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The Catholic Leader, April 21, 2019

www.catholicleader.com.au

News

You know the incredible Bible story about the loaves and the fishes?

In this story, a young boy did not have much to give. Just five loaves and two

fish. But Jesus accepted his offering and did a miracle, multiplying them to feed

5,000 people.

Every day in Papua New Guinea there are children like Thresia who have an

urgent need. Not for food.

They need a cure from leprosy.

And when you give what you can today, in Jesus’ name The Leprosy Mission will

strive to meet that urgent need. Because the number of leprosy cases in PNG is

on the rise... and one third of all new diagnoses occur in children.

With your gift of any amount, you’ll help provide miracles of

hope and healing for children like Thresia.

Miracles of healing don’t always have to be instantaneous. By God’s grace

and through your support,

He can also work miracles of healing

through the

provision of Multi-Drug Therapy and other treatments for people affected by

leprosy.

With your help, we can get leprosy diagnosed and treated as fast as

possible. That will stop it spreading to even more people.

With Multi-Drug Therapy, a person is no longer contagious after just 48 hours!

Thresia needs a miracle of hope and healing.

So do the rising number of children—some as young as five—who are

contracting leprosy in PNG.

Your gift of $45 today will provide miracles of healing through

Multi-Drug Therapy for children like Thresia.

Just as Jesus did wondrous things with loaves and fishes, God will use your gift

to bring healing and blessings.

Please GIVE NOW. Children like Thresia are waiting for their

miracle of healing.

Jesus did miracles with five

loaves and two fishes

He can do wondrous things with your gift too.

Because children like Thresia need a miracle of hope

and healing.

GIVE NOW

by calling

1800 537 767 (1800 LEPROSY) or

online

leprosymission.org.au/PNG

Every half an hour

another child is diagnosed

with leprosy

You can provide hope and healing to children

like Thresia this Easter. Early detection

prevents disabilities, horrific ulcers

and potential amputations.

$45 can

enable us to

screen a child

for leprosy

Children like Thresia are waiting for a miracle

of hope and healing this Easter.

INDIAN police charged Bishop

Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar

of repeatedly raping a nun in

her rural convent, the Associ-

ated Press reported.

The bishop was charged on April 9 with

rape, illegal confinement and intimidation,

Hari Sankar, a district police chief in the

predominantly Catholic state of Kerala,

said.

Bishop Mulakkal was arrested on Sep-

tember 21 after a 48-year-old member of

the Missionaries of Jesus, a diocesan con-

gregation under the prelate, complained

that he raped her multiple times between

2014 and 2016 while he was visiting her

convent in Kerala.

The bishop, who was in charge of the

congregation, denied the allegations.

The New York Times reported a state-

ment from Save Our Sisters, a group of

members of India’s Catholic Church, who

said the filing of charges “enters the annals

of history as a rarest of rare incident, when

a bishop is going to face trial in a court

based on the complaint of a nun who is a

subordinate to him.”

Save Our Sisters said the charge sheet

included statements from 83 witnesses, in-

cluding a cardinal, three bishops, 11 priests

and 25 nuns.

The victim first wrote to church authori-

ties in January 2017, the apostolic nuncio

in India in January 2018, and then to Pope

Francis on May 14, seeking church action

against Bishop Mulakkal.

She copied prefects of the congrega-

tions for the Doctrine of the Faith and for

Bishops, and later sent reminders before

THE chairman of the US bish-

ops’ pro-life committee called

on Congress to pass a measure

that would stop “the barbaric

practice of late-term abortion”.

He urged Congress to pass

the Pain-Capable Unborn Child

Protection Act, which was the

focus of a hearing on April 9 by

the Senate Judiciary Commit-

tee.

“This bill draws the public’s

attention to the shameful reality

that the United States is one

of only seven nations world-

wide that allows the barbaric

practice of late-term abortion,

when a child likely feels pain

and might even live outside the

womb with appropriate medi-

cal assistance,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City,

Kansas, who is chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’

Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said.

“Such abortion procedures after the middle point of pregnancy

also pose serious physical dangers to women.

“With the vast majority of Americans strongly supporting a

ban on late-term abortions, it is time for Congress to pass this

bill.

“I also pray that consideration of this bill moves our country

closer to recognising all unborn babies as legal persons worthy

of our love and respect.”

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would gener-

ally extend legal protection to unborn babies beginning at 22

weeks of pregnancy.

According to National Right to Life and congressional find-

ings, by that point – and even earlier – an unborn child has the

capacity “to experience great pain during an abortion.”

CNS

Respect life:

Archbishop Joseph Naumann.

Photo: CNS

Indian police charge bishop

with repeatedly raping nun

Pro-life committee chair

urges end of ‘barbaric’

late-term abortions

going to the police.

On September 24, the bishop was taken

into judicial custody.

The Holy See removed him from dioc-

esan administrative duties, but he retained

his title as its bishop.

The Kerala High Court granted bail on

October 15 on condition that the bishop,

based in northern Jalandhar City, should

not enter Kerala state other than to report

once a fortnight to investigating police.

A week later, Fr Kuriakose Kattuthara,

67, considered a prime witness against the

bishop, was found dead, with his family

suspecting foul play.

The sister’s case led to an outcry from

women religious, with more reporting

cases of abuse.

In November, the International Union

of Superiors General called on women

religious who had suffered abuse to come

forward and report it to their congregations

and church and state authorities.

Global Sisters Report talked to five Mis-

sionaries of Jesus in India who complained

of church repression for their support of

their former superior general, who made

the accusations.

The five sisters were living with the vic-

tim in a convent in Kerala state, refusing

orders to return to their own communities

while the case was ongoing.

Retired auxiliary Bishop Agnelo Gracias

of Mumbai, Jalandhar Diocese’s admin-

istrator, supported their position, but the

Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council criticised

the sisters for stirring up enemies of the

church, reported Global Sisters Report.

CNS

Charged

:

Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, India, is led away for questioning by

police. Indian police have charged Bishop Mulakkal of repeatedly raping a nun in her

rural convent.

Photo: cns