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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Sep-28-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Details sparse on Rita's damage to Lake Charles Diocese
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the days after Hurricane Rita hit communities along the Texas-Louisiana border Sept. 24, information about the extent of any damage in the Diocese of Lake Charles, La., was sparse. New reports Sept. 28 said that highways leading to Lake Charles, La., which took much of the brunt of the storm, remained blocked to residents wanting to return. Morris LeBleu, director of communications for the Lake Charles Diocese and editor of its diocesan newspaper, The Southwest Catholic, sent Catholic News Service an e-mail from Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 27 reporting on some conditions in his diocese. He said videotape footage he saw of the area showed that in lower Cameron Parish, the civil entity in the southernmost part of the diocese, "all churches are either gone or severely damaged. Though I am unable to verify the damage, those churches are within a mile or two of the Gulf of Mexico," he wrote. LeBleu listed seven parish and mission churches. Several other churches apparently suffered severe damage, he said, though he did not have many details.
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Cardinal warns about misuse of 'language of faith' in political arena
PITTSBURGH (CNS) -- Characterizing some of the exchanges during the 2004 presidential campaign as "shallow, shrill and disingenuous," Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick warned Sept. 19 that some groups continue to cater to religious people simply to use them to further their political cause. "They have used the language of faith to advance partisan agendas, sometimes finding the best biblical sound bites to justify their political positions," the Washington archbishop told an audience at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University. Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor in chief of First Things, a journal on religion and politics published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life in New York, also spoke during Duquesne's daylong Faith and Politics Symposium. Cardinal McCarrick and Father Neuhaus agreed that separation of church and state does not require people of faith to take their beliefs out of politics. That was never the intention of the Founding Fathers and, in any case, is simply wrongheaded, both said. Politics deals with how people should live together and how they can create the best society, they said.
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New Orleans Archdiocese to lay off part of its workforce
BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- The New Orleans Archdiocese, operating out of Baton Rouge since Hurricane Katrina struck in late August, has announced plans to lay off an unspecified number of its workers, with the hope of rehiring them in the future. In a "policy for employment terms and conditions," posted Sept. 25 on the archdiocesan Web site at www.archdiocese-no.org, the archdiocese said it was "both a victim of the storm as well as an integral source of support and aid for the recovery of our communities." The policy statement added, "Enormous personal and financial challenges face our archdiocese as well as the families and communities ravaged by this storm," necessitating "difficult decisions concerning our employees. These decisions are all the more painful given the great sacrifice and generosity of all our employees in service to the local church." The policy applies to "all employees of archdiocesan parishes, schools and offices, including Christopher Homes, Catholic Charities, Catholic schools, Wynhoven Healthcare, Chateau de Notre Dame, School Food Services, Second Harvest, PACE, cemeteries and the Clarion Herald," it said.
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Catholic chaplains offer comfort to hurricane victims
MILWAUKEE (CNS) -- Catholic hurricane relief efforts in the Gulf Coast have included spiritual comfort, too. About 10 members of the Milwaukee-based National Association of Catholic Chaplains have been among the spiritual care providers dispatched to hurricane survivors. The association and other spiritual care groups have been working with the American Red Cross and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to place chaplains in the affected areas. According to a Sept. 22 release from the association, the chaplains' work has taken them everywhere. Some have been deployed to shelters where they have consoled and listened to victims who may have lost everything in the storm. Others, working in flooded New Orleans, had the grim task of praying over the bodies of victims as recovery teams combed the streets and buildings. "It was clearly an overwhelming task," said chaplain Tim Serban, an association member from Everett, Wash.
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Beaumont Diocese temporarily moves chancery after Hurricane Rita
HOUSTON (CNS) -- The Diocese of Beaumont's chancery has been temporarily relocated to the Cameron Retreat Center at the St. Dominic Center in Houston, at the corner of Holcombe and Almeda streets. The diocese's chancery office in Beaumont, as well as all schools and parishes in the diocese, were still closed four days after Hurricane Rita tore its way up the Texas-Louisiana border. Diocesan properties were still plagued by the lack of electricity and water and sewer service, according to a news release. Through early Sept. 28, the diocesan Web site, www.dioceseofbmt.org, was still not functioning, although efforts were being made to re-establish the site, which the diocese asked its faithful to check. Those with questions about the diocese and its parishes were advised to call (713) 440-3431 and ask for either Msgr. Michael Jamail, Beaumont diocesan vicar general, or chancellor Sister Esther Dunegan, a Sister of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament.
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WORLD
At audience, pope prays repeatedly for peace
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI, speaking at his weekly audience, prayed repeatedly for peace. "Oh Lord, let your face shine upon us today for the benefit of peace and, in these times, give us and all people on earth harmony and peace," he said Sept. 28. God's "divine love becomes concrete and nearly observable in history with all its bitter and glorious events," he told some 30,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square. Today, God's redemptive and protective power "reaches us now in Christ," he said. "Oh Lord, let your face shine on us for the benefit of peace, to protect us with your powerful hand and save us from every sin ... and rescue us from those who unjustly hate us," the pope said, quoting from the writings of Pope St. Clement I. He said this first-century pope's prayer can be a prayer for the faithful today.
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Vatican II decree opened 'vivacious season,' struggle for religious
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Second Vatican Council's decree on consecrated life "opened a new, creative, vivacious season" for men and women religious, but also a season of struggle, pain and fear, a Vatican official said. Archbishop Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, opened a Sept. 26-27 conference at the Vatican marking the 40th anniversary of the council's document, "Perfectae Caritatis." The document, he said, was "the mature fruit of a slow and gradual renewal" already under way among religious orders. More than any other segment of the Catholic population, he and other speakers said, men and women in religious orders experienced great changes because of the Second Vatican Council. With the sometimes precipitous decline in the number of religious order priests, brothers and sisters, Archbishop Rode said, "some have asked if (the council) brought the wind of a storm or the wind of Pentecost, a time of grace or of disgrace."
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Canadian bishops' task force urges ban on priests convicted of abuse
CORNWALL, Ontario (CNS) -- A Canadian bishops' task force recommended banning priests and pastoral staffers convicted of sexual abuse from any public church ministry for the rest of their lives. The long-anticipated report on how Canada's bishops are dealing with clergy sexual abuse called on all bishops to publicly and individually commit themselves to a strict method of dealing with the problem. It also called for public reporting on how the church is doing in its battle to eradicate abuse. The bishops have been asked to forward their comments on the report to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops headquarters in Ottawa. Comments will be presented to the bishops' permanent council in March; a final protocol will be voted on by all bishops. Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Bishop Eugene Tremblay of Amos, Quebec, co-chairmen the 10-member task force, presented their report Sept. 22 to the annual meeting of bishops in Cornwall.
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Priest says Loyalist contentions on IRA weapons could endanger pact
MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- The priest who played a central role in the decommissioning of the Irish Republican Army arsenal warned that Loyalist insistence on photographic evidence could endanger the agreement to get rid of the weapons. Redemptorist Father Alex Reid, 74, whose parents were in the IRA, said the disposal of weapons meant Republicans, primarily Catholics, have finally abandoned physical resistance in favor of peaceful means. Father Reid, who lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the Rev. Harold Good, a former president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, were official witnesses to the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, which spent two months accepting weapons held in secret arms dumps across Ireland and Northern Ireland. However, because no photographs were taken of the weapons being destroyed, some in the Loyalist or Protestant community do not believe the IRA has fully ended its campaign of violence.
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PEOPLE
Enchiladas make best milieu for interreligious dialogue, says priest
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A U.S. theologian said the best milieu for interreligious discussions with his Buddhist friends is over a hot plate of cheese enchiladas. Father James Fredericks, professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said people often talk of interreligious dialogue as being based on big spiritual mysteries, "like the Holy Spirit or some transcendent reality, but no, the foundations of interreligious dialogue in Los Angeles are cheese enchiladas." Sharing a meal is not only "the basis for dialogue, it's the fruit of a dialogue" that even involves the Catholic food service workers at the university's kitchens "who, in loving service, do the best job they can to cook these enchiladas for these monks from Sri Lanka," he told Catholic News Service Sept. 27. Father Fredericks was one of dozens of experts invited to speak at a Sept. 25-28 conference marking the 40th anniversary of "Nostra Aetate," the Second Vatican Council's declaration on interreligious dialogue.
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Beloved New Orleans priest who rode out Katrina presumed dead
BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- A much loved New Orleans priest who stayed with his church as Hurricane Katrina took aim at southeastern Louisiana is presumed to have drowned in the storm's floodwaters. Father Arthur "Red" Ginart, known to his flock of worshippers as "Father Red" and considered the "shepherd of Lake Catherine," would not listen to family and friends who appealed to him to leave his church for safety. The priest, pastor of St. Nicholas of Myra Church, tried to assure everyone that he would be safe. He lived on the New Orleans East peninsula. Late on the night before the Aug. 29 storm a volunteer firefighter tried to convince Father Ginart to leave, but he scoffed at the warning. "God will be my shepherd," he said. His nephew, Michael Ginart of Chalmette, phoned the priest at 3:30 a.m. the morning of the storm. He said he told his uncle that it looked like this was "it." A month after the hurricane hit, Father Ginart, 64, remained missing and is now presumed dead, the only resident of Lake Catherine to become a victim of the hurricane.
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'It's a blessing' to perform for kids, says 'pirate' band leader
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Loren Hoskins never thought he'd be making a living playing music for kids. A voice actor in Portland, Ore., doing radio commercials and the like, Hoskins thought he had a clever idea for a children's themed album and created the pirate duo Captain Bogg & Salty, with his "first mate," Kevin Hendrickson, who played virtually all the instruments while Hoskins did practically all the voices. Now, six years after the first album, "Bedtime Stories for Pirates," came out, Hoskins and Hendrickson have created a new compact disc, "Pegleg Tango," to satisfy Captain Bogg & Salty's growing legion of young -- and not-so-young -- fans. "It's a blessing to be able to play for kids. I can't tell you what fun it is for me," Hoskins told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Portland. Captain Bogg & Salty play what they call "piratical pop" and "buccaneer rock for scallywags of all ages." There's a playful lilt to such songs as "The Tortuga Caper," "Billy Bones," "Happy Birthday Chucklehead," "Sea Monster" and "Scurvy."
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