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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS May-25-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
House rejects Catholic leaders, Bush on embryonic stem-cell research
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Rejecting the advice of Catholic leaders and the threat of a veto by President George W. Bush, the House approved legislation May 24 to lift the president's restrictions on federal funding of stem-cell research involving the destruction of human embryos. But immediately after its 238-194 vote in favor of the Stem-Cell Research Enhancement Act, the House gave nearly unanimous approval to a bill promoting increased stem-cell research using umbilical cord blood, an area that Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore called "indisputably acceptable on moral grounds and remarkably promising in terms of clinical benefits." The cardinal, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in a letter to House members before the votes that, unlike the "false expectations" raised by embryonic stem-cell research, studies using umbilical cord blood retrieved immediately after live births had already shown results in treating more than 60 diseases.
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Chicago, San Francisco churches face battles over landmark status
CHICAGO (CNS) -- Religious leaders of various denominations have joined in a campaign to oppose changes to Chicago's law on landmarks that would allow the city to designate houses of worship as landmarks without the consent of their owners. "We feel it's an inappropriate intrusion into religious decision-making," said the Rev. Paul Rutgers, executive director of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago. "It basically puts a control on both the present and future of any property so designated." Meanwhile, in San Francisco, a bill giving the city significant control over the property of the former St. Brigid Church -- countermanding state and federal court rulings -- has passed the California Senate and awaits action in the state Assembly. The church was closed 11 years ago and is owned by the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
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Commencement speakers urge graduates to work with others
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In commencement ceremonies at Catholic colleges and universities across the country, graduates were urged to aspire to lofty goals while remaining true to their calling of faith and dedicated to working with others. Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, urged graduates at The Catholic University of America May 14 "not to flee from this culture but to engage it and transform it." "If you, the graduates of The Catholic University of America, do not transform Main Street and Wall Street and Hollywood Boulevard and Biotech Park, then who will?" he asked. At St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, N.Y., graduates were urged May 15 to develop conversation skills. "The solutions to today's biggest problems will not come from big organizations or big government," said Kathryn Sullivan, a former astronaut and the first American woman to walk in space. Instead, she said, they will come from "individuals talking to one another about things that matter."
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WORLD
Cardinal says Christians must witness together, forgive past offenses
BARI, Italy (CNS) -- Divided Christians must get beyond the prejudices and hurt feelings of the past to fulfill their mission of proclaiming Christ to the world, said Cardinal Walter Kasper. "Much work remains to be done for the reconciliation of hearts," said the cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The cardinal spoke May 25 at the Italian eucharistic congress in Bari, the burial place of St. Nicholas, who is venerated by Catholics and Orthodox. Representatives of Orthodox churches, including Archbishop Kirill of Yaroslav and Rostov, Russia, were present at the congress and spoke to the delegates. In his presentation, Cardinal Kasper focused on how keeping Sunday as the Lord's day unites Christians and provides a witness to their neighbors.
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Latin American bishops call for formation of disciples, missionaries
LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- The 30th general assembly of the Latin American bishops' council ended with a call for the formation of disciples and missionaries. In the May 20 closing statement of the council, known by its Spanish acronym CELAM, the bishops noted that they had celebrated the council's 50th anniversary and "the providential action of God, which has helped it grow in episcopal fraternity and find responses to the many challenges that our churches have faced during these years." Much of the discussion at the 30th general assembly, which began May 17, focused on the need to form disciples and make the Latin American church more missionary, topics that will also be on the agenda of the fifth general conference. "The phrase 'that our peoples may have life' is key, given the situation in our countries," said Archbishop Baltazar Porras Cardozo of Merida, Venezuela, president of the CELAM communications department. Among the problems he cited were "increasing poverty, marginalization, violence with all its different characteristics, and political and economic instability."
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Bishop, women released in Philippines after hostage drama
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- Bishop Emmanuel Cabajar of Pagadian and 14 women and girls taken hostage by armed men were freed May 25 and were heading back to their diocese in the southern Philippines, a local church official reported. "Bishop Cabajar's group is now driving back to Pagadian escorted by police and military," said Imelda Balasabas, a parish secretary in Lakewood, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Balasabas told UCA News May 25 that Bishop Cabajar and four women arrived at the Mary Queen of the Apostles Parish rectory earlier that day in the bishop's pickup truck after the hijackers freed them. The freed hostages ate and rested at the rectory before policemen came to interview them, Balasabas said. "The rectory was crowded with parishioners who heard the news on the radio," the parish secretary said.
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God stands alongside his people in moments of difficulty, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God does not abandon people in moments of difficulty, but stands alongside them, helping them to continue to hope and trust in his power to save, Pope Benedict XVI said. "God is not indifferent to the drama faced by his creatures," the pope said May 25 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. During the audience, the pope marked the annual celebration of Africa Day saying, "My thoughts and prayers are with the beloved people of Africa." He said, "I encourage our Catholic institutions to continue giving generous attention to their needs and I hope and pray that the international community will become ever more involved in the problems of the African continent." At the end of the audience, the pope met with three national delegations from the continent visiting Rome for events related to Africa Day and a weeklong series of events promoting closer ties between Italy and Africa.
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Polish bishops urge actions, not words, to honor Pope John Paul II
OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Polish bishops are urging Poles to reflect more deeply on the life of the late Pope John Paul II. The bishops said the "best monuments" Poles could make to the late pope would be to help the poor and resist "lies and deception" in public life. "The time has now come to reflect in a spirit of faith, whose fruit should be not just better knowledge of his teaching, but above all a better life," the bishops said in a pastoral letter read at all Polish churches on May 22. The bishops said streets, schools, institutions and monuments were dedicated to Pope John Paul during his lifetime, while more "pious initiatives" have been announced since his April 2 death. But the bishops said attempts to honor the Polish-born pontiff would have value only if Poles followed Pope John Paul's teachings and imitated him "in personal and social life."
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PEOPLE
Grand master of Knights of Malta to receive Path of Peace Award
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Fra Andrew W.N. Bertie, grand master of the Knights of Malta, has been chosen to receive this year's Path to Peace Award. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations and president of the Path to Peace Foundation, said in a telephone interview May 23 that Bertie was chosen because of his leadership in promoting the extensive humanitarian work of the Knights. They have been active in areas such as Congo where their contribution of food and medicine aided the United Nations peacekeeping efforts, the nuncio said. Born in London in 1929, Bertie was elected grand master of the Sovereign Military Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta in 1988.
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Connecticut bishop named supreme chaplain for Knights of Columbus
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (CNS) -- Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport has been named as the 10th supreme chaplain for the Knights of Columbus. He succeeds retired Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn, N.Y., as supreme chaplain for the Knights, which with its nearly 1.7 million members is the world's largest fraternal organization. Bishop Lori, who was named to the post in April, noted he was humbled and honored to be asked by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and the board of directors to succeed Bishop Daily. One of his prime duties as supreme chaplain will be to write a monthly spiritual column for Columbia magazine which reaches all Knights and their families. Among other duties as supreme chaplain, Bishop Lori will celebrate Mass at the Knights of Columbus annual conventions and at other major meetings, according to Tim Hickey, editor of Columbia.
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Death-row inmate executed after governor denies clemency
INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) -- On May 24, Gov. Mitch Daniels denied Indiana death-row inmate Gregory Scott Johnson's clemency petition, and the prisoner, who became a Catholic while in prison, was executed by lethal injection at 12:28 a.m. May 25 at the state prison in Michigan City. He was convicted of murdering Ruby Hutslar, an 82-year-old Anderson, Ind., resident, and setting her house on fire on June 23, 1985, following a burglary at her home when he was 20 years old. Johnson had asked the governor to commute his capital sentence to life in prison without parole or to postpone his execution until a later date so he could donate a portion of his liver to his sister, Debra Otis of Anderson, who suffers from a nonalcoholic type of cirrhosis of the liver and needs a transplant. During a May 20 hearing at the Indiana Government Center in Indianapolis, the state parole board voted 4-0 to recommend that Daniels not grant clemency for Johnson.
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