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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Aug-12-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Religious leaders hear appeals for greater interreligious dialogue
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (CNS) -- Interreligious dialogue is important in overcoming "a new unprecedented era of violence and militant polarization," Sulpician Father Ronald Witherup told more than 150 leaders of U.S. religious communities gathered in Arizona. "Religious leaders like ourselves should be at the forefront of trying to overcome these divisions and promoting peaceful and just resolutions to the problems faced by our world today," he said. Father Witherup gave one of the main speeches at the Aug. 3-6 annual meeting of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men in Scottsdale. "Ignorance is at the root of a lot of violence today," and dialogue is needed to overcome the situation and lessen tensions, said Father Witherup, outgoing CMSM president. "Dialogue is not so much about the encounters of different faiths. It concerns rather the encounters of people of different faiths," he said.
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Interfaith dialogue entering new phase, say conference participants
CHICAGO (CNS) -- Forty years after the publication of "Nostra Aetate," interfaith dialogue is entering a new phase, concluded participants in the International Council of Christians and Jews' annual conference July 24-27 in Chicago. "Nostra Aetate" is the Second Vatican Council declaration in which the Catholic Church formally repudiated anti-Semitism as sinful and said Catholics must respect all that is true and holy in other faiths. Now that dialogue partners have gotten to know one another and discovered many commonalities, they are starting to recognize points of friction as well, conference participants said, but partners must deal with difficult issues for relationships to grow. The Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, acknowledged that interreligious understanding is not easy, especially in a world torn by political, sectarian, economic and ecological violence.
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After Schiavo struggle, interest has surged in end-of-life care
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The very public family and political battle over Terri Schindler Schiavo's care and her death in March has led to a massive surge of interest from people who want to plan better for their own medical and end-of-life care, according to panelists at a social workers' conference in Washington. The organization Aging With Dignity saw the number of requests for its materials on living wills and other documents used to define people's wishes for their own treatment grow from the previous 50 a day to 6,000 a day, said Jon Cooper, a staffer for Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., at a panel on end-of-life care Aug. 5 during the delegate assembly of the National Association of Social Workers. In the months since Schiavo's death, the Florida-based aging organization now reports regularly receiving about 100 requests a day, said Cooper. Prior to all the attention to the Schiavo case, an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent of Americans had prepared advance medical directives, he added. "The data is showing millions of people have now had these discussions with their family members," Cooper said.
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Kentucky bishops issue pastoral on economic justice
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CNS) -- The four Catholic bishops of Kentucky have issued a pastoral letter on economic justice calling for a "new commitment" to the state's "poor and vulnerable." The pastoral -- entitled "Economic Justice in 21st Century Kentucky: Holding Ourselves Accountable" -- focuses on seven principles or themes of Catholic social teaching. It applies these principles to a range of specific issues in the state. This pastoral, like others issued by a bishop or a group of bishops, is about Catholic teaching and practice. What makes this one different, though, is the format: a series of eight brochures with illustrations rather than the usual document style. A brochure is devoted to each of the seven principles of social teaching: human dignity; option for the poor; call to family, community and participation; rights and responsibilities; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and care of God's creation. Another brochure, called a "resource," includes a letter from the bishops of Kentucky's four dioceses; a summary of six basic moral principles that govern economic life; and suggestions for how to use the document.
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Vatican questions disposition of assets from closed Boston parishes
BOSTON (CNS) -- While it said it supports the principles and procedures behind the Boston archdiocesan plan to reduce the number of parishes, the Vatican has questioned the disposition of assets of seven of the 15 closed parishes that filed appeals to the Congregation for Clergy. Several archdiocesan officials interviewed Aug. 10 by The Pilot, the archdiocesan newspaper, said that the appeals are still under review but the Vatican has indicated a different interpretation of an aspect of canon law regarding use of the assets from the seven closed parishes. "In the last three months, we have encouraged the Holy See to respond to the recourses in Rome to bring some closure to those communities," Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley said. Clergy congregation officials "are supporting our procedures to close the parishes and they've said we've done the consultations correctly. They are not talking about reopening parishes," he added. "However, they had other concerns about particular canons that were invoked in the process that we used here," he said.
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Community key to successful marriage, says couple
INVERNESS, Ill. (CNS) -- Andrew and Terri Lyke in an address at a national conference suggested a new paradigm for marriage, a shift from seeing marriage as a private affair to seeing it almost like taking a public office. Community is key to a successful marriage, the couple said, quoting from Ecclesiastes 4:12: "A three-ply cord is not easily broken." The Lykes, national speakers on topics of marriage and couple communication, spoke during the Christian Family Movement's 2005 National Marriage and Family Life Conference in July. More than 200 people attended the gathering at Holy Family Parish in Inverness, which is in the Chicago Archdiocese. The theme of the conference was "Fanning the Fire of Faith," and the gathering included a variety of speakers and activities for parents, teens and children alike. As their parents attended talks, teens went to their own sessions and children participated in games and faith-building exercises.
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Vocations camp urges boys to live virtuously, be open to priesthood
GREENFIELD, Ind. (CNS) -- What do a lot of boys do in the early morning during the first days of August? They probably sleep late, enjoying the last few lazy days of summer before the start of a new school year. But for more than 40 boys from several parishes in the Indianapolis Archdiocese, a vocations camp at Our Lady of the Apostles Family Center in Greenfield had them up before 8 a.m., dressed in shirts and ties, and reciting a morning prayer and attending Mass. The boys were participating in "E6: Putting on the Armor of God," sponsored by Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood and held Aug. 3-6. "E6" refers to the sixth chapter of St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, in which he says, "Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil." The chapter set the tone for the camp as the participants were encouraged to live lives of virtue and to be open to a possible call to the priesthood.
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New software will let religious education students take tests online
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Starting this fall, some religious education students will get the chance to take tests online. The Life Cycle Institute at The Catholic University of America in Washington is developing computer software with a Maryland testing service that will allow students in parish religious education classes to take their tests online rather than on paper. The new software, expected to be available in a pilot program in a Kansas diocese for the 2005-06 school year, will reduce testing costs for parishes and provide quicker test results for teachers and students, according to George Elford, director of the Catechetical Assessment Program in the Washington suburb of Potomac, Md. Father Paul Sullins, a Washington archdiocesan priest and associate professor of sociology at Catholic University, is running the software development project. He said in a statement the initiative "will allow religious education programs to move to the next level of testing. In the long run, computerized assessments will enhance classroom teaching."
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WORLD
Pontificating with priests: Marx, vocations and papal infallibility
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI interrupted his summer vacation recently to give the longest talk of his pontificate, a two-hour tour de force covering such diverse topics as papal infallibility, Third World vocations and the errors of Karl Marx. His discourse in late July to 140 priests and religious in northern Italy offered insights into a pontiff the church and the world are still getting to know. For one thing, it's clear that the pope feels at ease with priests, religious and seminarians. After speaking for about a half-hour and joking that he had "gone on too long," he sat back and shared his thoughts in impromptu fashion for another 90 minutes. Pope Benedict likes to talk, especially when he knows his audience is on the same wavelength and receptive to the nuances of his thinking. The second-longest talk in his young papacy came in a similar meeting with priests in Rome.
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In Israel, U.S. Catholic teachers learn of Holocaust, Judaism
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- When Holocaust survivor Yaakov Handeli, 78, finished telling the story of how he was the only member of his immediate family to survive Auschwitz, his audience of 30 American Catholic educators gave him a standing ovation. Meeting Handeli and visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum "broke my heart," but it also "strengthened my resolve," said Jennifer Kugler, a history and geography teacher at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School in Horsham, Pa., and a participant in the "Bearing Witness" Holocaust and anti-Semitism study program. "As a Catholic I am called to reach out ... and bring justice into the world. As human beings we are our brother's and sister's keepers," she said. "What we don't learn from history we are doomed to repeat." "Bearing Witness" is a cooperative effort of the Archdiocese of Washington, the Anti-Defamation League and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The encounter with Handeli and the subsequent tour of Yad Vashem was the culmination of a five-day visit to Israel for the educators from 19 states. While in Israel, the teachers also met with local Jewish Israelis and Christian Arab Israelis and visited Christian pilgrimage and tourist sites.
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Cardinal orders inquiry into doctors' practices at London hospital
LONDON (CNS) -- A British cardinal has ordered an inquiry into claims that doctors working out of a Catholic hospital are referring women for abortions and prescribing the morning-after pill. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster has asked Lord Brennan, a Catholic Labor Party politician, to investigate whether the St. John and St. Elizabeth Hospital is violating its code of ethics by allowing doctors' general practices to work out of its premises in London. The hospital sublets part of its premises to six doctors' practices and plans to open another practice on the site in 2007. The cardinal acted after the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics, a Catholic institute that shares the site, raised concerns about the possibility of the doctors authorizing abortions and prescribing contraceptives. "These doctors will be obliged by their National Health Service contracts to provide abortion and contraception referrals or prescriptions -- for example, for the morning-after pill," Dr. Helen Watt, Linacre Centre director, said in a statement Aug. 11. "We would urge the hospital to use this opportunity to recommit to a truly Catholic ethos, in which women are offered unequivocal support with their pregnancies." Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor also received complaints from the Guild of Catholic Doctors.
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PEOPLE
High school students learn about entrepreneurship
ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- A pilot program held this summer at St. Louis University's business school taught high school students all about entrepreneurship, from how to start a business and market it to how to network with other companies, according to student Margaret Merlo. "I think I'm learning just as much here in a week as I could learn in a whole year" at school, said Merlo, a sophomore at Visitation Academy in Town and Country, Mo. She was one of 10 students who took part in the program, "Jump Start Your Independence: Learn to Be Your Own Boss," July 25-29 at the Jesuit-run university's John Cook School of Business. The program is expected to be offered again next summer. "We studied marketing and the basics of starting a business, how to overcome adversity, working with others, building relationships and networking with other companies," Merlo told The St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan newspaper.
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New York priest resigns cathedral post, denies allegation of affair
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Msgr. Eugene V. Clark has resigned as rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York while denying allegations that he had an affair with his secretary. In a brief statement Aug. 11, New York archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling said New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan had accepted the resignation. Msgr. Clark "will not be celebrating Mass or the sacraments publicly until this matter has been resolved," Zwilling added. "Although Msgr. Clark continues to deny the allegations against him, he offered his resignation for the good of St. Patrick's and the archdiocese," he said. Msgr. Clark, 79, long a prominent priest in the New York Archdiocese, has been rector of the cathedral since 2001. He was private secretary to Cardinal Francis Spellman in the 1960s and served as an official spokesman for his successor, Cardinal Terence Cooke. He is also well-known as a fundraiser for Catholic causes and as host of the program "Relationships" on the Eternal Word Television Network.
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Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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