What’s
Going On in Asia?
Hong
Kong
“Gifts
from Angels” - Concern for the Economically
Exploited
The Hong Kong Catholic Commission for Labour
Affairs (HKCCLA) and the Justice and Peace Commission
of Hong Kong Catholic Diocese (HKJP) will join hands
in the activity “Gifts from Angels” to show
concern for the grassroots cleaners who are suffering
because of low wages.
On 15 December
2007, the 2 commissions together with 30 volunteers
will visit cleaners who live in Lower Wong Tai Sin
Estate, a public housing estate. These cleaners face
wage exploitation and barely earn enough to sustain
basic living. To express gratitude and respect to the
labourers in the festive season the commissions will
hand out plastic gloves, which can act as protective
gear in the cleaners’ daily work.
Sources: HKJP,
HKCCLA
HKJP
Commemorates “unofficial” Bishop
The suspicious death of Bishop John Han Dingxiang,
who has spent more than 20 years of his life in
prison, came as a surprise and rang the alarm of
religious freedom in China again. HKJP has organized
a memorial service and a signature campaign after his
death. The Commission stresses that there are still
many Catholics, especially religious priests, facing
persecution in mainland China.
HKJP organized a
Mass on 2 November, All Souls Day, to commemorate the
bishop of the underground Church who died on 9
September 2007 while in detention. Nearly 200 people
attended the liturgy at St. Bonaventure Church in
Hong Kong. A 20-minute video of Bishop Han, made
around Easter 2005, was screened. One layperson,
Mable Ng Yuet-mui observed that “Many people
would not know or believe such things (persecution)
happen, as they are clouded by China’s economic
prosperity…. The video gave me a real picture of
an unofficial bishop’s situation.”
The Commission has
also collected signatures to request the Chinese
authorities to explain the sudden death of Bishop Han
and to lift measures that violate religious freedom
and freedom of assembly. According to
L’Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican
daily, only hours after his death, Bishop Han’s
body was cremated and his ashes buried without any
religious rite. The faithful were not able to pay
their last respects and the bishop’s tomb was
under surveillance. In view of this, HKJP requests
the Chinese government to lift the surveillance at
the tomb, enabling his relatives and friends to pay
respects and; allow his close members to arrange
memorial service for the bishop as well as to choose
the bishop’s burial place.
According to the
United States based Cardinal Kung Foundation, Bishop
Han was confined to an apartment of a police unit for
2 years until September 2005, when he was secretly
moved to an unknown location until his death.
Sources: HKJP,
Sunday Examiner
Workshop on
Christian Management Ethics
On 2 December 2007, HKCCLA invited Christian
employers and Professor Dennis McCann, visiting
professor with Hong Kong Baptist University who has
rich experience in business ethics and religious
ethics, to share how business executives can balance
business growth and Christian faith.
The organizer hoped
to provide insight for Christian executives, who face
severe dilemma between company’s profit and
employees’ benefits: on one hand, the fierce
market competition seems to command “profit
above all”, yet the teaching of Jesus commands
the faithful to love one another.
Through case
studies and sharing, the workshop aimed to equip
Christian executives with applicable principles from
Catholic Social Teachings to face the challenges of
the business world.
Source: HKCCLA
India
Vatican’s
message to Hindus on the Feast of Diwali
Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue sent
a greeting to all Hindus of the world at their most
important feast, Diwali (feast of the light), calling
for urgent attention and priority of education of
believers of different religious traditions in
developing good relations.
The message reminds
both Hindu and Christian communities of the
importance of giving good formation to their
believers, first in knowing the full dimensions and
depths of their own religion, then, to encourage them
to know other believers. It also warned that
ignorance is the principal enemy in the life of
believers, thus the importance of maintaining good
relationship (building bonds) among different
religions through dialogue, nourished by regular
meetings and collaborative actions, as well as an
attitude of mutual respect, was also emphasized.
It also gives a
reminder that belief and freedom always goes
together, insisting that there can be no coercion in
religion: no one can be forced to believe and anyone
who wishes to believe can be prevented from doing so.
In the conclusion
and final greeting for the festival, it states the
Catholic Church’s willingness to collaborate
with the Hundu community to promote harmony in
society and peace in the world.
According to Indian
Monsignor Felix Machado, undersecretary of the
council for the past 14 years, this is the 13th
annual Vatican letter greeting Hindus for the 3-day
festival, which began this year on 9 November.
Msgr. Machado also
said the Vatican hopes that bishops and parish
priests in their respective dioceses and parishes in
India and other countries will share this letter of
good wishes to local Hindus as well as Christians. He
revealed that the Council has also sent the letter to
embassies of countries with sizeable Hindu
populations, such as India, Australia, Bangladesh,
Canada, Great Britain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan,
Singapore, Sri Lanka and USA.
Full Text of the
message is available at: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20071105_diwali_en.html
Sources: Sunday
Examiner, Documentation for Action Groups in Asia
(DAGA)
Cardinal
Oswald Gracias of Mumbai
Archbishop Oswald Gracias, 63, of the Archdiocese of
Mumbai, was appointed Cardinal by his Holiness Pope
Benedict XVI and formally installed at a ceremony on
24 November 2007 at the Vatican.
His Holiness
reminded the newly created cardinals to aspire only
in sharing of Christ passion, following the footsteps
of Jesus spending his whole life for others, and
emphasised that all actions should be in the spirit
of service, not of dominion.
Cardinal Gracias is
the fourth Cardinal of Mumbai and the tenth of India.
He is presently the President of the Conference of
Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) Latin Rite, the
Chairman of CBCI Commission for Social
Communications, as well as the President of Justice
and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Mumbai.
Sources:
AsiaNews, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India
(CBCI)
Activities
of the NCJPD
In the past few months, the National Commission for
Justice, Peace and Development (NCJPD) of the Cathlic
Bishops’ Conference of India has been busy in
organizing and conducting animation programmes at the
national, regional and local levels.
In July, the
Commission conducted Training of Trainers (TOT)
programme on the Rights Based Approach (RBA) for the
7 states in the North East Region, where situations
of conflicts are related to economic, social and
cultural rights, as well as civil and political
rights. There were 28 participants form various
dioceses and religious congregations from the region.
Another RBA training was held in Chennai in August
for the empowerment of women. Thrity-five
participants from the Daughters of Mary Immaculate
(DMI) and the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (MMI)
participated, were motivated by their experience to
use the RBA, and some volunteered to translate the
training manual into local languages for wider use.
Both these trainings were conducted by NCJPD
Executive Secretary Fr. Nithiya Sagayam and Advocacy
Officer/Hotline Extension Worker, Mr. Antony Arulraj,
as a follow-up of the previous RBA Trainings in 2004
and 2006 which were jointly organized by NCJPD, Asian
Center for the Progress of Peoples (ACPP) and Human
Rights Council of Australia (HRCA).
The Christians of
the Raigarh district have felt the adverse effect of
various factions and fundamentalist elements on
welfare of the poor and needy, as well as
people’s apathy towards the minority in the
State of Chhattisgarh. Thus, the Most Rev. Paul
Toppo, Bishop of Raigarh, invited Fr. Nithiya to give
a 2-day animation to priests, religious and laity of
the diocese on Peace-building initiatives in August.
Fr. Nithiya spoke on welfare of all (Sarvodaya)
through welfare of the least (Antyodaya) and on
conflict transformation. Others, such as police
commissioner and officials, deputy collector and
Muslim and Hindu leaders and journalists also spoke
on the duty of every citizen to work for welfare of
all. As a result of the workshop, an Inter-religious
Peace Committee was formed in the district.
Another important
involvement of the NCJPD was on Right to Food. Apart
from the Justice Sunday Message on “Freedom from
Hunger” and related activities, the Commission
also launched a nation-wide lobbying and campaigning
on Public Distribution System (PDS) and Below Poverty
Line (BPL) to raise public awareness of rights and
privileges over Fair Price Shops (FPS) and to give
special focus to vulnerable groups like tribals,
dalits and slum and rural dwellers. This campaign
started in Delhi region on 3 October, with an
orientation programme for the 4 dioceses under Delhi
region, led by Fr. Nithiya, Fr. James and Fr. Dominic
Bosco. There were around 30 self-help group animators
who participated and committed to involve in giving
similar training in their respective dioceses.
Sources: NCJPD
South Asian
Colloquium on Justice, Peace and Development
The National Commission for Justice, Peace and
Development (NCJPD) of the Catholic Bishops’
Conferences of India (CBCI) organized the first South
Asian Colloquium of the Commissions for Justice and
Peace at the National Biblical Catechetical and
Liturgical Centre (NBCLC), Bangalore on 16-19
September 2007. The aim is to reflect on specific
concerns of the sub-region, that do not find
sufficient attention at the continental level, such
as discrimination based on caste and ethnicity,
oppression of women, extreme poverty minority status
of Christianity, and the ill effects of globalization
and growing militarization.
The Apostolic
Nuncio Archbishop Lopez Quintana inaugurated the
Colloquium, highlighting the need to play a prophetic
role in human rights situation and peace-building in
the society, while the closing address by Cardinal
Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council
for Justice and Peace. Seventy participants from
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India,
including 14 bishops, and lay and religious directors
of Regional Forum, Theologians and social activists
discussed about effects of globalization, its
relevance to the Catholic Social Teaching (CST) in
South Asia and structures of sin today, as well as
discrimination and women, and came up with
country-wide action plans. In a statement, the
participants expressed their resolve to be committed
to respond to the discrimination of dalits, tribals,
backward castes and children and women.
Participants
acknowledged that CST provides a lot of scope for
justice and peace work, but it was observed that not
much have been implemented and that it has been
hidden from the laity. Thus, a strategy should be
planned to ensure that lay people are introduced to
CST and talk up the implementation.
It is also the
responsibility of all to ensure the setting up and
functioning of JPDC cells at National Conferences,
regional Forums, Diocese and Parishes.
Three issues were
identified by the NCJPD to deal with urgently:
1. The Church should play a proactive role to ensure
dalit Christians get their constitutional rights in
India, and set a trend for similar process in other
countries. The Church should address the issue of
tribals who are alientated, displaced from their life
sources and live in poverty to ensure they are living
in dignity as children of God.
2. The Church should also ensure a 50% affirmative
action to women within the structures of the Church
to become a model to the society and state.
3. The Church should play a proactive role in
addressing issues of religious and linguistic
minorities and ensure their constitutional rights.
A South Asian Forum
was initiated from this Colloquium to take up
specific issues at the South Asian level, The
Chairman of NCJPD Bishop Yvon Ambroise assured the
participants that this network will continue to
address the issues effectively through various
mechanisms in building a just and peaceful society.
During the
Colloquium, the NCJPD also released an Interactive
training manual on the RBA in a CD. It contains
International Bill of Rights and various Human Rights
documents, exercises as well as a Special talk,
“God is Weeping” delivered by Archbishop
Desmond Tutu at the World Social Forum in Nairobi
(Which the JPDC Delegation attended in January 2007).
The parts on human rights in the CD has been jointly
prepared by the Australian Human Rights Council and
the Asian Center for Progress of Peoples (ACPP).
Proceedings and the
CD-ROM are available from the Commission (e-mail: jpdcommission@gmail.com).
Sources: NCJPD
Japan
On-line
Resource on Article 9
In the course of a joint Australia-Japan workshop
entitled “Searching for Equitability and Peace
in the Post 9-11 world: exploring alternatives for
Australia and Japan”, the question of Article 9
of Japan’s constitution came up frequently and
discussed in depth. The organizer, Nanzan University,
thus issued a paper entitled “Some
considerations regarding Article 9 of the Japanese
Constitution”.
Three aspects were
discussed in the paper, namely 1) Article 9 and the
Asia-Pacific Region, 2) Constitutional Change and the
Integration of Japanese Forces into the US Military
Machine, and 3) The Real Foundations for a
Sustainable Peace. In the first aspect, the
discussion has suggested that there is a significant
degree of tension between Japan and its Asian
neighbours, and that this tension derives in part
from Japan’s own actions. Nevertheless,
Japan’s pacifist constitution has acted as a
brake on the tension. Second part of the paper
demonstrated that a constitutional change would
result in greater dependence on the United States. It
is contrary to certain belief that the constitutional
change could be a means of gaining independence from
the United States. The real foundations for a
sustainable peace, proposed in the last section of
the paper, can be achieved by placing less emphasis
on closer alignment with the US and more on
developing multiple relationships of mutuality and
fairness as middle powers.
Based on the above
discussion, the workshop concluded that Japanese
security can only be achieved by the establishment of
a sustainable order in East Asia. Such can be
promoted by developing multi-level relationships
between countries, including cultural exchange
programs, joint civil society activities, etc. The
workshop has reaffirmed that Article 9 and a
commitment to promote similar articles in the
constitutions of other countries would send a
powerful message of peaceful intent.
To view the
discussion paper, please go to: http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/ISE/ajworkshop/
Source: Local
source
Pakistan
Pakistan
Catholic Bishops Call for End of Emergency
On 23 November 2007, the Pakistan Catholic
Bishops’ Conference (PCBC), on behalf of the 1.5
million Catholics in the country, issued a press
statement condemning the imposition of emergency and
other related measures authorized by President Pervez
Musharraf.
The Bishops
observed with deep concern that the situation after
the imposition of emergency on 3 November has worried
Pakistanis, at home and abroad, about the stability
and peaceful transition of democracy. The Bishops
expressed their shock and condemnation over the
attack on civil society for exercising their right to
freedom of expression.
PCBC believes that
in order to achieve stable and meaningful democracy
in the country, the government should make effort to
reconcile with political parties. The bishops deem
the role of civil society is as important: members of
the civil society must be allowed to play their
respective roles in building consensus so as to bring
about a peaceful inter-religious country.
Their requests were
echoed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,
who wrote to Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
asking her to consider PCBC’s recommendation in
formulating policy toward Pakistan.
Source: The
National Commission of Justice and Peace
Overview of
Emergency Situation
At the time of the imposition of emergency in
Pakistan on 3 November, the National Commission for
Justice and Peace (NCJP) issued an overview of the
situation to help the network understand the
situation better, for appropriate actions.
The report spells
out the background and effects of the emergency,
emphasising on the uncertainty of the period, and the
fact that it was signed by the Chief of Army staff,
and the implications of the Provisional
Constitutional Order (PCO) on basic human rights.
There was also an analysis of the situation after
emergency was imposed, including implications on the
independence of Judiciary, “clean up” of
the civil society, curbs on media, deployment of
forces and response for the international community.
It concludes by
re-iterating the local needs on the situation:
continued public and international support for the
resistance movement of judges and civil society,
unhindered parliamentary elections and re-opening of
all TV channels.
Full document, as
well as updates are available upon request. Please
contact ncjp@wol.net.pk.
Source:
National Commission for Justice and Peace
Philippines
JPICC-AMRSP
condemns Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership
Agreement
The Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation
Commission of the Association of the Major Religious
Superiors (JPICC-AMRSP) in the Philippines, in
support of the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition, issued
a statement to condemn Japan-Philippines Economic
Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
The statement
criticized the national government has acted
secretly, with undue haste and no public hearings and
documents, before the treaty was transmitted to the
Senate in 2006, insisting that JPEPA was an executive
agreement. “These were clear signs that this
treaty is nothing but a bad and immoral deal” it
added. The statement also urged the Senators to
perform their constitutional duty to reject the
treaty.
JPICC-AMRSP pointed
out several points where the “agreement”
contradicts the Church’s fundamental teachings.
Please visit http://junkjpepa.blogspot.com/2007/10/jpicc-amrsp-solidarity-statement.html for the full text of the
statement.
Sources:
JPICC-AMRSP, Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition
Thailand
Message on
the Human Rights Day of the Catholic Church in
Thailand
The Human Rights Day of the Catholic Church in
Thailand is celebrated every year in November to
raise awareness of Christians on the value and equal
dignity of fellow human being according to the
teaching of the Gospel, so that they will take part
in the promotion of human rights and peace in
society. This year it is on 18 November with the
theme “Christians and Election”.
In his message, the
Chairperson of the Catholic Commission for Justice
and Peace (CCJP) Bishop Philip Banchong Chaiyara
invited all Thai Catholics to fulfil their duty in
building a just and democratic society, particularly
in the general elections on 23 December 2007.
The message cited
the celebration of the 80th birthday of His Majesty
King Bhumiphol Adylayadej of Thailand in December,
and general election at the 75th anniversary of Thai
democracy on 23 December, as a meaningful opportunity
for all Christians to fulfil their sacred duty of
political participation, particularly to
“mutually recover political and social
unity” again.
The Bishop cited
the virtues of democracy (participation) and relevant
Church’s teachings (politics as a way to foster
understanding and practise of political ethics and
virtues and respect of human dignity, based on
respect of human life, virtues and ultimate truth) to
express the important role of Christians in building
a mutual recovery and common development of a
democratic system. It is further emphasized that life
in democratic system depends on active participation
of all parties, thus Thai Christians are repeatedly
called to take part in this major political activity.
It is a sacred duty that requires rational judgment,
conscience and responsibility to elect good, moral,
capable and sacrificing people for the good of all.
To conclude the
message, all Christians are invited to pray together
for God’s blessing on success of the general
election and without violence, and for honesty and
justice for democratic society of the country, that
all may take part in the plan of salvation of the
Kingdom of God forever.
The full statement
is available at the CCJP web site: http://www.jpthai.org/english/content/view/28/14/
Source: CCJP
Thailand