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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Feb-9-2006
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
U.S. terrorism laws cited as unfair bar to some needy refugees
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A spokeswoman for the Catholic Church's refugee resettlement programs called on the U.S. government to change how some anti-terrorism laws are applied because they are keeping refugees from Myanmar from being admitted. Myanmar was called Burma until the ruling military came to power and officially renamed it in 1989. Many people outside Myanmar, including some officials in the U.S. government, persist in calling the country Burma. At a Feb. 7 hearing of the House International Relations Committee's subcommittees on human rights and on Asia, Anastasia Brown, director of refugee programs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said after 20 years of civil war and instability in the Southeast Asian country, the international community must find a permanent resettlement solution for the 1.5 million Burmese who remain uprooted from their homes. That number includes about 800,000 people who are displaced from their homes but remain in the country. About 700,000 people are in surrounding countries, with more than 450,000 of them in Thailand.
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Bill defining marriage as one man, one woman is killed in Maryland
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Following a week of political maneuvering, a bill that would have amended the Maryland Constitution to define marriage as being between one man and one woman was killed in the state's House of Delegates. After learning that supporters of the marriage amendment had collected 47 delegate signatures that would have sent the measure directly to the House floor, Democratic Speaker of the House Michael E. Busch ordered an unusual recess Feb. 2 to prevent lawmakers from voting on the measure. The House Judiciary Committee then killed the measure on a unanimous vote after members changed the bill to allow same-sex civil unions -- a move Republican Minority Whip Anthony J. O'Donnell of Calvert and St. Mary's counties called a "poison pill" designed to guarantee the bill's defeat by altering its original purpose. Richard J. Dowling, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, said he was not surprised it was defeated. He said leaders of the Democratic Party fear that if the amendment passes both houses and goes before Maryland voters in November, the issue will increase support for Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s re-election bid.
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Survey shows Catholics who give most want more church accountability
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholics who give more than $5,000 a year to the church are more critical than other Catholics about the church's financial accountability practices, according to a new survey commissioned by FADICA. "Only 12 percent of larger parish donors rated the church above average in keeping them informed on the use of their donations, while over a third of typical parishioners rated church reporting practices above average," according to a survey analysis prepared by Charles E. Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University's College of Commerce and Finance. The survey, conducted in November and December 2005 by Zogby International, was the fourth annual "Catholic donor attitude survey" commissioned by Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, a Washington-based consortium of charitable foundations and individual donors interested in religious philanthropy. Responses were received from 1,000 Catholics nationwide, but only the answers of the 787 people who identified themselves as regular churchgoers -- attending Mass at least three times a month -- were analyzed.
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Catholic college group sees campuses as mission turf
DENVER (CNS) -- Members of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, known as FOCUS, consider themselves modern-day missionaries on college campuses. Last year, 1,500 college students from across the country attended the organization's national conference in Denver. This year, in January, the organization held regional conferences in Broomfield, Colo., Jersey City, N.J., and Chicago to accommodate at least 2,000 attendees. Tom Stroka, the fellowship's campus director at the University of Colorado in Boulder and a presenter at the recent Broomfield conference, said that although he was raised Catholic he did not have a regular prayer life or know much about his faith until he began going to the organization's programs. While participating in one of the fellowship's national conferences, he said he "got the big picture of what the FOCUS vision is and the culture it was creating on college campuses across the country." "The mission is to bring Jesus Christ and his Catholic Church and its fullness to college students. We do that through what we call 'spiritual multiplication,'" Stroka said.
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WORLD
First lady meets with pope, discusses violence sparked by cartoons
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI expressed his hopes that the U.S. first lady's trip to the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, would be peaceful and spoke of his concern about violent protests taking place in many Islamic countries. First lady Laura Bush and one of her 24-year-old twin daughters, Barbara Bush, met the pope at the Vatican Feb. 9 during a brief stop in Rome on the way to the Olympics. After the meeting, she told reporters traveling with her that peace, terrorism and violence were among the topics the pope raised. "He talked to me about the worries of terrorism, worries right now about violence in Beirut, Damascus and other cities" in the Middle East as protests continued over cartoons published in Europe that many Muslims found offensive. "His hope and certainly our hope (is) for peace and tolerance" and for everyone to treat others with respect, she said.
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In Colombia, both sides on abortion debate use medical arguments
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- When a 23-year-old woman died Feb. 1 after a botched abortion in a clandestine clinic in central Bogota, both supporters and opponents of legalizing the procedure used the tragedy to back their arguments. Opponents, most prominently the Catholic Church, called for a crackdown on the clinics, which advertise themselves as women's health centers and offer treatment for "delayed menstruation." Abortion proponents, led by an attorney who has filed a lawsuit to legalize abortion, argue that the prohibition has not prevented abortions, but has made them more dangerous for women. "(The death) is a clear consequence of abortion's illegality," said Monica Roa, the attorney and director of the gender justice program for Women's Link Worldwide, a nongovernmental women's organization. "It's just one case which the media happened to find out about." But Bishop Fabian Marulanda Lopez, secretary-general of the Colombian bishops' conference, said that, rather than legalization, Colombia requires stiffer punishments for doctors who carry out abortions.
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Cardinal awaits study on doctors' activities at Catholic hospital
LONDON (CNS) -- An independent study will advise a British cardinal that doctors with offices in a Catholic hospital should stop referring patients for abortions and prescribing the morning-after pill. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, England, will be told in the confidential report that the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth is infringing on its code of ethics by allowing doctors' general practices to do such abortion work out of hospital premises in north London. Under their health service contracts, doctors are obliged to prescribe contraceptives and, even if they have a moral objection to abortion, they must refer women to doctors who will write the prescriptions. In August, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor asked Lord Brennan, a Catholic politician, to conduct the study to determine whether referrals for abortion contravened the hospital's code of ethics, which states that "no person may use the hospital facilities for any consultation, operation, procedure, treatment and research which is clearly inconsistent with the ethical policy and accepted practices of the hospital." Sources close to the hospital told Catholic News Service Feb. 8 that Lord Brennan will tell the cardinal in his interim report, which will not be made public, that the code has been transgressed and the practices must stop.
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PEOPLE
Vatican confirms Pope Benedict to visit Turkey Nov. 28-30
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just four days after an Italian priest was killed in Turkey, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would visit the country Nov. 28-30. While the pope had spoken publicly about wanting to go to Turkey, particularly to visit the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Feb. 9 Vatican announcement was the first to mention specific dates. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Turkish "President Ahmet Necdet Sezer invited His Holiness Benedict XVI to make an official visit to his nation Nov. 28-30. The Holy Father accepted the invitation." Navarro-Valls said a detailed itinerary and program had not yet been completed. The Vatican announcement came on the eve of the funeral Mass for Father Andrea Santoro, a Rome priest who had been serving as a missionary in Turkey. He was shot and killed Feb. 5 as he prayed in St. Mary Church in the Black Sea coastal city of Trebizond.
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New president named for Clarke College in Dubuque
DUBUQUE, Iowa (CNS) -- The board of trustees of Clarke College, a Catholic liberal arts college in Dubuque, announced Feb. 2 that Sister Joanne Burrows, a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati, has been named the college's 15th president. She will take over the post July 1, when the current president, Sister Catherine Dunn, a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, steps down after 22 years. Sister Joanne, 53, currently is chief academic officer and academic dean at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana, a position she has held since 2002. Previously, she served at Indiana State University in various roles, including chair of the department of educational leadership. She also was assistant academic dean at Holy Names College in Oakland, Calif. "We believe that (Sister) Joanne brings with her the passion, talents and energy that will form the basis of her leadership and that will take Clarke College forward," said Thomas V. Lynch, who chairs the board of trustees.
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Catholic publisher names Shumate as first chief operating officer
CINCINNATI (CNS) -- St. Anthony Messenger Press, owned and operated by the Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist province, has created the new position of chief operating officer and named Thomas A. Shumate to fill it. Shumate, a certified public accountant, has been the Cincinnati-based publisher's business manager and controller since 1996. Franciscan Father Jeremy Harrington, publisher, announced the appointment, saying that the new post reflected the Franciscans' decision to adopt a CEO-COO model of administration in anticipation of his own retirement in June 2007. "A Franciscan friar will continue to serve as the CEO and be responsible for promoting the mission of St. Anthony Messenger Press and supervise the editors and media producers," he said in a statement. "The COO, a layperson, will manage the operational aspects of the business."
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Despite leg amputation, Father Muckerman maintains towering presence
LIGUORI, Mo. (CNS) -- Blood poisoning may have knocked Redemptorist Father Norman Muckerman off his feet, but don't expect to find him down for the count. Doctors amputated his left leg above the knee this past fall. Though the ordeal has taken its toll, he maintains a towering presence. The priest is well-known in the St. Louis Archdiocese and beyond for his pastoral and missionary work and 12-year stint as the editor of Liguorian, a Redemptorist national monthly publication. He is a former president of the Catholic Press Association. Father Muckerman, who physically is a big man, admittedly hasn't yet gotten used to sitting in a wheelchair. But the St. Louis native keeps rolling along as best he can. He penned his latest article for Liguorian magazine in November and is hard at work on his next piece. In his room at St. Clement Health Care Center in Liguori, Father Muckerman talked recently with the St. Louis Review, archdiocesan newspaper, about his life as a priest. "I've had a wonderful ride," said the 88-year-old. "It's been a wonderful life. I'm grateful to God for what he gave me."
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Midwestern college football player to tackle priesthood
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CNS) -- During his college career, seminarian Ben Kessler has always been up on the latest priest jokes. That's because the 6-foot-2-inch, 250-pound 21-year-old spent the last four fall semesters not only studying the Gospels, but also studying playbook Xs and Os while starring as a defensive end for the football team at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. He attends St. John Vianney College Seminary on the university's campus and also takes classes at the university. Kessler was at Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria Feb. 4 to discuss the relationship between his two great loves, God and football, which he said many consider to be polar opposites. "The stereotypical seminarian is seen maybe as a nerdy guy, real calm, real giving," Kessler said. "Whereas a football player is seen as 'in your face' -- a dumb jock." But Kessler argued that the two pursuits have much in common. He said there was a "fraternal aspect" -- men sharing a bond together -- that rings true for both seminarians and football players, and that the two groups of men are both "changing the world."
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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