Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Leprosy returns to Bangladesh

 
Leprosy returns to Bangladesh | Bangladesh, World Health Organisation,World Leprosy Day
Jan 30th 2012 ICN:  Bangladesh was declared free of leprosy 13 years ago by the World Health Organisation - but the disease has now returned  to the capital Dhaka as well as rural areas.

The announcement was made yesterday at a rally in Khagrachhari in the southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts  to mark World Leprosy Day.

About 500 people attended the event, organized by Chittagong Leprosy Control Mission, part of The Leprosy Mission International,  (TLMI) an NGO working to increase awareness about diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

District deputy commissioner Anisul Haque said the area was among the most risky places for leprosy, because the tribal people were very unaware of the disease  and it carries a great stigma.

Sanay Tripura, 42, a Catholic and local TLMI medical officer, said there are about 4,500 leprosy patients in the country today. He said the chance of catching the disease in the region is around one in 10,000.

According to TLMI, 3,800 fresh leprosy cases were found last year with 732 being Dhaka city dwellers.

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

St. Damien Statue Unveiled In Kapalama - Honolulu News Story - KITV Honolulu

St. Damien Statue Unveiled In Kapalama - Honolulu News Story - KITV Honolulu

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Statue of St. Damien unveiled at Honolulu boys school named after the Belgian-born priest


In this photo provided by Pat Bigold Media Consulting, Pookela Glasco-Kamauoha helps Anthony Eleno place a lei around the neck of a statue depicting St. Damien during an unveiling Friday, Jan, 13, 2012 at Damien Memorial School in Honolulu. St. Damien, Hawaii's patron saint, is best known for caring for leprosy patients exiled to the Kalaupapa settlement in the mid-1800s. He contracted leprosy 12 years after he arrived, and died of the disease four years later. (AP photo/Pat Bigold Media Consulting)
HONOLULU — A 7-foot statue of St. Damien has been unveiled at the Honolulu school named after the Belgian priest who cared for leprosy patients exiled to a remote Molokai peninsula.

The China-made statue is mounted next to the chapel at Damien Memorial School. The all-boys school will become coed next fall and is the only school in Hawaii named after Damien, who gained sainthood in 2009.

Hawaii's patron saint is best known for caring for leprosy patients exiled to the Kalaupapa settlement in the mid-1800s when no one else would. He contracted leprosy 12 years after he arrived, and died of the disease four years later.

The school says the statue depicting the saint wearing his signature wide-brimmed hat and glasses was unveiled at a ceremony Friday.
From: Associated Press


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Artist sculpts St. Damien statue for Pahoa church

HILO, Hawaii (AP) — A sculptor on the island of Hawaii is creating a life-size statue of St. Damien for the Sacred Heart Church in Pahoa, located in the district where the venerated Roman Catholic priest first worked after being ordained in 1864.

William McKnight is chiseling a 7-ton basalt boulder into a statue depicting a 5-foot-10, 210-pound Damien topped by his signature hat. The sculpture will show Damien extending his hand to help people.

The base will feature Hawaii Island's main volcanoes, which also are meant to represent the Trinity, along with water symbolizing Damien's crossing to Molokai, McKnight said.

Damien was just 24 when he arrived in Puna, his first parish. Church records show he baptized nearly 100 people and performed seven marriages in the few months before he moved north to minister to people in Kohala and Hamakua.

The priest is best known and honored for work he did after moving to isolated peninsula of Kalaupapa on Molokai, where he cared for exiled leprosy patients in the mid-1800s when no one else would. He contracted leprosy 12 years after he arrived, and died of the disease four years later in 1889.

The Vatican canonized Belgian-born Joseph de Veuster, or Father Damien, in 2009.

A dedication ceremony will be held in March to coincide with the arrival of Bishop Larry Silva, who heads the Diocese of Honolulu.
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Hawaii nuns describe life of soon-to-be saint

San Antonio News:  WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — Sister Rose Annette Ahuna walks the same paths on a remote Molokai peninsula where a soon-to-be saint treaded while caring for exiled leprosy patients.
Ahuna and other nuns who have been researching Blessed Mother Marianne Cope describe her as tough, yet kind. The pope recently announced Marianne will be canonized, making her the second saint with ties to Kalaupapa. A date for canonization has not yet been set but it's expected to take place in 2012. In 1888, Marianne, then 45, succeeded Father Damien in caring for patients exiled to there. Damien gained sainthood in 2009.
Ahuna is one of two nuns from Cope's order who volunteer in Kalaupapa. "She encouraged everyone," Ahuna told the Maui News (http://bit.ly/usKdD9 ). "She and Father Damien also understood people regardless of their religion. And no matter what she was doing, she would put it down to help someone."
Soon-to-be Saint Marianne was the only one of 50 religious leaders to respond positively to an emissary from Hawaii who requested for nuns to help care for Hansen's disease patients on Kalaupapa, the religious order said, earning her the title of "beloved mother of the outcasts."
Marianne was known for demanding money from the government to help the leprosy patients. She wasn't "afraid to pursue anything for her people," said Sister Davilyn Ah Chick of Honolulu.
"I'm sure she would be saying, 'What is all this fuss about me for? Oh, forget about it,'" Ah Chick said.
The nuns said Marianne is credited with having a school built and teaching women and girls to sew and garden. She was also a source of support during a time of much suffering, which included abuse, families forced apart and the banning of pregnancies, Ahuna said.
Marianne died there of natural causes in 1918.
The Kalaupapa settlement is now a National Historic Park. The government has spent more than $1 million restoring parts of the peninsula associated with Marianne's work including a chapel, nuns' living quarters and walking paths.
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Hawaii-nuns-describe-life-of-soon-to-be-saint-2434724.php#ixzz1krEdRZVz
Information from: The Maui News, http://www.mauinews.com
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Saint Damien Church Opens on Molokai in Time for Christmas

Island Catholic Community Proud to Have Two Saints 

Saint Damien Church in Kaunakakai, Molokai

Hawaii Reporter - KAUNAKAKAI, MOLOKAI - For 14 years, the Catholic community on the scarcely populated island of Molokai, has tried to raise enough money to build a church in its main town of Kaunakakai to honor Saint Damien of Molokai.
After raising $2 million from bake sales, community fairs and donations, and the Catholic Diocese kicking in another $1.2 million, St Damien of Molokai Church opened two weeks ago. Run by Sacred Heart priests, the parish held its first mass last Sunday and will celebrate its first Christmas mass on December 24 and 25.  The timing for the church opening, some island Catholics believe, could not be more perfect.

Fr. Damien, known as "The Leper Priest and Hero of Molokai," was declared a saint in 2009 and Blessed Mother Marianne Cope, who worked side by side with Damien and other sisters in Molokai, was cleared for "sainthood" by the Roman Catholic Church Pope last week.

Saint Damien
Saint Damien was sent to Honolulu in 1864 and then worked in Big Island missions. In 1873, he volunteered to work in Kalaupapa. In 1885, he was diagnosed with the disease, something he announced proudly because he wanted to experience what his patients did. And he continued to build hospitals, clinics, churches and coffins on the island. His sainthood ceremony was held in Rome on October 11, 2009, with King Albert II of the Belgians, Queen Paola and Belgian Prime Minister in attendance.
The Molokai church writes on its web site: In his ministry on Molokai, Father Damien bandaged and comforted the leprosy patients; built hospitals, houses, chapels and coffins; organized picnics; educated the children; and ministered to the patients' spiritual needs. In his work with the patients who had been exiled to the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula, Father Damien reformed a settlement known for its lawlessness, filth and despair, into a community of individual respect, love and laughter. Father Damien built a community of love and hope through his teaching and living Jesus Christ's gospel message of unconditional love."
Like Saint Damien, Cope, the former leader of Syracuse’s Franciscan sisters, was known for her work and dedication to leprosy patients in Kalaupapa, Molokai.
Cope was born in Germany, but her family moved to the United States eventually settling in Utica. After joining the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse in 1862, she established two hospitals there.
Always caring for the sick and abandoned, she brought a group of sisters to Hawaii in 1883 to care for those with Hansens disease. When the patients were sent to Kalaupapa, Molokai, in an effort to keep the disease from spreading, she moved there in 1888 and continued to care for the patients for 30 years. She promised the sisters who came with her that none of them would ever contract leprosy and she kept her word. She died in 1918 and was buried in Kalaupapa.

Blessed Marianne Cope:
Cope, who has historical tribute to her work at the Kalaupapa lookout on Molokai, is deemed the "beloved mother of the outcasts." Her remains were exhumed in 2005 by the church to prepare her for canonization.
Several cardinals and bishops on the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes for Saints announced last month the finding by a Vatican medical board there is no medical explanation for a "second miracle" that occurred when Cope healed an unnamed woman who was dying.
This followed her first miracle involved healing a 14-year old with a fatal health condition. According to Syracuse.com: "In 2004, Vatican officials ruled that a miraculous recovery involving a 14-year-old Syracuse girl in 1993 was the result of Mother Marianne’s intercession. The girl, Kate Mahoney, nearly died from complications after cancer surgery at Crouse Hospital. Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, a Franciscan nun, visited Mahoney in the hospital and prayed to Mother Marianne to intercede with God on her behalf. Others also prayed for her to Mother Marianne. The Sisters of St. Francis have a shrine to Mother Marianne at their residence on Court Street in Syracuse."
Nearly a century later, in 2003 and 2004, the Congregation for the Cause of Saints affirmed her as Venerable Marianne Cope. In 2004, the Vatican Medical Board ruled the girl's case as an inexplicable medical recovery - a miracle due to the intercession of Cope. She was affirmed as Mother Marianne for beatification. Pope John Paul II confirmed the miracle case and Cope was declared blessed. In 2005, she was declared blessed in Rome in St. Peters and in 2011, she was confirmed for canonization. Last week, Pope Benedict XVI gave his final approval for Cope and 6 others to be canonized.
Saint Damien built a Catholic church in Kalaupapa, but the only way for people living outside the former Hansen's disease colony to get there is by boat, airplane or mule. The other church, built by Saint Damien, is located on the east end of Molokai, more than an hour's drive away from the island's main population center.
The Catholic community here lost its main church to a fire more than a year ago.
Larry Helm and his wife Barbara Helm were active in helping to fund raise for the new Saint Damien Church, the only one named for Saint Damien in Hawaii.
Larry believes the spirits of both Saint Damien and Blessed Marianne Cope are with the people of Molokai.
Residents here say having two Saints from the remote Hawaiian island, and the long awaited church finally open in time for Christmas mass, are miraculous events for Molokai's Catholic community.
Author: Malia Zimmerman
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A New American Saint

Pilot Catholic News:  Posted: 12/23/2011:
On Dec. 19 in Rome, the Holy Father signed the decree recognizing the canonization miracle for Blessed Marianne Cope, the nun from Syracuse, N.Y., who responded to the call to care for the lepers in Hawaii, along with St. Damien of Molokai, and spent the last 30 years of her life in Molokai until her death in 1918.

In fact, Pope Benedict was the one who beatified Mother Marianne in May of 2005, in the first of his beatifications. Just recently, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked the pope to make her feast day a memorial throughout the United States, as it is currently celebrated (as is typical for Blesseds) only in the dioceses of Hawaii and Syracuse, and in her religious congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis.

There is a wonderful biography of this luminous figure, entitled "Pilgrimage and Exile: Mother Marianne of Molokai," written by Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, O.S.F., and O.A. Bushnell (University of Hawaii Press 1991). It captures in careful detail the trials and tribulations endured by Mother Marianne in her life of cheerful self-giving.

For example, there was the time one of her sister nuns, the charming Sister Leopoldina, who spent her days cleaning and wrapping sores of those afflicted with leprosy, understandably panicked at the thought of herself becoming a leper, as had happened to Father Damien. "Mother, I asked, what will you do with me if I become a leper?" "You will never be a leper, I know," she said, "we are all exposed but God has called us for this work. If we are prudent and do our duty He will protect us...Remember you will never be a leper, nor will any Sister of our order."

Her biographers report, "Mother Marianne's prophecy has been fulfilled: not one of the scores of Franciscan sisters who have attended lepers in Hawaii has contracted leprosy."

Although she was born in Germany in 1838, she came to upstate New York with her family as an infant and was raised in Utica. She entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse in 1862 and quickly became a superior and eventually provincial in 1877. When, in 1883, she was invited (along with 50 other religious superiors) to come to Hawaii to nurse the leprosy patients, her religious congregation was the only one who accepted, sending a group of seven sisters, with her in charge. Initially tending lepers in a hospital in Honolulu, she and two other sisters arrived in Molokai in 1888, six months before the death of Father Damien from leprosy. Her virtues were every bit as heroic as St. Damien's, and she lived for another 30 years on the isolated island of Molokai until her death at age 80.
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Catholic Heroes for Today:


National Catholic Register:   Sainthood causes introduced in the United States continue to be investigated by Rome. Since the Register looked at canonization causes in October 2010 (see also here), there have been exciting updates on a few in progress, plus some causes recently introduced.
Candidates range from those with mystical spiritual gifts to those who did ordinary things extraordinarily well. And there are some who helped strengthen families and had connections to other saints. Several were foreign-born, but all except one became American citizens.
This week at NCRegister.com, we’ll be looking at these causes and the miracles that Rome and diocesan tribunals have examined.
It’s “American Saints Week” at the Register.

Blessed Marianne Cope
In June, the cause of Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai, who died in 1918, took a giant leap forward when her Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in Syracuse, N.Y., received word from Rome that seven doctors at the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes medical board announced there was no medical explanation for the cure of a woman with a fatal condition.
Next comes final papal approval. A board of theologians will investigate the woman’s healing, and a committee of cardinals and bishops will examine the findings and make a judgment concerning canonization.
Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, the director/historian of the cause, says that the example of Blessed Marianne’s selflessness is as relevant and inspiring for the Church in the United States today as it was in her lifetime.
“Her selflessness comes through because she was revered here in the [Syracuse] area when she began one of the very first hospitals in the United States,” Sister Mary said. “In spite of that, she gave it all up, going over to Hawaii. She established the first [general] hospital for non-leprosy patients on the island of Maui. Five years later, she exiled herself on Molokai, taking care of leprosy patients.”
It was quite a distance from Germany, where she was born, and from Utica, N.Y., where she arrived as a year-old child with her parents.
Blessed Marianne met St. Damien De Veuster of Molokai, saw to his care on Oahu, and besides her own programs, brought to fruition several projects he sought to begin. She spent 30 years on Molokai caring for patients with leprosy, now called Hansen’s disease.
She insisted on cleanliness to prevent the spreading of disease. None of the sisters ever contracted leprosy.
Said Sister Mary, “Here was a person talented and beautiful in every way, and she followed God’s will no matter what the cost was to herself.”
08/07/2011 
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/catholic-heroes-for-today/#ixzz1kr2ut4N8
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