Vatican calls for peace in Holy Land, offers to mediate between Hamas and Israel

Gyumri, Armenia, Jan 7, 2021 / 05:20 pm (CNA).- A Catholic non-profit has surprised hundreds of suffering Armenian families with Christmas presents following the problems of the coronavirus pandemic and the Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Gia Chacon, president of the organization For the Martyrs, returned Jan. 2 from a trip to Armenia, where the organization was able to deliver presents to over 1,000 children.

“Operation Christmas for Armenia was something that we started here … to bring toys and presents to children who may not otherwise have a Christmas experience,” she told CNA.

“Many [parents] were telling their families that Santa wasn’t going to be coming or they wouldn’t be exchanging Christmas presents this year. So we wanted to [find] a solution. We wanted to bring joy to these children.”

For the project, the organization partnered with Archbishop Raphaël Minassian, Ordinary of the Armenian Ordinariate of Eastern Europe, who is also the president of Caritas Armenia.

With his help, Gia said, the organization handed out presents to an between 1,200 to 1,500 children in three Armenian cities – Goris, Gyumri, and Artashat. She said the children included refugees from Artsakh, orphans, and people with disabilities. 

To help purchase presents, the organization received monetary donations from over 500 benefactors. The gifts were then wrapped by Armenian Catholics in California. Each present included the message “Shnorhavor Amanor yev Surb Tznund,” which is Armenian for “Merry Christmas.”

The presents included toys such as dolls, soccer balls, tools, tea sets, and candy. She said the organization tried to present a variety of toys for different age groups, also handing out purses for teenage girls and watches for the older boys.

Gia said several centers they visited had people dress up as Santa Claus, who then helped hand out the gifts. She said many of the children had never seen some of the American toys and it was beautiful to see the children light up when they opened their presents.

“We really wanted to make it personal for the children. We allowed some children to pick their toys,” she said. “That was cute too, seeing them look at the toys and figure out which one they connected with most and to pick it and see that excitement.”

“It was really beautiful to see the children open the presents and be so excited about it, but also see Merry Christmas in Armenian and have that personal touch.”

Gia launched For the Martyrs in December 2019. The organization helps raise persecution awareness, advocates for international religious freedom, and offers resources and humanitarian relief.

As a result of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, she said, there were about 75,000 Christian Armenians who were displaced. She said 90% of these refugees are reported to be women and children.

She said Caritas Armenia has helped provide these families with food, housing, clothes, and other basic necessities. However, she said the situation is still problematic for many, and added that numerous families who received toys in Artashat did not have electricity to keep themselves warm throughout the winter.

She said Armenia, a largely Christian region, has faced political and religious persecution from neighboring Muslim countries. She also said the country’s economy has also taken a severe hit because of the pandemic.

“We still need the families to be taken care of, we still need to continue to support our brothers and sisters in Armenia that are suffering,” she said.

“What I was hearing from the families as I was speaking to them is that they feel that their brothers and sisters in the West have forgotten about them and that the issue of this work was not taken seriously by the international community.”

Gia said one of the major goals of the organization is to raise awareness about Christian persecution and remind Catholics that they are not divided from the suffering of Catholics in other countries.

“Scripture tells us that when one member of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer. So we know that even when children are suffering in Armenia, the body of Christ is suffering, and we have an obligation with our platform … to raise awareness about the suffering of [others] but also how we can be a solution to their suffering,” she said.

She said that through her experience with international aid groups, she has witnessed how violence and persecution impacts children most of all. She emphasized the importance of not only providing humanitarian services but an experience of hope for children to reclaim their childhood.

“Children are the most innocent and most vulnerable when it comes to the situation of refugees for persecution. A lot of times we’re bringing food, we’re bringing clothing, we’re bringing humanitarian aid … but we’re often overlooking the hope factor … So really the goal of Operation Christmas is to bring that hope back to Children who have suffered so much.”

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CNA Staff, May 5, 2020 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- After complaints that a pro-life event held by the Aberdeen Life Ethics Society violated a ‘safe space policy’, an investigation has resulted in no action being taken against the pro-life group.

Ales held an event March 12 called “Does Abortion Violate Human Rights?”, about which some students at Aberdeen University complained. Among the complaints were that it included “highly graphic material,” the Gaudie, Aberdeen University’s student paper, reported April 30.

Ales told the Gaudie that “In response to these unfounded complaints, we provided [the Aberdeen University Students’ Association] with various examples of our efforts to warn attendees about sensitive content. We maintain that these efforts fulfilled our obligation to caution anyone who might be uncomfortable with an honest discussion of abortion (i.e., the intentional killing of antenatal humans by vacuum aspiration, poisoning, and/or dismemberment).”

“Thankfully, AUSA was satisfied with our defence against these vexatious complaints and will take no action against us. We look forward to organising future public events about the ethical importance of human life in the womb, and we pledge to continue to offer clear and explicit content warnings about the grisly reality of abortion,” the pro-life group continued.

Ausa told complainants that “the issues have been raised with ALES and they have provided assurances to AUSA that clearer and more explicit content warnings, and cautions will be issued, prior to showing similar videos in the future,” and that “on this basis we have concluded that no further action will be taken by AUSA against ALES and this matter is now concluded.”

One of those who complained about the event, Martin Le Brech, called Ausa’s decision “very disappointing,” adding: I hope AUSA will thoroughly scrutinise ALES’ activities and listen to the wider University community that is utterly embarrassed such misinformation and graphic contents are regularly spread on campus. We need to make sure our University is a safe space for everybody, free of bigotry and insidious violence.”

And Leah Robb, president of the Pro-Choice Society, said that if Ales “continue with similar events/demonstrations I am considering launching another complaint to AUSA.”

Ales was granted affiliation by the Aberdeen student association in May 2019, following a protracted disagreement.

In October 2018 Ausa had prevented the affiliation of Ales, citing its own pro-choice policy which it adopted in 2017. The policy says, in part, that “Ausa should oppose the unreasonable display of pro-life material within campus and at Ausa events.”

The move limited Ale’s access to funds and venues at the university.

After failing to have the policy changed, Ales filed a lawsuit in April 2019 against Ausa and the university, “alleging unlawful discrimination against the society and the violation of rights protected by UK law.”

In its lawsuit, Ales charged that Ausa’s no platform policy violates the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998 by restricting “the freedoms of association and belief for certain students on the basis of an ideological litmus test.”

According to the Gaudie, Ales received “a financial pay-out” from Ausa over the matter.

After receiving affiliation, Ales stated: “We look forward to actively engaging with the student body and working to foster a civil yet honest conversation about the vitally important ethical issues surrounding human life. While there are some intolerant students who wanted our society to fail … we truly believe that there are many more students on this campus who are willing to take a fair-minded approach to this debate. These are the students we’ve heard from all along the way – they may not agree with our position, but they adamantly believe that we should be free to espouse our beliefs on campus.”

Pro-life groups at other Scottish universities have faced similar problems.

In 2018 the University of Strathclyde (in Glasgow) lifted a ban on pro-life groups following legal pressure. Strathclyde Sudents for Life argued that the student associaton’s no platforming policy violated the Equality Act 2010 “by directly discriminating against a group of students based on their beliefs.”

Glasgow Students for Life were barred from affiliation by the Glasgow University’s Students’ Representative Council in November 2018.

In March 2018 a joint committee on human rights of the UK parliament noted troubling barriers to free speech at the nation’s universities, writing: “Whilst the original intention behind safe space policies may have been to ensure that minority or vulnerable groups can feel secure, in practice the concept of safe spaces has proved problematic, often marginalising the views of minority groups.”

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Iaşi, Romania, Jun 1, 2019 / 10:00 am (CNA).- At a Marian meeting with young people and families in Romania Saturday, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of personal vocation, authentic human relationships, and the freedom given to each person to serve the other.

“The Lord gives us a vocation, a challenge to discover the talents and abilities we possess and to put them at the service of others,” the pope said June 1 in the square before the Palace of Culture in Iaşi.

“He asks us to use our freedom as a freedom to choose, to say yes to a loving plan, to a face, to a look. This is a much greater freedom than simply being able to consume and buy things. It is a vocation that sets us in motion, makes us fill in trenches and open up new avenues to remind us all that we are children and brothers and sisters to one another.”

Francis’ speech was preceded by an introduction from Bishop Petru Gherghel of Iaşi, and the testimony of a number of Romanian families.

The pope noted the variety of peoples and languages in Romania, and said that “the Holy Spirit has called us here and he helps us discover the beauty of being together, of being able to meet to journey together.”

At Pentecost “the Spirit embraces our differences and gives us the strength to open up paths of hope by bringing out the best in each person,” and he said this task of “journeying together” is not an easy one.

He emphasized the importance of rootedness in family: “It is the same dream, the same advice that Saint Paul gave to Timothy: to keep alive the faith of his mother and grandmother. As you continue to grow in every way … do not forget the most beautiful and worthwhile lesson you learned at home.”

“When you grow up, do not forget your mother and your grandmother, and the simple but robust faith that gave them the strength and tenacity to keep going and not to give up,” Pope Francis said. “It is a reason for you to give thanks and to ask for the generosity, courage and selflessness of a ‘home-grown’ faith that is unobtrusive, yet slowly but surely builds up the Kingdom of God.”

Faith is not a tradeable commodity, but “gift that keeps alive a profound and beautiful certainty: that we are God’s beloved children. God loves with a Father’s love. Every life, and every one of us, belongs to him,” he recalled.

“The Evil one divides, scatters, separates; he sows discord and distrust. He wants us to live ‘detached’ from others and from ourselves. The Spirit, on the contrary, reminds us that we are not anonymous, abstract, faceless beings, without history or identity. We are not meant to be empty or superficial,” the pope said.

Francis stated that the “very strong spiritual network that unites us”, connects and sustains us, “its roots: the realization that we belong to one another, that each of our lives is anchored in the lives of others.”

We flourish in love “because love draws us out of ourselves and invites us to take root in the lives of others,” he said.

The pope quoted from Romania’s national poet, Mihai Eminescu, and referred to a story told about the monk Galaction Ilie of Sihăstria Monastery, a prominent institution of Romanian Orthodoxy, to illustrate that “when there is no more Christian love and understanding between brothers and sisters, relatives, Christians and between peoples … when persons lose all their love, then it will truly be the end of the world. Because without love and without God, no one can live on the earth!”

Reiterating the importance of journeying together, Francis said: “Life begins to wilt and droop, our hearts stop beating and wither, the elderly no longer dream and young people no longer prophesy when pathways between neighbours disappear.”

While there are many “challenges that can discourage us and make us close in on ourselves … that cannot make us forget that faith itself offers us the greatest challenge of all: a challenge that, far from enclosing or isolating us, can bring out the best in us all,” Francis said.

“The Lord is the first to challenge us. He tells us that the worst comes when there are no more paths between neighbors, when we see more trenches than roads. The Lord is the one who gives us a song more powerful than all the siren songs that would paralyze us on our journey. And he always does it the same way: by singing a more beautiful and challenging song.”

The pope concluded focusing on the importance of “allowing faith to grow.”

“As I mentioned to you at the beginning: faith is not transmitted only by words, but also by gestures, looks and caresses, like those of our mothers and grandmothers; with the flavour of those things we learned at home in a straightforward and simple way.”

Mary, he said, “is a Mother who encourages her children’s dreams, who cherishes their hopes, who brings joy to their homes. She is a tender and true Mother who cares for us. You are that living, flourishing and hope-filled community that we can offer to our Mother. To her let us consecrate the future of young people, families and the Church.”

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