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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Aug-30-2006
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Make better health care coverage election priority, says CHA head
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Improving health care insurance coverage should be a major campaign priority in November's elections, said the head of the Catholic Health Association, noting that 46.6 million people in the U.S. are uninsured. "We hope that as the midterm election approaches, people across the country will demand that their candidates for office explain how they will work to expand coverage and access," said Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity. "No one should be denied the opportunity to pursue and achieve the American dream because they were sick and could not afford treatment. This great nation can do better. It must do better," she said. Sister Carol, CHA president and CEO and former head of Providence Hospital in Washington, was commenting on 2005 figures released Aug. 29 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau reported that 46.6 million people in the U.S. are uninsured. This includes 8.3 million children.
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Air crash tragedy calls for prayer, Lexington bishop says at service
LEXINGTON, Ky. (CNS) -- Tragedy pierces people's illusion of invulnerability and moves them to look for the "unchangeable" and to prayer, said Lexington Bishop Ronald W. Gainer during a prayer service for the victims and families of Comair Flight 5191 and for the entire community. The evening service in the Cathedral of Christ the King Aug. 29 drew about 700 people. It was the first public service in which members of the families of victims of the Aug. 27 crash were present. Two of the crash victims, Pat Smith, 58, and Gregory Threet, 35,were members of the cathedral parish. A third, Marcie Thomason, 25, of Washington, was the niece of cathedral parishioners John and Monica Hinkel, who participated in the service. Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac also was present. The "whole world can change in 15 seconds," the bishop said, and "there is no shortcut through this suffering ... no effective quick fix" for the pain. "This tragedy calls us to pray," he said.
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Religion called a powerful force for peace
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- While many view religion as "one of the chief bad guys" behind current conflicts, religions can be "incredible tools" for peace, said Maryann Cusimano Love, a professor of politics at The Catholic University of America. "Religion is an important motivator," she said. "It is an important vocalizer of symbols, of language, of values, in ways that secular institutions find difficult to do. And that can be used for good or evil." Cusimano Love was one of three panelists in a round-table discussion convened by Catholic News Service Aug. 21 to look at terrorism and war and peace issues five years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Also on the panel were Jesuit Father John Langan, a professor of Catholic social thought at Georgetown University, and Franciscan Father Louis V. Iasiello, president of Washington Theological Union, who recently retired as chief of Navy chaplains.
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Chaplains help troops make decisions in moral no man's land
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In an era when terrorists mingle among civilians, U.S. troops often must make split-second decisions in a moral no man's land, juggling the protection of innocent civilians with the need for self-defense. If a missile sails out of a hospital filled with innocent patients, do you fire back? Do you shoot at a gunman using a child as a human shield after he starts firing at innocent civilians? When does the aggressive interrogation of a prisoner cross the line into torture? But the dilemmas do not stop after an action is taken, said Father Mark Reilly, a Navy chaplain who served with the Marine Corps in Iraq from mid-December to mid-May. "Then the question becomes: 'Did I do the right thing?'" said Father Reilly, a priest of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, N.Y., and currently a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve. In combat zones like Afghanistan and Iraq -- which the Bush administration sees as key battlefields in the war against terrorism -- such questions are daily life-and-death issues as U.S. forces face insurgents dressed as civilians. "The bad guys don't wear uniforms," said Father Reilly.
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'Voting is a moral act,' Kansas bishops tell Catholics
MERRIAM, Kan. (CNS) -- Kansas bishops are urging Catholics in their state not only to realize their right and duty to vote, but to be informed voters who base their decisions on moral principles. The Aug. 24 statement, "Moral Principles for Catholic Voters," was released by the Kansas Catholic Conference and "intended for educational purposes only." In the statement, the state's four bishops said they did not "intend to endorse or oppose any particular candidate, political party or political action committee" but hoped to show "how our Catholic faith and human reason shapes our thinking, choosing and acting in daily life." Prior to releasing the statement, the bishops asked pastors across the state to provide a copy of it to their parishioners and to encourage them to read it and become knowledgeable about the positions of candidates on a variety of issues. The statement not only urges Catholics to vote on the national, state and local level as their right and duty, but it explores the duty to form and follow one's conscience "not simply on the basis of self-interest, party affiliation, or the personal charisma of any individual."
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S.D. governor stops state's first execution in 59 years
PIERRE, S.D. (CNS) -- South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds issued a reprieve Aug. 29 in what would have been the state's first execution in 59 years. Rounds said the state's law outlining protocols for execution by lethal injection was outdated. The stay of execution for 24-year-old Elijah Page lasts until after July 1, 2007. The 1984 state law calls for a combination of two drugs to be used in lethal injections. The standard in other states is a three-drug combination, which is what the South Dakota prison system had intended to use on Page later on the day of the reprieve. In his Aug. 29 statement, Rounds said, "I will not have the individuals responsible for carrying out the execution be placed in a position of being in violation of state law." He said delaying the execution until after July 1 would allow the Legislature time to amend the statute to reflect more recent lethal injection protocols.
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Trial date set in Cleveland diocesan fund kickback scheme case
CLEVELAND (CNS) -- A Nov. 6 trial date has been set before U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich for two former Cleveland diocesan employees accused in an alleged kickback scheme involving nearly $785,000 in diocesan funds. Joseph F. Smith, now finance director for the Diocese of Columbus, and his friend, Anton Zgoznik, who once worked under Smith, pleaded not guilty Aug. 23 to a total of 27 counts stemming from a two-year investigation into financial irregularities. The men were indicted Aug. 16 by a federal grand jury. The indictment alleges that Smith and Zgoznik conspired to defraud and obtain money from the Diocese of Cleveland and then tried to cover their actions by falsifying tax returns and other documents. Smith, 50, and Zgoznik, 39, together are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, eight counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and one count of obstructing tax laws. Smith also faces eight counts of money laundering and four counts of filing false personal income tax returns. Zgoznik faces four additional counts of aiding and assisting preparation of a false corporate income tax document and returns.
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WORLD
Jesus excludes no one from his loving embrace, pope tells audience
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jesus excludes no one from his loving embrace because he came especially to save sinners and social outcasts, Pope Benedict XVI said. The good news of the Gospels consists precisely in Jesus' message that God offers his grace above all to those who seem furthest from being holy, the pope said Aug. 30 at his weekly general audience. In front of some 8,000 pilgrims packed into the Paul VI hall, the pope continued his series of audience talks about the apostles with a reflection on the life and Gospel of St. Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector for the Roman occupiers in Israel and, therefore, like all the tax collectors at the time, was much hated by his fellow Jews, who considered him to be a public sinner. But Jesus invited Matthew and other marginalized people to "follow me" and even invited them to eat with him, the pope said.
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At general chapter, Capuchins look at reviving order's European roots
ROME (CNS) -- After years of substantial growth in Asia and Africa, Capuchin Franciscans are turning new attention to reviving the order's European roots. More than 170 representatives of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin began a three-week general chapter in Rome Aug. 27 to elect a new head of the order and set objectives for the next six years. The meeting brought together representatives from the nearly 11,000 Capuchins working in 101 countries around the world. Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, the only Capuchin cardinal, celebrated the chapter's opening Mass. He said in a homily that the Capuchins of today must continue to be inspired by St. Francis' example of "love taken to the extreme." The Capuchin vocation, Cardinal O'Malley said, is to be "on fire with love for Christ and zeal for souls, willing to take the last place, the worst job, the most dangerous position." Canadian Father John Corriveau, who is leaving as Capuchin minister-general after 12 years, gave a lengthy report Aug. 28 detailing the state of the order and suggesting future strategies.
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Canadian alliance files brief in Ontario's 'three-parents case'
OTTAWA (CNS) -- The Alliance for Marriage and Family has filed a brief in the so-called "three-parents case," saying its member groups have a common cause to protect the "traditional family unit in Canadian society and law." The case, scheduled to be heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal Sept. 25-26 in Toronto, involves a lesbian couple raising a child conceived by artificial insemination. Both women want to be considered the legal mother of the child. The biological father is also actively involved in the child's life. If their case is successful, it will mark the first time a child would have three legally recognized parents. The Alliance for Marriage and Family -- which includes the Catholic Civil Rights League, REAL Women of Canada, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Focus on the Family and the Christian Legal Fellowship -- opposes the change on the basis that the law has always recognized two parents for a child. "This is effectively providing an impetus for affirmation of multiple or group-parenting rights," said Phil Horgan, president of the Catholic Civil Rights League.
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PEOPLE
Irish prosecutor will not proceed with abuse charges against bishop
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- An Irish prosecutor will not proceed with charges of child abuse against retired Bishop Eamonn Casey of Galway, Ireland, said a brief statement from the Irish Catholic Communications office. In November, 79-year-old Bishop Casey was accused by a woman of abusing her as a child. At the time of the accusation he was serving as a curate in Hayward's Heath, England, and according to church guidelines he was immediately suspended from clerical duties. The complainant, a woman from Limerick, Ireland, who now lives in England, had made similar allegations against other clerics; those claims subsequently were found to be unsubstantiated. Bishop Casey was one of the most popular members of the Irish church because of his work for justice in Ireland, Britain and the Third World. But in 1992 he fled Ireland after it was revealed he had fathered a child, Peter, with an American woman, Annie Murphy, with whom he had an affair dating back to his time as bishop of Kerry, 1969-1976. He spent six years of his self-exile serving as a missionary in Central America before taking up his post as a curate in Hayward's Heath in 1998.
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Former director of New Orleans hospital recounts Katrina's challenges
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) -- Last August, Dr. Jeanne James Jordan, the medical director at Tulane University Hospital in downtown New Orleans, watched news reports with other hospital staff employees as Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast. "We have been faced with many threats of hurricanes in the past, but after watching the path of the hurricane on the news, we realized this one was not going somewhere else," Jordan told members of the Nashville Catholic Business Women's League during their Aug. 16 meeting in Nashville. "We practiced for a disaster such as this many times, but it was the first time we were really faced with one," said Jordan, who now works in Nashville as a consultant for Hospital Corporation of America. The Tulane Medical Center sustained extensive damage as the water level rose several feet through the first floor of the hospital, including the emergency room, cafeteria, pharmacy and other diagnostic departments. "With no power and civil unrest, we had to relocate everyone," Jordan said.
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Iowa teen honored for saving neighbor's life
DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNS) -- Travis McAtee is grateful for the lifesaving award he received Aug. 11, but he'd give it up to take back what happened to the man he saved. The 16-year-old from Olin received the Governor's Meritorious Service Award at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines for helping save neighbor Bill Milder of St. Mary Parish in Mechanicsville after a farm accident. "I'm happy that I'm getting it, but I'd rather not have had to go through that," McAtee said in an interview with The Catholic Messenger, Davenport's diocesan newspaper, before the fair. The accident happened just over a year ago. On Aug. 2, 2005, McAtee was helping Milder, now 61, set up a fence so Milder could have more pasture for his cattle. When Milder was using his tractor to pull brush to clear a path for the fence, the tractor caught a steep ridge and rolled four times. Milder let go of the steering wheel and fell into a ravine -- and then the three-ton machine went over him. "I heard him scream," said McAtee, who ran to the ravine. "He said he was in a lot of pain and needed an ambulance." McAtee tried to drive for help in a truck, but got stuck on a steep hill. So he did all there was left to do: run.
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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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