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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jul-27-2007
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
U.S. must do more to aid Iraqi refugees, prelates tell Rice
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Just back from a trip to the Middle East, a U.S. cardinal and a bishop are pressing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to do more to help Iraqi refugees. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., urged Rice in a July 26 letter to do more to resettle Iraqi refugees in the United States and to provide additional financial, medical and other types of support for refugees in other countries. "It was clear that the countries we visited are in dire need of additional support from the United States and the international community in order to provide safe haven to the almost 2 million Iraqi refugees in the region," their letter said. Cardinal McCarrick and Bishop DiMarzio, both board members of Catholic Relief Services and both consultants to the bishops' Committee on Migration, recently toured refugee settlements in Turkey, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon with a delegation from the International Catholic Migration Commission and CRS.
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Catholic campuses embrace 'green' initiatives
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Amid fears about global warming, going "green" has achieved new popularity. However, for many Catholic colleges and universities, developing a sustainable campus has always been a goal -- one that is now easier to achieve with new technologies. At Georgetown University in Washington, for instance, solar panels were installed on the roof of a building in the early 1980s. Almost 30 years later, the panel design is the longest running such project of its scale still operational in the United States. Today, the Jesuit university has an energy management team that monitors and fine-tunes energy use in campus buildings throughout the day. For another Jesuit school, Boston College, the impetus to reduce energy consumption and become a sustainable campus comes from its Catholic mission, said Jack Dunn, the director of public affairs at the college. Boston College saved more than a million dollars last year after it launched a campaign to reduce energy consumption. Managing Boston College's effect on the environment, Dunn said, is an effort students have joined.
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Joy, holiness called keys to attracting African-American vocations
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Manifesting joy and living a life of holiness are fundamental ways to attract young African-American men to consider a vocation to the priesthood, Redemptorist Father Maurice Nutt of Memphis, Tenn., told the joint convention of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus and the National Black Sisters' Conference July 25. The conference, attended by more than 200 black priests, deacons, sisters and seminarians, focused on vocations and enriching the spiritual, theological, educational and ministerial lives of the participants. The attendees also participated in two service projects -- cleaning out the house of the 90-year-old mother of a deacon and working at the Sisters of the Holy Family motherhouse. "There are a number of young people who are interested in answering God's call to serve the church, and we as clergy have to be more deliberate in our invitation to have men consider the priesthood," said Father Nutt, pastor of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in Memphis. "The best promotion is by our example and our encouragement of young men and women."
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'Promotores' program bridges health care gap for Hispanic community
PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Responding to the unmet health needs in the growing Hispanic community in the Portland area, especially among those new to the United States and for whom English is a second language, a Catholic health system has launched a new initiative. The Parish Health Promoter Program, or "Promotores de Salud de la Iglesia," is a volunteer-driven program targeted to Hispanics that seeks to create healthier communities through parish-based health promotion and leadership training. Providence Health System, made up of seven hospitals, medical clinics, health plans, long-term care facilities and home health services in Oregon, began the program. It is housed within the mission integration departments at the two largest Providence hospitals, Providence St. Vincent and Providence Portland Medical Centers. Based on similar models from Latin America, the program builds bridges among the Latino community, local churches and health care providers using techniques of "popular education."
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Doing what used to come naturally: Getting kids to play outside
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- How many programs does it take to get kids to play outside? Time will tell as leaders from local and federal governments, businesses and nature advocacy groups bend over backward to come up with ways to get today's overstimulated, overscheduled and frequently plugged-in youths to rediscover the lost art of just being outside. The movement is not about promoting playground visits or organized sports, of which there is no apparent shortage. Instead, it's pushing the idea that time in nature -- even in an urban setting -- can provide crucial physical, psychological and, as religious leaders point out, spiritual benefits. Getting young people outside almost seems like an attempt to turn back the clock to a time before video games and instant messaging, when kids spent carefree hours exploring streams, navigating back roads on their bikes, building tree houses or catching fireflies. It was also, coincidently, a time when obesity and diabetes were not at epidemic proportions among young people.
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Students race to knowledge at Vermont Catholic school's science camp
BARRE, Vt. (CNS) -- Fourteen-year-old Ryan Papineau likes to go to Thunder Road Speedbowl to watch the car races and cheer for his favorite drivers. So when he had the chance to attend a "Fast-Track Science Summer Camp," he speedily agreed. "It sounded fun," he said, adding that he likes learning about math, science and race cars. "Racing is huge in Barre," said Pamela Nadeau, a science teacher at Central Vermont Catholic School's St. Monica Campus in Barre, the host of the camp. "I like to go to Thunder Road." Thunder Road Speedbowl is a high-banked quarter-mile asphalt oval located on Quarry Hill in Barre. Stock cars compete weekly on Thursday nights. An interest in racing is not a prerequisite for the camp, but "it can really get you interested in car racing," said 8-year-old Blake Huntington, who will be a fourth-grader in the fall at the St. Monica Campus. The National Science Center based in Augusta, Ga., sponsors summer camps throughout the country focused on racing, and through the weeklong camp participants speed up their understanding of math and science while racing remote-control cars.
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WORLD
Pope says farewell to Alpine villages, heads to papal summer villa
LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI left the Italian Alps July 27, flying to Rome and then driving to the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo. On the eve of his departure from Lorenzago di Cadore, the pope met with the mayors of the 22 small towns in the region and with the police and forest rangers, who assured his safety and privacy since he arrived July 9. "I can only say, with all my heart, thanks to each and every one of you for your service and commitment," the pope told the group gathered on the lawn in front of the house where he had been staying. "Your silent, discreet and competent presence day and night gave me the space needed for an unforgettable period of rest, rest for the body and the soul," he said. "Here we are surrounded by divine goodness visible in the beauty of the mountains," the pope told them. "But during this whole time, I also was surrounded by the human goodness, your goodness. For me, you really were like guardian angels, invisible, silent, but always present and available," Pope Benedict said.
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Observers: Ecuador's Truth Commission languishing due to lack of funds
LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- Observers have expressed concern that the Truth Commission to investigate human rights violations in Ecuador over the past 27 years is languishing due to a lack of government funding. The commission, appointed by President Rafael Correa in May, is getting lost amid preparations for Sept. 30 assembly elections to determine who will rewritie the country's constitution, observers said. The past several months have been marked by political battles between the president and opponents in Congress over plans for the assembly. "This is a delicate political moment, and it's a complex situation," said Maryknoll Sister Elsie Monge, a commission member who heads the independent Ecumenical Human Rights Commission in Quito. Once the commission receives funding and an office, it will have nine months to complete its investigations, with the possibility of a three-month extension, said Sister Elsie. She added that an earlier truth commission established in Ecuador in 1996 lasted just a couple of months before fading away because of lack of funding.
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Bolivian Catholics gather to pray for constitutional assembly
LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- Catholics throughout Bolivia gathered for a day of prayer for the assembly drafting a new constitution for the Andean nation. "This is a major task and it requires serious consideration," Cardinal Julio Terrazas Sandoval of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, said, announcing the July 27 day of prayer. "We can't think about justice and truth without turning to God." The church is calling for all Catholics to pray "that the country find the road to true development, and that the assembly have the wisdom to draft a constitution that includes everyone, that respects the dignity of all, and that truly puts the country's goods at the service of all, especially those who in greatest need," Cardinal Terrazas told Catholic News Service July 27. "It has to be a constitution that encourages people to share, that encourages the practice of justice, that ensures that the country's enormous natural wealth is at the service of all and not just the privilege of a few," the cardinal said.
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PEOPLE
Papal secretary says Christian identity of Europe must be protected
MUNICH, Germany (CNS) -- While Christians respect Islam and desire to dialogue with Muslims, they must act to protect the Christian identity of Europe, said Pope Benedict XVI's private secretary, Msgr. Georg Ganswein. A long interview with Msgr. Ganswein appeared in the July 27 edition of Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, published in Munich. The interview was conducted by Peter Seewald, the same journalist responsible for the book-length interviews, "Salt of the Earth" and "God and the World," with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict. The interview with the pope's secretary covered everything from how the pope looked immediately after his election -- "his face was as white as his soutane" -- to the pope's concerns about the state of most Catholics' faith. Seewald asked Msgr. Ganswein about Pope Benedict's September 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany, and its criticism of violent trends within Islam. "I believe the Regensburg speech was prophetic," Msgr. Ganswein said, because it countered a "certain naivete" among people who do not recognize that various currents exist within Islam.
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Bishop Pelotte hospitalized for injuries sustained in a fall
GALLUP, N.M. (CNS) -- Surgery for Bishop Donald E. Pelotte of Gallup to repair facial injuries he sustained in a fall at his home was postponed as he healed at a Phoenix hospital, diocesan statements said July 26. Bishop Pelotte, 62, was discovered at his home with the injuries July 23, when a member of the diocesan staff went to check on him after the bishop did not keep scheduled meetings that morning. One of a pair of statements issued by the diocese July 26 said Father James E. Walker, vicar general, had assumed administration of the diocese for the time being. Father Walker said the bishop is making progress and that the postponement of surgery was a good sign. "Every day he seems to be improving, even over this short time span," said Father Walker in a statement. Dot Teso, director of the Catholic People's Foundation, the diocese's development arm, told Catholic News Service in phone interviews that, although Bishop Pelotte has been in intensive care at John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital, he has been conscious. She said the diocesan staff was told that the bishop's prognosis for full recovery was good.
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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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