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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Dec-30-2005
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
As year of the budget comes to a close, challenges remain in Congress
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- For Nancy Wisdo, director of the Office of Domestic Social Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005 will go down as the year of the budget. "We started in February" with a letter from Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., USCCB president, asking members of Congress to focus on the needs of the poor and vulnerable when making budget decisions. "All through this year, we've been working on the budget," said Wisdo, who will become an associate general secretary of the USCCB in February. But the $39.7 billion budget reconciliation bill ultimately passed by the Senate Dec. 21, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote, was a disappointment to Catholic leaders. It cut funds to Medicaid, Medicare and social service programs such as child care subsidies, child support enforcement and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families that Catholic lobbyists had worked to preserve. One of the only bright spots for Catholic lobbyists was that House-approved cuts in the food stamp program were eliminated in conference committee.
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Tucson Diocese reorganizes parishes as part of bankruptcy plan
TUCSON, Ariz. (CNS) -- Under a plan approved by a bankruptcy court, the Tucson Diocese is reorganizing each of its 74 parishes into corporations which will be recognized as separate entities from the diocese under Arizona law. This would help protect a parish's property against legal claims made against the diocese or other parishes, said diocesan officials. The plan calls for each parish to be run by a five-member board of directors composed of the pastor as board head, the bishop, the diocesan moderator of the curia, a lay treasurer and a lay secretary. The reorganization was approved last July by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tucson as part of a $22.2 million settlement between the diocese and people who filed claims as victims of clergy sex abuse against minors. "The diocese emerged from bankruptcy Sept. 20. Now we have to implement the reorganization," Fred Allison, director of the diocesan Communications Office, told Catholic News Service Dec. 29.
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Judge removes pope from sex abuse lawsuit in Texas
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Responding to a request from the U.S. government, a federal judge in Houston has removed Pope Benedict XVI as a defendant in a sexual abuse lawsuit. "Pope Benedict's motion to dismiss all claims against him is granted on the basis of this court's recognition of head-of-state immunity," U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal said Dec. 22. The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by three young men who say that as minors in 1995 and 1996 they were sexually abused by Juan Carlos Patino-Arango, a seminarian from Colombia who was studying for the priesthood in Houston. Still named in the lawsuit are Patino-Arango; the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese; its head, Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza; and Msgr. William M. Pickard, who was pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish in the mid-'90s when the abuse allegedly occurred there. The suit alleges that the priest and the archdiocese covered up the abuse and helped Patino-Arango flee the country after the parents of one of the plaintiffs brought a complaint in May 1996.
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Loyola's ministry program stayed on course despite hurricane
FORT WORTH, Texas (CNS) -- When Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast, its devastation emptied schools, closed universities and displaced thousands of students. But one education program stayed right on course. The New Orleans-based Loyola Institute for Ministry Extension Program, which allows Catholic lay people to pursue professional training and earn advanced educational degrees, never stopped. Thanks to dedicated administrators, the Internet and creative networking, the 13 students currently enrolled in the program from the Diocese of Fort Worth will graduate on schedule in the spring. "We were able to keep the program running without skipping a beat," said Cecilia Bennett, associate director of the Institute for Ministry at Loyola University. "We posted course materials on our Web page and instructors used blogs to share with each other. There was a lot of networking. The whole community came together," she told the North Texas Catholic, diocesan newspaper of Fort Worth.
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Small Texas diocese sells Lenten program in U.S., Canada, Europe
VICTORIA, Texas (CNS) -- It is said, "Good things come in small packages." It may also be said that good Lenten programs come from small enterprises. "Disciples on the Journey," the faith-sharing booklet developed by the Catechetical Ministry Office of the Diocese of Victoria, is in the final stages of preparation for use as a Lenten resource in 2006. This is the third year in a row the diocese has printed its own resource and marketed it throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. With a total of 50 parishes and 19 missions interspersed among crop fields and cattle pastures, the Victoria Diocese is considered very small and rural. But its Catechetical Ministry Office, directed by Sister Digna Vela, a member of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, is on the cutting edge when it comes to its diocesanwide Lenten program.
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Creighton University launches $350 million campaign
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Creighton University in Omaha launched a $350 million campaign in early December to expand the university, fund academic programs, increase the university's endowment and raise its profile. To date, the campaign has already raised $226 million in money and pledges. Jesuit Father John Schlegel, the university's president, said the initial response to the fundraising effort has been "quite surprising and very gratifying." Speaking to Catholic News Service Dec. 21, he said, "It's quite significant for a school of our size." Creighton, one of 28 Jesuit-run universities in the United States, has a student body of 6,800 full-time students. Its most recent fundraising campaign, in 1999, raised $127 million. Prior to the current campaign, Father Schlegel said the university leaders were envisioning "what we could do to reinvent the campus." As the initial contributions began coming in, he said the ideas about strengthening the university were confirmed.
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Book describes how bishops, Catholic college leaders can collaborate
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a new book, "Promising Practices," 20 bishops and 20 Catholic college and university presidents described their own positive experiences of collaboration between local bishops and Catholic institutions of higher learning in the United States. Several college presidents cited the role their institutions play in offering educational programs such as ministry formation to enhance local church life. Several bishops stressed the importance of ongoing dialogue and involvement of the bishop in campus events to build a climate of trust, mutual understanding and shared vision. The book, subtitled "Collaboration Among Catholic Bishops and University Presidents," was a project of the bishops and presidents subcommittee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Education. It was edited by Michael Galligan-Stierle, USCCB assistant secretary for higher education and campus ministry, and published by Sacred Heart University Press in Fairfield, Conn.
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WORLD
Pope meets with immigrant families served by Vatican clinic
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Celebrating the feast of the Holy Family with families from almost a dozen countries, Pope Benedict XVI asked them to join him in praying for families in difficulty, especially those who are far from their homelands. The pope Dec. 30 visited the Vatican's St. Martha Dispensary, a maternal and pediatric clinic staffed by volunteers that serves mainly immigrants. Afterward, in the movie theater of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, he met with families who use the clinic and with the volunteers who staff it. In his short speech, the pope said that, while the modern emphasis on the love of a man and a woman and their free choice to marry is an important aspect of marriage, too many people find it difficult today to understand "the value of the call to collaborate with God in procreating human life."
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Palestinians have not fulfilled peace promise, says Israeli president
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is earnest about his desire to halt Palestinian violence, so far he has been unable to do so, said Israeli President Moshe Katsav at his annual New Year's reception for local Christians and church leaders. He said Abbas was an honest, noble man whom he trusted and who has the desire to reach a "historic announcement" but unfortunately has not yet been able to fulfill his announcements. "Palestinian terror organizations are becoming more powerful; bloodshed by Palestinian terror is destroying any possibility of making any progress despite the fact that we believe the Palestinian Authority is our partner," Katsav said Dec. 29. "We believe the peace formula is very close to us; the chance to reach reconciliation is very close to us, we can touch it. But unfortunately the bloodshed (prevents it)," said Katsav, noting that a suicide bomber exploded himself at a northern checkpoint that very morning, killing one soldier and several Palestinians. "If the (Palestinian Authority) does not stop the bloodshed, we will be forced to do it ourselves."
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Government agrees to return property to Catholic Church in China
TAIYUAN, China (CNS) -- After a long church property dispute in Tianjin, in northern China, the local government has validated the church's claim to the property and agreed to return it. Tianjin's deputy mayor met five priests from Shanxi province Dec. 24 and told them his municipal government had verified that information the church presented to back its claim "basically matches" the government records, said Father Anthony Han Huide, procurator of Taiyuan Diocese, Dec. 29. Father Han told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, that the deputy mayor promised to settle the property problem as soon as possible and in accordance with the religious policies of the central government. The official also handed over the key of the house to the priests and told them they "could come back to visit and stay there," Father Han said. Father Han said the deputy mayor asked them to first return to Shanxi province and give the government time to prepare documents. Father Han said, however, that "no date and details were given."
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Overcrowded prisons in Peru mix drug traffickers, petty criminals
LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- Peru's Callao Penitentiary is overcrowded and reeks of urine and rotten food. Three times over capacity, the prison's overpopulation often causes violent outbursts and brawls. Callao is full of foreigners incarcerated for drug trafficking, but inmates were also picked up for petty crimes and low-level drug deals. In Peru, it normally takes at least six months until a case is brought to trial, said Danzia Jimenez, a social worker. Available statistics indicate that only about 21 percent of Peru's inmates have seen a judge and are legally incarcerated. Prisoners beg for cigarettes and money to call people on the outside. They all complain about the unending noise, horrendous food, lack of privacy and constant threat of assault. Bishop Miguel Irizar Campos of Callao said the situation in Peru's prisons is serious. Three years ago, the Callao Diocese launched a $150,000 project with funding from the Basque region of Spain, where Bishop Irizar is from. The money enabled them to set up a team of lawyers, psychologists, social workers and medical personnel for prisoners. "We called it the ministry of hope, because we must give back hope to those who have lost it," the bishop said.
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PEOPLE
The pope needs a theologian? Former papal adviser reveals why
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- During his 16 years as theologian of the papal household, Cardinal Georges Cottier was often asked: Why does the pope need a theologian? Pope John Paul II was a respected theologian and so is Pope Benedict XVI. It's hard to imagine either one of them having enough theological doubts to justify the appointment of a full-time consultant. But if people imagine the papal theologian sitting around waiting for the pope to pose a question, the reality is quite different, Cardinal Cottier said. The papal theologian's main task is to vet the many thousands of words prepared by Vatican aides for the pope to speak or publish. He checks for statements of dubious theology and otherwise hazardous phrases that could come back to haunt the pope. "People have to understand that nowadays the pope is obliged to make so many speeches and send so many messages that he needs a lot of collaborators to prepare them," Cardinal Cottier said. "The theologian of the papal household is charged with reading all these texts and give(s) a theological opinion on them."
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Thousands of young choir singers from around the world sing for pope
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The musical conductor told his young choir singers not to cheer, but to continue singing when Pope Benedict XVI appeared in the Vatican's audience hall. But it was hard to contain the enthusiasm of thousands of young people when they finally saw the pope walk into the Vatican's Paul VI hall. The harmonious strains of "gloria in excelsis Deo" ("glory to God in the highest") quickly gave way to high-pitched squeals of joy, enthusiastic applause and chants of "Be-ne-det-to." Close to 5,000 young choir singers, their family members, friends and choirmasters from 15 different countries were taking part in the Dec. 28-Jan. 1 International Congress of Pueri Cantores in Rome. Of the 88 children's choir groups attending the papal audience and the congress, 10 different choirs came from the United States. Most choir members ranged from 8 years old to high school age.
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