The News You May Have Missed: September 2024

Invaded & Eradicated

Russian forces have driven all Greek and Roman Catholic clergymen from the occupied areas of Ukraine (National Catholic Reporter, July 10). “Our church was liquidated,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “In fact, there is not a single Catholic priest in the occupied territories today — either Greek Catholic or Roman Catholic.” In places such as Mariupol, Maryinka, Volnovakha, Lysychansk, and Severodonetsk, “our churches are completely destroyed,” he said. Russia has suppressed a number of faith communities in Ukraine, destroying or seizing churches and imprisoning, torturing, and, in several cases, killing clergymen. Two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests, Frs. Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta, were released this June after a year and a half of captivity. They were seized by Russian forces in November 2022 and “tortured without mercy,” said Archbishop Shevchuk. Russian officials in the occupied portion of the Zaporizhzhia region formally banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church by written decree, as well as the Knights of Columbus and Caritas Ukraine, part of the Caritas International network of humanitarian aid organizations.

Religion of Terror

A Kenyan religious leader is facing charges of terrorism for the deaths of more than 400 of his followers (CBS News, July 8). Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, pastor of Good News International Church, allegedly incited his acolytes to starve themselves to death in order to “meet Jesus.” The remains of 440 people have been unearthed in mass graves, in a case dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre.” Autopsies reveal that though starvation appears to have been the main cause of death, some victims — including children — were strangled, beaten, or suffocated. Many of the bodies had their organs removed. Mackenzie’s organization “did not function merely as a fringe group,” prosecutors say, but “as a well-organized criminal enterprise operating under the guise of a church.” Mackenzie, a former taxi driver and father of seven, allegedly told followers to join him in the Shakahola forest, where he had offered them parcels of land for less than $100. Once in the forest, Mackenzie told them the end of the world was coming and they must prepare through extreme hunger. Surviving members say what he preached often came true, such as his prediction of “a great virus” prior to the advent of COVID-19.

Instituting Gender Ideology at Georgetown

This school year, Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic and Jesuit academic institution in the United States, is offering “gender inclusive” housing to students in a pilot program (Fox News, July 13). The university in Washington, D.C., is making the move after undergraduates voted for the change during a referendum on the issue. Georgetown is “committed to creating an inclusive, safe, and welcoming campus for all members of [its] community across all gender and sexual identities,” said a school spokesman. “Students have the right to be placed in housing that aligns with their gender identity.” For the past several years, the university’s Residential Living team has sought to accommodate individuals who identify as transgender, non-binary, or gender non-conforming on a case-by-case basis. If successful, the pilot program will expand during the 2025-2026 academic year. Georgetown also boasts of being one of the first “Catholic/Jesuit” institutions in the United States to have an LGBTQ Resource Center.