The Church has become the target of indigenous anger, writes Paul Keenan “We are going to burn all churches.” Thus declared the note left at the ruins of the Christian Union Evangelical church in Ercilla, Chile, after an arson attack on March 31 laid waste to the structure. No such threat was uncovered at the…

One way of looking at the Francis pontificate is that he’s universalising what the Latin American Church agreed to at its famous continent-wide gathering in 2007, held at the Marian shrine of Aparecida in Brazil. The signature tunes of the Latin American Church to come out of that meeting – missionary discipleship, pastoral conversion, an…

Philippine Catholics should pray the Rosary each day until the May 9 elections, the country’s bishops have said. On behalf of the national bishops’ conference, Lingayen-Dagupan’s Archbishop Socrates Villegas issued a statement reminding voters of the power of prayer. “Pray the mysteries of joy, light, sorrow and glory every day, until May 9,” he said.…

A Canadian government bill to legalise euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide has been opposed by the country’s bishops, who have called it “an affront to human dignity, an erosion of human solidarity and a danger to all vulnerable persons”. Among those endangered by the bill, the bishops said, are the elderly, infirm, disabled and sick, many…

Nigerian bishops have urged the government to hasten its efforts to free 219 schoolgirls who were abducted by insurgents two years ago. Bishops Matthew Audu of Lafia and George Dodo of Zaria called on officials to boost intelligence gathering efforts and muster the political will to find the girls, who in April 2014 were taken…

Uruguayan Church’s ‘pain and shame’ at unpunished abuse Uruguay’s bishops have apologised for sexual abuses committed by priests 20 years ago that went unpunished because the country’s statute of limitations expired. A statement on the website of the South American country’s bishops’ conference says the Uruguayan Church feels “pain and shame” about “abhorrent acts committed by people who had promised to serve…

A group of lay people, sent as delegates by parishes throughout the Diocese of Elphin, has been in formation and training during the past three months, as part of the development of a Diocesan Eucharistic Adoration Committee. The Diocesan Committee has now been commissioned at a special Mass offered by Bishop Kevin Doran in Abbey Community…

Over the last number of months, a number of enthusiastic RE and music teachers within the Archdiocese of Tuam have been working on a new project which will bring 300 young people together to perform a charity concert. Awakening will be a performance of a combination of modern church and contemporary music which will raise…