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ACCEPT
The Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanaka are still fresh on the minds of Catholic priests who knew the terror targets well. “There were so many calls [on my phone] from Sri Lanka, from my family. I immediately thought, ‘oh, this is not good,” said Father Nalaka Silva, coordinator of the Sri Lankan Catholic Community of New York and New Jersey.
The horrific news still left him emotional days later. “I was shocked. I’m in a lot of pain because we have the connection with our people where we have their Masses. It’s so painful,” Father Nalaka said tearfully.
Another priest from Sri Lanka understood the pain. Father Vasanthakumar Sebamalai, known as Father Vasan Kumar, ministers to Catholics at Our Lady of Solace Church in the Bronx.
Father Vasan was once assigned to Sri Lanka’s Saint Anthony Shrine and Saint Sebastian — two of the bomb-targeted churches. “My heart is breaking. My heart is burning. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t do anything,” said Father Vasan. His family is safe, but knew parishioners who died when the bombs exploded; “Innocent people died. They didn’t know what to do. They just went for the Mass to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
The Bronx priest called them martyrs — those who die for their faith. Among them were children. “Young children… they don’t know of their actual innocence. They are going to be the angels,” said Father Vasan.
Father Nalaka knows the Saint Anthony Shrine, too. He worked at the church for four years. His family is also safe. Father Nalaka visited his homeland in January and is worried about his parishioners; “As a Catholic priest, wherever we go — even just for one day — we have our special connection.”
As Christians continue to bury their loved ones in Sri Lanka, Father Nalaka called for peace; “We are Christians; and we believe in love more than anything else. So, it is time to be patient.” Love and patience — two virtues the local priests hoped will stem the deadly violence in their homeland.
Joe Biden is running for President. The Democrat joins at least 19 other candidates trying to win the party’s nomination. Biden made it official this morning with a video that didn’t talk about policy, instead in it, he ripped into President Trump.
He said, “I believe history will look back on four years of this President and all he embraces as an abhorrent moment in time but if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are and I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”
The 76-year old former Vice President under Barack Obama will likely present himself as a middle-of-the road, levelheaded leader for a country deeply divided by politics.
Biden devoted a large portion of his announcement video to criticizing President Trump for his reaction to racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia back in 2017 when a white supremacist plowed his car into a woman, leading to her death.
In the video he said, “And that’s when we heard the words from the President of the United States that stunned the world and shocked the conscious of this nation he said there were quote, ‘some very fine people on both sides,’ very fine people on both sides?”
Trump didn’t respond to those remarks but did tweet this morning, labeling Biden “Sleepy Joe.”
This is Biden’s third attempt to capture the White House. He failed in 1988 and 2008. If he were to win now, he’d become only the second Catholic, after John F. Kennedy, to be President.
Biden has publicly proclaimed his faith on occasion. He has also been publicly opposed some of the Church’s most fundamental teachings, especially regarding the sanctity of life.
While running for Vice President back in 2012, he said, “I accept my church’s position that life begins at conception. That’s the church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life. But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews. I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people that women can’t control their body.”
Although Biden was the number two man in the Obama Administration, the former President hasn’t endorsed him and Biden claimed he asked Obama not to.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, another Catholic politician who supports abortion, is singing Biden’s praises.
Governor Cuomo said, “He has the background. I worked with him for years. He has the talent. I think he has the personality for the moment and I think he can unify the Democratic Party.”
Most public opinion polls put Biden as the front-runner in the very large field.
Chilean Bishop Celestino Aos Braco of Copiapo, the new apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Santiago, speaks to journalists outside the Vatican April 8. (Photo Catholic News Service/Junno Arocho Esteves)
ROME (Crux) – Though far away from the center of the action in Rome, Bishop Celestino Aos, the temporary head of the embattled Archdiocese of Santiago, Chile, has a tough job. He’s replacing a cardinal being investigated for cover-up of clerical sexual abuse, whose predecessor is also being questioned by local prosecutors.
During the Easter season, Bishop Aos might have made his own job even harder when on Holy Thursday during the Chrism Mass he was filmed denying communion to at least two faithful who were kneeling down.
Crux received two different videos showing Bishop Aos refusing the sacrament to kneelers in a celebration that made several Mass-goers uncomfortable from the beginning. The Chrism Mass is one of the most solemn liturgies of the year, and is often the largest annual gathering of clergy and faithful held in most dioceses. Among other things, it’s during this liturgy that the oils that will be used for various sacraments throughout the year are blessed.
The entrance procession included Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, who’s being investigated by civil authorities for cover-up and who’s been named in a complaint for failing to report a rape of an adult man that allegedly took place in Santiago’s cathedral. This led to several priests walking out of the service, with Crux identifying at least two.
One of those priests forwarded the videos shown below, taken by a local TV network.
Bishop Aos’s decision Thursday to deny Communion to some of the faithful and to allow Cardinal Ezzati to participate in the procession at the beginning of the Chrism Mass enraged many in Chile.
Crux requested comments from the Archdiocese regarding the videos and Bishop Aos’s attitude toward the reception of communion, but did not receive an immediate response.
The Roman missal, the official set of norms for celebration of the Mass, establishes that Catholics who receive Holy Communion can do so either standing or kneeling. The Vatican-approved Missal for Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay clearly states that both options are possible, unless a bishops’ conference decrees differently, something the Chilean conference hasn’t done.
As a matter of fact, the Chilean guidelines advise that faithful who don’t kneel make another sign of reverence before receiving Communion.
The English version of the Missal adapted for the United States says that the norm for reception of Communion in the U.S. is standing, but no one should be denied the sacrament because they kneel.
“Rather, such instances should be addressed pastorally, by providing the faithful with proper catechesis on the reasons for this norm,” the American guidelines state.
Pope Francis has said that both options are valid, according to “the ecclesial practice.”
Speaking at a general audience on a Wednesday last year reflecting on the Mass, the Argentine pontiff said: “the faithful approach the Eucharist normally in a processional form, as we have said, and, standing with devotion or kneeling, as established by the Episcopal Conference, receive the sacrament in the mouth or, where permitted, in the hand, as preferred.”
Both Cardinal Ezzati and his predecessor, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz were once powerful and influential within the Chilean Church, with Cardinal Errazuriz, 85, even being a member of the pope’s council of cardinals that advises him on the reform of the Catholic Church’s government.
Today, Chilean lawmakers are trying to take Cardinal Ezzati’s Chilean citizenship away. Born in Italy, in 2006 Chile granted him citizenship as a recognition for the “fruitful and valuable work” he’d done in the country.
Bishop Aos, a member of the Capuchin order, was tapped by Francis to be the apostolic administrator of Santiago on March 23.
Since taking office, Bishop Aos has reached out to clerical abuse survivors as well as to a group of priests who suffered the sexual abuses and the abuses of power of former priests Fernando Karadima, Chile’s most infamous pedophile cleric. He’s come to Rome to meet with Pope Francis and the heads of various Vatican offices. He’s met with those who are in the outskirts of society and with Chilean President Sebastian Piñera.
Regarding Ezzati’s participation in the Mass, Bishop Aos told Chilean journalists that “the Mass is always a liturgical act, a reunion in front of the altar of the Lord and we’re there to celebrate what the Lord sent us to celebrate, and he sent all of us, and we all begin the Eucharist saying ‘I have sin in one way or the other’.”
Father Andrew Kim, was born in Korea to a father who was a Confucianist and a mother who was a Buddhist, talks with Ed Wilkinson about coming to America and embracing Christianity.
On the newscast: The latest on the high alert in Sri Lanka. Fears of new attacks in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings targeting Catholic churches; The Catholic community is suffering in pain after the terrorism. A powerful report from the scene; In the wake of the violence, Pope Francis is preaching forgiveness at the Vatican; And there are new questions tonight over the early actions in Notre Dame inferno.
Today’s top news from the Catholic perspective anchored by Liz Faublas. Currents News airs Monday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET on NET-TV (netny.tv)
The Catholic world was shaken when a fire consumed Notre Dame Cathedral, sending flames and smoke far into the air.
For more than 20 years, Elizabeth Lev has worked as an art historian at the Vatican. She knows exactly what the destruction of this cathedral means.
“I think there’s something really quite remarkable about Notre Dame. Many people sort of took it for granted. Mostly what Notre Dame is, it’s a collective. It’s as Pope Francis said, it’s a historical jewel of a collective memory. It is a collective memory of faith,” said Lev.
She expressed that this collective group embraced good and bad days, strikes, riots, the French Revolution, secularism and even neglect – all the while standing tall.
“When Christian France, the eldest daughter of the Church, the first nation, to become a Christian, they built this amazing church on this island, dedicating their geographical center to the Mother of God.” Everybody helped. Everything was part, everybody was part of this. This is an expression of the people of the love of God,” added Lev.
French President, Emmanuel Macron, has made an appeal. He’s asking for help to rebuild this cathedral in five years. Worldwide responses and more than $800 million in donations have ensued.
“They rally around. Some because it’s a cultural artifact; some on their knees praying; some standing and singing. But you know what we’re looking at? We’re looking at a people gather together and that’s an ecclesial. So, it’s still doing its job bringing people together,” said Lev.
(Crux) – In response to Easter bombings in Sri Lanka that left over 320 dead, the Knights of Columbus have pledged support to the diocese of Colombo to help rebuild the local Christian community.
Sunday’s terrorist attacks, which specifically targeted Christians as they attended Easter Mass, and Westerners staying in popular hotels, were carried out by the Islamic State. The government received warnings of possible attacks ten days before they were carried out, but failed to act.
“The Knights of Columbus stands in solidarity with our Christian brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka during this time of trial. Terrorist attacks like those on Easter Sunday are the acts of those who reject the sanctity of life, human rights and religious freedom,” said CEO Carl Anderson in a statement.
On Tuesday, some of the first funeral Masses of the victims were already underway, some of whom had just recently received their first communion.
“Globally, it is well documented that Christians are the most persecuted religious group today. Now is the time for every country to take concrete steps to protect their minority populations, including Christians, and to stop this persecution and slaughter,” said Anderson.
“Every country should protect its religious minorities, and freedom-loving countries must demand nothing less of their neighbors. Talk of human rights and religious freedom rings hollow when people are killed for nothing more than worshipping the one who taught us to love one another,” he continued.
The financial support of $100,000 from the Knights has been sent to Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo, who has criticized the Sri Lankan government for failing to heed warnings of the attack.
“I condemn to the utmost of my capacity this act that has caused so much death and suffering to the people,” said Ranjith.
Pope Francis passed by quickly in the PopeMobile to greet pilgrims. He blessed those present and tenderly embraced some of them.
It was likely the largest general audience of the year. During his catechesis, the Pope spoke about forgiveness. He recalled that the starting point is to always remember to give thanks for what one has received.
The Holy Father said just as God forgives everyone, so should everybody follow His example and forgive one another.
“When I was in another diocese, a priest told me in anguish that he went to give the last sacraments to an old woman. The poor lady was about to die and could not speak much. He asked her ‘do you repent from all your sins?’ The lady said, ‘yes.’ He then asked her ‘do you forgive others?’ but the lady, about to die, said ‘no.’ The priest was distressed. If you do not forgive, God will not forgive you,” said The Holy Father.
Francis explained that Jesus established a new commandment. He abolished the law “eye for an eye” which only feeds vengeance.
“Jesus introduces into human relationships the power of forgiveness. In life, not everything is resolved with justice. No. Evil knows how to carry out vengeance and if it is not interrupted it threatens to spread and suffocate the whole world,” said Francis.
Pope Francis concluded his audience with a piece of advice: to overcome revenge one must love more than one should in justice.
As the death toll rises in Sri Lanka there is unspeakable grief and a community filled with sorrow. The funerals are continuing and the mourners are burying their dead, but the country remains on high alert. Sri Lankans everywhere are on edge and in fear of more bombers on the run.
Senior Sri Lankan intelligence officials are now revealing that the terror group National Tawheed Jamath was planning a second wave of attacks. The threat of more attacks is still very real.
“They are still looking out at who else is involved because inquiries lead to other names,” said Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
There are police and soldiers posted around the country.
Clergy members are urging their communities to remain peaceful and calm, but anger is boiling over as the devastated country is learning more about security lapses and mishandled information.
Sri Lankan leaders are now calling for top officials to step down amid the security failures. The United States also acknowledged the ongoing terror threat.
“This isn’t over. There are likely plotters still out there. We are doing everything we can to support the government of Sri Lanka efforts to find all of the culprits and collaborators in this,” said U.N. Ambassador to Sri Lanka. Alaina Teplitz.
India is said to have relayed three specific warnings, one as early as April 4. The second came just a day before the attacks, and the last came an hour before the first explosions rocked the island nation.
The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcom Ranjith, said in an interview with Radio Canada that had been warned about the attacks, he would have canceled Sunday Masses. Adding, “I would have cancelled even the Holy Week itself.”
ISIS claimed responsibility for the coordinated bombings, but offered no proof.
Sri Lanka’s Defense Minister said information points to the bombers acting in retaliation to the attacks at two mosques in Christchurch. New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Adern, has been unable to officially confirm those links.
“I have seen reports of those statements. We haven’t received anything officially nor have we received any intelligence reports that corroborate what has been said in Sri Lanka,” said Adern.
As Sri Lanka remains on alert after the Easter Sunday bombings, Punitha Joseph, a Catholic in Queens, is worried about her family still living there; “They cannot go outside. They are, kind of, locked inside their houses because they are so afraid to go outside.” Joseph, a parishioner at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, prayed for her loved ones and their protection.
Her sister’s son-in-law runs a school in Sri Lanka. On Sunday, his young students were in one of the terror-targeted churches when the bombs exploded. “Their bodies were scattered — like, body parts they found. They are still trying to identify the bodies, so they don’t know how many of [the students] died,” said Joseph.
Father Patrick Longalong, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, celebrated a special Mass on Monday, April 22nd to memorialize the victims and support their families living there. “My hope is that the Mass would give them some strength and consolation,” said Father Longalong. The Queens priest is concerned that the atrocity on Easter Sunday will lead to more violence; “One of my fears is that this will start a cycle of revenge between the Christian and the Muslim communities, which is why we’re turning to God for strength and clarity and peace.” “You go to church to find peace and rest,” said Joseph; “But if they bomb the churches, where do we go? That is my question.”
