CH02530.1446 May 24, 2007 64 EM-lines (736 words) CHINA    Mainland Bishop's Priest-Brother Dies After Their Reunion In Taiwan HONG KONG (UCAN) -- A mainland China-born priest who lived in Taiwan for decades passed away shortly after receiving a visit from his brother, a bishop in China's Shaanxi province. Father Conrad Ly (Li Shaofeng) of Tainan diocese died on May 13. He was 88. The funeral is scheduled for May 26 at the church in Yenshui, Tainan County. Tainan city is 250 kilometers south of Taipei. Bishop Luke Li Jingfeng of Fengxiang, 85, told UCA News May 15 they met in Tainan in late March during his first visit to the island. Bishop Li said his brother had expressed the hope of revisiting their hometown in Shaanxi province, northern China, "but his travel document expired and he could not come with me." It was God's will that his brother died after their reunion, he declared. Bishop Li had planned to go to Taiwan last year, but could not make it. On June 30, 2006, Father Ly told UCA News that he was looking forward to his brother's visit. The priest recalled that when he was able to resume contact with his brother in Shaanxi in the late 1980s, they wrote to each other in Latin for the sake of secrecy. "But now we can write in Chinese," he added. Father Ly, a former Franciscan who became a diocesan priest, said he had previously visited his hometown in Shaanxi. In Tainan, he lived alone in Hsueh-jiu church after he retired in 1992. Parishioners brought him to live with Franciscan friars last year. "He still went from the Franciscan house to Hsueh-jiu to work on his writings daily," Ursula Chen, a laywoman, told UCA News in May. Franciscan Father Alban Mai told UCA News May 15 that Father Ly had decided to renew his travel document so he could go to the mainland to celebrate his brother's feast day on Oct. 18. The German friar recounted that Father Ly was hospitalized after falling from his bed around midnight on May 7. Following surgery three days later on a broken leg, his condition was satisfactory and he wanted to return home. However, on May 13 morning, the hospital called to say Father Ly's condition had become unstable, Father Mai continued. He said Father Ly fell into a coma because of low blood pressure and heart complications. After receiving the last rites that same morning, he died peacefully around noon. According to Father Mai, "He left with a smile and knew he was going to God's place." Father Ly was born into a devout Catholic family in Gaoling county, Shaanxi, in 1919. All but one of the eight children became priests and nuns, and all but Father Ly remained on the mainland. Father Ly was ordained a priest in 1946 for Fengxiang diocese and entered the Franciscan order the following year. Before the end of the decade, however, he fled to Macau amid China's civil war. In 1951, he was invited to join the translation team of Hong Kong-based Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, according to the institute's website (www.sbofmhk.org). Studium Biblicum publishes the official Chinese Catholic version of the Bible. Father Ly's "literary skill as a poet was brought to good use in translating the Psalms and canticles," the website says. Father Ly came to Taiwan during the 1960s. He later left the Franciscans to join Tainan diocese. From 1969 until his retirement in 1992, he served as the parish priest of Holy Spirit Church in Yenshui. Parishioners greatly respected his 23 years of service, Father Mai said. Father Ly renovated the Yenshui church in 1986, emulating the style of a Chinese palace and decorating its interior with wall paintings of the Trinity, the archangels and the Chinese martyr-saints. A painting of the Last Supper that depicts Jesus and his disciples enjoying Chinese buns, using chopsticks and drinking from ancient Chinese-style wine cups also attracts attention. His brother, Bishop Li, was one of the four mainland prelates invited by Pope Benedict XVI to the Synod on the Eucharist in 2005, which brought bishops from around the world to the Vatican, but the Chinese government did not allow any of the four to go. In August 2004, Bishop Li "surfaced" from the "underground" Church community to join the "open" Church, but not the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The association and the Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China are the two national administrative structures of the government-approved open Church community. END (Accompanying photos available with the UCAN Photo Service. Use story code CH02530.1446 or a person's name to search for related photos.) Related UCAN Reports VATICAN Pope Benedict Sends Greetings To Catholic Bishops In Mainland China (October 24, 2005) VATICAN Mainland Bishop's Letter Read Aloud During Synod on the Eucharist (October 19, 2005) IB02518.1446 May 24, 2007 56 EM-lines (622 words) INDIA    Hindus Bank On Web Services To Fulfill Religious Duties By Leo Fernando CHENNAI, India (UCAN) -- Newly married Mahesh Mohanan was tired after visiting 15 temples with his wife. "Can someone offer puja (prayers) in these temples on my behalf?" he asked himself. His question gave birth to a successful business venture that thousands of Hindus use worldwide. In 1999, Mohanan and schoolmate Mervyn Jose resigned from their jobs as software engineers and started a commercial website: www.saranam.com. Through it, people can register to have puja and other Hindu rituals in Indian temples done on their behalf, for a fee. "Through technology we meet the spiritual needs of thousands of Hindus," Jose, 34, told UCA News. The friends are based in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state, 2,100 kilometers south of New Delhi. Hindus offer puja and rituals such as abhishekam and homam for special occasions and needs. In homam, priests offer prescribed prayers before a fire for a specific intention. Abhishekam involves bathing the statue of a god or goddess with milk, honey, sandal paste or a fruit pulp mixture. "But most Hindus have little or no time to visit major temples, which are situated far from cities," Jose told UCA News. He was born a Catholic, but now says he is an atheist. Initially, the friends offered to do puja only in five major Chennai temples. This changed as word spread, especially in the United States and Europe, where large numbers of Indian and Sri Lankan Hindu immigrants live. Anyone can arrange puja online with a credit card, and by specifying the name, birth star and need of the person for whom the prayers are offered. A representative of the online service visits the particular temple and makes the arrangements. Along with a receipt from the temple, the website sends prasadam, sweets that temples offer to devotees after accepting their offerings. Puja costs US$4-12. But the more elaborate homam costs between US$70 and US$730. The online service videotapes the ritual as conducted by a team of priests, edits it and sends it to the customer. The business has grown from 200,000 rupees (US$4,925) in 1999 to an annual turnover of 3.5 million rupees now. Likewise, it has expanded from five temples in Chennai to offering puja in more than 175 temples across India. Nonetheless, Mohanan says the road was not easy. A "major" initial challenge was convincing people that puja was "actually performed," he recalled. But they managed this and now have more than 8,000 regular customers. Mohanan also noted a change in their customer profile. Eight years back, 80 percent of customers were from overseas. Now most come from India. They also get requests from people of other religions. "Occasionally, even some Jews want us do some puja for them," Mohanan said. Customers post comments on the website. Bonnie Stern wrote, "This blessed service made a difference in my life." Nadine Barrick testified, "Our spirits were lifted when we received the prasadam from the puja we ordered." Still, the two friends occasionally face trouble. Some customers expect immediate results. Delays upset them, and they "question us," Mohanan said. They also get occasional requests for occult practices, which they "promptly turn down," he added. Currently, people can also use the online service to order astrological charts, beads, small statues, incense sticks and religious books. The friends plan to organize pilgrimages and expand their list of temples. Mohanan expects the client base to increase in the future, as more people turn to the Internet for faith purposes. Several similar websites already have emerged, and some leading temples also offer services online. The friends have turned down requests from other religions. "There is something tangible to send to the customer in the Hindu rituals. This is not the case with other religions," Mohanan explained. END Related UCAN Reports INDIA When The Sun Turns Back, Hindus Wash Off Sins In Sea (January 16, 2007) INDIA Millions Bathe In River At Hindu Festival In Southern India (September 15, 2004) INDIA UCAN Feature - Millions Bathe In Cold River Water To Wash Away Sins (January 30, 2001) INDIA World's Largest Gathering To 'Wash Off Sins' Begins In India (January 11, 2001) IB02519.1446 May 24, 2007 65 EM-lines (695 words) INDIA    Leading Asian Theologians Welcome Vatican's New Approach To Limbo CHENNAI, India (UCAN) -- Two prominent theologians in India have welcomed the Vatican's recent approach toward the question of children who die without Baptism and the status of limbo. The 41-page document the International Theological Commission issued on April 21 "is better than I expected," said Father Felix Wilfred in Chennai, 2,100 kilometers south of New Delhi. "I am delighted that the principles evoked in the document to solve the problem of limbo are very important," the former member of the Vatican commission elaborated. The document, The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized, explains the traditional concept of limbo as a state in which souls of unbaptized infants exist without "the beatific vision," but without being "subjected to any punishment because they are not guilty of any personal sin." Even though limbo has never been defined as a Church dogma, nor included as a teaching in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which the Vatican published in 1993, it has existed as part of popular belief among Catholics. The 30-member commission, which issued the document after prolonged study, concluded that "there are theological and liturgical reasons to hope" that unbaptized infants may be saved, "even if there is not an explicit teaching on this question found in revelation." It is "possible that God simply acts to give the gift of salvation to unbaptized infants by analogy with the gift of salvation given sacramentally to baptized infants," the document stated. The increasing number deaths of unbaptized babies have made this an urgent pastoral question, it said. It also pointed out that this number includes the unborn victims of abortion as well as babies born to parents who are not practicing Catholics. However, the commission cautions against using the new approach to "negate the necessity of baptism" or to "delay the conferral of the sacrament." Father Wilfred said he sees "a strong shift and very good emphasis on certain important principles of Christian faith in the document." The commission has taken an "Asian approach" to solve the issue, which was left unresolved earlier when theologians approached it through the Western-Latin theological tradition, explained the professor of Christian studies at government-run University of Madras in Chennai, formerly called Madras. Earlier, the concept of original sin inherited from the biblical first humans, Adam and Eve, was seen as obscuring "God's mercy and universal will of salvation," he observed. Now, the commission has "accepted the mysterious ways of God's unlimited love and grace, which is the basis of Asian theology," the theologian continued. He is "delighted," since this "vindicates the principles of Asian theology." He also found it "gratifying to note" that the Vatican commission has acknowledged the possibility of unbaptized children receiving the grace necessary to enjoy the beatific vision. Another theologian, Jesuit Father Michael Amaladoss, also welcomed the "new approach" that "affirms the hierarchy of truth, the primacy of God's universal salvific will." He told UCA News on May 21 that the document also affirms the teaching of the Second Vatican Council that salvation is not restricted to the Catholic Church. The council touched on the matter in documents including Gaudium Et Spes, the "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World." This teaches that since all humanity is destined to God and Christ died for all, "we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery." Father Amaladoss, who heads the Chennai-based Institute for Dialogue with Cultures and Religions, noted that the recent document on limbo says solidarity with Christ is more important than solidarity with Adam. This approach calls for rethinking the concept of original sin, he said. The document is a positive step that will comfort parents who worry about their unbaptized children's fate, the priest added. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed the Vatican commission in 2004 when it began studying the question of limbo, the year before he was elected Pope Benedict XVI. At the time, he said he believed the concept of limbo should be abandoned because it was "only a theological hypothesis" and "never a defined truth of faith." END Related UCAN Reports PHILIPPINES Catholic Parents Aim For Quick Baptism Of Babies With Or Without (May 1, 2007) INDIA Second Vatican Council Yet To Touch Indian Catholics, Survey Says (September 22, 2000) IB02532.1446 May 24, 2007 58 EM-lines (631 words) INDIA    Court Finds Tampered Evidence In Nun's Murder Case, Orders Action Against Officials THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (UCAN) -- Controversy over a Catholic nun's death continue to haunt the Church and police in southern India 15 years after the incident. On May 22, a court in Kerala state ordered the police to register criminal cases against two officials who conducted an autopsy after Sister Abhaya died in 1992. The nun, who was 21 when she died, was a member of Pius X Convent in Kottayam, a Christian-majority town 2,650 kilometers south of New Delhi. Her fellow nuns found her body in the convent well and the police dismissed the death as suicide. But the nun's parents suspected foul play and, with the help of some local people, forced the government to hand the case over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 1993. Seven years later, the federal agency concluded that the nun was murdered but said it was unable to trace the culprits. It wanted the case closed, but the state High Court refused. The case took a major turn this April 7, when The New Indian Express, a national English daily, reported a coverup in the case and published the original autopsy report. The paper found that the autopsy report had been overwritten at four places and the word "not" inserted in the observation that "semen was detected." This, the paper added, was "a clear bid to contradict the result." The paper concluded the nun was raped before being murdered. A special CBI court is now hearing the case. But Jomon Puthenpura, an activist who has pursued the case the past 15 years, requested the chief judicial magistrate in Thiruvananthapuram, the Kerala capital, to seize the autopsy report for re-examination. Puthenpura charged that tampering had been done to hide the fact that semen was present in Sister Abhaya's vaginal smear. The court seized the laboratory workbook the first week of April and sent it for evaluation. The evaluation found conclusive proof of forgery. Chief Judicial Magistrate S. Soman said the autopsy report contained eight amendments. He then asked the police to book R. Geetha and M. Chitra, two women officials in the state-managed chemical laboratory that conducted the autopsy on Sister Abhaya. Chitra had analyzed the tests that Geetha, then head of the toxicology department, had supervised. Geetha is now the chief chemical examiner. The court has given these officials until May 28 to present their account of the autopsy. Speaking with UCA News, the magistrate said the re-examination of the autopsy showed clear evidence that the two women had tampered with the report. Geetha has denied the charges. "I corrected the reports after verifying the results," she told UCA News on May 22. "It's normal as we redo the tests and correct the findings." The case has rocked the Church in the state, since activists and media suspected the involvement of priests in the crime. But the Church has denied such charges and maintained that it has only facilitated investigations. The murdered nun's father, Thomas Aikarakunnel, has expressed relief. "Now the truth has come out. But the criminals are still at large," he told UCA News. He wants the CBI to catch "the real culprits." Puthenpura says the court finding has created problems for the CBI. Long ago, he said, he argued that the nun was raped and murdered. "But all evidence was tampered with to save the criminals," regretted the layman, who added that he would continue to follow the case. "It's unfortunate that an innocent nun was raped and killed in a convent, and the Church officials tried to save the culprits for 15 years," he alleged. Church officials again denied the charges. "To my knowledge, Church officials have not been involved in a cover-up or tampering of evidence," Father Jacob Velliyan, vicar general of Kottayam archdiocese, told UCA News. END Related UCAN Reports INDIA Activists Accused Of Amassing Wealth In Pursuit Of 'Justice' For Dead Nun (May 28, 2004) INDIA State Orders Prosecution Of Officials For Destroying Evidence In Nun's Death (August 17, 2000) INDIA Mystery Surrounds Death Of 22-Year-Old Nun In Southern Kerala State (April 14, 1992) IE02535.1446 May 24, 2007 46 EM-lines (528 words) INDIA    Police Booked For Arresting Catholic Nun On Bail RANCHI, India (UCAN) -- The top judicial officer of an eastern Indian district has initiated contempt-of-court proceedings against the police for illegally arresting a Catholic nun. The police arrested Sister Valsa John, a social worker, on May 21 on the premises of the chief judicial magistrate's court in Pakur, a district in Jharkhand state. The case against the Charity of Jesus and Mary nun was that she and some villagers had blocked roads in Pakur three years ago to protest a coal mine on illegally acquired tribal lands. On May 16, Sister John received anticipatory bail from the state High Court. She later went to the judicial magistrate's court to get the bail ratified, just as the High Court directed. Sajal Kumar Ghosh, the nun's lawyer, told UCA News the police arrested her despite the anticipatory bail. "I tried to stop them but they did not listen," he added. The lawyer said Chief Judicial Magistrate Manoj Shrivastava viewed the nun's arrest seriously and demanded a written explanation from the police. The magistrate, the top legal official in the state, has also decided to start contempt-of-court proceedings against the police. Ghosh said the police team that arrested Sister John kept her in the police station in Pakur for more than two hours. Pakur is about 300 kilometers east of Ranchi, the state capital. Ranchi is 1,160 kilometers southeast of New Delhi. The lawyer said the police could not arrest the nun earlier, as she enjoys "tremendous" public support. Sister John is "a well known leader in the area" since she has "dedicated her life for the poor in the state" and fights for their rights, he explained. The police officials knew they would be in trouble if they arrested her in the village, he added. Narrating her arrest, Sister John told UCA News, "I was in the court waiting for the bail order. But the judge was not in his seat. The police arrested me when I came out of the court for a few seconds on an urgent personal need." She called her arrest "acute high-handedness of the police." The contempt proceedings started on May 22, Ghosh told UCA News. He also mentioned that the nun's supporters plan to file another case against the police in the High Court on June 10 for illegally detaining their leader. Sampat Meena, police superintendent, told UCA News that the police arrested the nun because she did not wait for the court's order after depositing her bail petition. "She should have waited in the dock inside the court" according to court norms, the woman police official said. "We just completed our duty and released her after the final bail by the court," she added. State Deputy Chief Minister Stephen Marandi, when asked about Sister John's detention, said he had no information on it. However, the police did the wrong thing if they arrested the nun after she had appeared in court and applied for bail, he told UCA News. "How could they arrest her after she appeared in court, and when she had anticipatory bail from the High Court? This issue is in the court, let the court resolve it," he stated. END Related UCAN Reports INDIA Priest, Nun Attacked In Eastern India, Church Calls For Police Action (May 16, 2007) INDIA People Of All Religions Protest Killing Of Catholic Priest In Jharkhand (September 20, 2005) INDIA Hindu Group Wants Jharkhand State To Probe Former Nun's 'Conversion' (July 17, 2003) IJ02502.1446 May 24, 2007 62 EM-lines (626 words) INDONESIA    Barriers To Priestly Vocation Among Local Youth Highlighted KETAPANG, Indonesia (UCAN) -- The first native Catholic priest in Ketapang diocese is blaming scarce local priestly vocations on a combination of cultural values and weak faith formation. "Our Church still lacks priests, and priestly vocations among our local youth are very few," Father Zacharias Lintas from St. Gemma Galgani Cathedral Parish told 60 participants, including Dayak tribals and several priests and nuns, at the May 12 seminar in the cathedral's hall. Dayak are the indigenous people of Kalimantan, in the Indonesian-controlled part of Borneo. Most of them are Christians who still follow their ancestors' tribal traditions and customs. Ketapang diocese is based in Ketapang town, 585 kilometers north of Jakarta, in West Kalimantan province. Passionist Father Mikael Makar was another spokesperson for the seminar with the theme Challenges of Faith Formation Within Families and Priestly Vocation in Modern Society, held to commemorate the parish's patron feast, which fell on May 16. Father Lintas, in his paper entitled Look at Our Diocese, said that after 50 years of the Catholic Church's presence among Dayak people in Ketapang, only nine Dayak tribals were ordained priests and three of them left the priesthood. The number of native seminarians from the diocese is only 10 out of 24. The 58-year-old diocesan priest attributed the lack of priestly vocations among local youth to cultural values. He mentioned two traditional sayings that reflect the people's worldly preferences. Translated, one is "Having a big house, big rice granary, fruitful rice farming, and successful hunting," while the other is "Boy should have a wife, girl should have a husband." Weak faith formation within local families is another possible explanation. "Not all local Catholics, especially those living in remote areas, have the Holy Bible," he observed, adding that each of the 18 parishes has only a few books related to faith formation. Father Lintas, the diocese's vicar general, also mentioned that 28 of the 31 priests working in the diocese's parishes -- 19 diocesan priests and 9 Passionists -- are facing difficulties in serving the 68,000 Catholics in the diocese's 35,809-square-kilometer area. Each parish has tens of villages located far from each other and difficult to access due to damaged roads, he observed. "On average, one priest serves about 2,000 Catholics," he remarked. Also, according to him, almost all the priests are involved in different diocesan commissions. "This limited number of priests and the geographical situation hamper faith formation among local Catholics. This situation also affects the promotion of priestly vocation indirectly," admitted Father Lintas, who was ordained in 1978. Therefore, he suggested, "Families should also promote priestly vocation. If God calls their sons to work in his field, they should let them go." Dayak tribals give all priests serving in remote areas a title, in keeping with their customs, he added. Priests are regarded as "people who guide and lead the society to goodness and safety." Meanwhile, Father Makar, from the largely Catholic island of Flores, told the gathering that the promotion of priestly vocations in his area is not a big problem because "local people have strong Catholic values and see priestly vocations as a blessing". During the seminar, Isidorus Ido, a 20-year-old native youth studying at St. Laurent Minor Seminary in Ketapang, shared his experience. "When I told my parents that I wanted to study at the seminary, they did not approve. But then they supported me after my parish priest talked with them about the importance of priestly vocations." Kalimantan now has 3 million Catholics, out of a total population of 8 million people. The Catholic Church in Kalimantan includes Pontianak archdiocese and Ketapang, Sanggau and Sintang dioceses in West Kalimantan, Samarinda archdiocese and Tanjungselor diocese in East Kalimantan, Palangkaraya diocese in Central Kalimantan, and Banjarmasin diocese in South Kalimantan. END Related UCAN Reports INDONESIA Young Catholics Show Interest In Priestly, Religious Vocations (June 13, 2006) INDONESIA To Promote Vocations, Children Invited To Visit, Stay In Seminary (April 28, 2005) INDONESIA Nuns Help Prepare Students For Priestly and Religious Vocations (July 8, 2003) MY02510.1446 May 24, 2007 47 EM-lines (533 words) MYANMAR    Family Values, Youth Fellowship Stressed At Yangon Youth Camp THONE KYAING, Myanmar (UCAN) -- Sabriana Chindooroy let slip a "secret." Her encounter with nuns at the recent Catholic youth camp near Yangon moved her, but she still feels her future lies in starting a family of her own. Chindooroy, 21, a youth leader from St. Jude Parish in Yangon, was one of 260 participants at the April 22-30 camp, which focused on the role and importance of the family. Young people from 27 out of the archdiocese's 49 parishes joined the gathering in Thone Kyaing village, near Maubin, 40 kilometers west of Yangon. Father James Tin Maung Htwe, archdiocesan youth director, said he chose the theme, "As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34) because it is Pope Benedict XVI's motto and is relevant for young people who will create their own families in the near future. Aside from the emphasis on family, a key message that organizers hoped to get across was that young people can change for the better. A session titled "Power to Change" was devoted to this. Chindooroy does not plan to become a nun, but she does want to continue contributing as a youth leader in her parish. "If we try hard, we can reach our own goals and ends," she told UCA News. During the camp, nuns from four congregations had shared about their vocations. "I liked their sharing but cannot follow them. I will try to build my own family," the young woman said with a smile. She added that that she can serve as a Church youth leader and "do everything" because of her family's support. In an era when economic and social pressures increasingly threaten the family, Father Maung Htwe said the Catholic Church is trying to stress the importance of this basic social institution. The goals of the youth camp, held annually since 1980, include helping young people appreciate family values, creating love and unity among family members, and strengthening bonds among young Catholics of the archdiocese. Father Maung Htwe and Salesian Fathers Bosco Bo Bo and Alphonse Aung Naing Shwe led this year's camp, assisted by five other priests. Activities included adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, during which Salesian priests encouraged the young people to think about their sins, turn away from them and pray for others who have gone astray. Thomas Thein Oo, 29, president of the archdiocesan youth group, told UCA News he learned that he has to change first before trying to change others or his environment. Mathew Aung Naing Lin, 26, a youth leader of Hpa-an parish, about 250 kilometers east of Yangon, told UCA News the young people learned about family, including parents' role within the family, and about being Catholic. In his view the presentations and discussions effectively encouraged participants to reflect on their sinful ways. "Some youths cried in front of us admitting their sins," he said, estimating that 70 percent of the participants gained spiritually from the camp. Like Chindooroy, Naing Lin looks forward to a married life and appreciates the stress given to the Sacrament of Matrimony in all youth camps. "It is important to know about it, so we can prepare for our future," he said. END Related UCAN Reports MYANMAR Young Catholics Appreciate Sessions On Empowerment And Guidance (September 15, 2006) MYANMAR Youths Dramatize Family Relationships In Parents' Day Celebration (July 31, 2006) PM02526.1446 May 24, 2007 65 EM-lines (668 words) PHILIPPINES    Lay Ministers Take On Some Priestly Duties In The Absence Of Clergy PAGADIAN CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- Approximately 1,000 lay ministers in a southern diocese bless the dead, baptize dying infants and distribute Communion in the absence of priests. Alagad sa Liturikanhon Kasaulugan (servants of liturgical celebration), a special ministry in Pagadian diocese, is a "big help in parishes," Father Gilbert Lungay told UCA News May 22. The priest heads the diocesan Commission on Liturgy, under which the ministry operates. Its lay members, called kaabag, function as Eucharistic ministers at Masses in all 24 parishes of the diocese, Father Lungay said. But he explained that kaabag also take Communion to the sick, bless houses and cars, and distribute Communion after community prayers in remote chapels when no priests are available. The diocese comprises Pagadian City and 24 municipalities in the northern and eastern parts of Zamboanga del Sur province. According to the 2006-2007 Catholic Directory of the Philippines, it has 44 priests serving an area that is home to 674,791 people, 47 percent of them Catholics. Pagadian City, the base of the diocese, is 800 kilometers southeast of Manila. The kaabag ministry was established "due to lack of clergy," Father Felix Tigoy told UCA News on May 13. However, the former diocesan pastoral director added that the "main facet of the establishment" of the special ministry goes beyond helping priests during Communion. "They play a greater role in the absence of priests, especially in areas that are practically unreachable due to other responsibilities that we must also prioritize," the priest added. People become "closer and nearer" to the presence of "God and the Holy Spirit," because the kaabag allow them "to still share Communion." They "encourage greater participation of laypeople in liturgical and paraliturgical services," Father Tigoy said. This implements the Church's vision of strengthening laypeople, he continued, pointing out that they are now "considered collaborators and co-responsible in the ministry of priests." Theologically, "priests and laypeople share the same baptismal call to mission (and) vocation" in establishing the Church's presence, explained the priest, who serves as pastor in Danlugan village and heads one of the four vicariates into which the diocese is divided. Baptism, he said, brings every Catholic the "gift" of being a "prophet, king and priest," which means sharing in "Christ's life." The current ratio of priests to Catholics, given the spread-out nature of parishes and difficulty of travel, "make the visibility of a priest impossible," he shared. Aquilino Cabiguin, a kaabag in San Jose Parish since 2000, says that serving in the special ministry that brings people closer to God has not only been fulfilling but also life-changing. A self-confessed former cockfighting aficionado, habitual gambler and drunkard, Cabiguin told UCA News he realized that "if you prayerfully struggle to change your ways, you will always end up with a positive result." Personally, he now feels "closer to God." Cabiguin, 54, acknowledged that when he first became a kaabag, members of his community criticized him and his former associates denounced him. But he said he viewed these as "challenges" rather than sources of discouragement. Jacinto Albiso, 53, who has been a kaabag for five years, sees participation in a Church ministry as "one way" of manifesting his faith. "As a minister I have found and experienced my ultimate service to God and to his people, especially during Communion," he told UCA News. Daisy Reyes, a parish pastoral worker who has facilitated seminars and workshops for the ministry since 1993, told UCA News the kaabag have "annual renewal of faculties given by the bishop through the parish priest." They can be "ordered to stop serving if they abuse their faculties," she added. The kaabag ministry started in 1974 under Bishop Jesus Tuquib, now retired, according to Father Salvador Banga, who has served as a priest in the diocese for 30 years and heads its Bible Apostolate. The ministry has continued under Bishop Tuquib's three successors since 1984 -- Bishops Antonio Tobias, Zacharias Jimenez and Emmanuel Cabajar. Redemptorist Bishop Cabajar, who currently heads the diocese, was installed in 2004. END Related UCAN Reports PHILIPPINES Examples Of Missioners, Elders Inspire Priests In Rugged Ministries In The South (March 27, 2006) PHILIPPINES Bishop, Other Hostages In Southern Philippines Freed (May 25, 2005) PHILIPPINES UCAN Commentary - Pope John Paul II and the Church in Mindanao (April 19, 2005) ASIA Vatican Defines 'Restricted' Role Of Laity In Priestly Ministry (November 19, 1997) SG02514.1446 May 24, 2007 61 EM-lines (693 words) SINGAPORE    Priests, Seminarian Publish Blogs To Reach Out To Internet Community SINGAPORE (UCAN) -- Some priests and a seminarian have started their own blogs as a way to reflect on their spiritual experiences as well as evangelize the Internet community. Blogs, short for web logs, are online publications written in the style of a journal. They often provide commentary or news on a subject, while some function more as personal diaries. Readers can leave their own comments on the blog site. Terence Kesavan, a seminarian at St. Francis Xavier Major Seminary, has been sharing his reflections on his spiritual journey as a seminarian in a blog since 2004. The blog, My Spiritual Journal, can be found at (schwiing.blogspot.com). "I wanted to start a sort of a spiritual journal on what and how God is speaking to me in my life, and as an IT (information technology) person, I am more comfortable typing than writing," Kesavan wrote in an email to UCA News. His entries range from light humor -- "Who was the greatest sinner in the Old Testament? Moses, because he broke all the ten commandments in one day" -- to deeper reflections on how others perceive him and other seminarians. In one entry, he shared that he and a companion were taking the mass rapid transit train when they became aware of a couple looking at them and saying they were seminarians. The incident led him to reflect that for someone who is recognized publicly, "I could be proclaiming Christ through my actions, or (be) a cause of scandal for others by my actions." Kesavan said he also has discovered "the blog is more public than I thought." Not only were his friends reading it, but strangers from other countries, searching for a particular topic on the Internet, were routed to his site. For example, his request for prayers for Singapore archdiocese's May 11-13 vocation discernment retreat, drew a response from a reader in Japan who wrote, "hi terence, reading your blog. praying for all of you." Another blogger, Diocesan Father Aloysius Ong, who is in his 40s, started his Life's Crosses blog (alongcorner.blogspot.com) in June 2001, also when he was a seminarian. "I was still going through a period of search and discernment, and I thought I would just let people know what goes on in the mind of a seminarian at that point of time," Father Ong shared in an interview with Radio Singapore International some months ago. Now he uses his blog to give readers an insight into the life of a diocesan priest, and to show that "priests are still human" and can "express themselves ... provided we're given the opportunity to." In one entry written after a hectic two days that included a Baptism, Confirmation, anointing of the sick and three weddings, he said he felt a "great level of agitation." But further reflection led him to realize that it is useless to fret over such a schedule. "Maybe that's our problem. We like to be in control all the time," he concluded. His blog has garnered many positive responses from readers, such as "ag," who wrote: "By chance, I bumped into your blog doing a google search and have since enjoyed reading your postings for the last one year or so. All I can say is the pieces are very down to earth, very human." Jesuit Father Christopher Soh has been sharing his reflections on the Sunday Scripture readings in his Breaking The Word blog (breaking-the-word.blogspot.com) since March 2006. Starting in September that year, he added his reflections on the daily readings. "The blog was originally a response to the few people who asked for hard copies of homilies," Father Soh told UCA News by e-mail. "I thought it'd be convenient simply to refer them to the blog." According to him, the readership and responses to his blog have been "quite modest" but "generally positive." All this online interaction shows that "blogging can be a great tool in evangelizing," Kesavan said. "I want to be part of the effort of many others who are trying to bring God's presence onto the Internet, to be able to share and testify that God is still part of our lives." END Related UCAN Reports PHILIPPINES Clergy Discuss Issues Through Internet Blogging (November 30, 2006) VT02512.1446 May 24, 2007 63 EM-lines (722 words) VIETNAM    Marian Shrine Attracts 60,000 Pilgrims On Opening Day TANH LINH, Vietnam (UCAN) -- Thousands of devotees flocked to the opening of a new government-approved Marian shrine in southern Vietnam, praying and thanking the Blessed Mother. The local government approved in January the construction of the hilltop Ta Pao Marian Shrine in Binh Thuan province 's Tanh Linh district, 1,518 kilometers south of Ha Noi. The shrine's May 13 opening coincided with the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. The site includes a 300-meter flight of stairs leading to the three-meter-tall statue of Our Lady of Fatima, a platform for celebrating Mass and a chapel. Francis K'Tao, an K'Hor ethnic minority Catholic from the neighboring province of Lam Dong, told UCA News that he suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and could not afford medical treatment. "In a dream I was visited by Mother Mary, who asked me to work in the shrine's construction," he recalled. Every day for a month, he carried 15 50-kilogram bags of cement from the foot of the hill to the statue. "I feel good, and my health is getting better," he said, adding, "I am happy that Our Mother cured me." Marie Do Thi Tin told UCA News, "Today I come here to thank the Blessed Mother for special graces she gives my family." Wiping the sweat from her face, the mother of four said she had an ovarian cyst, but after praying to the Blessed Mother, it disappeared. She said Mother Mary also cured her husband and her son of persistent coughs. After her prayers, she came down to the foot of the hill for the shrine's inaugural Mass. Bishop Paul Nguyen Thanh Hoan of Phan Thiet led the Mass, which was concelebrated with 42 priests. Massgoers stood in rice fields rendered muddy from the previous night's rain. "Ta Pao is officially a diocesan pilgrimage center from now on," Bishop Hoan said in his homily. At the end of the Mass, people said the prayer to Our Lady of Ta Pao that he approved on May 9. Father Jean Baptiste Hoang Van Khanh, an organizer, estimated that the opening drew 60,000 people. Anna Doan Thi Yen, who knelt in the mud during Mass, told UCA News she prayed for her married son who is not a practicing Catholic. "I ask Mother Mary to help my son and his family return to the Church," she said. In the past she visited the national shrine of Our Lady of La Vang in faraway Quang Tri province, in central Vietnam, but now "I can come here more often, as it is closer to my home." Another devotee, Nguyen Thi Anh, told UCA News that she took about 50 people a month on pilgrimages to the unfinished Ta Pao shrine. "We are happy that the construction is finished," she said. The 430 steps to the top will make it easier for the disabled, elderly, sick and children to reach the Marian statue, she added. Father Dominic Nguyen Van Hoang, who was in charge of the shrine's construction, told UCA News that benefactors and pilgrims covered the cost of the construction. Local people, including some who were not Catholics as well as K'Hor ethnic people from Da Lat diocese, provided free labor. During the four months of construction, 100 people became Catholics, he said. Before Mass, people walked a kilometer from the local Dong Kho church to the shrine. The statue of Our Lady of Fatima was placed on a car decorated with colorful ribbons and flowers at the head of the procession. The previous evening, thousands of pilgrims made the Way of the Cross at the shrine. They also prayed the rosary as seminarians and nuns dramatized mysteries of the rosary. People also gathered around the Marian statue on the hilltop to touch it and to offer bottles of water, flowers, incense sticks and candles. Thousands of pilgrims now come on the 12th and 13th of every month and on the Blessed Mother's feast days. The Marian statue became popular in 1999 after three students said they saw the Blessed Mother appearing to fly to the other side of the mountain. For the next two years, local authorities discouraged visits to the statue because they considered the pilgrimages superstitious and potentially harmful to public order. They eased restrictions later, when they saw that the pilgrims did not cause problems. END (Accompanying photos available with the UCAN Photo Service. Use story code VT02512.1446 or a person's name to search for related photos.) Related UCAN Reports VIETNAM Students Opt For Pilgrimage To Marian Shrine During College Break (May 8, 2007) VIETNAM Church Urges Government To Return Shrine Property (March 5, 2007) VIETNAM Work Begins On Hilltop Marian Shrine After Government Gives Permission (August 30, 2006)