Washington D.C., Aug 11, 2014 / 09:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Warning that the international community neglected the initial outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, a relief agency testified before Congress about the need to take the disease seriously in order to contain it. “(T)he international response to the disease has been a failure,” said Ken Isaacs, vice president of program and government relations for Christian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse. He told members of Congress Aug. 7 that the world was comfortable allowing just a few relief agencies to shoulder the burden of the disease when it broke out in three countries. “It took two Americans getting the disease in order for the international community and the United States to take serious notice of the largest outbreak of the disease in history,” he said. Now, Isaacs warned, the outbreak “threatens the stability of the three countries it affects,” with “the potential to destabilize entire countries” as gangs threaten hospitals and citizens distrust the health workers and government institutions working toward containment. “The disease is out of control,” he stressed. “If we don’t fight and contain this in Africa we will be fighting to contain this around the world.” This is the first known major outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, spreading across Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone since March. The World Health Organization has confirmed that the epidemic has killed more than 900 people, and infected more than 1,700. The disease, which first emerged in 1976, mimics many other tropical diseases in its early stages, emerging two to 21 days after exposure and featuring symptoms such as fever, sore throat fatigue, muscle pain and headaches. However, Ebola can quickly escalate, leading to vomiting, diarrhea, rash, liver and kidney damage, and in some cases internal and external bleeding. The World Health Organization states that Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of those infected. The current outbreak has roughly a 60 percent mortality rate. Currently there are no specific treatments or vaccines for the disease, though there are experimental drugs that have been used on some patients. Two American medical missionaries working with Samaritan’s Purse – Dr. Kent Brantly and nurse Nancy Writebol – have received an experimental antibody serum after contracting the disease while working in an Ebola care center in Liberia. Since then, they have been flown to the United States to receive treatment in an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that while the unprecedented outbreak, particularly its recent spread to Nigeria, is troubling, Ebola “can be contained." “We can stop Ebola: we know how to do it,” he said. “It won’t be quick, and it won’t be easy,” but health workers and communities can work to “stop it at the source through tried and true means.” Frieden said efforts should focus on containment, including the identification of individual cases, the isolation of victims, and tracking down all of a victim’s contacts. He also explained that health workers are seeking to educate the public on the disease’s spread through close physical contact with sick people and potentially through the ingestion of bush meat – particularly bats – which may be a natural reservoir for the disease. “We and our partners have stopped every Ebola outbreak to date,” Frieden said. “Stopping outbreaks where they occur is the most effective and least expensive way to protect people’s health.” Bisa Williams, deputy assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, said that this outbreak is “one of the most daunting challenges those countries and the region has faced in decades.”   Recent conflicts have made it harder for countries to react to the crisis, Williams said, and the uncontrolled nature of this outbreak “reflects the lack of national capacity to limit the spread of disease and treat patients.” Chris Smith, (R-N.J.) chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Human Rights, who hosted the emergency hearing, urged Congress to address any shortcomings in Ebola response in West Africa. “We need to take seriously the effort to devise more effective means of addressing this and all neglected tropical diseases,” Smith said. Read more

Washington D.C., Aug 11, 2014 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics in various parts of the U.S. have organized efforts to pray for peace in Iraq, especially for persecuted Christians. The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ international justice and peace committee, Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, has called for collective prayer for peace in Iraq on Aug. 17 using a prayer written by the Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon. “Lord, the plight of our country is deep and the suffering of Christians is severe and frightening,” reads the prayer of Patriarch Louis Rafael I Sako. “Therefore, we ask you Lord to spare our lives, and to grant us patience, and courage to continue our witness of Christian values with trust and hope.” “Lord, peace is the foundation of life; grant us the peace and stability that will enable us to live with each other without fear and anxiety, and with dignity and joy,” the prayer concludes. “Glory be to you forever.” The bishop noted the struggles of Christians and other minorities in Iraq. Militants with the Islamic State have burned and looted churches, homes, and businesses, and have threatened those who do not convert to Sunni Islam. Bishop Pates cited Pope Francis’ call for peace, citing the Pope’s declaration that “violence generates more violence” and dialogue is “the only path to peace.” The bishop encouraged Catholics to tell their legislators about their concerns for Christians and other religious minorities suffering in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. The Archdiocese of Washington is encouraging Catholics to say a prayer attributed to St. Francis, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” The archdiocese is also encouraging fasting. It encourages sharing the story of persecuted Christians on social media under the hashtag “#WeAreN.” The hashtag refers to the first letter of the word “Nusrani,” indicating “Christian.” Militants are painting nun, the Arabic equivalent of “N”, on the homes of Christians to target them for harassment and violence. In the Archdiocese of New York, Holy Innocents parish is holding a prayer vigil for peace Aug. 11. Marking the feast of the transitus of St. Clare of Assisi, it will include Mass at the parish, followed by a candlelight prayer rally at Manhattan's Herald Square. In the Archdiocese of Denver, Archbishop Samuel Aquila will host an interreligious prayer gathering for Middle East peace at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Aug. 11. Together with the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon’s ecumenical and interfaith office, the effort aims to halt the murder of Christians and the destruction of Christians’ homes, properties, and churches. “Though no simple resolution to these tragedies is readily apparent, we, as people of faith, cannot help but be moved to respond in some way,” Archbishop Aquila said. The prayer effort also seeks an end to the persecution of Jewish and Muslim minorities in the Middle East. Representatives at the event will include Catholic and Orthodox Churches from the Middle East; Protestant and Catholic representatives from Western Christianity; and Jews and Muslims. “We are coming together as a people who believe in God … proud of our diversity, yet honored to call one another brothers and sisters, to celebrate and protect the civilization of diversity, peace, love and co-existence,” said Father Andre-Sebastian Mahanna, pastor of St. Rafka Maronite parish in Lakewood and director of the Maronite eparchy’s interfaith office. The prayer service will include readings from the Pentateuch, the New Testament, and the Koran, as well as hymns and prayers for peace. The Our Father will be chanted in Hebrew, Syro-Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and English. There will be prayers in Arabic, as well. Archbishop Aquila will deliver a statement expressing solidarity on behalf of the religions gathered. Read more

Orlando, Fla., Aug 9, 2014 / 04:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Two cardinals addressed the Knights of Columbus’ States Dinner in Orlando on Tuesday, exhorting them to practice Catholic fraternity and to continue their charitable work. “Do not wait just to do great things, spectacular events that are noteworthy. Love as Jesus did, every moment of every day. Love every person that you encounter on your path,” Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of Quebec said in his keynote address at the Aug. 5 event. “That is how the world will know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. That is how we will become missionary disciples. And let us never forget that with Jesus Christ, spring is always around the corner.” The States Dinner is a highlight of the Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention, which took place Aug. 5-7. Though the event takes place in formal dress, attendees celebrate their home states and countries in a festive manner, waving flags and singing songs from their homelands. Cardinal Lacroix reflected on the convention theme: “You will all be brothers: our vocation to fraternity.” He said Christ regenerated fraternity through his death and resurrection. “But how can we truly promote fraternity in today’s world? How can we bring these life-giving principles to our everyday lives and help change the world we live in?” “You and I are filled with good intentions, beautiful desires to do a lot of good,” the cardinal said. “But the only way to accomplish all of this is by being rooted in faith, in Christ. He is the One who sends us the Spirit, who continuously renews us and gives us the perseverance, the generosity, the love to build the Kingdom of God in today’s world through charity, unity and fraternity. We can’t do this by ourselves, counting only on our human strength.” He stressed that rootedness in God and the Holy Eucharist are necessary to avoid self-centeredness. Cardinal Lacroix cited the words of Pope Francis: “Fraternity needs to be discovered, loved, experienced, proclaimed and witnessed to. But only love, bestowed as a gift from God, enables us to accept and fully experience fraternity.” The cardinal acknowledged the trials, tribulations, weaknesses, and sins of members of the Knights of Columbus, comparing these failings to trees that lose their leaves. “But if we are deeply rooted in Christ, our faith will allow us to experience a new spring, where life once again triumphs after a long winter.” He encouraged the Knights to remember that every act of fraternity can “produce a lot of good fruits.” Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato brought fraternal greetings from the Church in the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia, where there are more than 200,000 Knights of Columbus. He praised the Catholic fraternity’s ability to mobilize in times of disaster, as in response to humanitarian disasters due to the intermittent armed conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippines government that has killed over 150,000 people over 40 years. “In genuine fraternity and with the deepest compassion, the Knights of Columbus reach out to victims, whether Muslims, Christians, indigenous peoples,” he said. “We are one people, we are brothers and sisters, we are one family under God.” The cardinal said that the Knights of Columbus from around the world have sent more than $750,000 to help thousands of Filipinos who lost their loved ones and their homes in Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013. The fraternal order has hired builders to build boats for fishermen whose crafts have been destroyed. Knights of Columbus councils in the Philippines have helped provide food, shelter, clothes, cooking utensils, water and medicines, while also helping to repair and rebuild churches. The organization also continues relief efforts to respond to the major earthquake which struck Bohol in October 2013. “This is global and local mobilization of fraternity at its best,” Cardinal Quevedo said. “Fraternity has to be born of love, the love of the God of compassion in Jesus, the God-made-poor for our sake in order that out of his poverty we might be enriched, enriched by the grace of salvation.” He stressed that humanitarian assistance must be motivated by “a heart that beats in unison with the hearts of the poor, the marginalized, the victims of injustice.” The cardinal also noted the great need for peace, which he deemed “the fruit of fraternity.” The peace agreement in Southern Mindanao cannot guarantee peace when war’s causes are aggravated by centuries-old “cultural and religious biases and prejudices” that can “explode” into active conflict. Cardinal Quevedo stressed the need for mutual understanding and love, saying, “genuine fraternity is rooted in charity. It is in the heart. It begets peace.” He urged the Knights to let their fraternity spread through their societies, neighborhoods, the Church and wider society. Bishop John Noonan of Orlando delivered a personal greeting to the States Dinner, thanking the Knights for their support of the Church, the bishops, their local communities, and those in need. “After natural disasters: fires, floods, tornados, and hurricanes — you are there to lend a helping hand,” he said. “Here in the United States, on the national and state level, you have supported the Church’s teaching on life and marriage.” Bishop Noonan praised the Knights’ support for religious vocations. He said the Knights’ involvement in the Fortnight for Freedom helped defend the Catholic Church’s religious freedom to continue its religious and social ministries. The bishop also made a special request for knights’ prayers and support for immigration and the treatment of children, alluding to the border crisis as tens of thousands of children and unaccompanied minors from Central America have sought entry into the U.S. Many are now detained by U.S. authorities. “They are children, not criminals; they are not political agendas they are human beings and we need to make sure they are treated with respect and dignity,” Bishop Noonan said. Warning against exploiting their situation for political reasons, he lamented that many of the migrant children have been processed through the U.S. legal system without being interviewed or questioned while lacking legal representation. “Let us not forget Jesus’ words, ‘Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.'” Read more