that it is or ought to be inclusive of all citizens, religious or non-religious," he said.

Benson said this confusion over definitions means that the anti-religious secularism comes up in the middle of the confusion and takes over.

History has shown iconoclasts have always tried to tear down the religious relics of previous eras, and the importance to cultures of various symbols will come and go, he said.

"The attempt by contemporary secularists in Quebec to keep religious icons emptied of their significance may be seen for what it is — a vain attempt to believe the crucifix empty of its deeper meanings just because they themselves don't believe them," he said.

Benson, who divides his time between France and Canada, notes Quebec seems to be following the policy of laicism in France where religious symbols are banned from the public service.

He does support bans on partial or full face-coverings for those dealing with the public or receiving public services.

"Where we are involved in working in the public sphere I believe all citizens have a right to see the face of other citizens," he said. "They don't have the right to demand that a person remove a turban or headscarf or yarmulke or cross but they can demand that they can see who they are dealing with."

WASHINGTON - The shooter brought 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches and a 9mm pistol with him to the Family Research Council headquarters in Washington Aug. 15.

According to an affidavit released by the FBI the next day, the gunman said, "I don't like your politics," just before he opened fire.

After a non-fatal shooting of one guard, the gunman, later identified as Floyd Lee Corkins, was subdued.

Corkins, 28, was charged Aug. 16 with assault with intent to kill while armed. He also is charged with the federal offense of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition. Corkins is from Herndon, Va., a Washington suburb. If found guilty on those charges, he could face a maximum of 40 years of imprisonment. He is being held in jail without bond.

Tony Perkins, CEO of the Family Research Council, said in a statement that "reckless language" created an atmosphere of violence. He referred to the Southern Poverty Law Centre's labelling of his organization as a hate group because of its opposition to same-sex marriage.

Founded in 1983, the Family Research Council advocates for public policy "that values human life and upholds the institutions of marriage and the family." Its motto is "Advancing Faith, Family and Freedom."

Perkins also shared his gratitude for 25 gay rights groups who had released a statement through the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The GLAAD statement said, "Regardless of what emerges as the reason for this shooting, we utterly reject and condemn such violence."

Chick-fil-A has recently gone from being an innocuous sandwich shop to a political lightning rod after its chief operating officer, Dan Cathy, talked about his opposition to same-sex marriage. Chick-fil-A is a donor to the Family Research Council.

The Southern fast-food chain has just one location in Washington, in The Catholic University of America's student union. It has been closed for the summer and will reopen Aug. 27 when the new school year begins.

A spokesman for the university, Victor Nakas, told Catholic News Service that the school would increase security measures.

"We have professional staff available 24/7. We'll be giving our food court more visibility," said Nakas. He noted the school does not expect any incidents but would increase patrols to their student center regardless.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - South Africa's bishops condemned the killings at a platinum mine in Marikana and called for a judicial inquiry into the circumstances that led to the violence.

Thirty-four people died and 78 were injured Aug. 16 when police opened fire on striking miners who, armed with machetes and homemade spears, were gathered on a rocky outcrop at the mine, 100 km northwest of Johannesburg. Another 10 people, including two policemen, had already been killed in violence at the mine since the start of an illegal strike Aug. 10.

"The senseless loss of life, especially through wanton violence, is always a tragedy and needs to be condemned in the strongest terms," the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference said in a statement.

"There are a lot of questions and not many answers," Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg said in a telephone interview. The mine is located in his diocese.

He and other Church leaders were aware of the standoff between two trade unions over recognition agreements at the mine and "hoped that it would be resolved in the negotiations during the week," Dowling said. The miners were also demanding higher wages.

The actions of the trade unions, the London-based Lonmin mining company and the police "need to be investigated" by an inquiry that also looks at "the living and working conditions at this mining operation," the bishops said.

"We offer to assist in the trauma counselling and community healing that will be necessary for this community and the broader South African community," the bishops said.

"We cannot allow this violence to escalate and become a normal part of our society.

"There are effective mechanisms available for facilitating and brokering amicable settlements to disputes of whatever nature, and we encourage all the parties concerned in this tragic situation to commit to acquiring these skills to ensure that similar unfortunate incidences do not occur again," they said.

Dowling said that often South Africa's industrial disputes turn violent, which "indicates deep frustration and anger."

"Terrible poverty and high levels of unemployment" in his diocese "are the cause of much tension," he said.

The secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches, the Rev. Mautji Pataki, said that he and the organization's president, Anglican Bishop Johannes Seoka of Pretoria, found workers and management at the mine "willing to engage one another, provided the level of hostility is reduced to allow peaceful interaction and resolution."

A delegation from the council, of which the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference is a member, visited the mine Aug. 17 and said in a statement afterward that the council would "seek to help to create an atmosphere conducive to negotiation."

The council called on the police "to exercise restraint in the use of force as they seek to maintain law and order." It said it is "only through meaningful and peaceful dialogue that all parties affected by this conflict can find a solution."

South African President Jacob Zuma cut short a visit to a regional summit in neighbouring Mozambique to visit the mine.

In a front-page editorial Aug. 17, the Sowetan newspaper said that in South Africa, 18 years after the end of apartheid, "the value of human life, especially that of the African, continues to be meaningless." Africans "are pitted against each other over who is the rightful representative of workers. They are also fighting for a bigger slice of the mineral wealth of their own country. In the end the war claims the very poor African — again," the newspaper said.

South Africa is home to 80 per cent of the world's known reserves of platinum. Rising power and labour costs and a steep decline this year in platinum prices have left many mines struggling to stay afloat, according to Reuters, the British news agency.

King’s University College in London, Ont., has made a conscious effort to go green — and even the birds have noticed.

The Catholic college has incorporated the environment into its mandate and implemented many green initiatives, which range from solar panels to a volunteer “Green team” that organizes campus cleanups and tree planting.

But being a bird sanctuary? That wasn’t planned.

The large chimney attached to the Wemple Building at King’s is home to some 300 swifts every August and September, said King’s principal David Sylvester. Far from being a nuisance, Sylvester said the small, robin-sized birds have become a “beautiful aspect of the King’s campus.”

“On any given night in the summer here you can see the swifts returning to the chimney,” Sylvester said. “It’s like smoke coming in and out.”

That number has now grown. Three at-risk chimney swift birds, who have been in constant care since mid-July, were released into the wild at King’s Aug. 15. The birds were roosting in a chimney in a home in Aylmer, Ont., when their home fell into a furnace pipe. Swift Care Ontario, a London-based, newly certified wildlife rehabilitation charity, nursed them back to health by providing hourly feedings, vitamin and mineral supplements and housing in an artificial chimney. By Aug. 15, they were ready to go.

Debbie Lefebre, co-founder of Swift Care Ontario, said while there’s bound to be population loss with the release of swifts, many do survive — and each life matters.

“If we can save even one or two of them, put back into the wild population, that’s a bonus,” Lefebre said. “Every creature deserves to have its place in the web (of life).”

The number of swifts that flock to King’s each summer may be increasing, but the overall population of these birds has decreased by more than 95 per cent in the last 40 years. Luckily, there are not three more swifts being added to that statistic.

Sylvester said King’s being a home for so many swifts — and the location of the release of these now-healthy ones — suits King’s mission.

“It fits perfectly within our whole stewardship of the environment and our call as a Catholic college, (our) relationship to creation and the environment,” he said.

“It’s not like we made a conscious decision (to house them). They chose us. I would say we're lucky that the swifts chose us and we’ve just kept up our part of the bargain.”

DUBLIN - A Carmelite nun said the armed insurrection in Syria is "producing a totalitarianism that is worse" than that of Bashar Assad's regime.

Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross, superior of the community at the monastery of St. James the Mutilated in Qara, Syria, also appealed to the international community to stop supporting violent militias linked to al-Qaida and other extremist groups guilty of atrocities against innocent Syrian civilians.

"We know now that those people are not fighting for freedom, they are fighting for their values, and those values are not even those of moderate Islam, they are fundamentalist," the Lebanese-born nun said.

"What has really scandalized us and leaves us in distress is that the Western world seems to be encouraging this rise of sectarian violence just to topple the (Assad) regime."

Mother Agnes Mariam, spokeswoman for the Catholic Media Centre of the Melkite Catholic archdiocese of Homs, said the insurgents were targeting religious minorities and executing moderate Sunnis such as journalists, researchers, doctors and engineers to pressure their families and communities into supporting an Islamist state. She claimed they were "destroying the delicate religious and ethnic balance" in Syria.

"You don't know when it will be your turn to be considered a collaborator," she explained of the arbitrary abductions, beheadings and killings being carried out as part of a campaign of terror by the insurgents against those they claim are working for the Assad regime. "It is a life of fear and insecurity."

She described the international community's public utterances in support of peace as "paradoxical" in view of the financial support recently pledged by Britain and the United States to the insurgents, whom she warned are "paralysing civilian life." The Sunni Muslim rebels are also backed by Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

"This money will be used for weapons which will increase the violence," Mother Agnes Mariam told Catholic News Service in Dublin in mid-August after a meeting with the papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown, and with representatives of the Irish bishops' justice and peace council.

On Aug. 15, a panel of UN experts based in Geneva concluded that government forces and pro-government militias as well as armed insurgents had committed war crimes in the Syrian conflict between Feb. 15 and July 20. However, only the panel's chairman was allowed to enter Syria to conduct interviews; other panelists were denied access.

In late July, the UN said an estimated 2.5 million Syrians have been injured, displaced or face problems securing food or basic necessities since the uprising — now deemed a civil war by the Red Cross — began in March 2011. Activists estimate 20,000-28,000 people have died in the conflict.

Mother Agnes Mariam said a prelate in Aleppo told her that although the city "did not really enter in the revolution demonstrations, as the majority of the city's population wanted to stay neutral," the city had been "invaded by thousands of rebels, most of whom are not Syrian," and that they were "forcing people to either collaborate with them or killing them."

"My appeal is for the civilian population," Mother Agnes Mariam said. "This is not the way to bring freedom or democracy to a country which has been under a yoke of totalitarianism for 50 years."

She said that, in Homs, she had witnessed "terrible things."

"I have seen hundreds of corpses of civilians who were shot, cut in pieces — just because they were civilians going to their work," she said.

Likening Homs to Stalingrad, Russia, or Dresden, Germany, after the Second World War, she said ancient Catholic, Orthodox and Presbyterian churches had been desecrated and the conflict had caused 130,000 Christians to flee the area.

"The only solution is for a complete ceasefire and dialogue from within Syria and for all factions to enter into a movement of reconciliation and of dialogue," she suggested. "We want first of all to stop violence."

She also urged support for an alternative solution to the violence.

"Mussalaha, which in Arabic means reconciliation, is a community-based non-violent initiative which has emerged from within civil society. Religious, family and ethnic leaders have been meeting to promote peace and reconciliation within Syrian society. It is an alternative to the violence of the insurrection or international military intervention," she said.

The Church-backed initiative emerged in June in Homs following the attendance of representatives of various religions at a meeting that resulted in a number of joint declarations on building peace and mutual respect in Syria.

Born in Lebanon of a Lebanese mother and a Palestinian father, Mother Agnes Mariam lived through the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990. She joined the Carmelites in 1971, and in 1994 she established a new monastic foundation in the sixth-century monastery of St. James the Mutilated in Qara.

One of Canada's most eminent theologians and one of the greatest Catholic experts in ecumenism has died.

Margaret O’Gara, Professor of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College, entered the realm of eternal life on Thursday, August 16, at age 65. She had suffered from cancer for two years.

In 37 years of work as a theologian O'Gara was able to foster dialogue among Christians for the sake of overcoming divisions between the churches. Besides her teaching, research, writing, and extensive public lecturing, she was a member of official ecumenical dialogues in Canada, the United States, and at the international level. She served terms as president of both the North American Academy of Ecumenists and the Catholic Theological Society of America.

O'Gara's effectiveness came from a combination of her scholarly rigor, exceptional ability to listen sympathetically, uncommon energy, and contagious delight at the growth of mutual understanding and friendship. The same traits marked her strong personal relationships with her students and colleagues, the members of her extended family, and her many longstanding friends. The fundamental driving force of her life was her deep and abiding Christian faith.

Visitation at Rosar-Morrison Funeral Home, 467 Sherbourne Street, on Wednesday, August 22, from 2:00 to 9:00 p.m., with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m. Funeral mass at St. Basil’s Church on Thursday, August 23, at 10:30 a.m. Burial in Breckenridge, Minnesota.

HANOI, Vietnam - Government authorities from a district in Vietnam's Central Highlands forced ethnic villagers to remove Catholic pictures and items from their chapel, and authorities replaced them with images of the late communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

A Church source told the Asian church news agency UCA News that government authorities from Kon Thuc hamlet, led by district security officials, visited the Catholics Aug. 12 after Mass and asked them to remove a cross and Marian image from the chapel. The source said authorities threatened to imprison the lay leader if Catholics from the leper village of Dak Pnan did not comply.

Villagers had to carry the cross, Marian picture, altar and tabernacle to the lay leader's house, the source told UCA News.

Authorities then put two pictures of Ho Chi Minh in the places where the cross and Marian picture had been.

On Aug. 13, authorities dismantled the bell of the chapel after local Catholics refused to do it. The bell was also taken to the lay leader's house.

One lay leader said authorities told parishioners that the building was to be used "for village activities, not for worship."

Local Catholics said the building, sponsored by a France-based charitable organization, was built in 1999 for villagers, most of them ethnic Bahnar Catholics, to worship and hold their common activities.

Since 2007, priests from other places started to visit weekly and provide pastoral services for villagers at the building, which has been used only for worship.

On Aug. 13, Bishop Michel Hoang Duc Oanh of Kon Tum visited local villagers and encouraged them to live out their faith bravely and work for the common good. He has not made any public response to the events.

ANTAKYA, Turkey - A spokesman for Egypt's bishops gave a cautious welcome to President Mohammed Morsi's reshuffling of top military officials.

Fr. Rafic Grieche, spokesman for the Egyptian bishops' conference, told Catholic News Service that Morsi's decisions were "positive in the sense of politics, but we have to see how he uses these new powers."

"In his first month of office, we still haven't seen anything positive. He did not implement any law that would please Christians," said Grieche, referring to long-standing demands to reform laws regarding personal status and the right to build churches.

After President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February 2011, an Egyptian military council assumed broad powers, and Morsi was not the military's favoured candidate in presidential elections earlier this year.

On Aug. 12, Morsi deposed two top generals and cancelled a constitutional decree issued by the military that had stripped the presidency of much of its powers — just before he took office June 30. Morsi replaced that decree with one that gave him broad legislative and executive powers and seemingly brought an end to the military's 60-year dominance of Egyptian politics.

"In the time of Mubarak we couldn't say Christians were fully protected," said Grieche. He said that since the revolution began Jan. 25, 2011, there have been "several incidents between Copts and the military."

"Christians were not very happy with the army, either," he said.

Many Egyptian Christians blame the military for the killing of more than 25 Christian protesters in front of Cairo's state TV headquarters last October.

Grieche said Morsi's mid-August changes made little difference to worshippers at his Melkite Catholic Church of St. Cyril in the upscale Cairo neighbourhood of Heliopolis. The parishioners already were worried by the political gains of Islamist politicians they are convinced have long-term plans to transform Egyptian society.

The priest said many parishioners were "anxious," and several with the means to do so were moving to places like the Netherlands or the United States.

Youssef Sidhom, editor of Christian weekly newspaper Watani, admitted that there were serious concerns about Morsi's changes but added that the situation was more nuanced.

"The grave scenario (some believe) is that Morsi dealt a blow to the military in order to try and adopt his Islamist agenda," Sidhom told Catholic New Service.

But the president's retention of two key military leaders as advisers and his choice of replacements did not suggest a "drastic change" in terms of the makeup of the military, Sidhom added.

"Giving a civilian president full powers was remedying a sick situation. It was a step in Egypt's favour toward democracy," Sidhom said.

"It is true that in the absence of parliament, Morsi has more powers than he had, but this also means he may be forced to speed up elections. We might see these in three months if he is sensible and avoids further legal clashes," Sidhom added.

Half-a-million people stuck in evacuation centres while their Manila-area homes are underwater are getting a helping hand from Development and Peace.

The development arm of Canadian Catholics is sending $100,000 to help its Filipino partners – Caritas Philippines, Urban Poor Associates and the Centre for Environmental Concern – deal with Manila-area flooding. A month of unrelenting rain has displaced close to three million Filipinos. Caritas estimates 1.1 million flood refugees are staying with family or friends, but another 500,000 are in schools, government buildings and community centres.

Typhoon Saola began dumping heavy rain in the Philippines July 28. The typhoon was followed by seasonal monsoon rains. The government claims illegal settlements along creek beds have made the situation worse.

The flood crisis has sparked another round of debate about relocating slum dwellers in Manila. But for Caritas-Philippines and its National Secretariat for Social Action, the question is what to do right now.

As of Aug. 10 the Caritas emergency fund known as Alay Kapwa Fund stood at just 2.4 million pesos, or $56,000.

"Aside from launching local appeal to the dioceses, NASSA Caritas-Philippines is also tapping international partners to join us in conducting the emergency response," said a NASSA Caritas-Philippines report.

Toronto's sizable Filipino community is also coming together to help with a fundraiser Saturday, Aug. 17 at Our Lady of the Assumption, 2565 Bathurst St. 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The parish is using its patronal feast to collect non-perishable food, over-the-counter medicine and money. Contributions will go directly to Caritas Philippines.

TORONTO - Catholic Cemeteries' held its 25th Annual Mass for the Faithful Departed Aug. 15 at seven locations throughout the archdiocese of Toronto, offering those who've lost loved ones a chance to grieve together.

"Essentially what we are doing is offering a sense of comfort to those who've experienced a loss," said Amy Profenna, manager, marketing and public relations for Catholic Cemeteries — Archdiocese of Toronto. "Coming together as a group at the cemetery and praying for your deceased loved one at the place of burial is very significant for a number of people."

On average about 12,000 to 14,000 people attend this special Mass — held each year around the Feast of the Assumption — seeking the consoling atmosphere. Traditionally the services are celebrated in selected cemeteries but fears of rain forced this year's services indoors at nearby churches.

While the formal components — the liturgy, hymns and sacraments — resemble a standard Mass, it is the unified reasoning for attending which makes the service unique, said Profenna.

"(Families) are essentially finding a place where they are accepted in their pain within their abasement because everyone else there has also experienced a loss," said Profenna. "They can come and safely pray and work at that question of why did my loved one die."

That's why Alda Bassani attended the evening Mass at St. Monica's Church, site of the Mass relocated from Mount Hope Cemetery.

"It's wonderful that they bring us all together to pray for our loved ones," said Bassani, principal at Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School. "It's part of the grieving process to pray and to be with others that have been through the same thing."

Earlier this year Bassani lost her father, Joao Machado, to kidney disease. He was 86 at the time of his death. Knowing the inevitable had been staring him in the face for years, Bassani's father had tied up almost all the loose ends in his life before passing.

"He wanted to live one more year in order to see my son graduate from Harvard University," said Bassani, as her eyes grew increasing moist.  

Although her son Jonathan, who lives in New York State, couldn't attend, he contacted Bassani before the service through Blackberry Messenger saying he would be there in thought and prayer.  

Following the Mass, Bassani said the evening brought her closer to her father, who she described as embodying a joy of living and a zest for life.

"It made me feel closure to my dad ... because of the singing, because my dad loved to sing," she said. "It was very helpful and I'll be back next year hopefully, if I'm alive and well."

Fr.  Brian Clough celebrated the Mass at St. Monica's while Cardinal Thomas Collins concelebrated the Eucharist at Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill, where the main service was held.