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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Nov-21-2006
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Pro-life groups, lawmakers urge Amnesty to keep abortion neutrality
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Dozens of members of Congress joined several pro-life organizations Nov. 20 in urging Amnesty International not to embrace policies on abortion that they described as "antithetical to ... our shared duty to protect." The international human rights organization is consulting its 2 million members in 74 countries over whether it should "expand its policy on sexual and reproductive rights," according to a Nov. 20 Amnesty statement. The release said that under discussion is whether to develop policies on access to health care related to complications from abortion; access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, sexual assault or risk to the woman's health; and removal of criminal penalties for abortion providers and those who seek abortions. A Nov. 15 letter signed by more than 70 members of the House said "it is not possible for Amnesty to justify any position that condones abortion based on international human rights law while at the same time objectively adhering to legal instruments and processes. No United Nations human rights treaty or convention recognizes a so-called right to -- or even addresses the issue of -- abortion."
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Vatican liturgist stresses precision of language at Masses
ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- Whether using Latin or a translation into the common language of their country, Catholics should pray at Mass in words that precisely convey the meaning and reverence the church fathers intended when they wrote those prayers. That's what Cardinal Francis Arinze, an influential Vatican liturgist, told about 250 people, mostly clergy and seminarians, attending the final session of the Gateway Liturgical Conference in St. Louis Nov. 11. The event, which focused on how Catholics worship, drew more than 400 people over three days. "Language is not everything. But it is one of the most important elements that need attention for good and faith-filled liturgical celebrations," said Cardinal Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, in his keynote address. Cardinal Arinze told the St. Louis Review, archdiocesan newspaper, that his purpose was not to call for the universal reinstitution of the Latin Mass -- though he did request that parishes offer it much more often than they do. Rather, he wanted to instill an appreciation of the language of the Latin Mass, warn of translations that might be harmful and extol the unifying aspect Latin still offers the church, he said.
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Builder applies his Catholic faith to home project for ABC-TV show
WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CNS) -- When Lori Furnace, office manager at Monarch Homes, told her dad, Larry Gruber, that he had received a call from ABC, Monarch's chief operating officer suspected a sales representative was trying to sell him siding. But when Gruber, a member of St. Jude Parish in Wauwatosa, returned the call in August, it launched his family into a whirlwind several weeks long that culminated in the Nov. 19 airing of an episode of television's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The caller from ABC-TV, the network that produces the popular weekly show on which a home is built or renovated for a deserving family, asked Gruber if his family-run, home-building business would be interested in constructing a home for a family in Dundee. "It was a way for our family to give to another family," he said. "Sure, we did it because we are hoping for the payback that it will help our business, but the main reason is to help a family change their lives and make them feel a little better."
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Pope rules 'for many' must replace 'for all' in consecration
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- By a personal decision of Pope Benedict XVI, priests in future years will begin to say Christ's blood is poured out "for many" instead of "for all" in the words of consecration at Mass. The change simply reflects more accurately the normative Latin phrase "pro multis" and does not signify any change in Catholic teaching that Christ died for all. "It is a dogma of faith that Christ died on the cross for all men and women," Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, said in an Oct. 17 letter to presidents of bishops' conferences around the world explaining the decision to require a literal translation of the Latin text. The letter was published in the United States in late November in NewsLetter, a publication of the U.S. bishops' Committee on the Liturgy. In a commentary on the letter, NewsLetter said priests should not make the change yet. "Absolutely no changes may be made until the new translation of the Roman Missal has been approved by the bishops and confirmed by the Holy See. The completion of the missal is at least several years away," the commentary said.
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Eastern churches a 'gift' to universal church, Cardinal Daoud says
CHICAGO (CNS) -- The Eastern churches are "singly and corporately a 'gift,'" Cardinal Ignace Moussa Daoud, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Eastern Churches, told delegates in Chicago at a five-day "encounter" of Eastern Catholic churches. "Every Eastern church participates equally in this status as gift of God to the universal church. We have much to offer," Cardinal Daoud said. "As a result, we should never feel intimidated in any location." Cardinal Daoud added, "Our process of interaction is that of the mutual bestowal of gift. We are not in competition, but in collaboration. Christ did not teach any doctrine which blessed divisiveness. The sacred mysteries liturgically enact our appeal to the Trinity to bring about that unity." Though the Oct. 30-Nov. 3 conference was intended for Eastern Catholic churches in the United States and Canada, participants also came from Australia, Belgium, Italy and Ukraine.
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16th-century Spaniards may be model for Iraq pullout, scholars say
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The conduct of theologians and conquistadors in 16th-century Spain could hold a key for how the United States could pull out of Iraq, according to two religion professors who spoke in Washington Nov. 20. "Sixteenth-century Spain was obsessed with ethics," said Father Gregory Banazak, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit and an associate professor of systematic and moral theology at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Mich., outside Detroit. King Philip II of Spain, head of the Holy Roman Empire in the 1550s, said Spaniards "had to get out of America and the Philippines" if a panel of moral theologians judged their presence to be "morally unacceptable." Father Banazak and Luis Reyes Ceja, dean of the School of Social Services at Universidad del Valle de Atemajac in Guadalajara, Mexico, presented a synopsis of their paper, "'Ius Post Bellum' in the Indies: Light on Ethical Obligations After War From Sixteenth-Century Latin America." They spoke at a session of the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, which attracted an estimated 10,000 biblical scholars and professors to Washington Nov. 18-21.
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National shrine's Redemption Dome dedicated at special Mass
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Simple but moving prayers marked the dedication Nov. 16 of the new Redemption Dome mosaic at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. "When we honor this image, let us lift our eyes to Christ," said Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, as he began the dome's blessing. It came at the end of a Mass celebrated after the U.S. bishops concluded their Nov. 13-16 fall general meeting in Baltimore. Several cardinals and bishops concelebrated the Mass, including Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali, who chairs the shrine's Iconography Committee and was the homilist, and Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The Redemption Dome, located above the shrine's center aisle, includes a 3,780-square-foot mosaic that depicts four redemptive acts of Jesus: the temptation in the desert, the crucifixion, the descent into hell and Christ's resurrection from the dead. Each of the dome's four corners has a mosaic of a significant person from the biblical accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus: Lazarus, Simon of Cyrene, Joseph of Arimathea and Mary Magdalene.
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Just war, peacemaking debated: Which is a better response to terror?
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In one corner in a debate on how best to respond to terrorism was theologian Jean Bethke Elshtain, a divinity and a political science professor at the University of Chicago and author of "Just War Against Terror." In the other was Glen Stassen, a Christian ethicist from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., and author of "Just Peacemaking: Transforming Initiatives." Elshtain and Stassen debated Nov. 20 whose approach was a better response to terrorism in a forum conducted during the Nov. 18-21 annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature in Washington. Elshtain and Stassen agreed on the definition of terrorism: the intended killing of civilians for what Elshtain called "allegedly" political purposes, "the murder of unarmed people ... no matter what they may or may not have done." But there was little agreement otherwise.
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WORLD
Papal trip to Turkey: Key questions test Benedict's pontificate
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI travels to Turkey in late November, a four-day visit aimed at building bridges with Islam, reaffirming dialogue with Orthodox Christians and encouraging a tiny Catholic minority in a Muslim country. The Nov. 28-Dec. 1 trip was first envisioned as an ecumenical event, but interreligious issues have taken center stage. The pope's remarks about Islam at the University of Regensburg in September upset many Muslims, and Turkey will offer the pope a platform to explain his views to the Islamic world. It will be the pope's fifth visit outside Italy and his first to a country with a Muslim majority. He arrives in Ankara for meetings with government officials, goes to the historic site of Ephesus for Mass, and closes out his visit with Orthodox and Catholic communities in Istanbul. Situated where Asia and Europe meet, Turkey has for centuries been a place where Islamic cultures met the "Christian" West -- often in conflict, as at the time of the Crusades. In the current climate of global cultural and religious tensions, that makes the papal visit all the more significant.
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Study on condom use and AIDS awaits action by doctrinal office, pope
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- An "exhaustive" Vatican study requested by Pope Benedict XVI on condom use in HIV prevention is awaiting a response from the church's doctrinal office and the pope, a senior Vatican official said. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, head of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, said his office handed in "a large study" of almost 200 pages to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and that it is "hoping (the congregation) and the Holy Father say what is (best) concerning this argument." The cardinal spoke in response to journalists' questions during a Nov. 21 press conference about an upcoming Vatican meeting on the church's pastoral approach to treating infectious diseases. He said the pope had asked that his council commence "a dialogue with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on condoms." Cardinal Lozano said his council completed "a thorough study on condoms" covering the latest medical data and the complete spectrum of opinions by moral theologians.
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Archbishop says Mexican state experiencing 'moment of tense calm'
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- With Mexico's presidency set to change hands Dec. 1, Oaxaca Archbishop Jose Chavez Botello said his southern state, in the midst of six months of turmoil, was living "a moment of tense calm." While unionized teachers across the state have returned to the classroom and ended their strike, the underlying dispute between a large protest movement and Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz remains unresolved. Chavez's statement, made Nov. 19, was echoed by Stephen Hicken, a U.S. lay missionary currently in Oaxaca. Hicken suggested both sides are waiting for the imminent shift of power, when President Vicente Fox will step down and President-elect Felipe Calderon will take his place. Fox's administration sent federal police to restore order in Oaxaca City at the end of October, but the president later acknowledged that Calderon will inherit the problem. "Things are kind of on hold until Dec. 1," Hicken said in a telephone interview with Catholic News Service. "So on the surface it looks kind of quiet, but that's only because there's a pause button on."
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U.S. Orthodox leader anticipates benefits from pope's Turkey trip
ROME (CNS) -- An Orthodox leader in the United States said he expects Pope Benedict XVI to raise the issue of religious rights for the Christian minority in Turkey, but in a way that will not offend his Turkish hosts. Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, said the pope's Nov. 28-Dec. 1 trip to Turkey would also send a strong ecumenical signal and give a boost to Catholic-Orthodox dialogues around the world. Archbishop Demetrios spoke in a telephone interview Nov. 20 from his New York office. He planned to join Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul to welcome the pope and participate in liturgies with the pontiff at the patriarchate headquarters Nov. 29-30. "This is really a visit of unusual importance, in terms of magnitude, depth and consequences. It's not a meeting of committees, it's a meeting of the two top leaders of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church," Archbishop Demetrios said. By its very nature, he said, the encounter between the pope and the patriarch will help promote a spirit of cooperation between the two churches.
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Bishops urge Britain not to renew Trident submarine system
LONDON (CNS) -- The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have intervened in a debate over the future of Britain's nuclear weapons by demanding total disarmament. They called on the government to act with "courageous leadership" by not renewing the country's Trident submarine system when it becomes unserviceable in the 2020s. "The United Kingdom is now at a moral and strategic crossroads," the bishops said in a statement Nov. 21. "Our judgment is that, by decommissioning its nuclear weapons, the U.K. now has a unique opportunity to offer the international community an approach to security and legitimate self-defense without the unconscionable threat of nuclear destruction," they said. "At the same time it could give a new impetus to the wider process toward total nuclear disarmament," they added.
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Ukrainian Catholics launch cause of Dominicans murdered in 1941
LVIV, Ukraine (CNS) -- Ukraine's Catholic Church has launched canonization proceedings for a group of Dominicans shot by the Soviet secret police in 1941. "Today, 65 years after the death of our Dominican brethren, we can say their names without fear, and (we) express gratitude to everyone who helped ensure their memory was not lost," said Father Mariusz Wozniak, head of the Dominican province for Russia and Ukraine. He preached Nov. 18 at the cathedral in Lviv, Ukraine, to launch the diocesan phase of the canonization process for Father Justyn Spyrlak, a Dominican superior, and his seven companions. Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI, said four of the Dominicans were murdered in their monastery at Czortov, near Tarnopol, while the remaining four, including Father Spyrlak, were shot through the head near the Seret River. KAI said secret police agents had threatened to throw the bodies in the river unless they were buried by early afternoon and had later ransacked the monastery church, desecrating the Eucharist and firing bullets into a painting of Mary.
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In Peru, children are the hidden face of HIV/AIDS
LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- In the "Posada del Buen Pastor" -- the Good Shepherd Inn -- a dark-haired toddler gives Sister Celina Jugo a big smile before grabbing an assistant's hand and heading for the garden. Sister Celina's own smile is tinged with relief. When the Posada opened in December 1996, the Good Shepherd Sisters who ran it knew their HIV-positive charges would probably die young. The home grew out of the nuns' work with HIV-positive women. "The women died and the children were left behind," Sister Celina said. At the time, there was virtually no access to treatment. Every year, two or three children died. That has changed since antiretroviral drugs became widely available in this Andean country three years ago. "In the past five years," she said, "not one has died." In Peru, children are the hidden face of HIV/AIDS. Official statistics are scarce, largely because children are covered by a government insurance program in which each hospital keeps its own statistics, said Lidice Lopez Tocon of the Collective for Life, an umbrella organization of groups of people living with HIV/AIDS and groups that assist them.
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Indian archbishop calls for end to stigma of HIV/AIDS
NEW DELHI (CNS) -- An Indian archbishop has urged the church to help eliminate the stigma of AIDS by becoming "a genuine healing and reconciling community" in the country, which now has the most HIV/AIDS cases in the world. "The impact of the stigma can be as detrimental as the virus itself," said Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore, chairman of the Indian bishops' health care commission, in a message for World AIDS Day Dec. 1. "We need to end the silence about HIV. Leaders of communities -- bishops, priests and lay faithful -- and heads of families need to speak openly about HIV and AIDS in our gatherings," the archbishop said. "The fear of stigma leads to silence, and silence can result in tragic consequences," he added. Since the identification of the first instance of HIV in India in 1986, the rate of infection has increased "at an alarming rate," reaching 5.17 million people by September, with an adult prevalence rate of 0.9 percent, according to the Indian government.
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PEOPLE
Zambian priest says Archbishop Milingo won't find sympathy at home
LUSAKA, Zambia (CNS) -- When excommunicated Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo visits his homeland, he will find few Catholics sympathetic to him, said Father Joe Komakoma, general secretary of the Zambia Episcopal Conference. "People are fed up with his inconsistency," Father Komakoma said Nov. 20. He noted that the former archbishop of Lusaka's earlier reconciliation with the Vatican was widely welcomed in the southern African country. Archbishop Milingo, 76, married a South Korean woman in 2001 but left her at the request of Pope John Paul II and was reconciled with the Vatican. Last summer, however, the archbishop was reunited with his wife in the United States and founded a movement called Married Priests Now! In September he incurred automatic excommunication when he ordained four married men as bishops without papal permission. Noting reports that Archbishop Milingo plans to visit Zambia soon, the Zambia Episcopal Conference urged Catholics to be aware that "if he holds religious functions, those ceremonies will be done outside the Catholic Church" and will not be Catholic services.
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Pope's scholarly book on Jesus scheduled for March release
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has completed the first volume of a major scholarly and spiritual book on Jesus of Nazareth, a work he began several years before being elected pope. "Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration" is scheduled for a March release in Italian by the Rizzoli publishing house and in German by Herder Verlag. Announcing the publication Nov. 21, Rizzoli and the Vatican gave reporters copies of the book's preface and a portion of its introduction. In the preface, signed "Joseph Ratzinger -- Benedict XVI," the pope wrote that for decades he had noticed a growing scholarly distinction between the "historical Jesus" and the "Christ of faith," a distinction that many Christians now accept as accurate. But, he wrote, if the human Jesus was totally different from the Jesus depicted in the Gospels and proclaimed by the church, what does it mean to have faith in him? "I trust the Gospels," the pope wrote.
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Vatican official sees expanded role for inculturation efforts
PILAR, India (CNS) -- Inculturation should not focus only on traditional customs and artistic expressions, but also must take into account the impact of modernization and secularization on how people live and believe, said French Cardinal Paul Poupard. The cardinal, president of the pontifical councils for culture and for interreligious dialogue, opened a Nov. 20-23 meeting in Pilar of representatives of Catholic cultural centers from throughout India. The centers, he said, "are public forums, places where people meet and reflect, study and learn, exchange ideas and develop the dialogue between faith and cultures." In a country like India -- the birthplace of the Hindu and Sikh religions, where a variety of cultures, peoples and languages coexist -- Christians must be prepared to dialogue both with local cultures and with other religions, he said.
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Retired Bishop Moreno of Tucson dies at age 75
TUCSON, Ariz. (CNS) -- Retired Tucson Bishop Manuel D. Moreno, 75, died at his home Nov. 17, hours after returning there from a Phoenix hospital where he had undergone surgery for bleeding in his brain. His funeral Mass was scheduled for Nov. 28 at Tucson's St. Augustine Cathedral, followed by burial in Holy Hope Cemetery. A rosary and vigil were to be held at the cathedral Nov. 27. Bishop Moreno, the child of Mexican migrant farmworkers who emphasized the importance of education, had been one of the first Hispanic bishops in the United States.
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Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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