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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Apr-20-2007
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
New Hampshire nears same-sex civil unions despite church objections
MANCHESTER, N.H. (CNS) -- Despite the objections of Catholic officials, New Hampshire moved a step closer to legalizing same-sex civil unions when Gov. John Lynch said that he would sign such legislation if the state Senate passes it. Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester said the issue is not one of rights but of keeping "the meaning and the reality of marriage intact." He said, "Our goal should be how to strengthen marriage and not to enact laws which devalue marriage and deny it its unique and protected status in our society." Diocesan chancellor Diane Murphy Quinlan, who had testified against the legislation when it was in the House, expressed "great disappointment" at the governor's decision. Quoting the bill's language granting same-sex couples in civil unions "the same rights, responsibilities and obligations as married couples," Quinlan said the bill effectively enacts same-sex marriage "no matter what you call it." The civil union legislation was adopted by the House by a 243-129 vote April 4. It was scheduled for a floor vote April 26 in the Senate, where it was expected to pass.
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Solution to campus violence much more than gun control, experts say
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The chorus of voices calling on Congress and legislatures around the country to bring about better gun control following the campus massacre at Virginia Tech has already begun. "For too long Congress has stood idle while gun violence continues to take its toll," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., in a statement. "The unfortunate situation in Virginia could have been avoided if congressional leaders stood up to the gun lobby." But experts on U.S. Catholic campuses say many other factors played a role in the Virginia Tech tragedy and the solution to campus violence will involve much more than gun control. Don Lindley, who teaches psychology, sociology and criminology courses at Jesuit-run Regis University in Denver, was a member of the Denver Police Department for 33 years. He endorses a two-pronged approach to the problem of campus violence. First, those responsible for campus security must be "given the tools they need to do the job," including adequate training, decent pay and respect for their professionalism, he said. "And they must be armed." The second part of Lindley's solution is for everyone on campus -- and in society in general -- to "take more time with people, try to identify when someone is hurting. How long does it take to give someone a social stroke?" he asked. "And that might be all that someone needs."
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Church urged to expect immigrants will need help with legalization
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- First there's the hurdle of Congress passing an immigration bill. But the church should already be planning how to help millions of people who could line up to legalize their immigration status under a hypothetical new law, speakers at an April 18 conference said. "When legalization happens, immigrants are going to come to the institution they trust the most, the Catholic Church," said Mirna Torres, director of legalization and advocacy for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., at a background briefing and lobbying conference of the Justice for Immigrants program of the U.S. Catholic Church. Along with enforcement mechanisms, changes in family immigration procedures and temporary worker programs, one of the key components of comprehensive immigration reform proposals is a system by which people who are already in the U.S. illegally can become legal residents and eventually apply for citizenship. If even half of the estimated 12 million immigrants currently in the U.S. illegally are eligible for legalization, the number would be double the nearly 3 million who were legalized under a 1986 law. In addition to assistance with filling out and filing government forms, those immigrants will need help learning English, establishing their identity and gathering documents that show how long they have lived and worked in the United States, Torres said.
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Everyone is called to be a leader, priest tells men at conference
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- Leadership is lacking in today's American culture, Father John Corapi told men gathered at a conference April 14 in St. Paul. "Everyone is called to be a leader," he said. "The question of leadership is universal." Beautiful weather beckoned people to go outdoors but 1,700 men chose to be indoors in the Schoenecker Arena at the University of St. Thomas to listen to the priest. Father Corapi, a speaker and author who lives in Kalispell, Mont., came to the Twin Cities to give three presentations during the annual St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocesan men's conference, sponsored by the archdiocesan Office for Family, Laity, Youth and Young Adults. Father Corapi, a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, opened his half-day session by describing the crisis of leadership and the bad fruit it bears. He then laid out a plan for Catholic men to be strong leaders in their families, jobs and parishes. Borrowing an acronym from the military, he conveyed a formula for LEADERSHIP: Lead by example. Educate. Attitude. Discipline. Empower. Receive and respect input. Sacrifice. Humility. Initiative. Plan, prepare and practice. He said it begins with setting a good example.
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WORLD
Vatican commission: Limbo reflects 'restrictive view of salvation'
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After several years of study, the Vatican's International Theological Commission said there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptized go to heaven. In a new document, titled "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized" and published April 20, the commission said the traditional concept of limbo -- as a place where unbaptized infants spend eternity but without communion with God -- seemed to reflect an "unduly restrictive view of salvation." The church continues to teach that, because of original sin, baptism is the ordinary way of salvation for all people and urges parents to baptize infants, the document said. But there is greater theological awareness today that God is merciful and "wants all human beings to be saved," it said. Grace has priority over sin, and the exclusion of innocent babies from heaven does not seem to reflect Christ's special love for "the little ones," it said. "Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered ... give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the beatific vision," the document said.
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Minority view: Participants publish their side of brain death debate
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Breaching normal protocol, several participants in a 2005 Vatican-sponsored conference over the ethics of declaring someone brain dead have published the papers they delivered at the debate. Many of the papers reproduced in "Finis Vitae: Is Brain Death Still Life?" argue that the concept of brain death was devised mainly to expand the availability of organs for transplant and claim that some patients who had been pronounced brain dead continued to live for months or even years. Publication of the papers, which the Vatican had decided not to publish, is evidence of the strong feelings about brain death held by a minority of the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Roberto De Mattei, vice president of the National Research Council of Italy who is not a member of the academy, said he edited "Finis Vitae" in order "to expand the debate and bring it to a wider audience." While differences of opinion among theologians, philosophers and scientists, especially on ethical issues, are nothing new, it is unusual that participants in a Vatican conference published the papers that the Vatican specifically decided not to publish.
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U.S.-based foundation gives pope millions of dollars for charities
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The U.S.-based Papal Foundation presented Pope Benedict XVI with a check for almost $4.7 million. The foundation designated more than $4.1 million for 75 charitable projects and more than $575,000 for scholarships for priests, religious and laypeople studying at one of the pontifical universities or institutes in Rome. Thanking the foundation members April 20, the pope said the projects promote Gospel values and "a profound sense of communion with the universal church in her service to the entire human family."
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Catholic leaders shocked over murder of Protestant staff in Turkey
ROME (CNS) -- Catholic leaders in Turkey were shocked by the murder of three employees of a Protestant publishing house, said an official at the Vatican nunciature in Ankara, Turkey. "We are upset," said Msgr. Georges Marovitch. "With each explosion of violence, it is like all our work for dialogue is being questioned." The three employees of the Zirve publishing house in Malatya, a city in central Turkey, were found dead with their throats slashed April 18. Police arrested four men in the Zirve offices shortly after the murders and a fifth man, who was hospitalized with head injuries after apparently jumping from a fourth-story window in the Zirve building. Five more suspects were detained April 19. Turkish press reports reported that some of the men arrested told police they acted to defend Islam. Msgr. Marovitch told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, "We understand that the victims belonged to a Protestant group that distributed Bibles on the street in a Muslim society, and this irritated nationalist and fundamentalist Turks."
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Pope encourages Sri Lankan government, rebels to end violence
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI, meeting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, encouraged the government and rebel forces to "put an end to the violence that is bloodying the island." The pope said the two sides in the dispute must respect human rights, promote dialogue and return to the negotiating table as "the only path" to ending two decades of conflict, said an April 20 Vatican statement. "The Catholic Church, which offers a significant contribution to the life of the country, will intensify the delicate work of educating consciences with the sole goal of promoting the common good, reconciliation and peace," the statement said. While the pope and president spent 20 minutes speaking privately, Rajapaksa's spokesman, Lucien Rajakarunanayake, told reporters the president was hoping that "the pope will better appreciate the efforts of the Sri Lankan government to resolve the conflict." The spokesman said, "There are shortcomings and human rights violations, as in any conflict, but the president wants peace and is open to any help to get the peace process going from its present logjam."
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Church leaders to go ahead with dedication of church in Azerbaijan
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Church leaders have vowed to press ahead with the dedication of a Catholic church in Azerbaijan a week after it was damaged by attackers. "The opening will undoubtedly take place -- there've been no changes in our program," said Father Rolandas Makrickas, an official at the Vatican's Tbilisi-based nunciature. The newly completed Immaculate Conception Church in Baku was damaged April 10 by fire after explosives were hurled through its windows. "The damage caused by this vandalism wasn't too extensive, and we see no particular danger to the Catholic community here," Father Makrickas told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview April 18. Vatican officials, government representatives and Muslim and Orthodox leaders from the country are expected to attend the dedication Mass April 29.
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PEOPLE
Pastor says 'words are not enough' to comfort Virginia Tech families
BLACKSBURG, Va. (CNS) -- Words are not enough to comfort grieving parents, said a priest who spent time with the parents of several of the slain Virginia Tech students when they first learned their son or daughter was dead. In the early hours after the murder rampage on campus that left 33 dead, Father James Arsenault, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Blacksburg, was at Montgomery Regional Hospital with those who were wounded and their families. Then he went to the Inn at Virginia Tech, a hotel on campus where parents seeking information about their children were asked to gather. He said he left the parish at 8:30 that morning and did not get back until 1:30 the following morning. In a brief interview in his rectory late April 18 -- after three full days of seeing to the pastoral care of victims, families and students -- Father Arsenault said that approaching parents who had just heard their child was dead, he would simply say something like, "Words are not enough to express how sad we are. I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" and then try to wrap them in a big hug. When he hugged them, they would break down and cry, he told Catholic News Service. After staying with them a while, he would pray the Our Father and Hail Mary with them and lead them in prayers for the dead, he said.
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Beijing Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan, 75, dies
BEIJING (CNS) -- Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of Beijing, the top leader of the registered Catholic Church community in China, died April 20 after a long battle with cancer. His death was announced in Beijing by the Xinhua news agency. Bishop Fu, 75, had led the diocese covering the Chinese capital since 1979. At the time of his death, he served as chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and acting president of the government-recognized Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China. Anthony Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the patriotic association, told UCA News, an Asian church news agency, April 19 that Bishop Fu wanted to "see his priests, whom he hasn't met for a long time" because of his long illness. Bishop Fu's last public appearance was at the March 4 preparatory meeting for the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, of which he has been a vice chairman since 2003. People holding positions of vice chairman or higher are ranked as state leaders.
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