Quotes of the Week July 17

"My diocese no longer exists.”

Chaldean Archbishop Shimoun Emil Nona of Mosul speaks of the dispersing of Christians from the city as militant Islamist cement their hold.

 

“In keeping with a long, shadowy, legacy of antipathy, justices who happen to be Catholics… are branded and bullied by a group who only succeed in providing the latest example of a prejudice that has haunted us for centuries.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, UA, criticises an ad campaign which smeared Supreme Court judges who are Catholic in the wake of the recent Hobby Lobby case on religious freedom.

 

"I cried on my father's shoulder and said, 'Daddy, I don't want to get an abortion, but I'm also not ready to raise a child'. He wouldn't let me do that, that I commit a sin.”

Angela Silva, mother of Brazillian World Cup star, Thiago, explains how, as a young single mother, she considered aborting her child.

 

“We will have to consider other peaceful, prayerful and respectful options to demonstrate our opposition to this publicly supported sacrilegious act.”

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, USA, responds to news that the city’s Civic Centre Music Hall is to host a Black Mass led by a sex offender.

 

"A Catholic school ought to be a basic ecclesial community. But whoever has murder, injury or indignity in his heart for his brothers or sisters has thereby severed himself from such a community,"

Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines condemns fraternity hazing at colleges following the death of a student during such an initiation.

 

“Everyone says that, when it happens, the battle in Aleppo will be the 'final battle'. But we do not know yet what it will mean for us all. There is widespread expectation of a release…but there is also the fear of ending up like in Mosul.”

Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, on citizens hopes and fears as military forces poised to re-take the city from rebels.

 

“Questions were put to the chaplain before the Mass. They asked 'what is this excommunication? Why? What does it mean for us?'"

Bishop Gianfranco De Luca of Larino, Italy confirms local reports that members of the Ndrangheta criminal fraternity have discussed the implications of Pope Francis’ recent words on excommunication for criminals.