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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jul-6-2006
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Parishes link up, help others battered by Katrina
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Father Joe Palermo, executive director of the New Orleans archdiocesan Department of Pastoral Services, prefaces any story about parish twinning by saying he knows his information is incomplete. "I can only tell you what we know about," said Father Palermo. "Many contacts were made directly from parish to parish and we weren't involved at all." But contacts with the archdiocese and through it came fast and furious in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's destruction Aug. 29, 2005. Even though archdiocesan operations were relocated to Baton Rouge, parishes managed to reach out and get in touch with Father Palermo. He eventually called on Deacon Andrea "Drea" Capaci, associate family life director, to help him on the project. "I don't know how they (the parishes) found us -- the Internet, the Catholic directory, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Web site -- but the calls came," Father Palermo told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese.
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Media ownership to get a new review by the FCC
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Federal Communications Commission is trying to change media ownership rules again. The last time the FCC tried to make changes, in 2003, a federal court thwarted it a year later. Whether the FCC, under a new chairman, Kevin Martin, can craft a plan to withstand the likely court challenges is an open question. The U.S. bishops came out against the 2003 set of media ownership rules, which would have allowed for much greater consolidation of media, and cross-ownership of TV, radio and newspaper interests in the same city, under fewer owners. Michael Powell, the previous chairman, had been criticized for trying to push through the changes without listening to citizens, even after an estimated 1.5 million e-mails -- and scores of essays published in newspapers, magazines and Web sites -- criticized the FCC media consolidation efforts. This time, the FCC is allowing 120 days for public comment and has allocated $200,000 for studies on media competition, marketplace changes, local coverage, minority participation in media, children's programming, and how people get news. Martin said the FCC also was planning six public hearings around the country.
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Priest documents life restricted by Israeli checkpoints, fence
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A Catholic priest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank detailed at a House subcommittee hearing June 30 what life will be like living with the Israeli security wall coming through the town. "The barrier will confiscate around 1,500 acres of Aboud's land," said Father Firas Nasib Aridah of Our Lady Mother of Sorrows Church in the town of Aboud. "As a result, Aboud will be physically separated from surrounding villages and its land. The land is the source of Aboud's livelihood." The barrier, Father Aridah added, "will restrict the land available for the natural growth of Aboud residents, resulting in serious housing shortages. Most harmful will be the inability to control our own water." Father Aridah was one of several panelists appearing at an oversight hearing on "The Plight of Religious Minorities in the Middle East: Can Religious Pluralism Survive?" held by the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, chaired by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.
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New photo directory of U.S. Catholic bishops now available
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The annual membership photo directory of the U.S. Catholic bishops is now available. It includes photos of the approximately 400 U.S. bishops, along with biographical information, mailing addresses, office phone and fax numbers, and, where available, their e-mail addresses. The book also includes listings for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committees on which they serve and their seniority as determined by episcopal appointment or promotion, as well as listings by diocese and region. The directory costs $19.95 per copy, plus $3.50 postage and handling for the first four copies. It can be ordered from the USCCB Department of Communications by e-mail to: mburroughs@usccb.org -- with "Photo Directory" in the subject line -- or by phone at: (202) 541-3200.
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WORLD
Pope to Croatian bishops: Well-formed Catholics can be voice of truth
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Having well-formed Catholics in public office and in the media is important as they can be "a voice of truth" in the public realm, Pope Benedict XVI said. In a July 6 audience with bishops from Croatia, the pope underlined the need for all people to "know how to work for the glory of God and for the benefit of humanity." The bishops were in Rome as part of their "ad limina" visits, required of heads of dioceses every five years. For those nations facing growing secularization, "How can one not see, then, the importance of the presence of Catholics in public life" and in the media, the pope asked. Together with church leaders, Catholics in such professions can help "ensure that a voice of truth is heard on the problems of the day," he said.
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Bosnian bishop urges Medjugorje visionaries to stop claims
LONDON (CNS) -- The bishop whose diocese includes the Bosnian village of Medjugorje has urged six alleged Marian visionaries to stop claiming that Mary has been visiting them for 25 years. Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the church "has not accepted, either as supernatural or as Marian, any of the apparitions" said to have been witnessed by a group of people from Medjugorje. "As the local bishop, I maintain that regarding the events of Medjugorje, on the basis of the investigations and experience gained thus far throughout these last 25 years, the church has not confirmed a single apparition as authentically being the Madonna," he said. He then called on the alleged visionaries and "those persons behind the messages to demonstrate ecclesiastical obedience and to cease with these public manifestations and messages in this parish." The bishop made his comments June 15 during a homily at a confirmation Mass in Medjugorje's St. James Church. The diocese published the homily in English and Italian July 3.
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Vatican official urges Nigerians to pray for success of elections
LAGOS, Nigeria (CNS) -- A top Vatican official has called on fellow Nigerians to pray for the success of the 2007 general elections. "The 2007 elections portend ominous signs," Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, told journalists, church and state officials July 1 upon his arrival in Enugu, Nigeria. The Nigerian-born cardinal said the inability of his homeland's leadership to enforce the constitution may jeopardize the forthcoming elections. "Such laxity is responsible for the recurring breakdown of law and order in this country," Cardinal Arinze said. The Independent National Electoral Commission has scheduled elections for April 7-28; incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo, elected in 1999, will end his second term in May.
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International Eucharistic Congress invites composers to submit music
OTTAWA (CNS) -- The general secretariat of the International Eucharistic Congress has invited musical composers to submit entries for the congress' theme song. The theme song is meant to create a musical identification for the congress before, during and after the gathering to be held in Quebec City in 2008, the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City. Contestants have until Aug. 15 to register; then conference organizers will release the song's lyrics to the registered composers. According to the congress' Web site -- www.cei2008.ca/pages-en/index.htm -- the theme song is to promote communion, to dignify and animate the celebrations and "enrich the repertoire of eucharistic song." The composition is to have four-part harmony suitable for a parish choir and organ accompaniment. Application forms are available on the Web site or by e-mail to: liturgie@cei2008.ca. Registrations also may be sent to: Secretariat General of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, Attn: Abbe Louis-Andre Naud, 1073 boul. Rene-Levesque Ouest, Quebec City, Quebec, G1S 4R5, Canada.
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Catholic lawyer sues Colombian magazine for its satirical spread
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- When Alejandro Ordonez, an attorney, government official and Catholic, heard about a magazine spread that depicted a topless actress posed as Christ and satirized the Bible, he filed a lawsuit. But Soho magazine's director, Daniel Samper, considers it just another irreverent spoof his men's magazine has published. The spread includes a photo that shows a topless actress posed as Christ and surrounded by prominent Colombian athletes, entertainers and politicians, all arranged in imitation of Leonardo da Vinci's painting, "The Last Supper." The pages feature photos of a nearly nude woman with thorns on her forehead and wounds on her side, as though experiencing the agony of Christ. The accompanying article by Colombian author Fernando Vallejo is a sarcastic critique of literal interpretations of the Bible. The author writes about the economic "arbitrariness" of the parable of the workers in the vineyard and praises communist icons Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Fidel Castro.
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PEOPLE
Bishop Broderick dies; he was ex-head of CRS, former bishop of Albany
ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) -- Retired Bishop Edwin B. Broderick, who as head of Catholic Relief Services from 1976 to 1983 defended the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency from accusations that it was a tool of U.S. foreign policy, died July 2 in Albany at age 89. He headed the Albany Diocese 1969-76. Appointed by Pope Paul VI, he was the eighth bishop of the diocese. A July 5 news release from the Albany Diocese said that Bishop Broderick died after a long illness, but it did not say what the illness was. He had lived at the Teresian House in Albany since May 2005. Up to then he was a resident of New York City. The Times Union daily newspaper in Albany reported he was hospitalized in March 2005 after a bad fall, and a month later fell again while visiting Albany. The paper said he had brain surgery after the second fall. A funeral Mass was to be celebrated July 7 at St. Pius X Church in Loudonville, N.Y., followed by burial at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y.
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For French-born brother in Israel, language is the key to the heart
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- From his small balcony, Brother Yohanan Elihay can see an East Jerusalem Palestinian village and the multilevel apartment buildings of the Jewish neighborhood where he lives with another brother. It is an apt view for the 80-year-old, who has spent more than half a century in Israel working to bring Israelis and Palestinians together through language -- most recently with The Olive Tree Dictionary, an 8,000-word, 17,000-phrase Arabic-English dictionary published by Minerva. "Language is the key to the heart," said Brother Elihay, who spoke in Hebrew. He was born in France as Jean Leroy, but his chosen surname, Elihay, means "God lives" in Hebrew. His first contact with the Middle East was in 1946 when, in lieu of serving in the French army, he served for a year as a French teacher in Lebanon. He later entered a Dominican seminary in France, then joined a Catholic order whose calling is to live, pray and work in troubled areas and to build a personal relationship with the lands' inhabitants. He asked that his order's name not be used to protect members living in Arab countries who might be at risk if people knew the order had members living among Jews in Israel.
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St. Paul priest reflects on spiritual messages in U2 lyrics
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- As a college student in the 1980s, Father Erich Rutten first associated the Irish rock band U2 with "great political rock." Then he discovered one of the band's early albums from 1981, "October." Listening to songs such as "Gloria" and "Rejoice," with references to Jerusalem and the themes of death and resurrection, he realized that "virtually every song on the album is explicitly Christian," he said. Interested in things spiritual, he started to learn more about U2 and pay attention to the lyrics -- even in songs that seemed more like political songs or love ballads. "They're a Christian rock band" without calling themselves one, he told The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. "They steered a very interesting course. They didn't go with the explicitly Christian band label. They developed their artistry -- their music -- in such a way that they did an excellent job of bringing in common, everyday symbols and stories to amplify the Christian message."
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Remains of first Hartford bishop come home to Connecticut
BLOOMFIELD, Conn. (CNS) -- Bishop William B. Tyler, named first bishop of Hartford when the diocese was established in 1843, has come home to rest. His remains were transferred from Providence, R.I., and reburied June 12 in Mount St. Benedict Cemetery, where all other deceased bishops of Hartford except one are buried. Bishop Bernard O'Reilly, who succeeded Bishop Tyler, perished at sea in 1856 while returning from Europe. Archbishop Henry J. Mansell officiated at the reburial, which was attended by a group of priests. Born June 5, 1806, in Derby, Vt., Bishop Tyler converted to Catholicism from New England Protestantism with his parents and five siblings. In 1826 he enrolled in a seminary run by Bishop Benedict J. Fenwick of Boston, who would later become his lifelong mentor and confidant. As a native New Englander, Father Tyler was attuned to his times and knew how to navigate safely through its sometimes treacherous religious environment, according to Mercy Sister Dolores Liptak, a historian who has written "Hartford's Catholic Legacy: Leadership."
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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