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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Oct-3-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
New Orleans Archdiocese projects $40 million deficit by end of year
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As the Archdiocese of New Orleans took small steps back to normalcy after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, archdiocesan officials estimated a negative cash flow of $40 million by the end of the year. The projection was based on assumptions about drastically reduced parish giving and income from federal grants that are used to operate many Catholic Charities programs. Millions more could be needed to repair or rebuild facilities damaged by the hurricane, depending on whether insurers assess the damage as flood-related or wind-related. Although the archdiocese's insurance coverage for wind-related damage provides for full replacement value, it has only about $13 million in flood insurance. A preliminary assessment of about 50 archdiocesan buildings indicated there was at least $84 million in flood damage, leaving a shortfall of more than $70 million. The archdiocese hopes that regulations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency will allow for the reimbursement for cleanup of nonchurch facilities such as schools and residences. Under the current regulations, cleanup of churches is not reimbursable. Although the archdiocese kept all of its approximately 9,000 employees on full salary through the end of September, it recently notified them that an unknown number would be laid off Oct. 3 and receive two weeks of severance pay.
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Reopening process begins for Catholic schools in Gulf Coast region
METAIRIE, La.(CNS) -- Thirty-two Catholic schools in Jefferson Parish, a civil entity next to New Orleans, reopened Oct. 3 after being closed since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast Aug. 29. The schools include 26 elementary schools and six high schools. The Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese of New Orleans also opened Oct. 3 at a site on the Archbishop Rummel High School campus in Metairie. The Web site for the Archdiocese of New Orleans lists two schools elsewhere in the archdiocese that are closed for the year and two that are closed for an undetermined amount of time. Some schools have already reopened; many have projected opening dates and some have opened satellite schools in other locations. Three Josephite-run high schools in New Orleans were considering joining together to form a coed satellite high school on the Xavier University Preparatory School campus in New Orleans. In the Diocese of Biloxi, Miss., six schools were destroyed and four have major damage. Currently nine schools are open and seven are scheduled to reopen. Schools are not always reopening in their original facilities. For example, Mercy Cross High School in Biloxi reopened in a former Catholic high school and St. Thomas Elementary School in Long Beach was scheduled to begin holding classes again Oct. 3 at a local roller skating rink.
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Cardinal credits court nomination civility, asks for it to continue
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The day before the opening of the Supreme Court term, Washington's Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick lauded "a period of greater civility in the selection of our chief justice." At the annual Red Mass that traditionally precedes the court's opening, Cardinal McCarrick asked for continued civility from a congregation at St. Matthew Cathedral that included President George W. Bush, new Chief Justice John Roberts and White House counsel Harriet Miers, who was nominated the next morning to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Cardinal McCarrick greeted the dignitaries, who also included four Supreme Court associate justices, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and hundreds of people involved in law and politics. He said people from different parties and with different points of view should work together for the common good. Roberts was confirmed to his post Sept. 29 by a vote of 78-22. "I pray that civility will continue," the cardinal added, "because it is so important not just for good government, but for the good care of our people who look here to all of you and your colleagues for the kind of leadership that is not destructive and not too intensely partisan." The 52nd annual Red Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral drew a standing-room-only crowd of 1,450 people. Others had to be turned away because the church was full.
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Husband and wife's commitment called cornerstone of family life
CHICAGO (CNS) -- When about 350 Catholic family life ministers gathered in Chicago Sept. 21-24, they stood at a crossroads. When the National Association of Family Life Ministers was formed 25 years ago, family ministries was a relatively new field, said Andrew Lyke, coordinator of marriage ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago. Even the term "domestic church," which came out of the Second Vatican Council, was "still a little foreign," said Lyke, who offered the opening keynote Sept. 21. "Now it's mainstream, or to some people, a little passe." But as family life ministers -- who today are more often lay than clerical and more often female than male -- discussed how to remain effective with the novelty worn off, one thing clearly had not changed: the emphasis on marriage. "I see it as the cornerstone of family life," said Lyke, who was instrumental in developing the Archdiocese of Chicago's new marriage ministry guidelines, released earlier this year. "It's that committed relationship between a man and a woman, a mother and a father that created the best situation for families and for raising children. It's not the only good situation, but it's still the best."
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Secularism, materialism make vocations work a challenge, priest says
TAMPA, Fla. (CNS) -- The environment for breeding vocations is not what it used to be. Catholic schools used to be feeder systems to the seminaries. Religious sisters used to be prominent fixtures in schools and parishes to offer words of encouragement and to plant the seeds of priestly vocations. The rise of secularism, materialism and careerism and a lack of commitment among young people do not generate vocations. Those ideas are not lost on vocation directors or the U.S. bishops, who have made the promotion of vocations one of the top three priorities in the Catholic Church, according to Father Edward J. Burns, executive director for vocations and priestly formation for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "With today's secularization we don't have the feeder system we used to," Father Burns said Sept. 26 at the 42nd annual convention of the National Conference of Diocesan Vocations Directors. "The materialism of society fosters a lack of commitment among young people and a feeling to live life for one's self." Father Burns said the "live-for-self" agenda not only affects the priesthood but other service jobs, such as teaching and nursing, which also are suffering shortages. But the priesthood, he said, has a double whammy -- it is a life of service and a life of commitment.
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Project offers resources to help priests be 'fishers of men'
TAMPA, Fla. (CNS) -- Priests working to promote the priesthood by example and inviting men to discern a call would be a far more effective tool for vocations than slick ad campaigns, a priest told his fellow vocation directors. Father Edward J. Burns, executive director for vocations and priestly formation at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered that suggestion as he introduced the USCCB's "Priestly Life and Vocation Summit: Fishers of Men," a step-by-step presbyteral workshop to promote vocations, to U.S. diocesan vocation directors. "The priestly gift of invitation carries with it the obligation of inviting others," Father Burns said. "Being fishers of men is a ministry, a life, a call. Priests are fishers of men." The Sept. 24-28 convention -- with the theme "Called to Follow the Son" -- drew about 200 vocations directors to Tampa. Citing a survey of U.S. men ordained in 2003, Father Burns said 78 percent of them said a priest invited them to discern a call. However, a 2001 study showed that only 30 percent of diocesan and religious priests in the United States actively invite men to the priesthood.
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CPA restructures Katrina relief fund to assist in other disasters
RONKONKOMA, N.Y. (CNS) -- Following the second major hurricane in the Gulf Coast region in less than a month, the Catholic Press Association has restructured its Hurricane Katrina relief fund to allow a response to any member publication affected by disasters or emergencies. The recently renamed Catholic Press Association Disaster/Emergency Publication Relief Fund will be used to provide grants to member publications seeking assistance after a natural disaster or other calamity has affected their ability to punish. Among these needs may be replacement of damaged equipment, costs for relocation or temporary offices, lost revenue, additional costs for re-establishing an office, insurance deductibles, payroll costs and other unanticipated expenses.
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A poverty in U.S. is 'its disregard of dignity of life,' says bishop
FARGO, N.D. (CNS) -- A poverty of the United States is "its approach to life and its disregard of the dignity of life," Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo said Oct. 2 during a Mass for Respect Life Sunday at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Fargo. Terrorism, suicide bombings, euthanasia and capital punishment are all "attacks on the dignity of human life, on the understanding of the human person as created in the image and likeness of God," Bishop Aquila said. The gravest of these attacks, he added, "is abortion itself." Bishop Aquila said it is God who bestows dignity upon each human person, even those some may refer to as "mistakes," although "the eye of God does not see it that way," he noted. The primary struggle throughout history has been "between the culture of life and the culture of death," Bishop Aquila said. "We must speak more forcefully for the culture of life."
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WORLD
Synod official says bishops must consider priests, Communion issues
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As it looks for ways to increase Catholics' love for the Eucharist, the world Synod of Bishops also will have to grapple with questions about ordaining married men, sharing Communion with other Christians and allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive the sacrament, said a synod official. Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice, the synod's recording secretary, told synod participants and reporters Oct. 3 that he did not believe current church practice should change on any of those issues. However, even before the synod debate began, the two bishops who joined Cardinal Scola in facing the press Oct. 3 offered slightly different views on the issues. In his 52-page, Latin-language summary of topics awaiting the synod, Cardinal Scola said the Eucharist must be understood as a gift from God; it is not a possession or a right. "The problem of the scarcity of priests must be faced with courage in the framework of the Eucharist as a gift," he said. Some people, while recognizing the value of priestly celibacy, have said that the need and right of Catholic faithful to receive the Eucharist regularly meant the church must consider the possibility of ordaining married men in the Latin rite when the lack of celibate priests is particularly serious. But Cardinal Scola said that attitude assumes that the church is like a business and can calculate exactly how many priests it requires; priests, too, are a gift from God and, if more are needed, people should pray.
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Indonesian religious leaders express concern after suicide bombings
DENPASAR, Indonesia (CNS) -- Religious leaders in Bali expressed concern as they condemned the Oct. 1 suicide bombings that killed at least 26 people and injured more than 120 others on the island famed as a center of tourism and Indonesian Hindu culture. "We must strongly condemn the bombing that has hit Bali again. The action of the bombers was uncivilized, and regrettably it has happened in Indonesia, a civilized nation," Bishop Benyamin Bria of Denpasar told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, Oct. 2. Denpasar is the capital of Bali, the island province just east of Java. Hospital officials in Denpasar told UCA News the bombings killed 26 people, and more than 120 others were being treated for injuries in seven local hospitals. The dead and injured included foreigners as well as Indonesians. According to reports, three suicide bombers targeted restaurants in Jimbaran Beach and Kuta, on the south of the island. Kuta is a 25-minute drive from Denpasar, while Jimbaran is a 15-minute drive from Kuta. This was the second deadly attack on Bali in less than three years. A bomb Oct. 13, 2002, killed 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists.
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At opening Mass, pope says Eucharist is way to just society, peace
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At an opening Mass for the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, Pope Benedict XVI said the Eucharist was the true way to build justice in society and to create peace in human hearts. He encouraged the synod not only to pronounce "beautiful things" about the Eucharist, but also to experience its power and communicate it to the world. About 250 synod participants and thousands of others joined the pope in St. Peter's Basilica Oct. 2 for the inaugural Mass, a liturgy marked by a solemn tone and few multicultural flourishes. Dressed in pale green vestments, the pope read a sermon that explained the Eucharist in simple terms, as the place where "God comes to meet us." "God is waiting for us. He wants to be loved by us. Shouldn't this appeal touch our hearts?" he said. But this very encounter, he said, is often hindered by people's indifference. He said today's faithful need to recall the prophet Isaiah's parable of the vineyard and ask themselves: "Is not our Christian life perhaps more vinegar than wine?"
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Our Lady's message to pray still vital, says Fatima advocate
FATIMA, Portugal (CNS) -- Our Lady of Fatima's message to pray is just as vital today as it was in 1917 when she appeared to three shepherd children, said the international president of the World Apostolate of Fatima. "We are acting on Our Lady's request to pray often," the president, Americo Lopez-Ortiz, said Oct. 1, the eve of the Worldwide Day of Prayer for the Sanctity of Life. "Hard work and prayer will triumph in the battle for life." On Oct. 2, more than 100,000 people filled the square outside the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima for Mass to mark the day of prayer for life. Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva of Leiria-Fatima celebrated the Mass, which also served as the annual pilgrimage for lay Franciscans from throughout Portugal and for the people of the diocese. The World Apostolate of Fatima sponsored the day of prayer with the goal of getting 100 million prayers said for the intention of upholding the sacredness of life.
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Mexican bishops organize workshops to boost voter participation
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- In anticipation of July elections, Mexico's bishops will organize workshops around the country aimed to boost voter participation, civic culture and political consciousness in a country that had little in the way of democracy for most of the 20th century. "Mexico is lacking in democratic culture," said Father Salvador Lopez Mora, who helped design the workshops, scheduled to begin in October. "So the purpose of these workshops isn't just to get people voting; it's to help construct citizen participation. "So many Mexicans are disenchanted and let down by politics, so the church hopes to step in and help foment democratic culture," he said. Mexico only had its first truly democratic presidential elections in 2000, when Vicente Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive and member of the National Action Party, gave the opposition its first victory in more than seven decades of single-party rule. Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa called Mexico the "perfect dictatorship" during the long rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which stayed in power largely through electoral fraud and vote buying. Mexico maintains a series of anti-clerical laws that restrict religious figures' involvement in politics. Some political parties in recent years have sued priests and bishops for urging voters to support candidates whose positions on issues like abortion are in line with those of the Catholic Church.
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PEOPLE
Women religious discuss most effective ways to communicate message
CHICAGO (CNS) -- It takes a community to effectively communicate the message and mission of a religious congregation. This was the theme at the 11th annual conference of the National Communicators Network for Women Religious Sept. 18-21 at the Holiday Inn Chicago City Center. More than 125 communicators, development and vocations personnel and leaders from women's religious communities across the U.S. and Canada gathered for the event. Keynote addresses, workshops and speakers' presentations of their own experiences gave participants ideas and action plans to take back to their ministries and workplaces. Keynote speaker Sister Nancy Sylvester, an Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister, who is president of the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue, gave a talk titled "From Silos to Synergy: Lessons From the Universe for Creating Collaborative Structures." "Communication is lacking in our world," she told attendees Sept. 19. "People don't know how to talk to each other. Clearly your role is increasing in importance."
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Puerto Rican archbishop joins criticisms of FBI deadly shootout
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CNS) -- Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez of San Juan is among Puerto Rican leaders who have criticized an FBI operation resulting in a shootout that caused the death of an independence activist. A statement by the archbishop expressed "my profound bewilderment, indignation and sadness" for the manner in which Filiberto Ojeda Rios was killed. "I reject the operation that ended with his death and which will awaken important questions about the legality and justice of these events," he said. The archbishop issued his statement on the situation Sept. 24 and it was published Oct. 2 in El Visitante, his archdiocesan newspaper. Ojeda, 72, was killed in a Sept. 23 shootout at a farmhouse where he was hiding in Hormigueros, a small town in southwestern Puerto Rico. FBI officials said they favored an independent investigation of the events that led to Ojeda's death after widespread calls for such an investigation by local political, governmental and civic leaders. News reports quoted federal agents as saying that Ojeda shot first and they responded. Ojeda's wife, who was arrested at the farmhouse and later released, was quoted as saying that the FBI shot first.
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Illinois shrine on site of former child-care facility draws pilgrims
DES PLAINES, Ill. (CNS) -- For more than 15 years, Our Lady of Guadalupe has been drawing pilgrims to the grounds of Maryville Academy in Des Plaines. In 1988, the campus, which once housed the largest residential child-care institution in Illinois, took in a statue of the patroness of the Americas brought from Mexico City by Joaquim Martinez, a parishioner and staff member at Our Lady of the Brook in Northbrook. Like the roses that pilgrims bring, the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe took root at Maryville and grew to the point that up to 3,500 worshippers attend Mass at the site every weekend, and upward of 60,000 come to observe the Dec. 12 feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and related festivities. "The first year, for 'Las Mananitas' (the 5 a.m. traditional devotion on the feast day) we had maybe 12 people," Martinez told The Catholic New World, newspaper of the Chicago Archdiocese. Today, the hill that forms the centerpiece of the shrine is surrounded with colorful flowers, real and artificial, and rows of candles in glass containers line the raised outdoor sanctuary. On the back of the hill, a cave holds an image of the risen Lord, with more candles, photographs of babies in incubators and sonograms, hospital bracelets and, stacked near the entrance, crutches. "Those were left by people who prayed for a miracle and received it," said Martinez, still a leader of the volunteer group that cares for the shrine.
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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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