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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Aug-1-2006
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
FDA move toward approving over-the-counter sales of Plan B criticized
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A move by the Food and Drug Administration toward making the morning-after pill available over the counter could damage women's health and put more pressure on pharmacists conscientiously opposed to dispensing the drug, according to the U.S. bishops' pro-life spokeswoman. The FDA announced July 31 that it would work with Duramed, a subsidiary of Barr Pharmaceuticals that manufactures the drug marketed as Plan B, to develop a "framework for moving emergency contraception medication to over-the-counter status" for women 18 and older. Deirdre McQuade, director of planning and information for the bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, criticized the FDA's decision in a July 31 statement. Plan B uses large doses of birth-control pills to prevent conception up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. "But even its proponents admit that it works both before and after conception," McQuade said, adding that many women are "unaware of (the pills') abortifacient action." McQuade also said FDA approval of over-the-counter sales would "place additional pressure on pharmacists who conscientiously object to dispensing drugs that kill humans at their earliest stages of development." Barr Pharmaceuticals originally had sought approval for over-the-counter sales of Plan B to anyone 16 or over.
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Young people called to prepare for World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The first international World Youth Day to be held in Australia will provide an opportunity for young people to learn about and strengthen their faith and to spread that faith to those "down under" who do not put a high priority on spiritual concerns. That was the message Auxiliary Bishop Anthony C. Fisher of Sydney brought to the United States recently in his role as coordinator of World Youth Day 2008, which will take place July 15-20, 2008, in Sydney. Bishop Fisher said the planning team expects about 25,000 U.S. young people to attend, similar to the number of Americans who went to Germany for World Youth Day in 2005. "But from what they're telling me now, 25,000 may be a very conservative number," the Australian bishop said in a telephone interview from Orange, Calif., after a meeting with Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto of Orange, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on Youth and Young Adults, and other U.S. planners for World Youth Day. In addition to the events in Sydney, young Catholics will be able to experience the pre-World Youth Day activities known as Days in the Dioceses, in which pilgrims stay with families or parishes throughout the host country to learn more about the place they are visiting. In 2008, however, participants in the Days in the Dioceses might stay in Australia or New Zealand.
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Diocese says women excommunicated in 'ordination' ceremony
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Risking excommunication from the Catholic Church, eight U.S. women participated in a riverboat ceremony near Pittsburgh that they said constituted ordination to the priesthood. At the July 31 ceremony, another four women said that they were ordained to the diaconate. "They have excommunicated themselves by walking away from the church and by not following church teaching on this matter," Father Ronald Lengwin, Pittsburgh diocesan spokesman, told Catholic News Service Aug. 1 in a telephone interview. A July 31 statement by the Pittsburgh Diocese called the ceremony "an invalid ritual" because of church teaching that only men can be ordained to the priesthood and diaconate. It also said those "attempting to confer holy orders" were removing themselves from the church. Father Lengwin told CNS that Catholics in his diocese have been asked to pray for the reconciliation of these women with the church and that the church was ready to welcome them back. One of the women who said she was ordained to the priesthood told CNS that the ceremony strengthened her ties to the church. "I never felt more Roman Catholic or more devoted to the church" than during the ceremony, said Sister Bridget Mary Meehan Aug. 1 in a telephone interview. "I think in the future the church will accept women priests," said Sister Meehan, a Sister for Community Service.
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WORLD
Palestinian Christians express anger over Israeli airstrikes
TEL AVIV, Israel (CNS) -- Palestinian Christians living in the West Bank and Israel expressed anger after Israeli airstrikes in Qana, Lebanon, left 65 civilians dead in the largest attack against Hezbollah militants since the war began mid-July. Jacob Zakharia, a Palestinian Melkite Catholic living in Jerusalem's Old City, said that Palestinian Christians are most affected by the conflict. "We are sandwiched between extreme Jews and extreme Muslims," Zakharia said. Like many, Zakharia expected an Israeli aerial cease-fire following the July 31 Qana attack. "I heard half an hour ago on the radio that Israel was bombing again," Zakharia told Catholic News Service July 31. Israeli forces carried out aerial attacks in southern Lebanon July 31, hours after the government agreed to a 48-hour halt while investigating its bombing in Qana. But a representative from the Israeli Defense Forces said, "This was not a cease-fire. There was a partial suspension of certain aerial activities." Meanwhile, Zakharia said Israel doesn't care about its neighbors in the Middle East. "Israel has very sophisticated bombs and bombardment tactics. They don't care about their neighbors," he said. "They respect only who is powerful."
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Nuns care for leprosy patients on Chinese island
TAI KAM, China (CNS) -- Three nuns from the Sisters of Charity of St. Anne have for years medically and spiritually helped more than 60 victims of Hansen's disease, or leprosy, on a small Chinese island. Around the clock, Sisters Omna, Lizzy and Elizabeth from Kerala, India, tend to the people of Tai Kam, located about 50 miles down shore from Macao in China's Guangdong province. They wake each day at 6 a.m. to pray with the patients and attend to their medical care by 8 a.m. Patients come through the clinic operated by the sisters to have their wounds cleaned and dressed. Most have been given shoes manufactured by an American priest who visited Tai Kam a couple of years ago. Hansen's disease, which affects the skin, leaves the patient's extremities with dry skin that forms cracks and infections. Most of the patients at Tai Kam have contracted the disease because it is airborne or because of poor hygiene. Patients are treated with a powerful combination of two and sometimes three drugs; treatment usually lasts six months to a year. During the day, patients go about their own business by gardening, sewing or playing the popular game Mahjong. The average age of the patients on Tai Kam is approximately 65. The oldest man on the island, 94, has been there since his early teens. The youngest is 43 years old. Some have been affected by the disease from as young as age 6.
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PEOPLE
Doctors say cardinal's cancer had not spread beyond bladder, ureters
MAYWOOD, Ill. (CNS) -- Doctors at Loyola University Medical Center announced July 31 that the cancer in Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George's bladder and ureters had not spread. Jesuit Father Myles Sheehan, who is Cardinal George's personal physician, opened the press conference by saying, "Given what we knew entering into the cardinal's surgery on Thursday, we are happy to report the best possible outcome. The tumor was contained within the bladder and ureters without evidence of going into the lymph nodes or metastasizing." The cardinal should be able to resume his duties in several weeks, he said. He was moved from intensive care to a general medical/surgical floor the afternoon of July 31, and his doctors said he can expect to return home in about a week. Cardinal George, 69, underwent a five-hour operation to remove his bladder, prostate gland and sections of his ureters -- the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder -- the morning of July 27 at the medical center in Maywood. Just before midnight that night, he went back into surgery after his blood pressure became unstable; doctors found a small bleeding artery and closed it off. Shortly after finishing the first operation, Cardinal George's medical team addressed journalists to explain that they had removed part of the blocked ureter and Cardinal George's prostate gland as well as his bladder. Dr. Robert Flanigan, who performed the surgery, put the five-year prognosis for recovery at Cardinal George's stage of cancer at 70 to 80 percent.
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Florida's newest bishop ordained in Venice with 1,500 in attendance
VENICE, Fla. (CNS) -- The 1,500 people attending the episcopal ordination of Bishop-designate Frank J. Dewane outnumbered the total population of Cooperstown, Wis., a farming village 20 miles southwest of Green Bay that is the bishop's hometown. But nearly 10 percent of Cooperstown's 1,403 residents -- 126 people -- came to Epiphany Cathedral in Venice July 25 to beam over their native son as Bishop John J. Nevins of Venice ordained him as his new coadjutor. Four cardinals, 22 bishops, 200 priests and 53 nuns as well as deacons, Knights of Columbus and Knights and Dames of Malta also contributed to the celebration that was broadcast live on television throughout the 9,000-square-mile diocese. The afternoon ceremony combined traditional rites, magnificent music from the Venice diocesan choir and a bit of Bishop Nevins' humor. Co-consecrators for the ordination were Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland. Also participating were Cardinals William H. Keeler of Baltimore, Adam J. Maida of Detroit, Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Bishop Dewane, 56, will become the second bishop of Venice when Bishop Nevins retires or dies.
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Teen's need for bone marrow sparks community effort to find donors
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CNS) -- Pete Palmere, 17, is not unaccustomed to challenges. As a child when his family vacationed at the beach, he created historic cities instead of the traditional sandcastle. By fourth grade he was playing the cello and became a gifted musician, performing in musical ensembles in his hometown of Davis and as a member of his high school orchestra and the Sacramento Youth Symphony. In March 2005, Palmere was diagnosed with leukemia. Earlier this year his doctors said the intensive chemotherapy he has undergone has not been successful and his only option is a bone marrow transplant. Family members are not a match, so the community started a donor registry drive to help him and others in need of a bone marrow transplant. The effort has resulted in 500 people being registered and a match found for Palmere, although plans for the transplant have not been finalized. Meanwhile, the youth has been hospitalized with a fever, a low white-blood cell count and a lung infection, and his family is asking for prayers that he'll come through his latest challenge. About the donor drive, Carrie Pilon, a close friend of the Palmere family and member of St. James Parish in Davis, said: "It's a community of friends who have come together."
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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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