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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jun-15-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
In work on immigration, Protestants, Catholics find unity in Mary
PHOENIX (CNS) -- Religious leaders involved in ecumenical efforts to find just solutions to the nation's current immigration crisis have encountered unexpected common ground: the Virgin Mary. "Migrants turn to Mary naturally because they understand her to be someone who was on the outs of society and had become a migrant herself," said Rick Ufford-Chase, a Presbyterian who works in Tucson with Protestants, Catholics and Jews to provide a faith-based response on immigration issues. "You come down here to the border and you begin to work across Protestant and Catholic divisions and you discover we have a heck of a lot more in common" than one would expect, he added. Through Mary, all Christians can better understand the immigrant's situation, Ufford-Chase told The Catholic Sun, newspaper of the Phoenix Diocese. "We find in her the figure of an unwed pregnant teenager who was forced to move because of government regulations," he added.
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Vatican confirms bishop's suppression of Society of St. John
SCRANTON, Pa. (CNS) -- The Vatican Congregation for Clergy has confirmed Scranton Bishop Joseph F. Martino's decision to suppress the Society of St. John, a small organization of traditionally minded priests that has been troubled by financial difficulties and allegations that two of its members had sexually molested a minor. The Catholic Light, Scranton diocesan newspaper, reported June 9 that a Vatican decree dated May 3 rejected the society's appeal against the bishop's decision to suppress it. "The bishop has directed that the members of the suppressed society may not celebrate the Eucharist at a private residence where they are now located, may not engage in any fund-raising activities and must carry a prominent notice on the Web site www.ssjohn.org that the Society of St. John is no longer a recognized ecclesial entity of the Roman Catholic Church," the newspaper said. As of June 15, the Web site still described the society as "working under the leadership of the pope and bishops of the church," with no reference to its suppression.
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After 149 years, parish grade school in Milwaukee Archdiocese closes
CALEDONIA, Wis. (CNS) -- Population growth in an area of Racine County in the Milwaukee Archdiocese has not come fast enough to boost enrollment and save St. Louis School, which has been in operation for 149 years. Father Mark Danczyk, pastor of St. Louis Parish in Caledonia, told parishioners at Masses May 21 and 22 that the school would close when the academic year ended June 9. "People have expected this for years," Father Danczyk told the Catholic Herald, Milwaukee's archdiocesan newspaper. "It was just a matter of when it was going to happen." Over the last 25 years, he noted, enrollment had been dropping by about 10 students per year. He added that parishioners had told him "even 20 years ago they were talking about this (closing)."
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WORLD
Vatican artisans work to restore tip of St. Peter's Basilica
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Scaffolding now covers the tip of St. Peter's Basilica as Vatican workers restore the highest point of the centuries-old church. The basilica undergoes constant maintenance and repairs by the Vatican's team of "sanpietrini," the church's specialized artisans and workers. Now one of their latest projects is cleaning and mending the lantern -- an open, circular structure -- and a gold-coated, bronze sphere, both of which top the basilica's massive dome. "It's a huge task, taking almost a month just to put up the scaffolding," said Archbishop Angelo Comastri, head of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican office responsible for the basilica. The difficulty lay in transporting and mounting the heavy scaffolding to heights of more than 400 feet, he told Catholic News Service June 15. That task was delegated to the Fabbrica's team of "pontarolli" or "catwalkers," so called because of their expertise in climbing and working at dizzying heights.
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South African church leaders praise dismissal of deputy president
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Church officials have hailed South African President Thabo Mbeki's decision to fire his deputy, Jacob Zuma, who was implicated in the corruption conviction of his former financial adviser. "It is a sign of good governance that Mbeki has acted firmly and reasonably quickly," Mike Pothier of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference parliamentary liaison office told Catholic News Service. Zuma's former adviser, Schabir Shaik, was jailed for 15 years for fraud and corruption. The judge's early June ruling implicated the deputy president and said Zuma and Shaik's relationship was "generally corrupt." Mbeki told a June 14 special joint session of Parliament that he had concluded it would be "best to release Honorable Jacob Zuma from his responsibilities as deputy president of the republic and member of the Cabinet." The popular Zuma, 63, who has support from the country's largest labor union and the African National Congress' youth league, had ignored calls to resign, saying he had committed no crime and had not been tried in a court of law.
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Church helps Indian tsunami victims restart livelihoods
DEVANAPATTINAM, India (CNS) -- The effects of December's tsunamis are still being felt in this small village, but with help from church agencies, families are optimistic about getting back on their feet. Although the family of a woman named Chinnaponnu did not suffer any causalities -- about 100 of Devanapattinam village's residents were killed -- the saltwater dried up her jasmine plants, depriving her family of its sole source of income. Each jasmine plant was used to make hundreds of garlands that were sold in the market in Cuddalore. However, the Pondicherry Archdiocese's tsunami rehabilitation program came to the aid of Chinnaponnu, 65, and other tsunami victims. The Pondicherry Archdiocese's social action wing, the Pondicherry Multipurpose Social Service Society -- working in collaboration with Caritas India and Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency -- gave $70 grants to help Chinnaponnu and hundreds of other mostly Hindu Indians restart their livelihoods.
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Simplified catechism to be released June 28 at Vatican liturgy
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The shortened, simplified version of the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" will be presented by Pope Benedict XVI during a June 28 liturgy at the Vatican and will be available in Italian bookstores the following day. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said national bishops' conferences would be responsible for translating the volume into their local languages and for publishing the volume in partnership with the Vatican publishing house. The "Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church" was drafted by a committee led by the new pope while he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. A draft of the volume, in which church teaching is presented in a question-and-answer form, was sent for comment in early 2004 to all the cardinals and the presidents of bishops' conferences around the world. A spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' publishing department said he expected the minicatechism to be released "later in 2005."
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PEOPLE
At audience, pope speaks on mobile phone, dons fire chief's helmet
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At his June 15 general audience, Pope Benedict XVI talked to more than 20,000 people in St. Peter's Square, but he also spoke to someone on a mobile phone. A middle-aged man in a wheelchair, who was among dozens of people led up to the pope at the end of the audience, handed Pope Benedict a mobile phone and asked him to talk. The pope did so. Officials at the Vatican press office and in the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household could provide no information about who was on the other end of the phone or what Pope Benedict said. ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported that the call was made to a nun who was sick.
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Retired Bishop James J. Hogan of Altoona-Johnstown dies at 93
HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (CNS) -- Retired Bishop James J. Hogan of Altoona-Johnstown died June 14 at his residence in the Garvey Manor Nursing Home in Hollidaysburg. He was 93. His funeral Mass was scheduled for noon June 22 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona, with interment to follow in the crypt chapel of the cathedral. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia was to celebrate the Mass. In a statement, Bishop Joseph V. Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown said Bishop Hogan headed the diocese during "times of transition and challenge" and met those challenges "with faith, gentleness, humility and hope." The sixth bishop of the diocese, James John Hogan was born in Philadelphia on Oct. 17, 1911. As a young boy, he moved with his family to Camden, N.J. Following his education at Camden Catholic High School, he attended St. Charles College in Catonsville, Md.; St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore; and North American College in Rome. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Trenton, N.J., on Dec. 8, 1937, at North American College.
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Police officer says raising 4-year-old daughter is his top priority
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) -- When Nashville police officer Pete Lynch was shot in the line of duty last summer, a lot of thoughts ran through his head. Instead of dwelling on the pain or worrying that his life might be in danger, he thought of his little girl. "I thought about Kaylee, that I need to make it through, to get home and see my daughter. She needs her dad," he told the Tennessee Register, Nashville diocesan newspaper. Lynch, a 1992 graduate of Father Ryan High School in Nashville, is a single father with full custody of his 4-year-old daughter. While he loves his job as a uniformed patrol officer, "if it ever conflicted with her, I'd give it up," he said of Kaylee. "She's a lot more important to me than my job."
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Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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