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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Oct-10-2007
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Catholic Charities counselors offer help after Wisconsin shootings
CRANDON, Wis. (CNS) -- Following a shooting rampage in Crandon that left six victims and the gunman dead, a crisis team of mental health counselors from Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay headed to St. Joseph Parish in Crandon. "We hope to use the parish as a base to assist the staff there," said Karen Johnston, director of diocesan Catholic Charities, "and reach out to families who may wish to share their grief." The shootings early Oct. 7 came after Crandon High School's homecoming. The six victims -- all students or graduates of Crandon High School -- were shot by 20-year-old Tyler Peterson, an off-duty Forest County sheriff's deputy and part-time Crandon police officer. Peterson, also a Crandon High graduate, admitted to the shootings while speaking to the Forest County district attorney before he died in a shootout with police in Argonne on the afternoon of Oct. 7. How he died was still being investigated.
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Blessed Mother Teresa's niece shares stories of famed nun's youth
LATROBE, Pa. (CNS) -- Blessed Mother Teresa's niece told an audience at St. Vincent College in Latrobe Oct. 6 that she remembers her father, Lazar, telling stories about growing up with the older sister who would become the famous nun. "He was the only boy in the family and he was very naughty," said Agi Bojaxhiu of Italy. "Mother Teresa tried to protect him when he got in trouble." Their mother, who raised the family alone after her husband died, was very strict, according to Bojaxhiu. "Sometimes when she punished Lazar by sending him to bed without dinner, his doting sister would save half of her food and smuggle it to him," she said. "She would do his homework for him, too." Mother Teresa, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu into an ethnic Albanian family in Skopje, in present-day Macedonia. She died in 1997 and was beatified in 2003. Her niece was one of four relatives and friends who shared stories about her at an evening panel discussion during an Oct. 5-7 conference titled "Remembrances of Mother Teresa of Calcutta by Her Family and Friends."
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Deacon candidate says finding Alaskan Byzantine church a homecoming
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNS) -- When Stephen Vrabel discovered St. Nicholas of Myra Ruthenian Byzantine Church in Anchorage, it was a homecoming, one that he said has brought him deeply into the heart of his Catholic faith. Now studying to be a deacon, Vrabel and the rest of the St. Nicholas community, led by Father Michael Hornick, parish administrator, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Byzantine Catholic Church in Alaska in September. The rustic church building with its stunning lighted dome is something of a well-kept secret. If a stranger were to visit St. Nicholas of Myra, he might mistake it for an Orthodox church. The interior is covered in icons with sparkling chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. While Eastern Catholic churches such as this one have maintained the liturgical and spiritual heritage they share with the Orthodox churches, they are fully in union with Rome. St. Nicholas of Myra, with about 45 families, is the only Eastern-rite parish in Alaska. On its Web site, parishioners boast that "Alaska is our parish -- all 586,412 square miles of it."
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Study finds South is the most charitable region, Northeast the least
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Americans in the South contributed a far greater portion of their incomes to charity than those in the Northeast in 2005, according to a new book on church giving. And when the calculations of charitable giving are limited to those made to churches and religious organizations, the average annual expenditures by Southern households in 2005 was nearly twice that of households in the Northeast. "The State of Church Giving Through 2005," which was to be published Oct. 15, is the latest in a series of analyses produced by Empty Tomb, an Illinois church stewardship research and consulting company. Husband and wife researchers John and Sylvia Ronsvalle analyzed data on charitable giving from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey 2005, which put total charitable giving by Americans that year at $114.86 billion. Looking at charitable contributions as a percentage of after-tax income, the researchers found that Southerners gave 2.1 percent of their available income to charity, those in the Midwest 2 percent, those in the West 1.5 percent and those in the Northeast 1.2 percent.
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Minnesota college seminary's enrollment is nation's largest
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- St. John Vianney Seminary in St. Paul has increased its housing, its staff and what it demands of students. And the men keep coming. The seminary's enrollment is at an all-time high, with 154 men from 28 dioceses, making it the largest college seminary enrollment in the United States. It has more than doubled in size in the last six years. Students at college seminaries are typically in their late teens and early 20s, studying for a bachelor's degree and gaining background in philosophy. This precedes a major seminary, which is where seminarians study theology and work toward ordination. Not all of those in major seminaries have attended a college seminary. "There is a strong heroic sense of calling among these young men," said Father William Baer, St. John Vianney's rector since 1998. "They have a love for the church and the Catholic faith that strikes them as a mission, a battle, an adventure."
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WORLD
Pope asks for prayers after Russian Orthodox walk out of dialogue
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI asked for prayers for participants in the Catholic-Orthodox international theological dialogue after the Russian Orthodox delegation walked out of the meeting. "I ask you to join me in praying that this important meeting will help the journey toward full communion between Catholics and Orthodox and that we could soon share the same chalice of the Lord," the pope said Oct. 10 during his weekly general audience. Members of the dialogue commission were meeting Oct. 8-15 in Ravenna, Italy, to continue work begun a year ago on a document on the sacramental nature of the church and its consequences for the structure of the church and church decision-making. During a separate meeting of the Orthodox delegations, Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria told the other Orthodox delegates that his delegation would leave the meeting if they did not ask the Estonian Orthodox delegation to leave. The Russian Orthodox Church does not recognize the Estonian Apostolic Church, which is tied to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, said a statement by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church believes the Orthodox in Estonia fall under its jurisdiction, not that of the ecumenical patriarchate.
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Vatican official denounces military spending, depleted health care
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Funneling resources toward military spending rather than providing basic health care to all citizens is making an already "sad landscape" even bleaker, a top Vatican official told the U.N. General Assembly. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations, said Oct. 9 that the world community "seems to have been losing focus on the need to ensure the right to basic health care for all," although studies have shown even simple medical prevention can effectively and successfully improve the health and stability of society. The Vatican released a copy of his text Oct. 10. Archbishop Migliore said that "primary care is often neglected or replaced by more selective and even culturally divisive methods of health care." He said that "a saner health policy" would cover basic health care needs for all members of society and would help nations achieve some of the Millennium Development Goals, which include setting targets for reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating deadly diseases worldwide by 2015.
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Because of Jesus' divinity, all humans can be saved, says pope
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Because God became human in Jesus Christ, all humans can be saved, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Christ is our savior precisely because he is true God and true man," he said Oct. 10 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square. Continuing a series of audience talks about early church theologians, Pope Benedict focused his remarks on St. Hilary of Poitiers, a fourth-century doctor of the church and strong defender of the church teaching that Christ was both fully human and fully divine. St. Hilary taught that Christ, who came from perfection, "is perfection," the pope said. "Assuming a human nature, the Son of God united every human being to himself." Pope Benedict said, "Because of this, the path toward Christ is open to everyone."
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Vatican secretary of state to visit Cuba early in 2008
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's secretary of state will visit Cuba early next year. Vatican sources confirmed that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone would travel to the communist island nation and possibly pay a visit to its ailing leader, Fidel Castro. Though it will be the first time he visits Cuba as the Vatican's No. 2 official, Cardinal Bertone traveled there and met with Castro in 2005 when he was the archbishop of Genoa, Italy. While Vatican sources did not have definitive dates for the cardinal's trip, other than occurring "at the beginning of the year," news agencies predicted the visit might coincide with the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's Jan. 21-25, 1998, pilgrimage to Cuba. In his 2005 meeting with Cardinal Bertone, Castro paid tribute to the late pope as a "prophet of peace" and said he was favorably impressed by Pope Benedict XVI. Castro said Pope Benedict had the face of "a good angel" and would be welcome to visit Cuba, according to Cardinal Bertone.
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Argentine priest gets life sentence for crimes during 'dirty war'
LA PLATA, Argentina (CNS) -- The first Catholic priest in Argentina to face charges of human rights violations committed during the country's military dictatorship was given a life sentence. The historic ruling is expected to set a legal precedent and push the church into the spotlight for its alleged role in the country's 1976-1983 "dirty war." Father Christian von Wernich, 67, was found guilty of collaborating in seven murders, 31 cases of torture and 42 kidnappings during his time as police chaplain in clandestine detention centers in Buenos Aires during the dictatorship. He also was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. The verdict was met by a roar of delight inside the courtroom Oct. 9. Thousands of human rights activists who had gathered outside the court for the verdict set off fireworks and burned an effigy in celebration. "Today, the complicity of the church is being brought to justice," said Taty Almeyda, one of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who have lobbied for 30 years in the name of their missing children.
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Turkish court upholds prison sentence for Muslim teen who shot priest
ANKARA, Turkey (CNS) -- Turkey's high court of appeals has upheld the prison sentence of a Muslim teenager who shot an Italian priest in Turkey. Turkish newspapers reported that the Oct. 4 ruling, which maintained 16-year-old Oguzhan Akdin's original prison sentence of 18 years and 10 months, would end further police investigations into Father Andrea Santoro's death. Akdin was arrested Feb. 5, 2006, a few hours after killing 60-year-old Father Santoro, who had worked for six years in Trabzon on the Black Sea. Eyewitnesses said the teenager shouted "Allahu akbar" ("Allah is great") before shooting the priest in the back while he knelt in prayer in church. Akdin told police he had been outraged by cartoons lampooning Islam's prophet Mohammed in European newspapers. The cartoons sparked anti-Christian protests in Turkey, most of whose 67 million inhabitants are Sunni Muslims.
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French Catholic bishops denounce proposed immigration reforms
PARIS (CNS) -- France's Catholic bishops have denounced proposed immigration amendments that would allow the collection of ethnic data and introduce DNA testing for migrants seeking to join family members in the country. "Christians should refuse in principle to choose" between those migrants living illegally, or in secret, and those in the open, "or between citizens who carry papers and those without," the bishops said in a statement. "Whoever they are, they are our brothers and sisters in humanity." The Oct. 1 statement was published as lawmakers debated controversial amendments to France's 2006 immigration law. The bishops welcomed parliamentary opposition to the proposed use of genetic tests, saying they risked "a grave disregard for the sense of the person and the dignity of the family." During April 2006 talks with church leaders, now-President Nicolas Sarkozy, who campaigned for tighter curbs before his May election, promised to listen to the church's viewpoint, the bishops added.
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PEOPLE
Mercy sister, Mexican American Cultural Center win Flores award
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Mexican American Cultural Center and Mercy Sister Maria Elena Gonzalez, both of San Antonio, have been selected as the latest recipients of the Archbishop Patrick F. Flores Award Medal for Leadership in Hispanic Ministry. The award, conferred by the U.S. bishops' Committee on Hispanic Affairs and announced in Washington, will be given to the winners at a Nov. 11 ceremony in Baltimore during the committee's meeting, which coincides with the U.S. bishops' fall general meeting. Sister Gonzalez recently stepped down after 14 years as president of the Mexican American Cultural Center. She also was the first woman chancellor for the Diocese of Lubbock, Texas, and one of the first U.S. women diocesan chancellors. She also served for eight years as a consultant to the bishops' Hispanic affairs committee. She also has served on the Sisters of Mercy's leadership team, has been a missionary to Guatemala, and served on the Census Bureau's race and ethnicity committee for the 2000 Census.
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Smithsonian museum pays tribute to retired Notre Dame president
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a tribute to Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh, president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Oct. 9 described him as a "great historical figure" and a good friend. Rice was one of several dignitaries to attend an event marking the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery's acceptance of a photograph of Father Hesburgh clasping hands with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during a 1964 civil rights rally in Chicago. Rice, who received a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame, said "Father Ted," as she called him, spent most of his time on campus talking with students and was "rarely in the office." Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, the current president of Notre Dame, said the photograph of Father Hesburgh shows what the priest's life was really like. "He was always willing to join with others for what was good and just and right," he said. Father Hesburgh was Notre Dame's president from 1952 until 1987.
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U.S.-born archbishop, nuncio to Australia, dies in Miami Beach
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- U.S.-born Archbishop Ambrose De Paoli, the Vatican nuncio to Australia, died Oct. 10 in the intensive care ward of Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla., the Vatican newspaper said. The newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the 73-year-old archbishop had been diagnosed with leukemia in March 2005. "Despite the treatments he underwent, he was physically very debilitated in the last few weeks" and doctors recommended that he return to the Archdiocese of Miami, where he was incardinated, it said. The newspaper said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, sent Archbishop De Paoli a message in late August, assuring the archbishop of his prayers and those of Pope Benedict XVI, "asking the Lord to grant him serenity, comfort and strength." The archbishop sent a brief message to the Vatican Oct. 6, "expressing his devotion and his gratitude to the Holy Father," the newspaper said. Born Aug. 19, 1934, in Jeannette, Pa., he was ordained to the priesthood for the then-Diocese of Miami in 1960. He entered the Vatican's diplomatic corps in 1966.
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Sainthood cause formally opened for Oklahoma priest slain in 1981
OKARCHE, Okla. (CNS) -- Inside Okarche's Holy Trinity Catholic Church, the same church where Stanley Rother was baptized two days after his birth on March 27, 1935, Oklahoma Catholics gathered Oct. 5 to celebrate the Eucharist and to again pray for the canonization of the beloved priest they believe was martyred for the faith. They witnessed the formal start of the sainthood cause for Father Stanley Francis Rother, a priest of the Oklahoma City Archdiocese who was brutally murdered in 1981 in the Guatemalan village where he ministered to the poor. "This is the very first time in history that a canonization process has been initiated here in Oklahoma," said Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran of Oklahoma City. "It is my hope and my prayer that almighty God will bring to a happy conclusion this good work which he has begun in us." Archbishop Beltran commissioned a canonization committee and named Deacon Norman Mejstrik, a parishioner at St. Philip Neri Church in Midwest City, as its coordinator. Carol Davito has been named assistant coordinator.
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Pope names two Nobel laureates to Pontifical Academy of Sciences
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI named as members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences two Nobel laureates, including a Taiwanese professor and researcher. Yuan Tseh Lee, 70, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1986 while he was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. The other new member, Klaus von Klitzing, 64, is currently a professor of physics at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany. The Vatican announced the appointments Oct. 9. Born in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Lee moved to the United States in 1962 after receiving university degrees in Taiwan. In addition to teaching and conducting research at Berkeley, he also taught at the James Franck Institute of the University of Chicago. Lee's work developing a "crossed-molecular beams" laboratory technique aided scientists in understanding elementary chemical reactions and led to his winning the Nobel Prize. He returned to Taiwan in 1994 to head the island's national academy, Academia Sinica, of which he is currently a distinguished research fellow. Von Klitzing, a native of Germany, received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1985 for his discovery of the integer quantum Hall effect, which helped scientists make extremely accurate measurements of electrical resistance.
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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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