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Myanmar: Catholic priest, catechist abducted by armed group

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An armed resistance group opposed to Myanmar’s military junta in the western state of Chin has seized a Catholic priest and a catechist travelling with him.

Members of the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) seized Father Noel Hrang Tin Thang along with a catechist while they were travelling from Surkhua town to Chin state capital, Hakha on July 26, UCA News reported. Both belong to Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in Surkhua in Hakha Diocese.

Bishop’s appeal
Local Bishop Lucius Hre Kung of Hakha has called for their release, expressing concern for their safety and well-being nearly a week after their abduction.

“I call on the concerned leaders of the CDF to immediately release the pair,” Bishop Hre Kung said in a letter released on August 1. Local Catholics have also expressed concern and said prayers for the immediate release of the cleric and the catechist.

Father Tin Thang has been helping numerous of displaced people including the elderly, women and children who took refuge in the parish following clashes in early June, according to sources.

Allegations
Following the letter of Bishop Hre Kung, the CDF said the priest and catechist were in good health.

The group accused the priest of giving information to the military junta, getting medical support from the junta and urging locals to receive the junta’s support. The group said it had warned the clergy not to contact the military’s security force, and they had to arrest Father Tin Thang as he failed to comply. “We will release them only after our demands of transferring the priest from Surkhua to Hakha and signing letters of recommendation from two church leaders are fulfilled,” the group said.

However, according to the Italian news agency, AGI, the priest and the catechist were arrested in Hakha while buying medicines for the people of Surkhua. The local community denies Father Tin Thang had any involvement with the security force.

Father Paul Thla Kio, a priest of Hakha Diocese told the Vatican’s Fides news agency that the CDF has seen Father Tin Thang having contacts with a general of the army. Father Thla Kio explained that the general, who is a Catholic and attends Masses, often went to the priests’ residence. In fact, Father Tin Thang asked the general to avoid violence.

Civil resistance groups
The ousting of Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected government by the military on February 1, has thrown the nation into chaos with nationwide protests, strikes and a civil disobedience movement, demanding the restoration of the government and the release of their leader. There have been no signs of a letup in the bloody crackdown by Myanmar’s military on its opponents in a bid to consolidate its hold on power. The offensive has re-ignited the military’s old conflicts with some of the armed ethnic organizations as well as numerous independent civil resistance groups.

The CDF is one of these civil resistance groups fighting the military. Using homemade weapons, the CDF has inflicted heavy casualties among junta forces in a conflict that erupted in Chin state in May. Clashes are still raging and more than 18,000 people have been displaced in Chin state and neighboring Magway and Sagaing divisions, according to a United Nations report on July 30. During the conflict, priests have been targeted, with the military arresting eight priests from Chin and Kachin states and Mandalay division in May and June.

Ethnic Christians
Christians are a minority in the predominantly Buddhist country, accounting for 6.2 percent of its 54 million population. Myanmar Catholics represent about 1.5 percent of the population.

Areas occupied by the Kachin, Chin, Karen and Kayah ethnic groups, who have been facing oppression and persecution at the hands of the military for decades, are largely Christian.

Thousands of innocent civilians in have been displaced by the conflict. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Myanmar, over 220,000 people have been displaced by conflicts and insecurity since the coup.

Myanmar’s complex crises
The serious political, socio-economic, human rights and humanitarian crises generated by the coup, have been exacerbated by a raging third wave of Covid-19 infections, with an acute shortage of oxygen and near absence of the most basic healthcare.

Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing marked 6 months since the coup on Sunday by taking on a new title as prime minister of a newly formed caretaker government. The military-backed State Administration Council (SAC) that was formed after the Feb. 1 coup, has now been reformed as a caretaker government. The junta leader promised fresh multi-party elections in 2 years, saying he will cooperate with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on finding a political solution to the country.

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കാത്തിരിപ്പ് സമയം വെട്ടിക്കുറയ്ക്കും; ഇന്ത്യക്കാർക്ക് ആശ്വാസമായി 2025-ൽ പുതിയ യുഎസ് വിസ നിയമനം

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യുഎസിൽ ജോലി ചെയ്യാനും യാത്ര ചെയ്യാനും ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്ന ഇന്ത്യക്കാർക്ക് പുതുവർഷം ആശ്വാസം പകരും. 2025 ജനുവരി 1 മുതൽ, ഇന്ത്യയിലെ യുഎസ് എംബസി, നോൺ-ഇമിഗ്രൻ്റ് വിസ അപ്പോയിൻ്റ്‌മെൻ്റുകൾ ഷെഡ്യൂൾ ചെയ്യുന്നതിനും റീഷെഡ്യൂൾ ചെയ്യുന്നതിനുമുള്ള പുതിയ നിയന്ത്രണങ്ങൾ അവതരിപ്പിക്കും.

ഡിപ്പാർട്ട്മെൻ്റ് ഓഫ് ഹോംലാൻഡ് സെക്യൂരിറ്റി (DHS) H-1B വിസ പ്രക്രിയ നവീകരിക്കുന്നതിനുള്ള പുതിയ നിയമങ്ങൾ വെളിപ്പെടുത്തിയതിന് തൊട്ടുപിന്നാലെയാണ് ഈ പ്രഖ്യാപനം.

രണ്ട് പ്രഖ്യാപനങ്ങളും ഇന്ത്യക്കാർക്ക് അനുകൂലമാണ്, കൂടാതെ നടപടിക്രമങ്ങൾ കാര്യക്ഷമമാക്കാനും അപേക്ഷകരുടെ നീണ്ട കാത്തിരിപ്പ് സമയം കുറയ്ക്കാനും ലക്ഷ്യമിടുന്നു.
Sources:azchavattomonline.com

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ചിക്കാഗോ ലേഡീസ് ഫെലോഷിപ്പിന് പുതിയ നേതൃത്വം

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ചിക്കാഗോ: ചിക്കാഗോ ലേഡീസ് ഫെലോഷിപ്പിന്റെ രണ്ടു വര്‍ഷത്തെ കോര്‍ഡിനേറ്ററായി സിസ്റ്റര്‍ മോളി എബ്രഹാമിനേയും, ജോയിന്റ് കോര്‍ഡിനേറ്ററായി സിസ്റ്റര്‍ ഗ്രേസി തോമസിനേയും തെരഞ്ഞെടുത്തു.
സിസ്റ്റര്‍ മിനി ജോണ്‍സന്റെയും,സിസ്റ്റര്‍ റോസമ്മ തോമസിന്റെയും പ്രവര്‍ത്തന കാലാവധി പൂര്‍ത്തിയായതിനെ തുടര്‍ന്നണ് പുതിയ ഭാരവാഹികളെ തെരഞ്ഞെടുത്തത്.ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ഓഫ് പെന്തക്കോസ്തല്‍ ചര്‍ച്ചസ് ഇന്‍ ചിക്കാഗോയുടെ കണ്‍വീനര്‍ ഡോ.വില്ലി എബ്രഹാമിന്റെ ഭാര്യയാണ് മോളി എബ്രഹാം.ഗുഡ് ഷെപ്പേര്‍ഡ് ഫെലോഷിപ്പ് ചര്‍ച്ചിലെ അംഗമാണ്.
ഗില്‍ഗാല്‍ പെന്തക്കോസ്തല്‍ അസംബ്ലിയിലെ സീനിയര്‍ ശുശ്രൂഷകന്‍ പാസ്റ്റര്‍ സാം തോമസിന്റെ ഭാര്യയാണ് ജോയിന്റ് കണ്‍വീനറായ ഗ്രേസി തോമസ്.
Sources:onlinegoodnews

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Biblical Archaeology From the Holy Land Revealed: ‘You’re Almost Touching…History’

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An Israeli entrepreneur on a mission to highlight biblical artifacts has brought his “treasures from the Holy Land” to America.

Oded Golan’s “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land” experience opened Dec. 3 at Atlanta’s Pullman Yards, with hundreds of ancient artifacts surrounding the New Testament on display.

“We are bringing [a] once-in-a-lifetime experience to people to look at items that they will probably not have other opportunities to see,” Golan recently told CBN News. “The 350 items that are presented here, most of them are from the time of Christ. They were all found in the Holy Land in Israel, and they are telling the stories that are mentioned in the New Testament, but in first hand.”

He added, “You’re almost touching the history.”

Golan said some of the items are related to Jesus’ family or people living during his lifetime. These elements allow people to explore life during biblical times, seeing the behaviors and practices that unfolded during the New Testament era.

Already, audiences are loving the experience, Golan said, noting that giving a lens into the past illuminates knowledge and understanding.

“It doesn’t change faith, it doesn’t change belief, but it changed, somehow, how do you feel and how do you see the stories that are mentioned in the Bible — in the New Testament,” he said.

Golan’s story is a fascinating one, as he started collecting antiquities when he was just a child.

What started as a passion project grew into something much more — a collection he calls the “biggest and largest … in the world of biblical archaeology items.”

“When I was young, even, you know, until the age of 16, 17, I had in mind that I should be an archaeologist one day,” he said. “But … in life it was changed … but I kept archaeology as a hobby.”

And that hobby grew as he traveled all over the Holy Land and collected artifacts — relics he brings to audiences in “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land.”

“In this exhibition, we present only items that came from a very short period of time,” Golan said. “We are talking about the early first century AD, the time of Jesus. A few items are from the 3rd, 4th, 5th century because this was the time when the first churches emerged — the cradle of Christianity.”

He believes audiences will be captivated regardless of their age or religious beliefs.

“It doesn’t matter what age you are, and what [religion] you are, and how strong [a] believer you are,” Golan said. “It’s fantastic.”

The entrepreneur also made international headlines in 2012 when he was on trial after being accused by the Israel Antiquities Authority of forging an inscription on the James ossuary, a stone relic believed to hold the bones of Jesus’ brother, James.

He was acquitted after a seven-year legal battle. The ossuary, which has been a source of contention, has an Aramaic line that reads, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Proponents argue that the inscription pointed to evidence of Christ’s brother, James.

Ultimately, Golan was absolved of the most serious charges surrounding manufacturing elements of this inscription, among other serious charges. Some have since defended the authenticity of the artifact’s inscription, which would be the earliest reference to Jesus. Read more about the history of the matter.

Golan referred to this case while explaining he was in the “later stage” of his life – over the age of 50 — when he read the New Testament for the first time and started to understand it. Wanting to better comprehend the ossuary in his collection, he turned to the text for understanding.

Speaking about the James ossuary, he heralded the importance of the find, which is included in “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land.” He’s hoping the collection inspires visitors to think more deeply about the past.

“You’re touching the history — almost physically,” Golan reiterated. “And that makes … a big difference compared to any other kind of exhibition. And, as I mentioned, it’s not only the artifact exhibition. It has much more than that.”

After the Atlanta run, Golan hopes to bring “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land” to other cities across America.
Sources:faithwire

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