Latest news with #Iglesia
Malay Mail
10-05-2025
- Malay Mail
Church dismisses claims Pope Leo failed to act on abuse cases in Peru, says he ‘respected procedures'
CHICLAYO (Peru), May 10 — Pope Leo XIV's successor as bishop of Chiclayo in northern Peru yesterday rejected allegations that the new pontiff ever covered up cases of sexual abuse within the diocese. Chiclayo bishop Edison Farfan told reporters that Leo had 'listened (to the victims) and respected the procedures' of the Church. The new pope had been 'the most sensitive of all within the Peruvian church' to the issue of sexual abuse, Farfan added. The US-born pontiff was bishop of the coastal city from 2015 to 2023, when he was made a cardinal and moved to Rome. Two victim advocacy groups questioned Leo XIV's commitment to addressing sexual violence in the church after he was announced Thursday. Victims' rights group, Bishop Accountability, has also questioned the US-born pontiff's commitment to lifting the lid on the scourge of clerical abuse. The group's co-director Anne Barrett Doyle noted that Leo had 'released no names' of abusers, whether as head of the Augustinian order, bishop of Chiclayo or most recently, as head of the powerful Dicastery for Bishops, advising his predecessor Francis on the appointment of bishops. She labelled his alleged inaction in Chiclayo, where she said two priests had been accused of sexual abuse, as 'most disturbing.' The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), also issued a statement after his election as pope calling on Leo XIV to take action to support victims of sexual violence. In 2022, a priest in the diocese was accused of having sexually assaulted at least three girls. The diocese's head of communications, Fiel Purizaca, told AFP that the priest targeted by the abuse allegations was 'immediately sent home.' Farfan said the allegations were an attempt to 'discredit' the new pontiff and were 'false.' Farfan said the church was still investigating the abuse claims. — AFP
CBS News
06-04-2025
- CBS News
Police in Westampton, New Jersey investigate teen chaos after rec center gathering: "It was a riot outside"
A South Jersey neighborhood was thrown into chaos Friday night after a large group of teens poured out of a party at the Westampton Recreation Center and into the nearby Spring Meadows development, disturbing residents and damaging property. Tatiana Iglesia had just put her newborn to bed when her partner, Eric Rodriguez, ran in, alarmed by the noise outside. "He's like, 'call the cops — call the cops! They're on top of the cars — they're destroying them…they're fighting,'" Iglesia recalled Rodriguez saying. "They were just on top of the cars — it was a riot outside." That chaos was captured on a video the couple shared from their Ring security camera. The footage showed dozens of teens running through the streets and jumping on cars. At one point, what sounded like a taser could be heard in the background. "When I look out the window, I just see hundreds of kids everywhere…on my lawn, in my driveway, in my neighbor's driveway…in the middle of the street," Iglesia said. Police helped disperse the crowd, but Iglesia and Rodriguez soon realized both of their vehicles were damaged. The roofs and hoods were all dented in. The mirrors and lights were also damaged, and footprints were visible the next day. Westampton Township police said they responded to the neighborhood and are now investigating the incident , which they say appears to have started at the recreation center. Fourteen-year-old Mikaela Barclay said she was at the party, which drew students from at least four different area high schools. She said the evening started off without issue — there was music and dancing — but things escalated once the party ended and the crowd left the building. "That's when it went all sorts of crazy," Barclay said. "There were kids trying to fight in the middle of the road…jumping on cars." Barclay, who lives in the neighborhood, said most of the teens involved didn't live nearby and showed little regard for the people who did. "They were so disrespectful," she said. Other South Jersey towns that have experienced similar incidents are now taking measures to ensure it doesn't happen again. The incident unfolded the same weekend Gloucester Township Day was postponed due to what officials described as "credible threats of violence and unlawful activity." Last year, ten teens were arrested during the event following reports of large groups causing disturbances. In another preventative move, Wildwood officials recently announced they would strictly enforce a 10 p.m. curfew for minors ahead of the busy summer season, warning that any violations would result in arrests — not only of the teens but also their guardians. In Westampton Township, police say they're now reviewing how the situation unfolded and are working to ensure similar disruptions don't happen again. CBS News Philadelphia has reached out to the mayor and the recreation department to learn what additional measures may be put in place. Iglesia said she wants accountability. "We came here after we started having our kids, trying to have a better life," she said. "We worked really hard to get our cars, and for kids just to come out and do things without repercussions is so, so frustrating."
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Under shadow of deportation, Latinos find light at Hyattsville church
The Rev. Vidal Rivas, senior priest of Iglesia San Mateo in Hyattsville, a growing church consisting mostly of Latino immigrants. (Photo courtesy St. Matthew's Episcopal Church/Iglesia San Mateo) On a recent sunny, but cool, Sunday morning, Jorge Villela stands with the Rev. Sally Ethelston and a small circle of volunteers at the doors of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church/Iglesia San Mateo in Hyattsville. They're there to stand guard and to walk the grounds once Mass begins and the church doors are locked, part of a strict protocol enacted at the growing, largely Latino congregation after President Donald Trump began issuing executive orders targeting immigrants. 'The goals of the door guardians and the process we have in place are to ensure that worship services at San Mateo are able to continue uninterrupted and that any entry by agents of ICE/CBP or cooperating agencies is fully legal,' said Ethelston, a deacon here, in reference to agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection. Inside, men, women and children are filling the pews, while nearly 4,000 people have tuned to Radio San Mateo for the noon Mass celebrated in Spanish by the Rev. Vidal Rivas, a charismatic, longtime community activist and the senior priest for this 500-member congregation. At the door, Villela greets congregants with a smile and an outstretched hand. 'For me that is the best impression you can make, to be received well,' he said, greeting each parishioner by name, taking note of the newcomers who file past him to worship at one of three services in Spanish this Sunday. Should ICE agents or officers show up, the guardians know to alert both Father Vidal and Deacon Sally. Meanwhile, inside the church congregants begin to fill the sanctuary with communal song, led by a five-woman choir and electric band. White-robed celebrants lead a procession down the central aisle, followed by Rivas and Ethelston in purple vestments. In his sermon, Rivas reflects on the day's biblical reading recounting the story of the Israelite enslavement in ancient Egypt. 'It speaks to us of a reality that we are living today,' he said. 'The Egyptian empire saw this people as a threat because they grew so much [that] they had to be subdued. They had to be humiliated, and they had to be exploited. Sadly, in the times in which we are living, political leaders have forgotten that their grandparents and parents also came as immigrants like us. Its roots are immigrant.' Rivas' remarks continued, with nods of recognition. 'And, the laws being promoted insult humanity, suffocate the poor. And, instead of [allowing immigrants] to move around and share in the development of the nation, they are persecuted, imprisoned and deported,' he said. As a Salvadoran immigrant, Rivas' life mirrors those he ministers to at San Mateo. Born in El Salvador, he grew in small town that during the civil war there in 1980s was caught between the excessive violence of the military and the leftist guerrillas. In the midst of that, he became a Roman Catholic priest. 'I know what war is. I was kidnapped. I was beaten. I was persecuted,' he said. 'And, as a priest who has suffered in El Salvador, I cannot be indifferent to the pain of the people who suffer the persecution, the injustices.' Rivas brought that mission to St. Gabriel Church Washington, D.C., in 1998. But, early on his high-profile fight for justice and immigration rights landed him in the crosshairs of church leaders in the diocese. '[They] said I was too liberal for always supporting [those] actions,' he said. His response: 'They [the immigrants] have committed no crime. All they did was cross a river, a border and be here and contribute.' Within three years he left the church, but not the priesthood. He worked alongside Latino advocacy groups, with the Barbara Chambers Children's Center and stood with union organizers. He also founded the Oscar Romero Solidarity Committee, a nonprofit service organization named for the slain Salvadoran Catholic archbishop, an outspoken critic of the war in El Salvador and a champion of the poor, and vulnerable in society. In search of a parish where he could minister to the greater immigrant community, Rivas turned to the Episcopalian Church, whose tenets align closely with his Roman Catholic values, but which is more liberal. He was ordained an Episcopalian priest in 2008. That same year, St. Matthew's in Hyattsville offered to rent him space. Rivas arrived with 35 Latino followers. Among them was Silviano Celestino, who says that San Mateo grew with intention as it began to recruit Latino parishioners. 'And, we started inviting them [Latinos], going from house to house, putting flyers under doors, [telling] them there was now a Hispanic community at San Mateo with services in Spanish,' he said. The Latino and English-speaking congregations unified as a single parish in 2011. As senior priest, Rivas initiated more services in Spanish, and the popular daily online ministry. Other ministries included providing COVID-19 vaccinations and running an ongoing health clinic. From mid-2022 until the end of 2023, the church housed more than 100 Venezuelan migrants, many seeking asylum for short-term emergency stays. San Mateo has also become a leader on issues that impact the poor including rent control and food security. Volunteers lead know your rights workshops and regularly, help immigrant parents fill out temporary guardianship papers to ensure the care and well-being of their children. Rivas has pledged to serve as stand-by guardian to 16 minors. 'Padre [Father Vidal] is absolutely phenomenal,' said Cindy Conant, a former Hyattsville librarian who has participated many of the volunteer efforts. 'The people [at San Mateo] are so hardworking and gracious…. And, when the people thank me, I want to thank them for letting me be there!' Rivas, meanwhile, never waivers. 'My message is always one of reconciliation and liberation,' he said. 'I try to embody the Gospel in the reality in which we live.' That message moves Villela, a construction worker by day, to head multiple church committees. 'People feel protected when they hear him speak,' he said. It also moves Celestino, San Mateo's janitor, to spend his free time at the church. He teaches Sunday School and is studying to be an Episcopal deacon. 'We all have in some way a job or a mission to do within the church to be supportive' he said. 'It's a safe place where there is a lot of help for people who seek it.' Rivas also hears the fears. Some tell him that because he is such an outspoken human rights defender that San Mateo will be a target for deportation raids. 'And I tell them, it's the other way around,' the priest says. 'First, your church is protected by God. Second, we have many friends who take care of us and defend us!' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
