A member of the Psalm 100 Christian church, wearing clothes representing an angel, demonstrates against violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, last September.”
Teens Bring Message to Murderers in Mexico
Angels are not a common sight in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico’s most violent border city, where the public cemetery is putrid and overflowing, and where a handful of churches worship the skeletal saint of death, Santa Muerte.
But at crime scenes and busy corners recently, more than a dozen angels have appeared—10 feet tall, with white robes and feathered wings. That these angels are mostly teenagers from a tiny evangelical church makes their presence no less striking: they carry signs to murder scenes that say, “murderers repent.”
“It’s incredible, one of the most spectacular things I’ve seen,” said Jesús Nuñez, director of a local social service agency. “It’s dangerous, but they keep doing it.”
Marches against violence are more common here … perhaps because this city has so much experience with tragedy. The killings of dozens of women who worked in factories here over a decade ago even predated the rash of drug – war violence that intensified in 2006.
The Messenger Angels got started last year, after conversations at a church on the city’s outskirts, Psalm 100. Carlos Mayorga, 33, a leader of the group, said the church’s young people had become frustrated with the violence and wanted to do something hard to miss. So they asked for donations of old curtains that became angelic robes, raised money for makeup and collected feathers for wings.
Then they made signs that speak to criminals and corrupted officials. “We wanted to prick the consciences of the people who have caused this city so much pain,” said Mayorga.
Early on, the angels focused on busy intersections. Later, they started going to crime scenes, where their messages were often greeted with odd stares, and occasionally tears. They have also set up at prosecutors’ offices and police stations.
Mayorga said he hopes that somehow, eventually, they will help bring peace. “The idea is to keep going,” he said. “We have to.” ¦ —Damien Cave, The New York Times
Interfaith Rally Highlights Climate Change
An interfaith rally in Durban, South Africa in November urged a United Nations conference to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding treaty that addresses the issue of climate change.
“This is the only home we have,” said Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, referring to care for the planet Earth, according to a news release from the World Council of Churches.
The 17th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP 17, ran from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9.
“Africa is a continent of faith, and we have come here together from different faith traditions to voice our moral and spiritual call for a paradigm shift. We call for climate justice now,” said Bishop Geoff Davies, director of the Southern Africa Faith Communities Environmental Institute.
Tutu delivered a petition with 200,000 signatures titled, “We have faith” to the incoming president of COP 17, Maite Nkoana – Mashabane, South African minister of International Relations and Cooperation. The petition had an African emphasis taken from the “Time for Climate Justice” campaign. ¦ —ENI
Alleged Miracle Cure
The border between faith and science is being tested in Samunge, a village near the Kenya – Tanzanian border, where thousands of people are heading for a “miracle cure” being offered by Rev. Ambilikile Mwasapile.
Mwasapile, a retired Lutheran priest, says he received instructions from God to make the medicine, and some say church workers, pastors and bishops had taken the cure and were being healed.
The herbal mixture is made from the roots of the “mugariga” tree. A single cup allegedly treats all sicknesses, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and cancer.
Some infected people have abandoned their daily HIV/AIDS drugs, and have seen their condition worsen, complicating the fight against the epidemic, according to AIDS experts.
Despite pressure from some politicians and faith leaders, the government says it cannot stop the priest because his actions were inspired by his faith and the mixture is not harmful. ¦ —ENI
