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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Aug-1-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Orange Diocese honored for programs to protect children, young people
ORANGE, Calif. (CNS) -- The Diocese of Orange's Office of Faith Formation, which oversees the diocesan schools, will be honored for its efforts to educate teachers and students about domestic violence, teen dating abuse, family violence and sexual abuse. The office will receive the Family Violence Project's Award for Inspired Action Aug. 12. The Family Violence Project is a nonprofit organization funded largely by the U.S. Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime, which trains key community members to recognize and respond to all types of family violence and abuse.
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Cardinal urges Bush to veto any embryonic stem-cell legislation
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The head of the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee has encouraged President George W. Bush to veto any legislation that would loosen restrictions on federally funded human embryonic stem-cell research. The statement was issued by Baltimore Cardinal William H. Keeler, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities, after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., modified his stand to back legislation that would relax restrictions. Frist's support improves chances that the Senate will pass a bill easing restrictions when it returns in September from its summer recess. The House already passed such a bill. "I commend President Bush for his laudable pledge to veto such legislation," said Cardinal Keeler in a July 29 statement. The cardinal's statement was issued in Washington by the U.S. bishops' Department of Communications hours after Frist, who previously agreed with Bush's restrictions, said in a Senate speech that the Bush policy was hindering research that could lead to cures for a number of diseases.
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Church tries to help immigrant families fight separation
CHICAGO (CNS) -- When it comes to immigration law, Carmen Estacio a naturalized U.S. citizen who is from the Philippines, did everything by the book, including applying for a visa for her then-18-year-old son to join her in the United States. She filed the application in 1991. Her son, now 33, arrived from the Philippines this June. "I waited and I waited and I waited," said Estacio. "I requested help from congressmen. I thought about getting a lawyer, but I knew it was very expensive." Estacio's experience illustrates one problem with U.S. immigration law, that families end up separated for years, say advocates for immigration reform. Those advocates include the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which launched its Justice for Immigrants campaign in May. The 14-year wait for Estacio's son is actually shorter than the current 22-year backlog for siblings of Filipino immigrants to immigrate to the United States, according to Fred Tsao, policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
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Illinois church singles group help troops keep cool in Iraq's heat
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CNS) -- Members of the singles group at St. Isidore Parish in Bloomingdale are providing some cooling comfort to American troops serving in Iraq's hot temperatures. They are making neck coolers for soldiers, according to the group's Patricia O'Dwyer. Polymers, watering crystals that are typically used to keep soil moist for potted plants, are sewn inside canvas scarves. When the soldiers dampen the scarves, the polymers retain the moisture and keep them cool on the battlefield. Some days this summer the temperature in Baghdad reached 115 degrees. In a telephone interview with the Catholic Explorer, newspaper of the Joliet Diocese, O'Dwyer said it takes about 30 minutes to make one scarf. Volunteers make them in an assembly line fashion with one volunteer cutting the material, another one sewing it and another inserting the crystals. Since they started the project in November 2004, the volunteers have made more than 50 of the coolers. In August they plan to make an additional 25 or so and send them to soldiers in care packages that will include cake in a jar.
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WORLD
Pope Benedict calls IRA announcement 'wonderful news'
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said the Irish Republican Army's announcement that it had ended its armed campaign was "wonderful news" that must be followed by efforts to promote trust and reconciliation. "To the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Patrick and all the saints of Ireland we entrust our common prayer for this intention," he said July 31 after reciting the Angelus at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. With several thousand people gathered in the courtyard of the residence on a sweltering hot day, the pope praised the IRA's decision to end its armed struggle and rely solely on peaceful negotiations. "This is wonderful news, which contrasts with the painful events we are witnessing daily in many parts of the world," he said. The IRA decision, announced July 28, "rightly has given rise to satisfaction and hope on the island and to the entire international community."
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Cologne's Jewish leaders hope pope's visit helps Catholic-Jewish ties
COLOGNE, Germany (CNS) -- Jewish leaders said they hope Pope Benedict XVI's visit to a Cologne synagogue will help improve Catholic-Jewish relations. "We hope that the visit will be a sign for the future," said Michael Rado, a member of the board of the Cologne synagogue, which the pope is scheduled to visit Aug. 19. "In spite of the efforts of the church in recent years, there is still anti-Semitism based on religious grounds in the minds of some people. If the pope takes the step of visiting a synagogue, it will make once more clear that the movement in the church is away from such anti-Semitism," he said. Synagogue board member Ebi Lehrer said the fact that it is a German pope who is visiting is not a major issue. "We see him as the pope, as the head of the Catholic Church, and not so much as a German," he said. "Perhaps it even makes it easier for him to visit a community in his home country."
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Cologne challenge: Prepare for World Youth Day pilgrims, pope
COLOGNE, Germany (CNS) -- The city of Cologne is preparing for an invasion of hundreds of thousands of young people scheduled to attend World Youth Day and activities surrounding Pope Benedict XVI's visit. Stefan Neuhoff, head of the Cologne fire department, described the pope's Aug. 18-21 visit as "the biggest planning challenge since the end of World War II." By late July, just weeks before the start of the Aug. 16-21 World Youth Day celebrations, organizers had received registrations from 370,000 young people from 160 countries, nearly 700 bishops, 8,000 priests and 5,100 journalists. During the international celebration, those people and more will have to be housed, fed, moved around, entertained and inspired. Before Aug. 16, about 120,000 of them will stay in German dioceses for a few days, sharing the life of Catholics throughout the country.
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Thousands honor Brazilian electrician killed in London subway
SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) -- Some 10,000 people paid their respects to Brazilian electrician Jean-Charles de Menezes, killed on a London subway because police thought he was a terrorist. Bishop Werner Siebenbrock of Governador Valadares celebrated the funeral Mass July 29 in the town of Gonzaga, population 6,000. Loudspeakers were placed in the plaza outside the church so people could participate. Police shot Menezes eight times July 22 after police suspected him of being a suicide bomber involved in the July 7 terrorist attacks in London. The British government has cleared Menezes of charges, apologized for its mistake and is negotiating with the family for compensation. Menezes' body arrived from London July 28 and was transported from Sao Paulo to Governador Valadares on a Brazilian Air Force carrier. In Governador Valadares, the coffin was put on a firetruck and slowly made its way to Gonzaga, 125 miles away. More than 40 automobiles, all displaying black ribbons, followed the firetruck.
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Polish official says lack of funds halts work on Warsaw basilica
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A Polish church official said work on a massive new basilica in Warsaw, built in thanksgiving for the collapse of communism and the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, would be halted by the end of the year because of lack of funding. "Legal uncertainties and changing interpretations of the regulations have ensured few firms decided to give support," Father Bogdan Leszczewicz, project director for the Church of Divine Providence, told Poland's Catholic Information Agency, KAI, July 27. "Unfortunately, although there've been many private funders, their joint donations often aren't enough to cover even a single invoice."
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PEOPLE
Guam Catholics mark anniversary of island's liberation from Japanese
AGANA, Guam (CNS) -- Guam Catholics marked the 61st anniversary of their island's liberation from the Japanese by U.S. troops by remembering the faith that sustained Guam's people during World War II and the role faith plays in their lives today. "It's important to remember where we came from ... a time of great pain, suffering and evil," said Father David C. Quitugua, vicar general of the Agana Archdiocese. He asked people to remember the pain of the war and to reflect on the many gifts God has given them. "Rejoice that we've been blessed with these 61 years of peace," Father Quitugua said. "Pray also for healing -- healing of the memories, healing of hatred -- and hopefully to follow the example of Christ through the grace of forgiveness he gives us on the cross." On July 21, 1944, U.S. military forces stormed Guam's beaches and recaptured the island from Japanese forces. The Japanese invaded Guam Dec. 8, 1941, and the soldiers imprisoned and tortured many of Guam's people. Many of the people were massacred.
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Businessman and campaign donor named ambassador to Holy See
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- L. Francis Rooney III, an Oklahoma and Florida businessman who contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to recent Republican political campaigns, has been nominated by President George W. Bush to be ambassador to the Holy See. The seat has been vacant since former ambassador Jim Nicholson was confirmed as secretary of Veterans Affairs in January. Senate confirmation is required before Rooney officially takes the post. The Senate is in recess until Sept. 6. Rooney, 51, is a graduate of Georgetown University and its law school who serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Rooney Holdings. He and his wife, Kathleen, also a Georgetown graduate, are Catholic. They have been active in Catholic, political and civic circles in both Tulsa, Okla., and Naples, Fla., where Rooney Holdings has corporate offices.
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Nepalese Catholics await visas to attend World Youth Day in Germany
KATMANDU, Nepal (CNS) -- Armed with new passports but still awaiting visas, a small group of young Nepalese Catholics prepared to go to Germany for World Youth Day celebrations with Pope Benedict XVI. "We are staying at the church and praying that we are granted visas by the German Embassy," said Santlal Murmu, one of the six delegates, most of them converts to Catholicism. They were chosen from five of Nepal's six parishes to represent local Catholic youth at the international event scheduled for Aug. 16-21 in Cologne. The six young people waited at Assumption Church in Katmandu, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Murmu, a 23-year-old tribal youth, had just arrived in the capital July 26 with two other young men after a 16-hour bus ride on muddy roads from eastern Nepal. Monsoon rains on the roads were not the only hazard; Maoist guerrillas regularly call strikes, block roads and attack vehicles.
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Catholic-run day camp helps Hmong preserve culture for their children
BROCKTON, Mass. (CNS) -- Half a dozen young Hmong girls wore brightly colored dresses decorated with coins that jingled as they danced, and they weaved their arms and hands back and forth to the rhythm of the music of their culture. The traditional Hmong dance, part of a cultural celebration July 21 at a summer day camp in Brockton run by the Sisters of Charity, was accompanied by a song about the joy of the Hmong people who face many struggles but have no regrets. At the camp, in the Boston Archdiocese, the Sisters of Charity are trying to help the Hmong preserve their unique culture for their children. Sisters Anne Marie O'Shea and Ann Whittaker started the camp after they arrived in Brockton seven years ago, continuing the 100-year presence of the sisters in the city as well as their mission of helping ethnic groups in the community. The sisters found that the needs of the Hmong were not being addressed directly by any other organization, and offered their help.
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Priest recalls horrors of atomic bombing, conversion to Catholicism
HIROSHIMA, Japan (CNS) -- Mobilization out of Hiroshima 60 years ago to work in a weapons-manufacturing zone probably saved the life of Hayazoe Jo, then a 19-year-old student. Sixty years after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city Aug. 6, 1945, Father Hayazoe, now 79 and a Hiroshima diocesan priest, recalled the horror and the events that led to his conversion to Catholicism and, eventually, his priesthood. He spoke to UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. "The explosion took place at 8:15, just when the tram I usually rode was crossing the bridge right below the blast," Father Hayazoe said, referring to his daily journey to school in Hiroshima. Had he not been sent to Otake, a weapons- and munitions-producing center about 18 miles down the coast, he added, "I would have been among the blackened corpses." From Otake, Father Hayazoe saw the "mushroom cloud" that spread over Hiroshima the day before he was told to return to his school to help identify bodies. "The smell of burning bodies, the smell of rotting bodies, I couldn't stand it," he recalled. "Tears poured from my eyes."
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Austrian priest allowed to resume ministry after fathering child
VIENNA, Austria (CNS) -- An Austrian priest has been allowed to resume parish ministry after fathering a child. "He had to promise his bishop he would, in the future, live the celibate life of a Latin-rite Catholic priest; once he'd done this, he could return to pastoral duties without any problem," said Erich Leitenberger, spokesman for the Austrian bishops' conference. Leitenberger said that on Sept. 1, Father Christoph Frischmann of the Diocese of Innsbruck would take charge of the rural parishes of Hippach, Aschau and Ginzling following a two-year leave of absence.
END
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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