End the Violence, Seek God's Peace - A Mexican Bishop Calls for Hope CNA
go to original May 11, 2016

José de Jesús Martínez Zepeda, Obispo de Irapuato (Bernardo Álvarez)

A Mexican bishop is seeking answers after recent attacks on Catholic churches and priests, and years of high murder rates.

“The solution lies in changing people’s hearts, and in making peace to really be peace with God and with your brothers and sisters, otherwise we shouldn’t expect a good future,” Bishop José de Jesús Martínez Zepeda of Irapuato said in a recent interview with the Mexican weekly Desde la Fe.

According to Mexico’s National Institute for Statistics and Geography, between 2007 and 2014 there were 164,345 reported homicides in the country. The period includes some of the bloodiest years of fighting between the drug cartels and the Mexican government, following the beginning of a “war on drugs” begun in 2006.

Such violence came home to Irapuato last month. On April 26, four armed men assaulted Fr. Efren Silva while he was in the sacristy of Lord of Mercy parish in Irapuato's Lazaro Cardenas neighborhood, stealing nearly $400.

Bishop Martínez lamented the crime.

“The robbers came in, tied him up and roughed him up so he would tell them where the money was. In reality, it's a very poor parish, when the money comes in and goes out on a daily basis.”

The prelate said this is not an isolated incident.

Read the rest at CNA

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