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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Nov-15-2007
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Archbishop Wuerl hopes pope's visit will energize people's faith
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl said he hopes Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the nation's capital next spring will deepen the faith of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington and give them new energy. "Personally, I'm thrilled that he will be here and be with all of us," he said. "There is so much renewal going on, among our young people, in the whole church," he said. "His visit will be a reaffirmation of that. But also I'd like to think it's going to be a way of just re-energizing us." He said he believes the emphasis of the pope's trip will be "on the renewal of the faith life of the church." Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, announced the pontiff's April 15-20 visit to Washington and New York -- billed as an "Apostolic Visit to the United States of America and to the Seat of the United Nations" -- at the Nov. 12 opening session of the U.S. bishops' national meeting in Baltimore. Shortly after the nuncio spoke, the archbishop told the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Washington Archdiocese, that the visit "will be an opportunity for all of us in the church in Washington to show the Holy Father our affection, to show him our profound loyalty, but also to demonstrate to him how alive the church in Washington is, how profoundly faith-filled the church is."
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Document offers publishers guidance on teaching about human sexuality
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- With no public discussion, the U.S. Catholic bishops Nov. 14 adopted a document offering guidance to publishers of textbooks on human sexuality for grades kindergarten through 12. In a vote of 212-3, with one abstention, the bishops adopted "Catechetical Formation in Chaste Living: Guidelines for Curriculum and Publication Design." Since 2003 the Committee on Catechesis has been working to provide resource to publishers that focuses on Catholic faith and morals as well as virtues for chaste living. The introduction notes that the document follows the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the publication of the General Directory for Catechesis, the National Directory for Catechesis and the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults. By issuing the guidelines, the bishops seek "to call each baptized person to reflect upon and cherish his or her dignity and that of other persons as made in the image and likeness of God," and to help them "embrace joyfully" the call "to love and live chastely either as a married or celibate person," the 21-page document says.
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WORLD
Australian racecourse cleared for use for events at World Youth Day
SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- A dispute that threatened the use of Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney as a World Youth Day venue has been resolved with the announcement that the Australian and New South Wales governments will disperse a $30 million (US$26.7 million) taxpayer-funded compensation package to the affected parties. Under the terms of the agreement announced Nov. 15, an additional $10 million (US$8.9 million) will be set aside in a contingency fund in case the racecourse is so trashed that it cannot be used for the 2008 racing carnival, which this year had to be canceled due to the outbreak of the highly contagious equine influenza. The 700 thoroughbred horses and their trainers at Randwick will be relocated to Warwick Farm and Rosehill racecourses in western Sydney for a 10-week period to coincide with the preparation and staging of the World Youth Day vigil and closing Mass at Randwick July 19-20. Up to half a million people are expected to attend the closing Mass, which will be celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.
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Church in Nepal worried about political uncertainty, says bishop
KATMANDU, Nepal (CNS) -- The bishop of Nepal said Catholic officials are worried about the political uncertainty gripping the Himalayan nation as it transitions to a democracy. "We do not know what will happen now and where the country is heading," Bishop Anthony Sharma told an international gathering of Catholic journalists in Nepal Nov. 15. "Everyone is confused," Bishop Sharma said at a program organized by the Geneva-based International Catholic Union of the Press. The event was attended by 20 delegates from Bangladesh, Germany, India, Nepal and Switzerland. In October, the interim government led by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala postponed Nov. 22 elections for a constituent assembly, which would draft a new constitution for Nepal. The election's postponement came under pressure from Maoists who insisted on a declaration abolishing the monarchy before the elections, but the interim government said it did not have the constitutional mandate to make such a decision.
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In New Delhi, Syro-Malabar Catholics must attend Mass at Hindu temple
NEW DELHI (CNS) -- An Indian church official said he was "embarrassed" by the celebration of Sunday Mass in a hall attached to a Hindu temple in New Delhi due to a dispute among the Catholic rites. Members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church have attended Sunday Mass at the Hindu facilities since Sept. 23. Syro-Malabar spokesmen said officials at the Latin-rite St. Michael's Parish refused permission for continuation of the Eastern-rite liturgies there after the Delhi Archdiocese erected a new parish for the Syro-Malabar community. Father George Manimala, vicar of the archdiocese in charge of Syro-Malabar parishes, told Catholic News Service that the developments have been "an embarrassment for the church." Bishop Thomas Dabre of Vasai, secretary-general of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, which serves Latin-rite bishops in India, said, "It is sad that such a thing has happened. This is a counterwitness to Christian unity."
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Church in Chile collects funds to help victims of earthquake
SANTIAGO, Chile (CNS) -- The Catholic Church has begun collecting funds for the more than 15,000 people left homeless after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake rocked the desert and mining region of Antofagasta, 760 miles north of the capital, Santiago. The Archdiocese of Antofagasta, through the regional Caritas office, was coordinating with local parishes and the national offices of Caritas Chile to mount a nationwide fundraising campaign for victims of the earthquake. Two women died and 161 people were injured -- 11 seriously -- while nearly 4,000 homes were severely damaged or lay practically flat on the ground after the Nov. 14 quake. Most of the damaged homes were made of adobe. "People have not only lost their homes, but also many of their belongings, from furniture to kitchen utensils. But to save the costs and complications of transporting donated goods, we are calling on people to donate money that we can convert into bedsheets, chairs, pots and pans, etc.," said Luis Gonzalez Pizarro, director of Caritas Antofagasta.
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PEOPLE
Stars, fans attend Goulet funeral service at Nevada Catholic church
LAS VEGAS (CNS) -- Stars and fans alike turned out to remember singer-actor Robert Goulet at a funeral service for him at the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer in Las Vegas Nov. 9. News reports said mourners filled about half of the 2,200 seats in what is the largest Catholic church in Nevada. The Reno Gazette-Journal daily newspaper reported the service included "Goulet's signature song, 'If Ever I Would Leave You,' as well as farewell poems Goulet wrote before his death." Goulet, whose rich baritone voice made him an instant success when he played Lancelot in the original 1960 Broadway hit "Camelot," died Oct. 30 in a Los Angeles hospital of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was awaiting a lung transplant. He was 73. His long career as a singer and an actor encompassed theater, radio, television and film. He was a winner of Grammy and Tony awards. Goulet, who was raised a Catholic, and his wife of 25 years, Vera, lived in Las Vegas. Besides his wife he is survived by two sons, a daughter and two grandchildren. His first two marriages ended in divorce.
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Rwandan says God saved her from genocide to be witness to forgiveness
MARYKNOLL, N.Y. (CNS) -- Dativa Nyangezi Ngaboyisonga, 34, believes that she survived the 1994 killings in Rwanda that claimed the lives of 800,000 of her countrymen because God wanted her to be a living witness to the power of forgiveness. "Death skipped over me five separate times during the genocide. I thought my time was up, but here I am doing what God has spared me for," she said Nov. 13. She is now superintendent of Rwanda's Kigali Central Prison, where one-third of the inmates are serving time for participating in the genocide. Ngaboyisonga spoke at Maryknoll headquarters during a 10-day trip to visit prisons in New York. Joining her at Maryknoll were Father Ron Lemmert, a New York archdiocesan priest and a chaplain at Sing Sing state prison in Ossining, who was one of three prison chaplains who visited Rwanda in July, and the Rev. Petero Sabune, an Episcopal chaplain at Sing Sing.
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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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