September 2018

AMMAN (CNS): Christians and other civilians inside Idlib, Syria, are fearful of an impending, all-out offensive by their government and its Russian and Iranian backers on the last rebel stronghold in a presumed endgame in Syria’s more than seven-year-old war. 
 
“A Franciscan father told us that the situation in Idlib is really bad, the people are very scared. They don’t know what will happen and it’s unclear what is actually taking place,...

KATHMANDU (UCAN): The enactment of new legislation criminalising religious conversion in Nepal has sparked a heightened sense of fear and insecurity among Christian minorities.
The Civil and Criminal Codes, which came into effect on August 17 to replace the General Code that was in place for 165 years, comprise a set of laws guiding civil and legal proceedings, including restrictions on religious conversion, in the Hindu-majority nation.
 
One new law states that...

HONG KONG (UCAN): The central committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has published revised regulations, which take effect on October 1, on disciplinary action that will strictly enforce the dismissal of party members who profess a religious belief.
 
The state-owned China News Service reported  that he committee revised the regulations “in accordance with the new trend, mission and requirements” after the 19th CCP National Congress last...

This year’s theme for Education Sunday is, Let the children come to me, (Mark 10:14). Catholic schools account for about 11 per cent of the schools in Hong Kong with their students numbering at around 150,000—about 17 per cent of the total number of in the territory’s schools. A ratio of about one-in-six.
 
Catholic schools need to look at how to uphold Catholic education philosophy and meet the needs of each student and Hong Kong society. How best to...