Bishop Rolando Jose Álvarez Lagos of Matagalpa is monitored by police, August 2022. | Photo credit: Diocese of Matagalpa
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 10, 2024 / 11:00 am (CNA).
Throughout 2023, more than 130 Catholic priests and religious were either arrested, kidnapped, or murdered, according to a new report on Catholic persecution published by Aid to the Church in Need.
The report published by the Catholic charity found at least 132 instances of arrests, kidnappings, and/or murders, which is slightly higher than the report from the previous year, which found 124. The uptick was mostly driven by arrests from authoritarian governments, which went up from 55 in 2022 to 86 in 2023.
Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega’s crackdown on political dissent among members of the clergy was a primary driver of persecution throughout the year. The report found that the regime held 46 clergy in custody in 2023, including two bishops and four seminarians. This included 19 clerics arrested in December, including Bishop Isidoro de Carmen Mora Ortega of Siuna.
According to the report, many of the priests in Nicaragua who were arrested before December were either released or expelled from the country and refused reentry. The government also released two of the priests arrested in December, but the other 17 are still in custody.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was arrested in August 2022 and sentenced to 26 years in prison after refusing to leave the country, is also still in custody.
The report found that 20 members of the Catholic clergy were under arrest at some point in China throughout the year. However, the report also noted that “confirming the information is almost impossible” and some of the persecuted members of the clergy “remain unaccounted for after many years.” The number could be slightly higher or lower, according to the report.
At least five Catholic clergy and one woman religious were arrested in India in 2023, which was mostly driven by anti-conversion laws, which the report noted “impede the work of the Church.” All of them have been released but could still face charges and even prison time.
There have also been arrests in two European countries. The report found that 10 members of Catholic clergy were arrested in Belarus, three of whom are still imprisoned. Two Greek Catholic priests were also arrested by Russian forces in Ukraine, neither of whom have been released.
The kidnapping of clergy and religious sisters went down in 2023, according to the report, but the problem “remains significant.” The total number of kidnapped clergy and religious was 33 in 2023, which is down from 54 in 2022.
All but five of the kidnappings took place in Nigeria, where religious and ethnic conflicts have made the country dangerous for Christians. The 28kidnappings in the country included three religious women.
Murders of Catholic priests and other members of the clergy slightly decreased, from 18 in the previous year to 14 in 2023. This includes 11 priests, one bishop, one religious brother, and one seminarian. However, half of these murders were unrelated to persecution or have unclear motives.
Of the seven murders that are clearly tied to persecution, three were in Nigeria. This includes Father Isaac Achi and a seminarian named Na’aman Danlami, both of whom died in their residences when they were burned down during attacks. It also includes Godwin Eze, a Benedictine brother, who was killed by kidnappers.
Other murders linked to persecution included the murder of Father Pamphili Nada in Tanzania, who was killed by a mentally unstable man; Father Javier García Villafaña, who was shot dead in Mexico; and Father Leopold Feyen, who was stabbed to death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Many Christians,” the report noted, “and especially clergy and religious, paid a heavy price for their commitment to common good, human rights, and religious freedom in the communities and nations they serve.”
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Denver, Colo., Aug 22, 2018 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- By the time he passed away, death was familiar to Joe Doak.
Doak was a devout Catholic, and a veteran, who died July 29 at 96 years old. But before his own death, Doak had spent days and nights sitting beside dying men and women in a hospice, offering them a word of comfort and the encouragement of prayer.
In 2011 Doak became a vigil volunteer for Hope-West hospice in Grand Junction, Colorado. There, he would comfort the dying with prayers, hymns, discussions, or just the consolation of his silent presence.
A devout Catholic, Joe told the Daily Sentinel in May that he wanted to be a source of hope, letting those patients know that someone would be with them during their last hours.
“The main thing is to tell them that they’re not alone. They’re not dying alone,” he said. “I just hope that I’ve comforted and consoled them and given them hope,” he added.
Doak was an electrical engineer and raised six children with his wife Phyllis, getting married about 10 years after World War II, when he served as a communications officer in the United States Navy.
His family eventually moved to Gunnison, Colorado, where Doak owned an electronic store specializing in computers. He then moved to Montrose, where the Catholic engineer spent a large portion of his retirement time volunteering.
He volunteered in a variety of community activities – he taught seniors computer skills, he aided immigrants in their English, and he helped children with their reading skills. He was also a driver for Meals on Wheels.
“That is the makeup of my dad. He wants to help people, wants to comfort people that may be alone. He is a very religious person, so I think this played into him being a devoted Catholic,” his son, Roger Doak, told Colorado Public Radio.
Doak was inspired to hospice ministry after caring for his wife Phyllis during a seven-year struggle with Alzheimer’s. After she died in 2011, he saw an ad for the vigil volunteers and decided to use his experience with Phyllis for other people.
Each time Doak received a call about a person dying, he would go to introduce himself, usually to a complete stranger. Doak would sit with patients, offering his hand, making conversation, and singing Christian hymns. A favorite of his was “Open my Ears” by Jesse Manibusan, the Daily Sentinel reported.
Roger Doak told Colorado Public Radio that his father had most likely died alone, but expressed hope that the people he comforted were there to receive him in the end.
“I’d like to think that all those people that my dad had comforted when they died, were actually there with him when he died.”
Cincinnati, Ohio, Apr 11, 2019 / 03:07 pm (CNA).- Ohio Governor Mark DeWine on Thursday signed a law banning abortion if a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Former Governor John Kasich had twice vetoed similar legislation.
The Adoration Chapel at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. / Photo Credit: Aaron Miller, Miller Design & Marketing
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 20, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).
“Awesome. Awesome.”
That’s how Anna Sudomerski, the communications coordinator at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort, South Carolina, describes the parish’s eucharistic adoration program.
St. Peter’s is among the parishes in the United States that are hosting perpetual eucharistic adoration with the Blessed Sacrament exposed 24 hours a day.
Since Church law dictates that exposition of the Blessed Sacrament requires at least one adorer present at all times, this means the parishes that opt for this extraordinary form of worship must coordinate a major year-round effort to ensure at least one volunteer is present before the Eucharist every hour of the day.
Eucharistic adoration, whether exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, is an ancient custom of the Church dating back to its earliest centuries. Yet its practice today occurs among flagging faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, with U.S. Catholics signaling a growing reluctance to believe that Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
Yet multiple parishes around the country in recent years have maintained vibrant adoration initiatives, including St. Peter’s, which began its perpetual adoration in the early 1990s.
Sudomerski said the St. Peter’s adoration program started at the parish’s original historic church in downtown Beaufort. With the construction of a new church building in 2006, adoration moved to a purpose-built chapel there.
For years, Sudomerski said, the adoration program was run by team captains who each supervised a specific stretch of hours within a given 24-hour period.
“They were in charge of certain times, like from midnight to 6 a.m., in case the adorer could not make it, so the captain would have to find a substitute or cover the hour themselves,” she told CNA. “We had four team captains covering midnight to 6, 6 to noon, noon to 6, and 6 to midnight.”
She said the church’s adoption of the sign-up software Adoration Pro “made it a lot easier for people to sign up.”
“From there, ever since, we’ve done several campaigns,” she said. “One to pass out interest forms to see who would be interested in what hour. We just finished another campaign because Father thought the Eucharist is the most important thing that we have. We’ve done callouts, mailings.”
Light of the World Catholic Church in Littleton, Colorado
Kathryn Nygaard, the communications director at Light of the World Catholic Church in Littleton, Colorado, outside of Denver, said the parish has maintained an adoration program since 2007.
“There are two parishioners who are the main adoration chapel coordinators and they do an incredible job,” she said. “In addition, there are 24 ‘hourly coordinators’ to assist with making sure substitutes fill in during open hours and communicating with the adorers in their specific hour.”
“There are approximately 270 people involved in adoration, as either regularly scheduled adorers or as substitutes,” she said. The church hosts two “renewal weekends” in February for adorers to re-up for the coming year; regular announcements are also made at weekend Masses to attract more interest.
Adorers at Light of the World use the church software Flocknote to communicate with one another, Nygaard said. “Most requests for substitutes are filled within 1-2 days,” she noted.
Bishops aim to ‘start a fire’ of eucharistic renewal
The U.S. bishops last year launched the National Eucharistic Revival, meant to “start a fire” of eucharistic devotion among Catholics in the United States. The initiative was first conceived following the 2019 Pew poll showing low numbers of Catholics with a belief in the Real Presence.
As part of the three-year program, parishes around the country have been encouraged to launch Eucharist-focused programs and events to draw parishioners into a deeper relationship with Jesus through the Blessed Sacrament.
Next year, the bishops will host a National Eucharistic Congress featuring multiple high-profile Catholic speakers along with what is expected to be a crowd of about 80,000 Catholics. Pope Francis in June called next year’s national congress “a significant moment in the life of the Church in the United States.”
St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska
At St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska, worshippers have been keeping perpetual adoration there for more than 62 years — since Feb. 14, 1961, according to a live clock on the parish’s website.
The exposed Blessed Sacrament at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Columbus, Nebraska. Credit: Tim Cumberland
The parish on its website says the roots of its adoration program go back to 1949 and expanded thereafter. The program now includes worshippers from other nearby parishes who come to participate in adoration.
Parishioner Tim Cumberland told CNA the church is “blessed to have about 550 people in the program.”
“A few years ago, we went to an automated process of managing our perpetual adoration program, using the Adoration Pro software,” Cumberland said. “This has greatly improved our ability for our adorers to find subs online when necessary. A request for a substitute is usually filled within minutes.”
Kim Waller said the 25-year-old adoration program at Holy Infant Catholic Church in Ballwin, Missouri, still uses a coordinator-led sign-up program instead of an online sign-up. Like many programs, Holy Infant breaks down management of the adoration schedule into hourly segments.
“The 24 hourly coordinators form the backbone of perpetual adoration,” she said. “They ensure that there is at least one adorer present in the chapel at all times. The hourly coordinator reviews the sign-up list weekly to ensure that their committed hourly adorer fulfills his/her commitment and contacts the adorer if she/he has not been to adoration as committed for two consecutive weeks.”
A new team of coordinators just took over in January, Waller said. “The last several years, the ministry was administered by a couple who since have passed within six months of each other,” she said.
St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina
Donna Pierce told CNA she helped launch the 24/7 adoration program at St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina, roughly 30 years ago.
“I think we have about 10-15 people who have maintained their Holy Hour since it began, and currently we have 318 weekly adorers and about 60 substitutes, not counting the many people that pop in the chapel when they can,” she said.
Pierce said a priest from a perpetual adoration apostolate helped the parish launch the program. “He told us that having perpetual adoration is actually much easier to run than a 40-hours or other time frame,” she said. “Adorers incorporate their hour into their schedule, so you don’t have to keep signing up from scratch.”
The exposed Blessed Sacrament in the St. Claire Chapel at St. Mary Help of Christians in Aiken, South Carolina. Credit: Lori Rainchuso
She said the parish maintains participation in the program by way of biannual talks at Masses (which Pierce described as “our fall and Lent blitzes”). These efforts usually result in upwards of a few dozen sign-ups.
On the website for the National Eucharistic Revival, the bishops say that the current year of the program is focused on “fostering eucharistic devotion at the parish level, strengthening our liturgical life through the faithful celebration of the Mass, eucharistic adoration, missions, resources, preaching, and organic movements of the Holy Spirit.”
Catholic evangelist Tim Glemkowski in a video for the revival urged parish leaders to “prioritize personal encounters with Jesus in the Eucharist” over the course of the year.
“The heart of this invitation … is to create space in our parish calendar this year for people to come and encounter Jesus in the Eucharist personally,” he said. “This could mean parishes that don’t have perpetual adoration start that opportunity, or opportunities for eucharistic processions, or different devotional experiences.”
Pierce said that starting the St. Mary program decades ago was a daunting prospect, but she went ahead with it by putting her trust in God.
“It was terrifying when Msgr. [Thomas] Evatt asked me to be head coordinator to start it so long ago — I was 30 years old with a toddler and working part time,” Pierce said. “So I made a deal with God. He would have to be responsible for sustaining it, and we would just be his instruments.”
“How many, many times he made it obvious he was running it!” she said.
Graces for eternity
St. Bonaventure’s website, meanwhile, predicts that the graces of perpetual adoration will redound not just in the present but for eternity.
“Someday far, far from now, there will be a magnificent heavenly banquet where all of the adorers in the St. Bonaventure adoration program will be reunited,” the parish’s website says.
“Won’t it be wonderful,” the website continues, “for all of us who have been in the program to share stories of how many of our lives, and the lives of those we touched as a result, were radically changed by this personal and enduring encounter with Our Lord!”
Catholics are no more victimized than any other group of people.In fact, they are far less victimized and have a tendency to turn anyone who doesn’t march lockstep with their beliefs into victims.
Ibetmy comment gets censored/removed. Because Catholics also apparently collapse like houses of cards when their views are challenged or have a negative light shine on them. Which if my comment does not appear Iwillinow exactly what kind of hypocrisy you perpetuate and you better not whine when your voices are silenced elsewhere.
I think it speaks volumes that there’s no other comments on this sobering article so far except mine. I’ll bet if this article was about Pope Francis, Strickland, or the precious, coveted Latin Mass, there’d be a pile of comments.
Prayers for all of these priests, especially the ones in hellhole Nicaragua.
This info needs to go mainstream. There wasn’t enough attention on Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh when Christians were forced out of their ancestral homeland. Not enough attention on Nigeria (except here this week, link below). Need eyes on Nicaragua. One can see how much the US gov gives Nicaragua in aid…thought we cared about religious persecution (link also below).
God Bless those who are more committed, worried and interested in these serious things, than in the serious too, but a bit less, of “catholic politics”. Anonymous and authorities.
I would not read too much into lack of comments on this particular news item. The vast majority of comments at CWR, I think it’s fair to say, are ones of engagement and argument. Everyone here is against Catholic priests being kidnapped and murdered. Let us keep all of our priests in our prayers!
I’m sorry Carl and everyone. Fair enough. Lately I’ve just upset at everything going on, and got frustrated at the lack of comments on this article. It almost made it look like no one cared for these priests. May God bless you and everyone else on the comment pages.
Catholics are no more victimized than any other group of people.In fact, they are far less victimized and have a tendency to turn anyone who doesn’t march lockstep with their beliefs into victims.
Ibetmy comment gets censored/removed. Because Catholics also apparently collapse like houses of cards when their views are challenged or have a negative light shine on them. Which if my comment does not appear Iwillinow exactly what kind of hypocrisy you perpetuate and you better not whine when your voices are silenced elsewhere.
I think it speaks volumes that there’s no other comments on this sobering article so far except mine. I’ll bet if this article was about Pope Francis, Strickland, or the precious, coveted Latin Mass, there’d be a pile of comments.
Prayers for all of these priests, especially the ones in hellhole Nicaragua.
This is, indeed, a sad report.
Waiting to see it covered in the so-called mainstream media.
This info needs to go mainstream. There wasn’t enough attention on Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh when Christians were forced out of their ancestral homeland. Not enough attention on Nigeria (except here this week, link below). Need eyes on Nicaragua. One can see how much the US gov gives Nicaragua in aid…thought we cared about religious persecution (link also below).
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/01/09/thousands-of-christians-in-nigeria-rally-to-demand-action-after-christmas-massacres/
https://www.foreignassistance.gov/cd/nicaragua/
God Bless those who are more committed, worried and interested in these serious things, than in the serious too, but a bit less, of “catholic politics”. Anonymous and authorities.
I would not read too much into lack of comments on this particular news item. The vast majority of comments at CWR, I think it’s fair to say, are ones of engagement and argument. Everyone here is against Catholic priests being kidnapped and murdered. Let us keep all of our priests in our prayers!
I’m sorry Carl and everyone. Fair enough. Lately I’ve just upset at everything going on, and got frustrated at the lack of comments on this article. It almost made it look like no one cared for these priests. May God bless you and everyone else on the comment pages.