Family Synod still operating under assumption that 'father knows best'

Pope's 'fertile mother' metaphor strains under the weight of reality.

Vatican City:  Anyone who regularly reads Pope Francis' speeches quickly realizes that he hasn't met a metaphor he doesn't like. In his closing address of the Synod of Bishops, he used two images for the church that seemed to capture the imagination of several commentators. "And this is the church ... ," Francis said, "the fertile mother and the caring teacher."

Though both metaphors are lovely, they also seem to strain under the weight of the reality that they were intended to signify.

Consider the circumstances of the synod fathers. The "fertile mother" is made up solely of men — men whose authority is based on their capacity to be both male and (in theory, at least) celibate.

These men are spending the next two years contemplating teachings that deeply affect women (marriage, family, contraception, domestic violence). Yet women have never had a role in creating these doctrines, they continue to have no voice in developing these doctrines, and, in the end, they will not have a vote in deciding whether these doctrines have a future.

Jamie L. Manson is NCR books editor. She received her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, where she studied Catholic theology and sexual ethics.

Source: National Catholic Reporter

Curbs on protesting continue in Myanmar despite legal changes

Controversial law still used to jail demonstrators, curtail freedom of assembly.

National League for Democracy supporters take part in a rally in Yangon ahead of by-elections in March 2012

Yangon:  Robert Sann Aung’s business card tells you all you need to know about the Yangon-based advocate. “6th time former political prisoner [sic],” reads the calling card of the man who defends almost all activists brought to court in Myanmar.

He is kept most busy by the country’s 2011 Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law — since the start of 2013, he has taken on 60 cases where people were charged under this law. Other lawyers are “too afraid” to take on such cases, said the advocate, who works pro-bono for activists.

More cases keep adding to the stacks of paper filling his small first-floor office. They attest to the failure of a recent amendment backed by opposition lawmakers that activists had hoped would finally ensure the right to demonstrate ahead of all-important elections next year.

Myanmar’s law governing all public gatherings — introduced by the reforming administration that had taken over from the military government earlier in 2011 — allowed people to take to the streets to press for change for the first time in decades.

However, the law included the controversial Article 18, which required demonstrators to obtain permission from local authorities before protesting. It also set out punishments of up to one year in prison, and has become the most commonly laid charge in the jailing of activists in post-junta Myanmar.

The amendment put forward by National Democratic Force and National League for Democracy (NLD) members of parliament, which finally passed into law on June 24, was initially celebrated for cutting potential jail terms by half, and for seemingly removing the option for authorities to deny permission to protest.

In reality, little has changed.

Robert Sann Aung already has four cases on his books involving people who demonstrated — having given notice to authorities — while the amended law was in force.

They include political activists, two lawyers who oppose a plan to change Myanmar’s electoral system to proportional representation, and a woman who demonstrated to demand that police prosecute her alleged rapist.

“The amendment says ‘no denial’, but police still deny [permission] and set up these cases,” he told ucanews.com. “Before [the amendment] it was actually easier to protest in downtown [Yangon].”

'There are only ghosts there'

Authorities around the country have reportedly continued to reject protest applications, sometimes citing arbitrary rules about the application process or the period of notice required.

Robert Sann Aung said some township authorities in the former capital’s busy downtown area have begun telling prospective demonstrators that they must instead stage rallies at a former horse racing stadium outside of the center.

Kyaikkasan, the British colonial-era hippodrome, is mostly vacant and far from any foot traffic.

“A protest is a message to the public, but Kyaikkasan is not a public place — there are only ghosts there,” Robert Sann Aung said, adding sardonically that if the authorities insisted on forcing protests into such a location, they should at least broadcast them.

“If they show it on TV, then we would protest there,” he said.

Some local authorities have defended their continued use of Article 18 to reject protest requests and subsequently charge peaceful protesters by referring to bylaws that have apparently not been replaced.

But an analysis by London-based freedom of expression campaigners ARTICLE 19 found that the law’s new wording is itself unclear, leaving it open to abuse by authorities.

Andrew Smith, a legal officer for ARTICLE 19, said the way the law was amended — chiefly taking out a part saying authorities must decide whether or not to grant permission and then inform the applicants of the decision — had left the legislation with “very uncertain scope”.

“Because the provisions that were left in it still give vague and discretionary powers to law enforcement, in effect what remains is a permission-based system, without the police and local authorities having any obligation to communicate a decision back to the people making the request, which at least existed in the previous version,” Smith said.

“So you could basically make the argument that the amendments have made the law less clear than it was previously.”

The law still requires demonstrators to tell authorities the reason for their gathering, inviting censorship of controversial protests, Smith said.

“It implies that the police have this broad power to only give permission to those assemblies that are on topics that they see as in compliance with those requirements in the law, which are so vague that the police can basically reject any request for permission on the basis of what they agree with and not agree with,” he said.

Government spokesman Ye Htut, who has previously defended the right of authorities to deny permission for some protests, did not respond to a request for comment.

Election concerns

With general elections expected in late October or early November 2015, rights groups said it was unclear how the authorities will respond to the inevitable spontaneous gatherings around the polls.

Kyaw Thu, director of the Paung Ku consortium of local NGOs, said that authorities could also misuse the amended law by insisting that it disallows them from intervening in non-peaceful protests.

The law “can be easily misused and manipulated by authorities who could readily allow counter protests by thugs in the period ahead of the election and during the election campaign, or to instigate targeted violence in communal conflicts,” he said, recalling the Depayin massacre of 2003, in which a pro-government mob attacked a convoy carrying opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“This gap also readily allows good excuse for religious, racial and nationalist campaigns which are already happening at different scales that could be intensified towards the election.”

The elections are expected to be the first time the vastly popular NLD participates in a nationwide vote since the military handed over power.

With much at stake, Amnesty International’s campaigner on Myanmar, Laura Haigh, said it was of particular concern that authorities were continuing the tactic of locking up demonstrators.

Some 80 people are incarcerated in the country and 130 more are awaiting trial for political acts including protesting, according to the latest tally.

“General elections are just over a year away and we’re seeing actually this quite large number of people being arrested and imprisoned, and for peaceful protests,” Haigh said.

“Coming up to an election I would be extremely concerned about further restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

Source: ucanews.com

Clashes in Bangladesh a day after Islamist leader sentenced to hang

Police detain 240 protesters.

Police stand guard outside a war crimes court in Dhaka before the verdict of Islamist leader Motiur Rahman Nizami was announced on Wednesday

Dhaka:  Islamists clashed with police in several Bangladesh cities on Thursday as part of a nationwide strike to protest against their leader being sentenced to death for war crimes, police said.

Officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas at rock-throwing protesters who tried to block several key highways in the northwestern cities of Bogra and Rajshahi, according to police officers.

Protesters exploded cocktail bombs in Bogra, a stronghold of the country's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, local police chief Saifuzzaman Faruqui said.

"At least 140 Jamaat activists have been arrested from the city to prevent violence," he said. Nearly 100 Jamaat activists were also arrested from Rangpur region, police said.

Demonstrations and sporadic clashes also erupted in about a dozen other towns and cities, local media reported, as Jamaat supporters took to the streets to enforce the three-day strike starting on Thursday.

The clashes came one day after a court convicted Motiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of Jamaat since 2000, of mass murder, rape and looting during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

The war crimes tribunal sentenced Nizami to death for his role as head of a notorious pro-Pakistani militia blamed for killing some of the country's top intellectuals, doctors and journalists.

Similar verdicts against some of Nizami's top lieutenants plunged the nation into one of its worst crises last year as tens of thousands of Jamaat activists clashed with police, leaving hundreds dead.

Jamaat called the strike in protest, accusing the secular government of ordering the trials against its leaders as part of a witch-hunt against opposition figures.

On Thursday schools, colleges and private businesses were shut across the country as the strike took hold.

Highways were deserted as inter-city bus and lorry services ground to a halt, while deliveries from ports were suspended.

Police also fired rubber bullets at protesters in Rajshahi and the northern town of Mithapukur after they tried to block roads, police officials told AFP, adding that the Rajshahi head of Jamaat was arrested on charges of planning subversive activities.

Source: AFP/UCAN

Gossiping Christians make people turn to atheism, pope says

Good Catholics should offer their fellow humans 'love', 'relief' and 'comfort'.

Vatican City:  The way Christians behave can either help and inspire others, or turn them away from ever following Jesus, Pope Francis said Wednesday.

"How many times we've heard in our neighborhoods, 'Oh that person over there always goes to church, but he badmouths everyone, skins them alive.' What a bad example to badmouth other people. This is not Christian," the pope said at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Causing scandal and being a bad example turn people off, making them think, "Hey, if that is being Christian, I'll be an atheist.' That's because our witness is what makes people see what it is to be a Christian," he said.

The pope continued a series of talks on the nature of the Catholic Church, focusing on the visible and spiritual reality of the church.

The visible church can be seen in its many parishes, Christian communities and organizations as well as in its people, like the pope, priests and religious men and women all over the world, he said.

But the church — the body of Jesus — is also bigger than that because it is made up of the countless men and women who are baptized and "who believe, hope and love," as well as offer "relief, comfort and peace" in the Lord's name, the pope said.

Source: Catholic News Service

Sistine chapel dazzles after technological makeover

Famous frescoes get lighting upgrade, state of the art ventilation system.

Journalists look at frescoes inside the Sistine Chapel, now illuminated by 7,000 specifically designed LED lamps, during a press visit on Wednesday

Vatican City:  High above the altar in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, the halo around Jesus Christ's head in Michelangelo's famous frescoes shines with a brighter glow, thanks to a revolutionary new lighting system.

Angels, Sybils and prophets in blues, pinks and golds, once lost in the gloom, are brought into sharp relief by 7,000 LED lamps designed specifically for the prized chapel, where red-hatted cardinals have elected new popes since the 15th century.

A state of the art ventilation system has also been installed to protect the frescoes from humidity, enabling up to 2,000 people at a time to visit one of the world's top tourist attractions, which draws over six million people a year.

The venture cost some 1.9 billion euros (about US$2.3 billion), with 870,000 euros provided by the European Union and the rest donated to the Vatican in expertise, technology and man hours by the various companies taking part in the LED4ART project.

"The LEDs have a color spectrum specifically designed with the pigmentation of the frescos in mind to ensure the light faithfully reflects the original colors, as the artists intended," said Marco Frascarolo, who works for Fabertechnica, one of the companies behind the new system.

"As each LED can be tuned to a different color, we spent long nights in the chapel with the Vatican Museum curators, trying out different mixes of red, blues, whites... trying to get it just right," he said during a private tour for journalists of the chapel late Wednesday.

While eight color samples are usually taken in an environment to create a LED system, 276 areas of the Renaissance paintings were analyzed, he said.

The sunlight, which had streamed through the windows for centuries was shut out in the 1980s, when conservators realized ultraviolet radiation was damaging the masterpieces, causing the Last Judgement and other frescoes which cover the chapel's ceiling and walls to fade.

The lighting system put in place at the time was criticized for casting an unnatural glow and throwing some of the lesser known works by artists such as Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino into shadow.

A whole new light

"The LEDs create a much better viewing experience because they throw light on aspects of the frescoes which were overlooked before," Frascarolo said.

The lights were vigorously tested to make sure they wouldn't damage the works, with pigments of the frescoes subjected to the LEDs in a laboratory at a high intensity which showed what effect the new system would have over 50 years.

Protecting the artworks was also the driving factor behind the new ventilation system, installed by US firm Carrier, which uses three cameras to monitor the number of people in the chapel and regulate the temperature and humidity.

"The previous system was only capable of regulating the air for up to 700 people. With this system the room can hold a maximum of 2,000 people without damaging the artworks," said Michel Grabon, director of Carrier's AdvanTE3C Solutions Center.

"We know the amount of CO2 and humidity released by each visitor and can make adjustments accordingly, lowering the temperature or raising it if necessary to compensate for cold spells," he said, adding that he can monitor the chapel from his home computer or mobile phone.

Both systems are also highly energy efficient, meaning the Vatican is expected to cut output for ventilation by around 60 percent and by up to 90 percent for the lights — shaving a vast amount off its bills.

Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums, said the chapel "contains the most extraordinary works ever conceived by the human mind" and the new installations aimed to honor the 450th anniversary of the artist's death by preserving and re-illuminating his creations.

The Museums said they were also exploring a project for next year whereby visitors craning their necks to see the famous depiction of Adam and God reaching towards each other to touch fingers could be given disposable "intelligent glasses" like Google Glass for a whole new 3D-view.

Source: AFP/UCAN

Inviting Sharif, not Modi to Jama Masjid: Shahi Imam

Ahmed Bukhari's son, 19-year-old Shaban, will be annointed the Naib Imam Nov 22.

New Delhi:  The Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Thursday said he was inviting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but not Narendra Modi to mark his son's annointment as the Naib Imam, saying the Indian prime minister was yet to win the confidence of the country's Muslims.

Syed Ahmed Bukhari, however, said he had invited four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, for the Nov 29 dinner to mark the occasion.

"We have invited the prime minister of Pakistan as we have had relations with him since my (late) father's time, unlike with Modi, whom we have not invited," Bukhari told IANS.

Ahmed Bukhari's son, 19-year-old Shaban, will be annointed the Naib Imam of Jama Masjid, reputedly India's biggest mosque, Nov 22.

"Modi has not done anything for Indian Muslims even after coming to power. Indian Muslims have not forgiven him for the 2002 Gujarat riots," the senior Bukhari said.

"Modi has not even apologized (for the riots) and reached out to Muslims. He is yet to win the confidence of Muslims."

He accused Modi of representing "only a section of the society" -- an apparent reference to Hindus.

Shaban Bukhari echoed his father's views.

"It would have been better had he (Modi) represented the 125 crore people of India," Shaban said.

Ahmed Bukhari said invitations for the dinner had also been extended to Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.

The Bukharis, originally from Central Asia, have been the traditional custodians of the Jama Masjid since it was built during the Mughal era in the 17th century, facing the Red Fort.

The late Abdullah Bukhari became politically influential after coming out openly against the Congress party following the Emergency rule of 1975-77. He was later courted by politicians of all hues.

The present Shahi Imam, Ahmed Bukhari, has often courted controversies, mainly over some of his radical views and the political choices he makes during elections.

IANS

Violence after Tamil fishermen sentenced to death in Colombo

The fishermen set out from Rameswaram Nov 28, 2011 when they were caught by the Sri Lanka Navy allegedly with narcotics.

Chennai:  Violence erupted in coastal Tamil Nadu Thursday after a Sri Lankan court sentenced five Indian fishermen to death on charges of smuggling drugs.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct the Indian high commission in Colombo to secure the best legal counsel for the five fishermen.

As news of the death sentence became known, fishermen in Ramanathapuram district went on a rampage damaging railway tracks.

Police said two state government buses were also set on fire in Rameswaram.

Around five people were injured when protesting fishermen stoned vehicles in Cuddalore and Kanyakumari districts. They also blocked roads, disrupting traffic in several places.

In a letter to Modi, Panneerselvam said: "Failure to take immediate decisive action in this case and secure justice for the fishermen will greatly inflame the already bruised emotions (in) Tamil Nadu."

He said the legal costs to defend the fishermen would be met by the Tamil Nadu government.

He accused the Colombo High Court of unjustly sentencing the five on death.

The fishermen set out from Rameswaram Nov 28, 2011 when they were caught by the Sri Lanka Navy allegedly with narcotics.

Panneerselvam told Modi: "I request you to immediately take up the matter with the highest authorities in Sri Lanka to ensure that the lives of the five innocent Indian fishermen are saved and they are released to return home at the earliest."

MDMK general secretary Vaiko said the death sentence betrayed the hatred of the Sinhalese community towards Tamils.

He said Colombo was emboldened to file false cases against Tamil fishermen due to the Indian government's attitude.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss asked the Indian government to take steps not only to free the five condemned fishermen but also nine others in jails in Sri Lanka.

IANS