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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Nov-2-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Enthusiasm, energy mark closing Mass at Catholic youth conference
ATLANTA (CNS) -- Thousands of Catholic teenagers, many wearing T-shirts with slogans such as "Discover Jesus" and "i pray," sprinted through stadium aisles Oct. 29 to claim front-row seats -- not for a football game, hockey game or concert, but for Mass. More than 16,500 teens from across the United States gathered at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to conclude the 2005 National Catholic Youth Conference. The Oct. 27-29 event, packed with guest speakers, workshops and presentations to enrich their faith, allowed young Catholics to experience with their peers the diversity and support of the broader church community. The closing liturgy really "brought the Mass to life," said Rebecca Schmitt, 16, from the Diocese of Belleville, Ill. "There was so much energy, even in the quiet moments." Youths waved colorful kites on long poles, liturgical dancers filled the air with incense and the conference's youth choir sang "Come Holy Spirit, send down your fire," as more than 120 priests and deacons and 15 bishops, including the main celebrant, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, entered.
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CRS seeks increase, not cuts, in U.S. food aid abroad
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic Relief Services, facing U.S. funding cuts that would eliminate its food outreach to 800,000 people, believes U.S. food aid abroad should be increased, not cut, a CRS official told Catholic News Service Nov. 2. In the just-ended 2005 fiscal year, U.S. food aid for development and for disaster relief totaled about $1.8 billion, but the administration is seeking only $1.1 billion for fiscal 2006, said Lisa Kuennen-Asfaw, director of the CRS public resource group. "The overall volume of (U.S.) food aid is decreasing" and the cuts are coming in the area of development aid, she said in a telephone interview. CRS, with headquarters in Baltimore, is one the largest private voluntary organizations distributing food aid under the 50-year-old U.S. Food for Peace program. Twice in October CRS issued statements clarifying reasons for its opposition to an administration proposal to shift $300 million in food aid away from buying and shipping U.S. commodities to places of need, using it instead for local food purchase near the regions where drought or other disasters create emergency needs. The CRS clarifications came in response to articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal which CRS felt did not accurately represent its views.
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Diocese sells off property; archdiocese settles 43 abuse claims
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The clergy sex abuse crisis continued to have financial, legal and pastoral ramifications for U.S. Catholic dioceses, as one diocese sold off property and another settled some 43 claims after a more than two-year mediation process. Property owned by the Diocese of Providence, R.I., at the former Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Warwick Neck was sold for $1.8 million, said Michael Sabatino, the diocese's chief financial officer. Known as the "caretaker's house," the property sits on 10 acres and is separated from the former seminary by a public street. The property was sold to a private developer planning to subdivide the parcel into lots for private homes. Assessed for $1.5 million, the property was part of the collateral used to secure a $15 million, three-year line of credit in 2002 used by Providence Bishop Robert E. Mulvee to settle dozens of lawsuits against the diocese brought by victims of clergy sex abuse. Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn., announced Oct. 31 that it had reached a settlement agreement on 43 claims of sexual abuse of minors against 14 priests for a total of $22 million. Most of the incidents of abuse were reported to have occurred in the 1960s or 1970s, with seven of them extending into the early 1980s.
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Parish cancels American Girl event; others urge boycott of doll maker
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Saying that "the pursuit of funds can't come at the cost of our integrity," the pastor of St. Luke Parish in Brookfield, Wis., has canceled an American Girl school fundraiser set for May because of the doll company's ties to a nonprofit group that supports keeping abortion legal. The American Girl's connection to Girls Inc. through the "I Can" bracelet project -- which promotes girls' self-esteem and service -- also has prompted criticism of the company by at least three organizations -- Pro-Life Wisconsin, Pro-Life Action League and American Family Association. The latter two organizations urged a boycott of American Girl, which produces a line of popular collectable dolls. "We are asking people who care about little girls, and about the value of human life, to refrain from purchasing products and visiting American Girl Place during the entire Christmas shopping season," said Ann Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, in a Nov. 1 statement. The head of Girls Inc. said, however, that the controversy resulted from "false, inflammatory statements from people who are pursuing a narrow political agenda."
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'Boys Town' DVD sales to help Boys Town kids, staff in Katrina's way
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When the new DVD version of "Boys Town" comes to stores Nov. 8, sales will help residents and staff of Girls and Boys Town's New Orleans site who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. After an 80-hour odyssey to escape the hurricane that took them through Dallas and San Antonio before they ultimately wound up at Girls and Boys Town's Nebraska headquarters, the residents and staff now are enjoying the hospitality, but have to cope with colder temperatures than they faced in the Crescent City. "It's going to get up close to 60 today," Girls and Boys Town spokesman John Melingagio said about the weather when he talked to Catholic News Service recently in a telephone interview, "but at night it gets down into the 40s and 30s. ... In New Orleans, you're lucky if you get temperatures like that once or twice a year." Melingagio added that their stay is going to be long-term. "We do know it will take a significant amount of time before they return home," he said. They'll go back "as soon as the infrastructure of the city can support our work."
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Speakers at Catholic youth conference urge teens to rely on God
ATLANTA (CNS) -- In the midst of the fun and excitement, silly hats and T-shirts, the National Catholic Youth Conference Oct. 27-29 in Atlanta provided its participants with the message that God's love could change their lives. Although they had the opportunity to play games and shop in a thematic park, to trade pins, beads and hats with new friends from across the country, and to sing and pray with top Catholic musicians, the 16,000 to 17,000 teens in attendance also heard words of encouragement and learned practical ways to live their faith from keynote speakers. The speakers included Tammy Evevard, who frequently addresses Catholic youth events; Jesse Manibusan, a Catholic singer and songwriter; and Bishop Gordon D. Bennett of Mandeville, Jamaica. In a morning address Oct. 28, Evevard, a former member of the National Evangelization Teams Ministries, contrasted the emptiness even the most successful person can feel with the fullness that comes from personally experiencing God's love. She urged them to recognize how passionately God cares for them and to spread this news to their peers.
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WORLD
Remembering dead helps Christians reflect on own lives, says pope
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Remembering those who have died, Christians naturally reflect on their own lives and on how to ensure that they will enjoy happiness forever with God, Pope Benedict XVI said. Addressing some 20,000 pilgrims and visitors at his weekly general audience Nov. 2, the feast of All Souls, the pope said the secret to eternal happiness is to love God, follow his commandments and give to the poor. The pope's audience talk focused on Psalm 112 and its proclamation, "Happy the man who fears the Lord." After reading his prepared text, the pope offered a spontaneous summary of his remarks: "On the day we commemorate all souls, we face the reality of death and, therefore, the question of how to live well. "This psalm tells us the answer is: Happy the man who gives, the man who does not live life for himself, but the man who is merciful, good and just, who lives with love for God and his neighbors," the pope said.
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PEOPLE
Film project in Uganda results in film, effort to help children
SAN DIEGO (CNS) -- Two years ago, three of Katie Bradel's closest friends went to Africa to "find a story" and film a documentary. They planned to make their film in Sudan but ended up in the middle of a 20-year guerrilla war in Uganda, where they produced the documentary "Invisible Children." A rough cut of "Invisible Children," a product of three weeks of filming, has been screened at high schools, universities and churches throughout the U.S. The film tells the story of the thousands of Ugandan children who have been kidnapped by the rebel army and forced to serve in the rebels' war against the Ugandan government. But the film wasn't complete. This March, after two years of fundraising, Bradel and 22 others accompanied the filmmakers on their return to Uganda, where they spent two months shooting additional footage and launching a campaign to aid Ugandan children.
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Massachusetts Catholic makes film on faith -- and a shoestring budget
SOUTH YARMOUTH, Mass. (CNS) -- "Crossing Ways," the story of a young man who turns to prayer when faced with an alcoholic father and problems in his life, is winning kudos for its triple-threat writer, actor and director. Tom Swaida, 32, a member of St. Pius X Parish in South Yarmouth and founder of the Christian Film Brotherhood, said he couldn't be happier when his film, shot in and around Cape Cod, became an official selection of the sixth annual Christian WYSIWYG Film Festival, which took place in October in California. (WYSIWYG stands for "what you see is what you get.") "I'm really excited about it," said Swaida, noting that last year's winner was Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." The movie was the first project for the Christian Film Brotherhood, a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing movies that plant the seed of faith with mass appeal. It tells the story of protagonist Brett Cross, a motocross racer dealing with several crises in his life.
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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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