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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Feb-6-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Davenport Diocese files reorganization plan in bankruptcy court
DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNS) -- Fifteen months after the Diocese of Davenport filed for bankruptcy, it submitted a reorganization plan with the committee that represents most of its creditors -- 156 survivors of clergy sexual abuse. The proposal, filed Jan. 31 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Iowa after months of arduous negotiations, could be confirmed later this spring, said Dick Davidson, the diocese's bankruptcy attorney. At a March 5 hearing, Judge Lee Jackwig will consider approval of the diocese's disclosure statement. The 73-page document provides a summary of the 84-page reorganization plan, which outlines the process for distributing a $37 million settlement among creditors and identifies 17 nonmonetary measures the diocese will take to foster healing and to prevent abuse in the future. In a letter read at Masses Feb. 2-3 throughout the diocese, Davenport Bishop Martin J. Amos observed: "This part of our journey will take place during Lent and Easter ... and I believe that together we will emerge strengthened by the celebration of the joy of the risen Lord."
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Archbishop Burke speaks out on coach, conscience, Catholic identity
ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- People who represent Catholic institutions have an obligation to "show respect for the teachings of the church" and not to take public positions contrary to those teachings, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of St. Louis said in an interview with his archdiocesan newspaper. In the interview with St. Louis Review staff writer Jennifer Brinker, published in the newspaper's Feb. 1 edition, the archbishop discussed comments in favor of abortion and stem-cell research made by Rick Majerus, the men's basketball coach at Jesuit-run St. Louis University. "Here is someone who makes a point to identify himself as a Catholic and then takes positions that are contrary to some of the most sacred teachings of the church -- teachings with regard to the inviolable dignity of every human life from the moment of its beginning," Archbishop Burke said of Majerus. During an impromptu television interview Jan. 19 at a political rally for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in St. Louis, Majerus told a reporter for KMOV-TV that he was "pro-choice, personally" and "very much an advocate for stem-cell research," although he did not specifically mention embryonic stem-cell research. He also identified himself as a Catholic.
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After years of persecution, Karen people find new life in Connecticut
HARTFORD, Conn. (CNS) -- They are a long way from their ancestral home in the hills of Myanmar, but the Karen people seem to be adapting surprisingly well to their new life in Connecticut, according to a local Catholic resettlement official. "I thought it would be difficult for them," said Judith Gough, director of Migration and Refugee Services for Catholic Charities, one of the resettlement agencies specified by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to help them. They have only been in the state for a few months. They're just beginning to learn English, although many of them seem to have already mastered such basics as "hello" and "thank you." "They're the most beautiful people I've ever met," Gough said. Driven out of their native country, formerly called Burma, and then forced to leave refugee camps in Thailand, they have perhaps finally found a home where they will be allowed to live in peace and to maintain their culture and faith. The Karen (pronounced kuh-REN) have suffered persecution because of their religious beliefs; most are Christians, primarily Catholics and Lutherans.
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WORLD
Pope appeals for end to violence in Chad
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI appealed for an end to violence in Chad and for dialogue to replace the use of arms. He asked people to join him in prayers for "these brothers and sisters who suffer, asking that they may be spared further violence and that needed humanitarian aid be guaranteed." The pope made his appeal at the end of his Feb. 6 general audience in the Vatican's Paul VI hall. Intense fighting broke out between rebel forces and government troops in Chad's capital of N'Djamena Feb. 2. The two-day battle left hundreds of people dead, up to 1,000 others wounded and more than 23,000 people displaced, according to local aid workers. Rebels, who have agreed to a cease-fire, want to overthrow the country's president, whom they say has had a violent and corrupt regime.
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Pope says Lent is time of conversion, return to God
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Lent is a time to return to God's loving embrace and to remember that true happiness can only come from being a friend of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI said. The Lenten journey is a time of conversion which means "letting oneself be overcome by Jesus and with him return to the Father," the pope said during his weekly general audience Feb. 6, Ash Wednesday. "When modern man declares his total independence from God, he becomes a slave to himself, and often he finds himself inconsolably lonely," Pope Benedict said. "Striving for success, yearning for prestige and the quest for comfort -- when these completely absorb one's life" to the point of neglecting God, happiness does not ensue, said the pope. He said experience has shown that having one's expectations and needs fulfilled is not what brings contentment. "In reality, the only joy that makes the human heart overflow is that which comes from God" because humanity thirsts for a joy that is infinite and resistant to being quashed by daily worries, he said.
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Irish bishop: Rich countries must pay for effects of global warming
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- Carbon taxes in the world's richest countries should be used to ameliorate the effects of global warming in the world's poorest countries, said an Irish bishop. "Climate change is undermining the fight against poverty," said Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert, chairman of the Irish bishops' overseas aid agency, Trocaire. "Developing countries haven't caused global warming, but the world's poorest people are left to cope with the consequences for three reasons: They live in areas that are seeing the biggest impact of global warming, they depend heavily on the weather for their livelihoods, and they are already living in poverty, therefore they are less able to cope with the impacts of these climate changes." At a Feb. 5 press conference launching Trocaire's Lenten fundraising campaign, Bishop Kirby said he wants a significant share of carbon-tax revenues to go to the newly developed U.N. Adaptation Fund, created to help poorer countries adapt to climate-change threats.
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Hope without prayer is illusion, pope says at Ash Wednesday Mass
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Hope that is not accompanied by prayerful dialogue with God is just mere illusion and an escape from reality, Pope Benedict XVI said during a Mass to mark the beginning of Lent. Prayer also nourishes hope, he said, "because nothing other than praying with faith expresses the reality of God (being) in our life." Pope Benedict, dressed in the purple vestments of the Lenten season, celebrated an Ash Wednesday Mass Feb. 6 at Rome's Basilica of Santa Sabina. The liturgy began with a procession from the nearby Church of St. Anselm on the Aventine Hill. The pope placed ashes on a long line of cardinals, bishops, monks and lay faithful, tracing a cross on the top of the head according to the Ash Wednesday custom in Italy. In his homily, the pope focused on the importance of prayer and sacrifice during Lent.
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Locals, tourists, famous singers flock to Panama's Black Christ
PORTOBELO, Panama (CNS) -- His face is dark brown like coffee. His lips and nose are thin and delicate like the Amhara people of Ethiopia. His wooden body is detailed and strong, hewn by a forgotten Spanish sculptor thousands of miles from the sweltering Caribbean village where he now rests. Known as the "Black Christ of Portobelo," the 17th-century statue of an African-looking Jesus has become a year-round tourist attraction and the destination of pilgrimages for tens of thousands of Latin Americans of African descent. As transportation has improved in recent years, more and more people swarm to the annual gatherings every Oct. 21, the date the Black Christ, or Nazarene, was believed to have washed ashore. The Black Christ, warmly call "Naza" by local residents, also attracts a broad section of other people from across the continent who believe a visit will heal them or create a miracle. Among the more unusual visitors are Hindus from Panama's small Indian community. Many believe a local Hindu girl was cured of a dangerous disease several decades ago after visiting the statue.
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PEOPLE
Rhode Island priest's podcasts popular with Catholics, non-Catholics
TIVERTON, R.I. (CNS) -- Thanks to the Internet and modern technology, people around the globe can now hear the words of a Rhode Island priest aimed at inspiring his listeners. Father Jay Finelli, pastor of Holy Ghost Church in Tiverton, began recording Catholic-themed podcasts -- an Internet form of a radio show -- in 2005 under the name of iPadre. He initially produced two podcasts that year, and created a weekly show this past fall. A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on personal media players, such as iPods, and personal computers. Unlike conventional radio shows, which are broadcast at a set time, podcasts can be downloaded and played at any time. Father Finelli records the broadcasts on Sunday evenings, and the programs can be downloaded to a computer or iPod a few hours later. They're available online at: www.iPadre.net. "I talk about issues of faith," Father Finelli said, noting that the broadcasts last about a half-hour.
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Archbishop to ordain priests using Tridentine Mass in Rome cathedral
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A former Vatican official will ordain four traditionalist priests in a Tridentine Mass celebrated in the cathedral of Rome, church officials said. The Feb. 23 ordination Mass in the Basilica of St. John Lateran will be the most prominent celebration of the old rite in Rome since Pope Benedict XVI relaxed restrictions on its use last year. The Mass, to be celebrated by Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, will follow the 1962 Roman Missal, known commonly as the Tridentine rite. In July 2007 the pope issued new rules, saying the old rite could be used much more freely than before. Those to be ordained are members of the Good Shepherd Institute, a society of apostolic life that uses only the Tridentine rite. The institute, based in France, is made up primarily of priests and seminarians who left the schismatic Society of St. Pius X and reconciled with the Vatican in 2006. The Society of St. Pius X, founded by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, split with the Vatican years ago over liturgical and other issues.
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