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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jul-24-2006
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Prayers can change hearts, archbishop says at Mass for Mideast peace
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The readings seemed fitting, since the July 23 Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception marked a day of prayer and penance for peace in the Middle East. The first reading, from Chapter 23 of the Book of Jeremiah, said, "In his days Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security." The second reading, from Chapter 2 of Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, said, "He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near." Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, the main celebrant at the Mass, said this was not the first time that Catholics have gathered to pray for peace in the Middle East. Tensions in the region, the archbishop said, "go back for so many decades, not to say centuries." Yet, he urged, "our prayers can change hearts. We must never, ever give in to despair." He told the approximately 1,100 people in attendance, "It is in the heart-filled prayer for peace that we gather this morning."
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Advocate for the poor reluctantly steps down after 35-year career
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When Sharon Daly decided to retire, the longtime advocate for the poor and needy declined several offers from her colleagues and friends to send her off with a party. "I resisted the idea of a retirement party because I didn't feel like celebrating that I was retiring for health reasons," she said. Daly left her job of 12 years as vice president for social policy at Catholic Charities USA this summer after it became too difficult to work around the sometimes debilitating effects of the neurological disorder she has. Her retirement ended a 35-year career in Washington, during which she also worked for the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference, the Children's Defense Fund and other organizations that represent poor and disadvantaged people. She finally consented to being honored at a reception July 20, as long as it was turned into a fundraiser for the Coalition on Human Needs, an alliance of organizations promoting policies to assist low-income and other vulnerable people.
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House passes bill to protect pledge from federal court rulings
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. House of Representatives July 19 passed the Pledge Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. It bars federal courts from ruling on constitutional issues surrounding the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. "I am thankful for the support of the House Republican leadership displayed during the passage of the Pledge Protection Act," Akin said in a statement. The measure passed with a 260-167 vote, but The Associated Press reported it was not a certainty the Senate would take up its version of the measure. "Anything that can be done to protect the Pledge of Allegiance with the words 'under God' is a good thing," Pat Korten, spokesman for the Knights of Columbus, told Catholic News Service July 21. The Knights have been at the forefront of legal action to fight efforts to eliminate the words "under God" from the pledge. The fraternal organization was a part of the successful 1954 effort to persuade Congress to add the reference to the pledge.
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Bishop, LCWR urge U.S. leaders to work to quickly end Mideast strife
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Policy called on Congress to "do all you can to end this terrible cycle of violence" in the Middle East. In a July 20 letter to members of the Senate and House of Representatives, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., said the bishops "stand ready to work with those who work for a just and lasting peace in the land that three faiths call holy." The letter followed a July 18 statement from Bishop Wenski that said, "Violence, from whatever side, for whatever purpose, cannot bring a lasting or just peace," and came three days before a similar, but even more strongly worded, statement from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. In a statement issued July 23, the LCWR called for "an immediate and unconditional cease-fire" by the Israeli army and Hezbollah militants. "The Hezbollah militia, which does not act in the name of the Lebanese government, has gravely endangered the citizens of Lebanon, the young, fragile democracy of that nation, and the infrastructure that supports the country," the statement said.
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Saudi Arabia said to take some steps to address religious extremism
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Saudi Arabia has made "real steps forward" on implementing policies against religious extremism that promote international religious tolerance, John V. Hanford III, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said at a press briefing July 19. A specific focus of the briefing at the State Department was the revision of intolerant, extremist language in Saudi Arabian textbooks in accord with policies outlined by that country's recently developed Human Rights Commission. "This issue of religious practice and tolerance has been a high priority for the (Bush) administration. We are very pleased at the reform efforts that (Saudi Arabian) King Abdullah and his government are making on a number of different fronts. We feel that these efforts are sincere. Obviously implementation will be key," Hanford said. A report on "Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance" published this year by the Center for Religious Freedom in Washington gives some examples. In an eighth-grade textbook, Muslim students were instructed that "the apes are Jews, the keepers of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christian infidels of the communion of Jesus."
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New building a dream come true for Denver day shelter for homeless
DENVER (CNS) -- The day Msgr. C.B. Woodrich, a Denver archdiocesan priest known for his outreach to the homeless, was buried, Cheri Gallegos placed a note beneath an Infant of Prague statue in her home, promising that someday she would help build a home for the homeless people he championed. Now, nearly 15 years later, that home -- a $949,000 day shelter called Father Woody's Haven of Hope -- is taking shape. The building is an effort of the Franciscan Friends of the Poor, an outreach ministry to the needy and homeless run by three men who are in the process of establishing a formal religious order. Currently operating out of a small house in a rough part of Denver, the Franciscan Friends are building a 5,700-square-foot, three-story structure behind their current location to better serve the needy.
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WORLD
Pope calls for end to Mideast violence, states concern for civilians
LES COMBES, Italy (CNS) -- Repeating calls for an end to the bloodshed in the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI said he was particularly concerned about the "defenseless civilian population unjustly stricken in a conflict in which they are just victims." The pope expressed his concern for all those who live in northern Israel and are forced to live in shelters as well as for "the great multitude of Lebanese who, once more, are seeing their country destroyed and had to leave everything behind to seek safety elsewhere," he said on a day dedicated to prayer for an end to the Middle East conflict. Before praying the Angelus July 23, the pope called on people to pray for the "beloved people of the Middle East" so that they may be able to "abandon the path of armed confrontation and build, with the bravery of dialogue, a just and lasting peace."
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Cardinal says commission to review alleged apparitions at Medjugorje
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, announced a commission would be formed to review the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje and pastoral provisions for the thousands of pilgrims who visit the town each year. "The commission members have not been named yet," Cardinal Puljic told Catholic News Service in a July 24 telephone interview. "I am awaiting suggestions from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" on theologians to appoint. "But this commission will be under the (Bosnian) bishops' conference" as is the usual practice with alleged apparitions, he said. The cardinal said he did not expect the commission to be established until sometime in September because of the summer holidays. He said the primary task of the commission would be to review a 1991 report from the region's bishops that concluded, "It cannot be affirmed that these matters concern supernatural apparitions or revelations."
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Franciscans kidnapped in Haiti released unharmed
ROME (CNS) -- Two friars kidnapped July 20 in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, were freed unharmed by their captors late the next day. A day after appealing for the friars' safe release, the Franciscan order confirmed the two men had been released July 21 at 9:30 p.m. and that they were in good health. Brother Cesar Humberto Flores, 50, of El Salvador and a young Haitian postulant were abducted July 20 by unidentified assailants. Brother Flores is responsible for formation as head of the novices in the Port-au-Prince friary, located in one of the capital's poorest neighborhoods. The Franciscan provincial for Haiti said the abductors had contacted him and had asked to be paid a ransom. A spokesman for the Franciscans in Haiti said the kidnappers had been seeking a large ransom and the order had been looking for a way to negotiate with them. In a July 22 statement, the Franciscan headquarters in Rome did not say whether a ransom had been paid to secure their release.
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Methodists adopt Catholic-Lutheran declaration on justification
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Methodist, Roman Catholic and Lutheran leaders said their communities will be able to work more closely in proclaiming the Gospel message of salvation after the World Methodist Conference adopted the Catholic-Lutheran joint declaration on justification. "This is a historic day. This is a gift of God. We can be grateful for it," Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said at the July 23 signing ceremony in Seoul, South Korea. The agreement on justification -- how people are made just in the eyes of God and saved by Jesus Christ -- "provides a basis for a more profound common witness before the world," said the cardinal. Delegates to the World Methodist Conference voted unanimously July 18 to adopt the declaration, which was approved in 1999 by the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation. Cardinal Kasper's office at the Vatican released his statement and other texts from the signing ceremony.
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Swazi church plans campaign to teach people about new constitution
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- The church in Swaziland is planning a human rights education campaign to educate people about the new constitution in southern Africa's only absolute monarchy. "It is essential that we do this in the rural areas, where people don't have access to electronic media and newspapers," Father Pius Magagula, chaplain to the Manzini Diocese's justice and peace commission. In a July 19 telephone interview from Manzini, the priest said a new constitution signed into law by King Mswati III in January addresses issues such as women's equality, but "as the constitution was imposed on people rather than the result of a consultative process, people are largely unaware of their new rights." He said, "We want to fill them in on the implications of the new laws for everyone." The constitution, which took 10 years to draft, has brought about many changes, such as allowing Swazi women to own property in their own name and to open a bank account without the permission of a male relative.
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Catholic aid agencies provide emergency funds to Middle East victims
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Catholic aid and development agencies from around the world are channeling funding and support through Caritas offices in Lebanon and Jerusalem to help victims suffering from the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency, has committed $1 million toward a $2.9 million appeal for Caritas -- half will go to Caritas in Lebanon, and half to Caritas projects in the Gaza Strip. CRS and other aid agencies work with local partners within the Caritas Internationalis confederation of more than 160 Catholic relief, development and social services agencies. Tom Garofalo, CRS country representative for Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, said the agency plans to send its regional director, Mark Schnellbaecher, into Beirut, Lebanon. Schnellbaecher, who was in Cairo, Egypt, was trying to plan a safe route into Beirut to join local CRS staff working with Caritas, monitoring the situation and sending information back to CRS headquarters in Baltimore.
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PEOPLE
Retiring advocate for the poor brought human faces to policy debates
KNOXVILLE, Md. (CNS) -- After more than 35 years as a lobbyist and policy adviser to charitable agencies and nonprofits, Sharon Daly finds it frustrating to be outside that world these days. With health problems making it difficult for her to work, Daly retired early this spring from her job of the last 12 years. In stepping down as vice president for social policy at Catholic Charities USA she removed herself as one of Washington's pre-eminent voices for poor and disadvantaged people. Her way of putting complex federal policies and inches-thick budgets into human terms earned Daly a warm reputation nationwide among what she jokingly, but respectfully, calls "do-gooder groups." She's widely respected on Capitol Hill, where she navigated ever-shifting lines of power to help craft legislation to aid the poor and to do battle against bills that would make their lives more difficult. At a July 20 reception in Washington to honor Daly, sponsored by the Coalition on Human Needs, colleagues and friends -- nearly all of whom seem to think of themselves as both -- sang her praises. As Candy Hill, Daly's successor at Catholic Charities, said: "This work is an art. For Sharon the art is the heart that she puts into it."
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Pope, on vacation, confirms he is working on book
LES COMBES, Italy (CNS) -- Being pope means Pope Benedict XVI, a theologian and scholar, can teach millions more people than ever before, but it has put a crimp in his publishing schedule. For the second year in a row, rumors were floating around that Pope Benedict was using his July vacation in the northern Italian Alps to work on a book he has been writing, on and off, for three or four years. As he returned to Les Combes July 21 after a walk in Gran Paradiso National Park, journalists asked the pope about the rumors. "Yes, I am trying to write a book," he said, smiling. "But it is better not to talk about it. One needs to be cautious when attempting something, because it is possible it will never come to completion," he said. The pope would not explain the subject matter, but the 2006 rumor was that he is trying to complete a major work on Christology, discussing various aspects of Catholic faith in Jesus Christ.
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Father Robert Baumiller, noted Jesuit biologist, dies at age 75
CINCINNATI (CNS) -- Jesuit Father Robert C. Baumiller, a professor of biology and medicine for many years at Georgetown and Xavier universities and a member of the U.S. government's National Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing, died of a stroke July 13 following heart surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. He was 75. He was buried July 20 at the Jesuit cemetery in Woodstock, Md., following a funeral Mass the evening before at Loyola Blakefield Chapel in Towson, Md. A Baltimore native, Father Baumiller joined the Jesuits in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1965 after theological studies at Woodstock College. Before his theological studies he earned a degree in philosophy and a doctorate in biology from St. Louis University and did postdoctoral work in biology at the University of Wisconsin.
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Ignatius stops sale of Charlotte Church works after singer's TV pilot
LONDON (CNS) -- The U.S. publishing company Ignatius Press has refused to sell any works by Welsh singer Charlotte Church after she called German-born Pope Benedict XVI a Nazi and mocked the Catholic Church. The directors of Ignatius Press said they were offended when the Welsh singer mocked the Catholic Church in the pilot of a proposed eight-part television chat show. Church, dubbed the "Voice of an Angel" before she turned her talents to popular music, also dressed up as a nun and pretended to hallucinate while eating "communion" wafers imprinted with smiling faces signifying the drug Ecstasy. She smashed open a statue of the Virgin Mary to reveal a can of hard cider inside, said she worshipped "St. Fortified Wine," and stuck chewing gum on a statue of the child Jesus. Ignatius Press announced that Church's products have been withdrawn from its Web site and catalogue.
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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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