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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Sep-14-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Roberts gives some idea of views, avoids addressing specific cases
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In hours of probing by senators, Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts answered some questions about his views on rulings related to abortion and other life issues and parried efforts to get him to predict how he might rule on such cases. Roberts, a judge of the District of Columbia federal appeals court, also addressed some questions about the role his Catholic faith would play in his court decisions. A committee vote on his nomination was likely Sept. 16, with a vote of the full Senate as soon as the following week. The 18 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee over two days in mid-September conducted two rounds of questions asking Roberts about his qualifications and suitability for a lifetime appointment as chief justice. But much of the senators' time at the microphone was devoted to explaining their own views of legal and political issues ranging from U.S. poverty to the presidential power to declare war. Roberts declined to answer dozens of questions over the course of the hearing about how he would rule on certain types of cases, including those that might reconsider Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, and those addressing subjects such as end-of-life care, the Voting Rights Act and the limits of presidential powers.
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Jordanian king criticizes hijacking of Islam by 'ignorant extremists'
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Muslim political and religious leaders must fight "to take back our religion from the vocal, violent and ignorant extremists who have tried to hijack Islam over the last 100 years," said King Abdullah II of Jordan. "They do not speak for Islam any more than a Christian terrorist speaks for Christianity," he said. "At one time or another, all religions have faced extremists who abuse the power of faith," he said Sept. 13 at The Catholic University of America in Washington. It was the only public speech during a two-day visit to Washington by the king, one of the most influential government leaders in the Middle East. In the West and in Muslim countries, there are people who are working for a "clash of civilizations," making it important that world political and religious leaders avoid "dogmatic conflicts," he said. The king criticized al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden as "lacking the proper qualifications and religious knowledge" to issue religious edicts advocating violence. Al-Qaida planned and executed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
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Convention focuses on pastoral care of ethnic groups in church
ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- People in metropolitan areas, such as Washington, are aware that they live with a culturally diverse population: Spanish Masses, international festivals and ethnic groups have become commonplace, even within the church. But these urban dwellers may be surprised to find that people in rural towns all across America are facing a similar phenomenon, according to a priest who addressed a Sept. 7-9 gathering of Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees Networks. "It's now very hard to find any part of the country without multiculturalism in their midst," said Father Robert Schreiter, a professor of theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. The conference was convened in Arlington by the Office for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, a division of Migration and Refugee Services at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It brought together 10 bishops, 45 diocesan directors of multicultural ministry, 33 national ethnic consultants and others involved with multicultural and ethnic ministries in their dioceses.
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Speed up progress to end world poverty, bishop tells Rice
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.N. World Summit of government leaders must "accelerate progress" toward improving conditions in poor countries, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Policy. Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, expressed concern "that due attention may not be given to the needs of the world's poorest people." The letter was dated Sept. 7 and was released Sept. 13 in Washington by the U.S. bishops' Department of Communications. Government leaders from more than 170 countries planned to attend the Sept. 14-16 summit at U.N. headquarters in New York. While progress is being made in some countries to meet goals established in the 2000 U.N. Millennium Declaration, "it is lagging in others, particularly in Africa," said Bishop Ricard. The declaration established several goals to be met by 2015. The bishop urged greater efforts to achieve several of the goals.
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Cathedral now complete with steeples, bells envisioned 107 years ago
DALLAS (CNS) -- New bells pealed the national anthem and sacred music from the new 20-story bell tower of Dallas's renovated cathedral Sept. 11, signaling the completion of a 107-year-old architectural plan. Hundreds of Catholics attended the dedication ceremonies at the Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe led by Dallas Bishop Charles V. Grahmann. New steeples, the tallest atop a bell tower containing a carillon of 49 bells made in the Netherlands, brought to life a vision first proposed by famed Texas church architect Nicholas Clayton 107 years ago. His grandson and great-grandson attended the dedication. Clayton designed many historic churches in Texas. The steeples and bells were in the original 1898 design but were cut out as a cost-saving measure during a national financial panic at the turn of the century that affected Dallas, too. The cathedral was left with stunted towers, barely rising above the roof line.
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WORLD
People's daily lives must include place for God, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A reminder of God's transcendent nature needs to be at the center of people's daily lives, Pope Benedict XVI said at his weekly general audience. Just as David dedicated himself to providing a dwelling place for the Lord, such a visible dwelling place is still important to have in today's cities and communities, he added. In his Sept. 14 catechesis, Pope Benedict highlighted Psalm 132, "The Pact Between David and the Lord," which celebrates "the solemn transport of the Ark of the Covenant, sign of the divine presence" of God in the midst of the people of Jerusalem. The pope came to Rome by helicopter from his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo to hold his general audience in St. Peter's Square before some 20,000 pilgrims from all over the world.
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Priest says Catholics live in fear after Protestant riots
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- After four nights of extensive rioting by Protestant mobs in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland, Catholics are living in fear, said Father Aidan Troy of Holy Cross Parish in Belfast. "When rioting is taking place, members of this parish can't leave the area, because access to the main roads is blocked. We're supposed to be having a novena here this week, but speakers can't get in to us because of the violence," he said in a Sept. 14 telephone interview. Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde said the rioting was organized by Protestant paramilitaries -- the Ulster Defense Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force -- with disturbances breaking out in seven different locations in Belfast and five different locations outside the city in an effort to stretch police and army resources to the maximum. Protestant leaders deny the charge. Rioting started Sept. 10 after the Independent Parades Commission ruled that a parade by the Orange Order, a Protestant fraternity, could not pass through a Catholic district.
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Children in West Bank village must cross barrier to get to school
NUAMAN, West Bank (CNS) -- Last year, the handful of elementary-age children from the tiny village of Nuaman would have taken a school bus to their school in the neighboring village of Al Khas, 1.2 miles away. This year, the children spend an hour each day trying to get to school on foot, along the path where a section of the Israeli separation barrier is near completion. "The fact the children will have to walk one and a quarter miles to school is not such a problem. The problem is what they will have to go through to get to school, especially considering there will be (Jewish) settlements built here," said Operation Dove member Viviana Gessaga, a 25-year-old physical therapist from Milan, Italy. When the barrier is completed, children from the village will have to walk alongside its electric fencing and barbed wire and go through a locked gate to reach their school. They will be at the mercy of Israeli soldiers who will have the power to lock and unlock the gate and will have to be relied upon to arrive on time to allow the children through, added Amiel Vardi, an Israeli professor from Hebrew University and a peace activist in the Campus Won't Be Silent organization.
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Lebanese bishops applaud changes, warn of relations with Syria
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Lebanon's Maronite Catholic bishops applauded political changes in their country but warned that troubling relations with Syria remain. Since Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon in late April, "the Lebanese feel that they are the masters of their situation, free to run their affairs ... especially by electing those they want to represent them in the Lebanese Parliament, in compliance with the democratic system, choosing who is to be president of their republic," the bishops said. These political changes "revive hope in the soul of the Lebanese people, who were on the verge of despair," the bishops said. Their comments came in a statement following the Sept. 7 meeting of the Council of Maronite Bishops, headed by Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, Maronite patriarch. It was the sixth such statement on the plight of the Lebanese issued within the last decade.
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PEOPLE
Pope hopes new statue of St. Escriva inspires Christlike living
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said he hoped a new statue of St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer installed in an exterior niche of St. Peter's Basilica would inspire those who saw it to live their daily lives "in the spirit of Christ." In a brief ceremony featuring an 80-person choir, the pope blessed the gleaming white marble statue after it was unveiled Sept. 14. The pope prayed that "all those who contemplate (the statue) may be encouraged to live daily life in the spirit of Christ." The 16.5-foot-tall sculpture of St. Escriva, the Spaniard who founded Opus Dei, was placed on the south side of the basilica in a corner niche to the right of St. Marcellin Champagnat, founder of the Marist Brothers. The statue of the Spanish saint was the ninth statue of a saint to find a place at St. Peter's since 1999.
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Congolese kill Italian Franciscan after his vehicle kills 3-year-old
ROME (CNS) -- An Italian Franciscan friar died Sept. 12 when he was attacked by angry residents after he accidentally ran over and killed a 3-year-old child in the Republic of Congo. Father Angelo Redaelli, 40, was at the wheel of a sport utility vehicle carrying eight other passengers, including two Franciscan priests and three Claretian nuns, when the accident occurred. They were heading from the northern town of Makua to the capital, Brazzaville, when, 18 miles from the town of Owando, a young girl appeared on the road. The missionary was not able to stop the vehicle in time, and it struck the girl, killing her instantly, reported MISNA, a Rome-based missionary news agency. When he got out of the vehicle to offer help, local residents, including the girl's family, attacked the priest with machetes, MISNA said Sept. 12. Most of the other passengers in the vehicle with Father Redaelli were local Congolese. They fled the scene after the car struck the girl.
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Challenges from storm will make faith stronger, Biloxi priest says
BILOXI, Miss.(CNS) -- Father Dominic Phan Duc Dong, pastor of the Vietnamese Martyrs Church in Biloxi, knows about facing challenges and is a strong believer that "challenges make our faith stronger." The 72-year-old priest, who ran through a battlefield with mines blowing up around him in Vietnam and escaped his country in a refugee boat in 1975, rode through Hurricane Katrina on a boat tied to two other boats in a Biloxi canal with eight of his parishioners. Although the boat kept tossing through the night, it survived intact. The next day, he went to the church, where he has been pastor for 20 years, and saw the huge extent of water and mud damage. Many families in his parish had left their homes to live at least temporarily with other families. At Sunday Mass in the parish parking lot the first weekend after the Aug. 29 storm, the priest recounted his experiences in the Vietnam War and refugee boat as a means to encourage parishioners to understand that they would grow stronger from their current challenges.
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Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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