November

It’s dangerous being a Christian in some areas of the world these days. In his article on The Book of Revelation in the October issue of MM, Joseph McHugh remarked that “more Christians died for the Faith in the twentieth century than in any other. The twenty-first is shaping up in similar fashion”. A solid basis for this statement came from Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to US agencies in Geneva, who in June told the Human Rights Council that “credible research ... has reached the shocking conclusion that an estimate of more than 100,000 Christians are violently killed” each year because of their faith.

(Source: Catholic Herald, UK)

In recent months the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has spoken strongly about the persecution of Christians in Syria, Kenya and Pakistan.

This month the MM carries a report from The Australasian Catholic Press Association and Australasian Religious Press Association conferences (pages 14 & 15). In his report, the President of ACPA said, “I would like to express my gratitude to Fr Brian O’Connell who asked to step down from his role as Vice President (NZ) early in 2013. Brian’s work towards our Wellington Conference (last year) with Cecily McNeill was exceptional”.