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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Mar-15-2006
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
California Franciscans reach settlement with sex abuse victims
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- The St. Barbara Province of Franciscans has reached a tentative settlement of about $28 million with 25 victims of sexual abuse by Franciscan priests or brothers. News of the agreement was made public March 13. Most of the alleged abuse occurred at St. Anthony's High School Seminary in Santa Barbara, a Franciscan institution that closed in 1987. Some also occurred elsewhere in California, including at Old Mission Santa Barbara, a historic mission church run by the Franciscans. Because the mission is part of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, the archdiocese was also a defendant in some of the cases and is to pay a portion of the settlement. The Franciscan provincial minister, Father Melvin A. Jurisich, told Catholic News Service that the aim of his community throughout the settlement negotiations has been "to do the right thing." He said the financial settlement was "only one part" of the order's efforts to seek healing and reconciliation for people who have suffered abuse from members of the order. He said he has met personally with those plaintiffs who wished to do so -- 14 of the 25 -- and he described those meetings as a "very difficult, very powerful experience."
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Catholic, Muslim women find mutual understanding, friendship
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (CNS) -- They have learned that while there are differences between them, there are many common bonds, no matter if they are Muslim or Christian. "We share a lot of values. Let's get together and find out how one another thinks, rather than let the media and current events ... define us," said Pat AbuGharbieh, 52, of the Masjud al-Noor mosque. She belongs to the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Group founded in April 2004 at the urging of Regina Weissert, a member of Little Flower Parish in South Bend. "Unless people talk, you never really know how to live well together," said Weissert. "I am firmly convinced that it is only through dialogue with other cultures and religions that we can develop understanding and knowledge. You can read all about other people, but until you get to know them and talk to them, there is only a superficial understanding of their lives."
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New vocations film encourages priests to be 'Fishers of Men'
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With the mid-March premiere of "Fishers of Men," an 18-minute film on DVD that shows many facets of a priest's daily life, "all the elements are in place" for dioceses to join in a new vocations fulfillment and recruitment project sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to the head of the USCCB Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation. Father Edward J. Burns, executive director of the secretariat, said the Priestly Life and Vocation Summit: Fishers of Men project is intended to renew priests' sense of fulfillment in their vocation and to encourage them to draw on that satisfaction to invite other men to pursue the priesthood. The project was developed by the USCCB Committee on Vocations. "Through workshops for priests, the goal of this project is to renew and regenerate the priesthood in the United States," Father Burns said. "It is intended to help priests articulate the joy in their vocation that the overwhelming majority of priests feel and to give them confidence that if they extend the invitation to consider the priesthood, they will find that Catholic men today, especially young men, are open to the challenge," he added.
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Louisiana woman's penny project sends prayers, support to U.S. troops
THIBODAUX, La. (CNS) -- The words "In God We Trust" on the U.S. penny were the inspiration for Thibodaux resident Sally Sobert's Power of Prayer Penny Project, which she began shortly after U.S. military forces invaded Iraq in 2003. "When President (George W. ) Bush first started to talk about a war with Iraq, there were a lot of people who were against sending our troops over there. I wanted to find a way to show our soldiers that we cared about them, that we were praying for them and that no matter whether we believed in the war or not, we supported them," Sobert said. She said she had witnessed the power a prayer coin had on a friend of hers who received it while she was recovering from an injury, and the memory of it stayed with her. "Whenever my friend rubbed the coin, it brought her comfort," she told the Bayou Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. Sobert's prayer pennies for the military are spray-painted red or blue, then affixed to a card that reads: "God has so blessed America. You are one of his many blessings. Thank you. Thanks be to God for you. Keep this penny as a reminder that our prayers are with you. Thank you for serving our country and for protecting the world. God bless you and keep you." To date, according to Sobert, more than 50,000 of the military penny cards have been distributed to troops in the U.S. and Iraq.
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WORLD
Pope says personal faith is essential, but so is church community
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While personal faith in Jesus is essential in a Christian's life, Jesus also came to gather his disciples into a new people of God, the community of the church, Pope Benedict XVI said. "A slogan in vogue a few years ago, 'Jesus, yes; the church, no,' is completely irreconcilable with the intention of Christ," the pope said March 15 at his weekly general audience. The audience, held in St. Peter's Square under bright, sunny skies, marked the beginning of a series of audience talks Pope Benedict planned on "The Mystery of Christ and his Church." "In the catechesis that begins today, I want to demonstrate how the light of Christ's face is reflected in the face of the church, despite the limits and shadows of our fragile and sinful humanity," the pope said. Pope Benedict criticized the "individualistic interpretation" of Christ's ministry espoused by "liberal theologians" such as the late German theologian Adolf von Harnack.
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Quebec bishops to dialogue with 19 priests about homosexuality
TROIS-RIVIERES, Quebec (CNS) -- Quebec's bishops said they want to maintain a spirit of unity as they enter into dialogue with 19 Quebec priests who published a letter of dissent on homosexuality. The priests' letter "puts its finger on a wound in our society, a complex problem, to which we must give attention. There is a larger call for a dialogue about this phenomenon of homosexuality and, on this point, we welcome this invitation to reflection and to dialogue," said Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec City. Cardinal Ouellet, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal and Bishop Gilles Cazabon of Saint-Jerome, president of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops, spoke at a March 9 press conference in Trois-Rivieres, during the Quebec bishops' four-day semi-annual meeting in neighboring Cap-de-la-Madeleine. The priests' letter, which has drawn international attention, appeared in the Feb. 26 issue of Montreal's largest newspaper, La Presse. It sharply criticized the Catholic Church regarding its teaching on homosexuality. In particular, the letter criticized the Canadian bishops' statement on same-sex marriage and the recent Vatican document that deals with the admission of homosexual candidates to the seminary. It also questioned the church teaching that homosexual acts are immoral and said the church must evolve in its position on these issues.
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Haiti's presidential election sets stage for democracy, say bishops
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Several Haitian bishops have expressed hope that the recent presidential election sets the stage for a stable democracy and the removal of U.N. peacekeeping troops. They said the situation is still volatile in the poorest country in the Americas, and the church can play a role in dampening political passions and fostering reconciliation so that a new government can take root after several years of social and political instability. The church is present in every city and town, making it important for the rebuilding of the country's institutions, said Msgr. Andre Pierre, permanent secretary of the Haitian bishops' conference. "The church is helping the people focus on peace through meetings, preaching and radio messages," he said March 8. "It's giving direction, helping people to calm down." About 80 percent of Haiti's 8.1 million population professes Catholicism.
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PEOPLE
Italian cardinal-designate helped establish Vatican-Israeli relations
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Italian Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo is a veteran diplomat who was instrumental in helping establish diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel. He also has served as apostolic nuncio in numerous countries that were often hotbeds of political or social unrest. As a sign of appreciation for his lifelong diplomatic service to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI will elevate him to cardinal March 24. At age 80, he will be one of three new cardinals too old to vote in a conclave. Currently serving as archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Turin-born cardinal-designate was the Vatican's first nuncio to Israel when diplomatic relations were established in 1994. Before the Vatican and the state of Israel established any diplomatic relations, he was appointed the apostolic delegate to Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories, in 1990. He worked closely with Israeli and Vatican officials as head of the Holy See's delegation working on the Vatican-Israeli bilateral commission. He was instrumental in helping normalize relations between the two states, which culminated in the signing of the historic "fundamental agreement" in 1993.
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Slovenian cardinal-designate embraces traditional religious rebirth
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal-designate Franc Rode heads the Vatican office that oversees religious orders, his latest job in a long series of positions at the Vatican and in his native Slovenia. He has enthusiastically embraced what he calls the "spiritual reform" agenda of Pope Benedict XVI and sees hope in the resurgence of tradition-oriented religious orders and movements around the world. The pope named the 71-year-old prelate, a member of the Vincentian religious order, as one of 15 new cardinals to be inducted in a consistory March 24. Cardinal-designate Rode has headed the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life since 2004, when he returned to the Vatican after seven years as archbishop of Ljubljana, Slovenia, his birthplace. In a recent interview with Catholic News Service, Archbishop Rode said he thinks Pope Benedict's top priority is the spiritual revitalization of the faith life of the church.
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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