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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Sep-23-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
New Orleans prelate shares 'challenges of exile' with fellow evacuees
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a letter to New Orleans Catholics dispersed throughout the country after Hurricane Katrina, Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes said he shared with them "the challenges of exile." "Like the Jews of old, we long for a return to our holy city," said the New Orleans archbishop, who has been based in Baton Rouge, La., since the hurricane and subsequent flooding made much of New Orleans uninhabitable in late August. He said he hoped to "soon be able to celebrate Mass in St. Louis Cathedral" in the city's French Quarter as "a sign of the resurrection of the church in New Orleans." He encouraged New Orleans Catholics to keep up to date on news about the archdiocese and their parish or school through the Web site at www.archdiocese-no.org.
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Catholic women urged to make immigration reform a top priority
ATLANTA (CNS) -- The U.S. government must reform its immigration system, while continuing to address the root causes of poverty that drive so many to risk their lives and emigrate, conference-goers in Atlanta were told. And in a church and nation built on immigration, women must educate themselves and their dioceses on these pressing issues through the U.S. bishops' Justice for Immigrants campaign, launched in May. That was the message for participants in a Sept. 17 workshop on immigration at the national conference of the National Council of Catholic Women, which drew more than 1,200 women to Atlanta. "We spend a lot of time saying to people, 'I am really sorry. There is nothing I can do to help you,'" said Sue Colussy, director of Catholic Social Services' low-cost legal clinic for immigrants in Atlanta. "That's why we really need immigration reform." Colussy provided an immigration overview covering everything from the A to Z list of types of visas and criticized the "incredible backlog" for processing family reunification requests.
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Bishops' task force expanded to include Hurricane Rita aid
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A special task force created by the U.S. bishops to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will also address the problems expected to be caused by the impact of Hurricane Rita on the Gulf Coast. Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, task force chairman, announced the expanded responsibility Sept. 23 as Rita approached the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. The archbishop was named to head the task force Sept. 14 by Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "As many victims of Hurricane Katrina who took refuge in Galveston-Houston now move on because this region is facing its own hurricane-related danger, this task force is determined to be prepared to address whatever needs will arise in the wake of this second storm," Archbishop Fiorenza said. The task force made up of bishops and representatives of leading Catholic organizations collecting funds and carrying on relief work was established by the USCCB Administrative Committee.
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Teaching intelligent design to get court test in Pennsylvania
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A case before a federal district court in Pennsylvania could decide whether intelligent design is a religious belief or a scientific theory suitable to be taught in public school classrooms as an alternative to evolution. In at least 19 other states, teaching intelligent design is an issue before public school boards. The Pennsylvania civil suit challenges the decision of the Dover, Pa., public school board that intelligent design be presented to students as an alternative scientific position. The suit claims that intelligent design is a disguised form of introducing belief in God into the classroom, thus violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution prohibiting a state-established religion. Intelligent design holds that science can prove that there is a design and purpose inherent in life forms that springs from a unnamed intelligence. It opposes the evolutionary position of chance and randomness as the process for the development of life.
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Katrina school aid: Will it provide needed help or promote an agenda?
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Government and educational leaders agree on one thing: The 372,000 students from the Gulf Coast who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina need help. But just how this help is divvied up remains in question. When the U.S. Department of Education announced plans Sept. 16 to pay 90 percent of the educational costs of students and schools affected by Hurricane Katrina for one year, some Democrats and officials from teachers' unions immediately saw red flags. They said the plan for spending $7,500 per displaced student in public or private schools amounted to nothing short of a way to sneak in a national voucher program. But cooler heads seemed to prevail during a Sept. 22 hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Education and Child Development on how to legislate aid for Katrina's displaced schoolchildren. Even those opposed to vouchers said the emergency educational aid package could work for all students, as long as it was carefully worded and explicitly specified as a temporary emergency provision for one year. The department's plan seeks $2.6 million in new hurricane relief spending. It would distribute public-school funds through school districts and private-school funds directly to parents -- in line with the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing vouchers only if parents, not schools, receive the funds.
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WORLD
Article based on diary says German cardinal became pope with 84 votes
ROME (CNS) -- On the fourth ballot of the April 18-19 conclave to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger went from being five votes shy of election to having seven more than the 77 needed. The count, along with a few details of the brief conclave leading to the election of Pope Benedict XVI, was published Sept. 23 in Limes, a respected Italian journal usually focused on geopolitics. On each of the four ballots, the magazine said, the prelate receiving the second-highest number of votes was Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires. Limes said its information came from the diary of an anonymous cardinal who, while acknowledging he was violating his oath of secrecy, felt the results of the conclave votes should be part of the historic record. The journal said it confirmed the diary's count with other cardinals.
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Pope defends Mexican Catholics' rights to be involved in politics
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- In a democratic society the leaders and faithful of the Catholic Church have an obligation to promote ethical laws and behavior, but despite signs of sin in the world, they must speak with hope, Pope Benedict XVI said. In separate speeches Sept. 23 to Mexico's new ambassador to the Vatican and to a group of Mexican bishops' making their "ad limina" visits to Rome, the pope defended the right of Mexican Catholics to be involved in their country's political debates. Addressing the bishops, who make "ad limina" visits to Rome every five years to report on their dioceses, the pope said, "The design and realization of pastoral programs must reflect ... trust in the loving presence of God in the world. This will help lay Catholics be able to face the growth of secularism and to participate responsibly in temporal matters enlightened by the social teaching of the church."
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Ranks of lay people making commitment to Benedictines swell
ROME (CNS) -- While religious orders worldwide continue to deal with declining numbers, the ranks of lay people making a commitment as Benedictines are swelling. Although speakers said lay people have had a spiritual association with Benedictine monasteries for centuries, the Sept. 19-25 World Congress of Benedictine Oblates in Rome was the first international gathering sponsored by the order. Some 300 people representing more than 25,000 oblates associated with close to 1,200 Benedictine monasteries around the world attended the meeting. Oblates live with or are associated with the Benedictines but do not make vows. The largest group of delegates came from the United States, which has at least 10,000 oblates, said Lavern Hayworth, an oblate from Oregon's Mount Angel Abbey and the lay leader of the North American oblate association. Despite the declining number of Benedictines, she told Catholic News Service, "oblates are spreading Benedictine spirituality, and it is touching thousands of people around the world."
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Seamless web: providing papal security with reasonable public access
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The hundreds of people who guard the pope and the Vatican have created a seamless web of tight security with reasonable public access for the millions of pilgrims who flock yearly to Vatican City. Vatican and Italian security forces provide "impeccable security for a person who wants to be open and near the people," one Italian state police official told Catholic News Service. Three separate entities keep watch over the pope and the Vatican. The most visible, and colorful, are the 110 Swiss Guards, whose main duties are guarding the pope and his residence. The Vatican's police force, called the gendarme corps, is responsible for crowd control, traffic within the Vatican, parking enforcement and permits to enter offices within the walls of Vatican City. A special branch of the Italian police force, the Inspectorate for Public Security at the Vatican, allows Italian police to provide for the pope's security when he leaves Vatican City.
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PEOPLE
Archbishop Gregory thanks women for history of charity, service
ATLANTA (CNS) -- More than 1,200 Catholic women and 50 priests from around the country gathered Sept. 15-18 in Atlanta for the National Council of Catholic Women's convention celebrating 85 years of "making a difference." Celebrating Mass for the participants Sept. 17, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory praised the women for their steadfast work to build up God's kingdom and his church, whether that be tucking a child into bed with prayers or contributing to Hurricane Katrina relief work. "Catholic women throughout the church in our nation and beyond have been the heart and soul of our efforts" following the devastating Hurricane Katrina, the archbishop said. "You have, as you have done on so many other occasions, rallied the church to undertake the works of charity and service. "Quite simply, the face of Christ has been made more visible in the works of charity that you have spearheaded during the past fortnight and on so many other occasions within the local churches who are graced with your presence," he added.
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Rafael Roncal named editor of Washington's El Pregonero
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Rafael Roncal, assistant editor of El Pregonero, the Archdiocese of Washington's Spanish-language weekly newspaper, is its new editor. The appointment, effective immediately, was made by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington. Roncal, 48, has been the newspaper's interim editor since the retirement of former editor Oscar J. Reyes in June. "The mission of El Pregonero has always been to empower the community," Roncal said in a statement. "My commitment is to be faithful to this mission, to encourage people of all ages, especially young people, to participate fully in the well-being of our society. Our pages will reflect a productive debate of the most important issues that affect us."
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Dioceses urged to help young people from Gulf Coast get to conference
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- All dioceses and parishes planning to participate in the 2005 National Catholic Youth Conference in Atlanta in October are being asked to help young people from the Gulf Coast who now find they cannot attend because of economic hardship brought on by Hurricane Katrina. The Catholic Youth Foundation, which works in conjunction with the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, made the plea Sept. 22. A news release issued by the U.S. bishops' conference in Washington said that originally about 600 participants from the region were slated to attend the Oct. 27-30 conference, but now only a fraction of that number can attend. About 18,500 participants are expected at the conference. The foundation is working through the federation to ask dioceses and parishes to sponsor at least one person from the Gulf Coast. "We all want to help people whose lives have been turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina," said Bishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Duluth, Minn, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on Youth and Young Adults, who praised the sponsorship effort.
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Diocese creates new 'Starfish' ministry to help meet evacuees' needs
HOUMA, La. (CNS) -- The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux has created a new ministry to respond to the needs of thousands of Katrina evacuees in the area. "After the storm a few of us just showed up at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center in Houma to see what the people who were there needed," said Father Mark Toups. "In talking and praying with the evacuees, we realized that they felt as though their dignity had been compromised by this tragedy," the priest said. "They were sleeping on the floors, wearing someone else's clothes, unable to even take a shower." The first thing friends and supporters of the ministry did was to put up shower facilities at the civic center and at a shelter at a recreation center. Father Toups, director of vocations in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, learned that many of the people at the shelters were searching for family members and for some word about how they were, where they were and if they had survived the storm. During the first four days of the project, 150 people were reunited with their loved ones.
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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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