|
|
|
|
News Briefs
|
NEWS BRIEFS Oct-27-2006
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Bishops to take up documents on Communion, contraception, homosexuals
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When the U.S. bishops meet in November, they will debate and vote on statements about Catholic teaching on marriage and family planning, who is worthy to receive Communion and the pastoral care of those who are homosexually oriented. They also will decide on a directory on liturgical music. Also on the agenda are the texts of liturgical readings for Advent, proposals for restructuring and downsizing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and a funding proposal for research on the causes and context of clergy sexual abuse of minors. For the first time since 1989, the USCCB will hold its fall general assembly outside Washington. The bishops will meet Nov. 13-16 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel overlooking that city's Inner Harbor. They will gather in Baltimore Nov. 12 to celebrate Sunday evening Mass together at the newly restored Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- - -
One constant in bishops' pre-election messages: Catholics must vote
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As the midterm elections near, some Catholic bishops are not finding any pressing moral issues to comment on in their dioceses, while others are jumping into the fray -- especially about the moral content of referendum issues facing voters in 37 states. But there is one constant in all their pre-election messages: Catholics have a moral obligation to vote. "Catholics, like all other citizens, are bound by duty and responsibility to cast their vote," said Bishop Richard J. Malone of Portland, Maine, in a recent letter. "Voting is a right and responsibility we cannot forgo, even when confronted with moral dilemmas." With 435 House members, 33 senators, 36 governors and hundreds of state and local officials to be elected Nov. 7, there are many races on which to comment. But most Catholic leaders are taking a greater interest in the more than 200 ballot questions facing voters.
- - -
Advocates demand better pay, conditions for U.S. farmworkers
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CNS) -- Consumers should pay more attention to the origins of the food they purchase, said the executive director of the St. Louis-based National Farm Worker Ministry. "I think for the average consumer it's really easy to forget. Out of sight, out of mind. It's easy not to pay attention" to how food gets to the consumer, Virginia Nesmith said in a telephone interview with the Catholic Explorer, newspaper of the Joliet Diocese. Nesmith said it is essential that consumers remember the estimated 2.5 million farmworkers in the nation who harvest by hand about 85 percent of fruits and vegetables. She said a farmworker's annual wages range between $10,000 and $12,000, barely above the federal government's poverty level of $9,800 for an individual. Farmworkers who get paid per bushel get no reimbursement for sick days, a rainy day or a bad crop.
- - -
Catholic giving rides crest of strong uptick in charitable donations
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The concept of "donor fatigue" did not seem to afflict the United States' largest endowments, nonprofits and charitable groups in 2005, with Catholic organizations seemingly benefiting from increased giving as much as most other major philanthropic groups, according to a survey conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. In its annual study of the 400 largest philanthropic organizations, the average increase in private donations was 13.2 percent, but some Catholic organizations eclipsed even that strong showing. Results of the study were published in the Chronicle's Oct. 26 issue. Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore registered a whopping 146.3 percent jump in donations, ranking 32nd out of the top 100 organizations with $342.6 million in contributions. The Catholic Medical Mission Board, based in New York City, took in $196.74 million in donations, an increase of 60.4 percent. It was ranked 73rd. The other Catholic group in the top 100 -- Catholic Charities USA, based in Alexandria, Va. -- ranked 14th with support amounting to $646.19 million. Its contributions rose 11.2 percent.
- - -
WORLD
Commission looks for balance in English liturgical translations
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Work on a new English translation of the Mass continues to seek a balance between a highly formal prayer language and preserving liturgical phrases that have become part of an English speaker's prayer tradition, said Australian Cardinal George Pell of Sydney. Cardinal Pell chairs the Vox Clara Commission, an international group of bishops who advise the Vatican on English liturgical translations. Vox Clara met Oct. 23-26 at the Vatican to study translations developed by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. Describing many of the texts as "outstanding," Vox Clara members also said they gave the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments an "extensive commentary on certain problems" found in the translations. Cardinal Pell told Catholic News Service Oct. 27: "It is important to be clear that they are small problems. They are not major problems at all."
- - -
Pope says Christians must heal divisions to be sign of hope
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians have a responsibility to heal their divisions so that they can be a real sign of hope for the world, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Those who profess that Jesus Christ is lord are tragically divided and cannot always give a consistent common witness," the pope said during an Oct. 27 meeting with representatives of the world's major Christian communities. The Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions held its annual meeting in Rome. Since 1957, the conference has brought together top officials of the international offices of 18 Christian churches and denominations for informal discussions. The secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has represented the Vatican at the meetings, which also include representatives of the Anglican Communion, mainline Protestant federations, the Salvation Army, Orthodox churches, Seventh-Day Adventists, Mennonites and others.
- - -
L'Osservatore Romano: 145 years as 'genuine face of the church'
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Juggling a phone, tapping out headline changes on his keyboard, and greeting yet another visitor to his second-floor office inside the headquarters of L'Osservatore Romano, Antonio Chila' serenely glides through the myriad of tasks that continually fly his way. Like a controller at a major airport's air traffic control tower, the chief editor of the Vatican newspaper must keep scores of incoming calls, e-mails, edited news articles, faxes and requests on his radar and guide them all to their proper place. Freshly typed copy of Pope Benedict XVI's remarks in German from his Oct. 25 general audience lands on Chila's desk just as the paper's German section calls to say the text has been revised to reflect the pope's spoken remarks. Translators check each prewritten papal text against what the pope actually says, since he often speaks off the cuff. Chila' then sends the modified copy by fax and e-mail to the Secretariat of State for approval before he can direct it to the layout staff. Published within the Vatican, the semiofficial newspaper was born 145 years ago during a highly tumultuous time for the Papal States. Italy's unification began in 1861, and the new kingdom's first legislators declared Rome the capital.
- - -
After Catholic opposition, Britain abandons plans for school quotas
LONDON (CNS) -- The British government has abandoned plans to impose quotas of non-Catholic students in publicly funded church schools after fierce opposition from the Catholic Church. Alan Johnson, secretary of state for education, said in a statement Oct. 26 that he no longer intended to amend the Education and Inspections Bill to force new faith schools to take up to 25 percent of students from families of a different faith or no faith at all. He said that after exchanging correspondence with Catholic leaders he did not feel that "the legislative route is necessary or appropriate." "I have listened carefully to colleagues on this issue and recognize that we all share the same goal for a more cohesive society where faith schools play an important part in building understanding and tolerance of other faiths and communities," Johnson said. The move was welcomed by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, England, who had met Johnson Oct. 25 to discuss the proposals. Archbishop Nichols, chairman of the Catholic Education Service, an agency of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said he was grateful for the attention Johnson gave to the "concerns of the Catholic community."
- - -
PEOPLE
Metropolitan: Negative view of 'uniatism' not to be applied to people
MOSCOW (CNS) -- A Russian Orthodox leader said Orthodox feelings about Eastern Catholic churches should not be applied to Eastern Catholics. "We should distinguish between the attitude to people and the attitude to the principle of 'uniatism,'" said Metropolitan Kirill, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations. "The negative attitude to 'uniatism' cannot be applied to people." "Uniatism" is a term primarily used by Orthodox for the model of church unity used in the formation of the Eastern Catholic churches in recent centuries. "The idea of overcoming the 11th-century schism between Orthodox and Catholic churches is an excellent one. But to restore unity with Rome, our own unity was broken," said Metropolitan Kirill, whose speech was carried Oct. 19 by Russia's Interfax news agency. "The existence of 'uniate' churches and communities is a fact that has to be accepted," he said.
- - -
Archduke talks politics, religion with U.S. students in Austria
GAMING, Austria (CNS) -- Archduke Otto von Habsburg discussed politics and religion with U.S. college students during his annual trip to Gaming. "Each of us is responsible to know the development of the world's happenings," he told students from the study-abroad program of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. Every year Habsburg comes to the church at Kartause Maria Thron, a former monastery in Gaming, for a memorial Mass for his 14th-century ancestor, Albrecht II, who is entombed in the church. Habsburg is a former member of the European Parliament and personally advises world leaders. He discussed the U.S. midterm elections and globalization, and spoke about fear of extremist Muslims. "I have been a friend of Islam for a long time. ... I read all the sacred books long ago and found much Christian wisdom there," he said. The archduke said people need to "understand each other," especially in the Christian realm, adding, "religious people are capable of building bridges, such as the effect the late Pope John Paul II had by going to the mosque to pray."
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250
|
|
|
|
