Fr. Cedric Prakash, an Indian Jesuit priest and committed human rights activist, is the Regional Advocacy & Communications Officer of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) for the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Region, based in Beirut, Lebanon. Belonging to the Gujarat Jesuit Province of India, Fr. Cedric was until recently directing "Prashant", a Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace, which he founded in 2001 in Ahmedabad. He has been at the forefront on issues related to human rights, justice, peace and other advocacy matters for which he has been honoured both in India and abroad. Notable among these is the Knighthood of the Legion of Honour, one of France’s highest civilian awards conferred on him in 2006. Fr. Cedric was recently on a visit to the Jordanian capital Amman in his capacity as the Regional Advocacy & Communications Officer for JRS MENA. ...
Fr. Cedric Prakash, an Indian Jesuit priest and committed human rights activist, is the Regional Advocacy & Communications Officer of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) for the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Region, based in Beirut, Lebanon. Belonging to the Gujarat Jesuit Province of India, Fr. Cedric was until recently directing "Prashant", a Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace, which he founded in 2001 in Ahmedabad. He has been at the forefront on issues related to human rights, justice, peace and other advocacy matters for which he has been honoured both in India and abroad. Notable among these is the Knighthood of the Legion of Honour, one of France’s highest civilian awards conferred on him in 2006.
Fr. Cedric was recently on a visit to the Jordanian capital Amman in his capacity as the Regional Advocacy & Communications Officer for JRS MENA. We managed to catch up with him on his mobile phone to know about his new assignment. Last week, in the first part of this telephone interview, Fr. Cedric explained his switch from the founder and director of “Prashant” in Ahmedabad, India, to the Regional Advocacy & Communications Officer of JRS MENA, in Beirut, Lebanon. The 64-year old Jesuit said it was the outcome of his admiration for late Jesuit superior general, Fr. Pedro Aruppe who started the Jesuit Refugee Service in 1980 to meet the emergency of the boat people of south-east Asia, and a long and difficult process of discernment to discover God’s will, to which Fr. Cedric said “yes”. He said his job at JRS MENA with refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, includes highlighting advocacy issues at different fora, such as with the media, like-minded individuals and groups, concerned governments, etc… At the time of his visit to Amman, he had visited some 25 refugees centres in the Middle East region. He said many of these refugees and internally displaced people are in makeshift centres, illegally rented apartments, dormitories, in the open fields or in officially-recognized refugee camps. Fr. Cedric said they suffer exclusion and lack of integration, manifested in restrictions in employment, formal education and movement; lack of food, safe drinking water, sanitation and medical care, and exploitation and abuse. Besides stories of trauma, pain and suffering, Fr. Cedric also comes across heroic models of resilience and hope. He said he was particularly moved to tears to see a mother of 4 little girls, abandoned by her husband, struggling to give her children a better tomorrow.
Today, in the final of this 2-part telephone interview, we asked Fr. Cedric about the humanitarian assistance of JRS MENA, besides advocacy, counselling and show of solidarity.
A Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish procession honoring the patroness of Cuba on Sept. 7, 2023. / Credit: Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Havana, CubaACI Prensa Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).The regime of President Miguel Díaz-Canel in Cuba has prohibited several Holy Week processions in different cities of the country, including the El Vedado area of Havana as well as in Bayamo, a town that was the scene of major protests earlier this month.Last week, ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, reported on the prohibition of processions in the Diocese of the Most Holy Savior located in the Bayamo-Manzanillo area in the province of Granma, due to the regime's fear that new protests would break out. The prohibition has been extended to the capital, Havana, according to a Catholic priest.In a March 25 Facebook post, Father Lester Zayas, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the El Vedado business district of Havana, reported that the day before he had been notifie...
The Catholic faithful gathered in the Cenacle in Jerusalem for the Mass of the Lord's Supper that the Franciscan friars celebrated on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. The Cenacle is at the center of strong tensions and disputes regarding ownership and rights of access and celebration. An ancient tradition places King David's tomb here and over the centuries Jews and Muslims have leveraged this to first expel the Franciscans and then to prevent Christian worship, which they deemed sacrilegious. / Credit: Marinella BandiniJerusalem, Mar 28, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).On Holy Thursday, the doors of the Cenacle in Jerusalem were opened to welcome the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. In this "Upper Room," called the Cenacle in the Holy Land, Jesus had his Last Supper, washed his apostles' feet, and instituted the Eucharist. It was here that the Franciscans celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper, reenacting those same gestures. (At the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher,...
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem. / Credit: Zack Frank/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting a significant rise in assisted suicide prescriptions and deaths in the state, a move that comes after authorities in 2022 began allowing out-of-state residents to access the lethal services.Since the state's passage of the "Death with Dignity Act" in 1997, assisted suicide numbers have been generally rising there, with a markedly sharp uptick since 2013. OHA on March 20 released its 2023 assisted suicide data summary that reported a considerable increase in suicide prescriptions in 2023. The study found that assisted suicide prescriptions in the state rose from 433 in 2022 to 560 last year.Of those 560 prescriptions, 367 people are known to have died from ingesting the suicide "medications." This is up from the 304 who died from assisted suicide drugs in Oregon in 2022.Over half, or 56%, of the assisted ...