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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jul-6-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Davenport Diocese erects monument to abuse victims
DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNS) -- In an effort to promote healing, the Diocese of Davenport has dedicated a monument to victims of clergy sexual abuse. About 50 people, including abuse victims, gathered around the modest monument, called the Millstone Marker, outside diocesan headquarters June 20 for a solemn dedication ceremony of prayers, Scripture readings, songs, blessings and bagpipe music. Standing beside the millstone that is the monument's centerpiece, Davenport Bishop William E. Franklin said the object could be used in two ways -- it could be helpful or harmful. He explained that the original use of the millstone was helpful -- as a grinding mechanism used in food production. But, he noted, the stone could also be harmful if it were removed from its support structure and dropped on someone. He applied that analogy to priests who took a vocation meant to be helpful and turned it into something harmful when they sexually abused people.
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Ohio governor criticized for vetoing ban on stem-cell funding
CINCINNATI (CNS) -- Ohio Gov. Bob Taft has come under fire for vetoing a provision in the state's $51 billion budget that would have banned any state money from being used on embryonic stem-cell research. In a June 30 statement, Taft said the provision would have prevented funds from the state's 10-year technology-based economic growth program "from being used to support any research using embryonic stem cells." Bradley Mattes, executive director of the Life Issues Institute in Cincinnati, said Taft was "putting the economics of the state clearly ahead of human life." In his statement, Taft said, "Ohio's current policy, which mirrors President (George W.) Bush's restrictions on the use of embryonic stem cells in federally funded research, protects life by limiting publicly funded research to the use of only those embryonic stem-cell lines that existed at the time the president determined federal policy. This veto is in the public interest." But Mattes said that with the veto Taft "is leaving human life in its earliest stages highly vulnerable with absolutely no protections."
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Democrats for Life group marks steps toward party recognition
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- They are a long way from achieving the respect they seek in the Democratic Party, but members of Democrats for Life of America meeting in Washington June 29 recognized that they have made progress just since last year's conference. They now have 41 state chapters, for one thing, noted Carol Crossed, co-founder of Democrats for Life and one of its current board members. And buttons worn at the Washington conference read "47 percent of Democrats can't be wrong," updated to reflect new polling data. Last year's buttons referred to 43 percent of Democrats who oppose abortion except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother's health. Frustration about "rolling over and playing dead as a Democrat," as Crossed put it, or otherwise being ignored for not agreeing with the party's support for unrestricted legal abortion, was a common theme among participants at the one-day conference and banquet in Washington.
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Praying for a victory: Does God care about sports?
PITTSBURGH (CNS) -- Three times during the Pittsburgh Steelers' National Football League playoff game against the New York Jets last January, players from each team joined hands along the sidelines and prayed while kickers from both sides lined up to attempt game-winning field goals. Does God care enough about football games and individual teams to listen to the prayers by players and fans of the teams for the kicks to go through the uprights or sail wide? Maybe the bigger question is, does God listen to individual prayers under those or any circumstances? Intercessory prayer is not an aspect of Catholic theology that is completely articulated as yet, said Father Charles Bober, pastor of St. Kilian Parish in Mars and a columnist for the Pittsburgh Catholic diocesan newspaper. "There are aspects of this branch of theology that are still being pondered and discussed," Father Bober said in an interview with the newspaper. "What is certain, I believe, is that God is concerned about every human being. We are, after all, made in the image and likeness of God. What affects each human is important to God."
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New group for Catholic young adults follows missionary's example
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- A new group for Catholic young adults in the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese seeks to follow the example of a 19th-century missionary priest, Father Lucien Galtier, who brought the Catholic faith to Minnesota. "In a way, we are the descendants of that missionary act, and we long to do the same thing," said Father Peter Laird, chaplain of the Galtier Society. The group was formed last fall with Father Galtier's mission in mind and with the intention of reaching out to a Catholic demographic that often is overlooked. Designed for Catholics in their 20s to middle age, the Galtier Society is an avenue for faith formation, education and service. Founding committee member Bill Faulkner described the group as "an association of adult Catholics that are looking to deepen their faith in their everyday lives, to manifest that in their outward actions."
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Birthright enlists 'prayer mentors' for pregnant women in need
WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) -- Dawn, a 32-year-old woman from New Castle County, was surprised to learn that an anonymous stranger was praying for her and her baby, who was born in March. "It is comforting," she said. "I feel I'm not alone." Dawn, which is not her real name, and 61 other new or expectant mothers are the recipients of the good thoughts of "prayer mentors" participating in a program begun in January by Birthright of Delaware. Birthright, an international organization with local chapters, assists women experiencing crisis pregnancies in hopes the mother will give birth to her child rather than have an abortion. Volunteers are asked to pray daily for the women and their children. While some of Birthright1s clients decline the offer of prayers, most welcome the attention, said Mary Jo Frohlich, Birthright director. The mentors, meanwhile, develop an attachment to their "prayer mothers," whom they know only by aliases. The mentors receive monthly postcards with updates on the mother's and child's health until the baby's first birthday.
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WORLD
Pope says God's plan always has been to save people from sin
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- From the beginning of time, God's plan has been to save people from sin and embrace them as his children, Pope Benedict XVI said at his general audience. The plan of salvation is God's "great secret project" that he had in mind "before the foundation of the world," the pope said. It is "our predestination to be children of God" through Jesus Christ, he said in his July 6 catechesis reflecting on the first chapter of St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. At one point in his address to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict lifted his eyes from his prepared text and told his audience he was moved every time he meditated on "this truth that from eternity we were before the eyes of God and he decided to save us."
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Congolese bishops ask government to set date for elections
KINSHASA, Congo (CNS) -- Catholic bishops in Congo have called on their government to set a date for national elections amid rising instability and lawlessness. The elections were scheduled for June 30, but the transitional government suspended them without giving an explanation to the electorate or setting another date. The move prompted a strongly worded statement June 29 from the Congolese bishops, who warned the government that elections were the only sure way to restore stability in the central African nation. Saying they were responding to the "anguish of our people," the bishops said: "Our conscience as pastors and as citizens presses us to defend the dignity of human life created in the image of God. "Currently our fellow citizens are confronted by an uncertainty of what tomorrow will bring, growing insecurity and intolerable suffering," the bishops said.
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Colombian bishops elect as president expert in country's conflict
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- Colombian bishops have elected Archbishop Luis Castro Quiroga of Tunja as president of the bishops' conference. Archbishop Castro, who served as conference vice president since 2002, is considered one of the Colombian church's leading experts in the country's 40-year conflict. He replaces Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Saenz of Bogota. Archbishop Ivan Marin Lopez of Popayan was elected vice president of the bishops' conference, and retired Bishop Fabian Marulanda Lopez of Florencia was re-elected secretary-general for a second term. With an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a doctorate in theology from Colombia's Javeriana University in Bogota, Archbishop Castro gained experience in the country's conflict from 1986 to 1998, when he headed the Apostolic Vicariate of San Vicente-Puerto Leguizamo in Colombia's southern Caqueta department. The region is a stronghold of the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC.
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PEOPLE
Bishops' president spells out issues, positions for court nominee
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference has spelled out specific positions on a range of issues he said he hoped President George W. Bush would look for as he chooses a nominee for the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. "I urge you to consider for the court qualified jurists who, pre-eminently, support the protection of human life from conception to natural death, especially of those who are unborn, disabled or terminally ill," said Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., in a letter to the president dated July 1. The text of the letter was released July 6 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The letter said that "when a nomination is made" the USCCB "does not participate by endorsing or opposing specific nominees," but that the bishops are concerned about the way the Supreme Court can affect "both principles and policies."
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Thirty-eight years after first column, Fall River editor steps down
FALL RIVER, Mass. (CNS) -- It was 1967 when attorney Hugh Golden, then managing editor of The Anchor newspaper in Fall River, invited then-Father John F. Moore to lunch at a restaurant in Hyannis called the Mooring and asked him to write a column for the diocesan newspaper. The column that debuted on Nov. 23, 1967, got its name from the restaurant, and Father Moore eventually became Msgr. Moore, executive editor of The Anchor. Now, after 38 years -- 28 of those as an editor -- he is retiring from the paper. It was time to retire "because I see that they just ripped down that restaurant and made it into a parking lot," he joked in an interview with The Anchor. His successor is Father Roger J. Landry, 35, who was ordained a priest of the Fall River Diocese in 1999. The 73-year-old Msgr. Moore said he is only retiring from the Mooring column and the executive editor's job. He plans to continue as pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in North Falmouth until age 75.
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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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