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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jan-23-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Youths fill Washington sports arena for pro-life rally, Mass
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A sea of color met the eye at the Verizon Center sports arena in Washington Jan. 22 as more than 20,000 young people from around the country filled all the seats for the annual Rally for Life and Youth Mass, celebrated by Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl. Numerous cardinals, bishops, rectors and priests from near and far also concelebrated the Mass, standing on the platform -- set up like a stage -- on the floor of the Verizon Center. Occupying the center seats were rows of seminarians dressed in black. In addition to the traditional rally and Mass, youths attending this year received a special surprise: a personal message from Pope Benedict XVI, read by the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi. In the message, the pope expressed his gratitude for the youths' commitment to life and said he looked forward to his visit to the United States. He will be in Washington April 15-17 and in New York April 18-20.
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Pro-life events held around U.S. show ongoing opposition to abortion
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pro-life activities in California, Washington, Pennsylvania, Illinois and the District of Columbia, among other places, highlighted the continuing opposition in the United States to legalized abortion. San Francisco's fourth annual Walk for Life West Coast Jan. 19 drew thousands of people. Among the participants were Bishop Tod D. Brown of Orange, Calif., who concelebrated a Mass with several other West Coast bishops at St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in San Francisco; Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life; actor Eduardo Verastegui, star of the movie "Bella"; and Alveda King, niece of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. On Jan. 20, more than 700 gathered in St. Joseph Cathedral in San Diego for a prayer and procession against abortion, led by San Diego Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Cordileone. The procession stretched out for three city blocks. Thomas McKenna, president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, which organized the event, called it a "procession of reparation" to decry the Jan. 22, 1973, Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that legalized abortion.
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Catholic health care to remain in Newark under comprehensive plan
NEWARK, N.J. (CNS) -- In a move that Newark Archbishop John J. Myers said would ensure that "the Catholic mission of providing necessary care for the poor will continue" in Newark, the three-hospital Cathedral Healthcare System will affiliate with Catholic Health East. The archdiocese is the religious sponsor of the three Catholic hospitals, but Cathedral Healthcare System operates as a separate corporation. Under the plan, unveiled Jan. 10, acute-care services at St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark will be expanded, while those at Columbus Hospital and St. James Hospital will be phased out. "Financial projections show that, without implementation of the plan, all three of our hospitals will fail by mid-March," said Msgr. Ronald J. Rozniak, chairman and CEO of Cathedral Healthcare System. "Cathedral simply cannot overcome the tremendous financial hurdles it now faces. Our operating model, which values the availability of 'neighborhood-level' acute care, served the community well for most of the past 140 years, but a variety of changes in recent decades now make the model fundamentally unsupportable," he added.
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People's anti-immigrant bias comes from not knowing them, says priest
LAREDO, Texas (CNS) -- People are biased against immigrants because they don't know them, said the director of a migrant shelter in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. "If you know them, it changes you. It touches your heart," said Father Francisco Pellizari, a Scalabrinian priest, who directs Casa del Migrante Nazareth in the border city. He made his comments in an interview with the South Texas Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, after the Jan. 13 Day of the Migrant ("Dia del Migrante") Mass celebrated by Mexican and Texan bishops who lead border dioceses. Casa del Migrante workers and volunteers helped coordinate the liturgy, held on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and attended by about 400 Catholics from both sides of the border. "The church is a family without borders," Bishop Ricardo Watty Urquidi of Nuevo Laredo said in his homily during the Mass. He said that by virtue of baptism "we have a gift to serve the needy, the poorest. Unfortunately there are more today than at any other time." Bishop Watty and the other border bishops met the previous day to discuss common concerns, and immigration issues topped their list.
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WORLD
Pope says in praying for unity Christians identify cost of divisions
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In praying for Christian unity, those who follow Jesus recognize their divisions prevent others from believing in the Gospel message of peace, love and salvation, Pope Benedict XVI said. "In common prayer, Christian communities place themselves together before the Lord and, becoming aware of the contradictions arising from their divisions, they demonstrate their desire to obey his will, relying on his almighty assistance," the pope said Jan. 23 at his weekly general audience. As is customary during the Jan. 18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the pope dedicated his entire audience talk to ecumenism. Pope Benedict said that common prayer is not a strategy for publicizing the need for Christian unity, "but is an expression of the faith that unites all the disciples of Christ," who had prayed that his followers would be one. "It is the awareness of our human limits that leads us to abandon ourselves with trust into the hands of the Lord," he said.
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British archbishop denounces defeat of reproduction amendments
LONDON (CNS) -- A British Catholic archbishop has denounced the defeat of an attempt to stop late-term abortions for minor disabilities. Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, Wales, also criticized the House of Lords' rejection of an amendment to uphold the obligation of fertility doctors to consider a child's need for a father when providing in vitro fertilization. "Both amendments sought to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our society," said Archbishop Smith in a Jan. 22 statement to Catholic News Service. "Their rejection by the House of Lords once again raises profound issues about the way we as a society treat human life," said Archbishop Smith, chairman of the Department of Christian Responsibility and Citizenship of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He urged Catholics and other people of good will to write to their elected representatives to express "our deep concerns about these issues."
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Pope says youths are not being well educated in values of life
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a letter to the faithful of the Diocese of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI said today's younger generations are not being well educated in the fundamental values of life. The result is an "educational emergency" that has left many young people unhappy and disoriented, he said. The letter was made public at the Vatican Jan. 23. The papal text touched on a sensitive issue in Italy, where the school system has been the focus of political battles and student protests in recent years. "Educating has never been easy, and today it seems to be increasingly difficult. This is well known to parents, teachers, priests and all those who have direct educational responsibilities," the pope said. It's unfair to blame the children, but blaming today's adults doesn't tell the whole story either, he said. The problem involves the personal responsibilities of young people and adults, but goes beyond that, he said. At the root of the problem, he said, is "a widespread atmosphere, a mentality and a form of culture that lead people to doubt the value of the human person, and the very meaning of truth and goodness."
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Vatican official says governments, church must work to help Gypsies
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Governments and the Catholic Church need to work together to help lift Gypsies out of a life of poverty and discrimination, a Vatican official said. International organizations and governments must respect the rights and dignity of the world's Gypsies, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, told participants of a European conference on Roma Gypsies. The term Gypsies is often used to identify the various communities that refer to themselves as Roma, Sinti, Manouches, Kale, Gitans and Yeniches. Nations must also make a commitment "to eradicate still widespread episodes of racism and xenophobia which lead to discrimination in (Gypsies') gaining employment, housing and having access to an education," he said in a Jan. 23 speech. The council sent Catholic News Service a copy of the address. The Italian government's Ministry of the Interior sponsored the Jan. 22-23 conference in Rome, which brought together government leaders, scholars and church representatives.
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PEOPLE
Bishop apologizes for purchase problems, covers costs with donation
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (CNS) -- The bishop of Belleville, under pressure from his diocesan finance council over some expenditures, issued an apology Jan. 22 and said the costs being questioned would be covered by an anonymous donor. The statement by Bishop Edward K. Braxton briefly explained his reasoning for using certain funds to buy furniture for the pastoral center and vestments for the cathedral and apologized for anything he did to contribute to "the confusion, mistrust, misunderstanding, loss of confidence and even anger caused by these developments." The finance council had questioned the purchases in a letter copied to the Vatican nuncio in the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi. Several priests who are members of the finance council or the priests' council have been openly critical of how Bishop Braxton handled the purchases and the disagreement has been widely covered by area news media. At issue were the bishop's purchase last year of a conference table and chairs for a meeting room at the chancery at a cost of $10,100, and five sets of vestments bought for the Cathedral of St. Peter at a cost of about $8,000.
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Pro-life marchers come on foot, by car and bus -- and motorcycle
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Some came to the 35th annual March for Life on Harley-Davidsons. Others came on foot, on the Metro subway system, in cars or on a bus that broke down at least once on the journey to Washington. They came riding in wheelchairs and pushing strollers. But all the marchers came with the same hope -- to end abortion in the United States. Tens of thousands of people flooded the National Mall as they rallied Jan. 22 in preparation for a march in the biting cold down Constitution Avenue toward the Supreme Court. Marchers of nearly every age, gender and religion carried signs protesting abortion. Some pro-life advocates prayed the rosary or chanted slogans. Liz Ankney, a Catholic from Ohio, said when she first came to the march in 1995 a speaker inspired her to "go home and bring the children." So she did. Ankney brought two buses and came with 100 people from her parish. Ankney attended the march this year in a wheelchair, but she still came because it is the "best thing we can do for all the unborn babies."
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