12 million Africans suffering in worst drought in 60 years DADAAB, Kenya (CNS) — It took 32 days for Fatima Mohammed to make it from her drought-stricken farm in Somalia to the relative safety of a sprawling refugee settlement in northeastern Kenya. There were days, she recalled, when her children were so thirsty that they could not walk and the men in her family would ferry them ahead, returning to carry two more children in their arms. The Somali woman and her children are among 12.4 million Africans facing acute food shortages. Because of prolonged drought and civil conflict, Somalis are bearing the brunt of what the United Nations Refugee Agency calls one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world today.
(CNS PHOTO/PAUL JEFFREY)
The United Nations declared a famine July 20 for the southern regions of Bakool and Lower Shabelle in Somalia and the refugee agency reported that child deaths are “alarmingly high” as people trek to neighboring countries for food and water. Fatima Mohammed told Catholic News Service that her family had lived through drought before, but that support from aid agencies helped them survive until the rains returned. “This time, al-Shabaab won’t let them in,” she said, referring to the Islamist group that controls portions of Somalia. “So when our animals started dying, our only choice was to stay and die ourselves, or else start walking for Kenya.” They trekked across the desolate stretch of African bush, all 11 members of the FAMINE, page 20
By Paul Jeffrey
A newly arrived Somali woman waits in line July 27 for food to be distributed at the reception center of the Dagahaley refugee camp, part of the Dadaab refugee complex in northeastern Kenya.
‘Operation I Do’: Spirit-moved layman’s push for sacred vows
Catholic san Francisco
By Valerie Schmalz
Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Faith journey of Father Pham
By Valerie Schmalz Father Joseph Hung Pham fled in 1979 from the Communist regime in Vietnam, which had decided he was a spy, and he almost died on the open sea after the small fishing craft packed with refugees disintegrated. “I am not a good Father Joseph swimmer,” Father Pham said. A Hung Pham Thai fishing vessel picked up the refugees and Father Pham spent four months in prison in
(PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FAMILY OF FATHER JOSEPH HUNG PHAM)
Retired priest recalls escape, persecution
Thailand before his brother in Brooklyn, N.Y., also a priest, Father Joseph Tan Pham, was able to sponsor him. Father Pham didn’t stay long in Brooklyn, and was incardinated in the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1984. “I cannot get along with the winter and summer so I moved to California with my sister and my brother and their families,” Father Pham said. Father Pham worked in a series of parishes, and spent about a decade at St. Gregory Parish in San Mateo. He served as a chaplain at the area hospitals, Seton Medical Center and San Mateo General Hospital, as well as visiting nursing homes. In his retirement, Father Pham said he is moving to San Jose to be closer to his brother and sister and their families and will remain active in the Vietnamese language Cursillo and Charismatic movements. Father Pham and his brother were ordained the same day in 1973 in the Diocese of of Xuan Loc. Because Father Pham’s bishop sent him to the Philippines to study and he flew back shortly before FATHER PHAM, page 3
Father Joseph Hung Pham, who has just retired as a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, is pictured celebrating his first Mass. See catholic-sf.org for more photos of Father Pham as a young priest.
St. Thomas More Parish in San Francisco is hosting a wedding for as many as 20 couples — one parish’s response to a decline of almost 50 percent in weddings among Catholics in the past two decades. “We’ll be doing a real shebang. A real wedding,” said Joe Espinueva, a parishioner and organizer of “Operation I Do,” a totally free wedding and reception for couples who were civilly but not sacramentally married or have been in a common law marriage. “There will be cutting of cake. There will be dancing. We will want these people to feel they are getting a real marriage from the church,” said Espinueva. Parishioners are volunteering to cook dishes, bake cakes, and offering to donate bouquets. Many of the marrying couples’ children will serve as flower girls and ring bearers. Marriage preparation according to church norms is under way, said Espinueva. “We are not trying to do a microwave wedding or a shortcut wedding,” said Espinueva, who said he was sacramentally married at St. Thomas More four years ago, years after entering a civil marriage. The parish will engage in follow up with the couples after the wedding to keep them engaged spiritually with the church, Espinueva said. “We started in our church a campaign SACRED VOWS, page 8
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION Local news . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 6 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Alzheimer’s care . . . . . . . . . 11 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Scripture reflection . . . . . . . 16
How will teens take to the new missal? ~ Page 8 ~ August 12, 2011
A-bomb chaplain’s prophetic witness ~ Pages 12-13 ~
Celestial timekeeping and the historic church ~ Page 19 ~
ONE DOLLAR
Father Rolheiser . . . . . . . . . 17 Datebook of events . . . . . . . 21
www.catholic-sf.org VOLUME 13
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