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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Feb-15-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Bishops urged to help Catholics experience discipleship, mission
HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (CNS) -- Bishops must take the lead in a process of "pastoral conversion" to help their people experience a life of discipleship and mission in the church. That was the conclusion of the participants in the 35th meeting of the bishops of the church in America Feb. 11-13 at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington in the Rockville Centre Diocese. "I have to be a missionary where I live and where I work. I have to give testimony, to be joyful and full of faith and charity and solidarity. Then we can attract people to the church," said Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, Brazil. "We must put the structures of the church at the service of the mission of the church and not the other way around," he said in an interview with Catholic News Service. Archbishop Assis is president of the Latin American bishops' council, known by its Spanish acronym as CELAM. The meeting was devoted to a pastoral and theological discussion of the final document issued by the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Aparecida May 13-21, 2007.
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U.S. bishops criticize federal raid policies against illegal workers
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Homeland Security workplace raids to detain illegal immigrants should not be done near churches, schools, health centers or other places providing charitable social services, said the U.S. bishops. "An environment of fear and distrust is fostered that may prevent immigrants and their family members from practicing their faith, taking their children to school or accessing needed medical and social services," they said in a letter to Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The Feb. 11 letter was signed by Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Migration, and Coadjutor Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., chairman of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network board of directors. A copy of the letter was released Feb. 15 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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Alaska diocese says it will file for bankruptcy
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (CNS) -- The Diocese of Fairbanks announced Feb 13 it would file for bankruptcy, probably before the end of March. "It now seems the fairest and most pastoral resolution" to claims of sexual abuse against church workers in the diocese, Bishop Donald J. Kettler of Fairbanks said in a statement. The diocese said more than 140 people have filed about 150 claims against the diocese. The most recent abuse asserted in a claim took place in the 1980s, although some cases go back to the 1950s. Settlement talks, started last summer, have snagged because an insurance company has been reluctant to "participate meaningfully" in the talks, a diocesan announcement said. The diocese was insured by three different insurers over the period covered in the sex abuse claims. Filing for bankruptcy is "the best way to bring all parties together and to provide for fair and equitable treatment of all who have been harmed," the bishop said. "I am legally and morally bound to both fulfill our mission and to pursue healing for those injured."
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Catholic parish on Illinois campus provides comfort after shooting
DEKALB, Ill. (CNS) -- As helicopters hovered noisily over the parking lot at Christ the Teacher Parish on the campus of Northern Illinois University, students, staff and parishioners gathered in the church to pray the rosary for victims of the Feb. 14 shooting on their campus. Five students died in the shooting, which took place about 3 p.m. when a man later identified as Stephen Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire with a shotgun and several handguns in a school auditorium. He shot at least 22 people and sent dozens of students running and crawling toward auditorium exits. The gunman then turned the gun on himself and died on the auditorium's stage. University officials said they had no motive for Kazmierczak's actions, but an investigation was continuing. As word of the shootings spread across the campus, buildings and dorms were locked down. Within hours, parishioners at Christ the Teacher Parish, home to the university's Newman Center, brought cartons of sodas and chips to the parish in preparation for students who might come to pray or seek comfort.
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In U.S. pope will find multicultural church marked by stronger laity
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- What kind of Catholic Church will Pope Benedict XVI find when he arrives in the United States in April? How similar or different will it be from the U.S. church community that greeted Pope John Paul II on his first papal visit in 1979 or his last trip to the U.S. in 1999? Scholars and experts contacted by Catholic News Service at Catholic universities around the country did not always agree on the answers to those questions, but several themes emerged. They saw a church dealing with parish consolidations or closings and a declining availability of priests, but also experiencing a new vibrancy in lay ecclesial ministry. They saw what one called "a chastened church" after the clergy sex abuse scandal but a church that has learned important lessons about accountability. And they saw a church already more than one-third Hispanic and still learning how to adapt to the realties of multiculturalism.
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Pope expected to encourage vocations in visit to New York seminary
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., one of the stops for Pope Benedict XVI during his three-day visit to New York this April, is no stranger to the pope or his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. In 1988, years before he was pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave a talk at the seminary about the study of Scripture. Seven years later, Pope John Paul II spoke to seminarians on the 40-acre campus commonly known as Dunwoodie for its location in the Dunwoodie section of Yonkers, just a few miles north of New York City. Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, a former student at St. Joseph's Seminary and also its rector for seven years, called the pontiff's planned April 19 visit a "great privilege" for the seminary. The archbishop told Catholic News Service Feb. 7 that he assumed Pope Benedict would encourage vocations during the scheduled meeting with youths and seminarians on the seminary grounds.
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Pope to gather with 200 religious leaders at interfaith prayer service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI comes to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington for an early-evening interfaith prayer service April 17 with Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and representatives of other religions, space will be at a premium. There will be room for only about 200 people, according to Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Of those, about 50 will be reserved for Catholics, he added, with the rest allotted to representatives of the non-Christian religions participating in what is expected to be a 45-minute service. Among those expected to be invited are representatives of major religious organizations that either work with the Catholic Church in areas of common interest or are in dialogue with Catholic representatives. The pope also with gather with leaders from other Christian denominations at an ecumenical prayer service at a Catholic church in New York April 18.
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U.S. ecumenical ties strong despite challenges to Christian unity
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- More people profess Catholicism in the United States than any other single religion. There are 64.4 million Catholics, representing close to 22 percent of the nation's total population. But the overall number of Catholics and other Christians represents an overwhelming majority of the U.S. population, which has now passed the 300 million mark. Although there are denominational divides and new fissures continue to threaten unity even within faiths considered mainstream, Catholic and other Christian leaders engaged in ecumenical relations continue to see its importance. The U.S. Catholic Church's ecumenical efforts include dialogues with Lutherans, Methodists and evangelicals and a consultation with Anglicans. It also belongs to Christian Churches Together in the USA, founded in March 2006 and considered the broadest, most inclusive ecumenical movement in U.S. history. That's the ecumenical landscape Pope Benedict XVI will find during his mid-April visit to the United States.
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WORLD
Mexican bishops urge drug traffickers to give up violence during Lent
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- The Mexican bishops' conference has written an open letter urging drug traffickers to use Lent as a time to give up violent turf wars and street battles that have left thousands of people dead. The letter also voiced support for a crackdown on the drug gangs being waged by President Felipe Calderon, who has sent some 25,000 soldiers to fight the cartels. "The scourge of drug trafficking has caused so much death and destruction in our country," said the letter, signed by the conference president, Bishop Carlos Aguiar, and its secretary-general, Auxiliary Bishop Jose Leopoldo Gonzalez. The letter was given to the media Feb. 12. "We invite the guilty in these absurd drug-trafficking situations to take advantage of Lent to start on the sincere pathway to the conversion toward God. Only he can open your hearts and move your will to a total life change," it said. Rival Mexican cartels have been fighting over lucrative smuggling routes to the United States for cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine.
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Don't jump the gun: Norms for saints' causes call for careful study
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a new set of rules encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican is requiring dioceses to be more meticulous and objective when they prepare local sainthood causes. The new norms do not introduce revolutionary changes in the existing process, but they tighten up the margin of error and require better documentation in order to avoid carelessness or even, in the Vatican's words, "fraud or deception." The rules are contained in a 45-page instruction made public by the Congregation for Saints' Causes in February. The instruction revises the procedures used by dioceses to recognize and investigate potential saints before forwarding their causes to Rome. The instruction covers everything from the medical investigation of miraculous cures to the interrogation of favorable and unfavorable witnesses. Above all, it urges those investigating the life of a would-be saint to act with utmost impartiality and avoid whitewashing any personal faults or negative aspects that emerge.
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At Croatian cafe, youths pay for drinks with Our Fathers, Hail Marys
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A Catholic parish in Croatia has opened a "prayer cafe" for young people, where food and drink can be purchased with Hail Marys and Our Fathers. "In the Acts of the Apostles, it says the disciples used to come together for a meal after the Eucharist, so we're following a biblical ideal," said Salesian Father Damir Stojic. "A lot of kids used to head for neighboring cafes after Mass here. We came up with this scheme for persuading them to hang out at the church instead." The Jedno (Sail) cafe opened recently in a parish hall adjoining Zagreb's Holy Spirit Church and attracts many of the students and young people attending the regular Sunday youth Mass. Father Stojic told Catholic News Service by telephone Feb. 15 that student helpers had thought up the idea of "paying with prayers." He said there were plans to keep the cafe open indefinitely.
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Colombian guerrilla group rejects church as mediator in civil war
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- Colombia's largest Marxist guerrilla group said it would not accept the Catholic Church as a mediator in its armed conflict with the government. Raul Reyes, spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, told the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina Feb. 14 that the Catholic Church was not acting impartially. The church "excluded itself (from a mediation role) by favoring the government of (Colombian) President Alvaro Uribe," Reyes said. Historically, the church has acted as a mediator in efforts to free several of the hundreds of people kidnapped by the guerrillas, as well as in attempts to end the nation's 40-year-old civil war. In recent weeks, the guerrillas released three high-profile hostages to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, leaving the church sidelined. But Chavez's actions produced a political confrontation between Colombia and Venezuela, leading Colombia's president to designate the church as the sole mediator.
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Philippine bishops hold Mass amid claims of government corruption
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- Philippine bishops decided not to join a protest rally against the president and alleged corruption and instead held a "Mass for truth" at their headquarters. The Feb. 15 Mass was held prior to the afternoon rally in the main business district in Manila. Opposition politicians and leftist groups protested the latest crisis surrounding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's administration, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. Arroyo and some Cabinet members are under fire amid allegations of corruption in a national broadband network contract that has since been canceled. Political opposition leaders claim the rally was the first of several. The Mass was the bishops' response to the call by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of Jaro, the Philippine bishops' conference president, for "communal action" in light of the nation's "search for truth and justice."
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PEOPLE
New U.S. ambassador to Vatican arrives in Rome
ROME (CNS) -- The new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Mary Ann Glendon, arrived in Rome Feb. 15 and said she looked forward to working with the Vatican on issues of religious freedom and religious tolerance. Glendon, a Harvard University law professor, has served with Vatican agencies and diplomatic missions in the past. She said she hoped that experience would help her advance U.S.-Vatican relations in her new post. The United States and the Vatican have a "common commitment to the human dignity of every man, woman and child," she said in a statement to reporters at the Rome airport Feb. 15. "Both the United States and the Holy See have a long history in which faith and reason are inseparably united in that quest," she said. Glendon said the United States works for human dignity by "vigorously promoting human rights and religious freedom and by striving to foster dialogue and tolerance among persons of different faiths and cultures." As ambassador, she said, she expects to work with the Vatican "to advance those lofty goals."
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Georgetown professor assesses how well candidates 'thump the Bible'
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Presidential politics might seem like an unusual topic for an associate professor of Jewish civilization at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service to tackle. But the Jesuit-run university's Jacques Berlinerblau sees his latest book, "Thumpin' It: The Use and Abuse of the Bible in Today's Presidential Politics," as a natural follow-up to his 2005 work, "The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously." "Thumpin' It" was published by Westminster John Knox Press in January. A move from the New York area to the U.S. political capital of Washington led Berlinerblau to a heightened interest in politics and he began analyzing the presidential candidates in terms of how well they were responding to the religious sensibilities of their fellow citizens. So far, the candidates who are getting the highest marks from Berlinerblau for using -- but not overusing -- the Bible in their campaigns are Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York. They are following in the footsteps of two people dubbed "masters of the craft" by the Georgetown professor -- President George W. Bush and his predecessor, former President Bill Clinton.
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Pope Benedict's life, ministry influenced by university experiences
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Although he has not been a full-time professor since 1977, Pope Benedict XVI's life and ministry have been heavily influenced by his university experiences. He made his reputation as a theologian and still meets annually with a group of his former doctoral students. But, he has written, the student revolt of the 1960s, specifically the upheaval at the University of Tubingen, Germany, where he was teaching, shocked him and convinced him that in the name of the "reform" started by the Second Vatican Council too many Catholics were willing to abandon essential Catholic teachings. Since becoming pope in 2005, two more university-related incidents have put him in the eye of a storm: His 2006 speech at the University of Regensburg, Germany, offended many Muslims; and in January a threatened protest led him to cancel his visit to Rome's premier state university. Still, his personal comfort in the academic environment and his conviction that universities have a crucial role to play in promoting both intellectual and spiritual maturity explain why he wants to address a university audience during his April trip to the United States.
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Papal visit on CUA campus excites Catholic students active in faith
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Late-night talks with friends about life and faith are common in the dorm rooms of The Catholic University of America. Talking about the Catholic Church in class is pretty normal, too. But a pope on campus? That's something many students agree is unusual and exciting. "I can't even fathom the fact that he (Pope Benedict XVI) may be walking up the same stairs that I use to go to Starbucks before I go to class," said Kelly O'Connor, a sophomore early-childhood-development major from outside Philadelphia. Like the more than 6,000 students at Catholic University, O'Connor found out from a November campuswide e-mail about Pope Benedict's April 17 stop on campus to address U.S. Catholic education officials. The pope will visit Washington and New York April 15-20. Although students are not invited to the talk, university officials have said the students should be able to see the papal entourage enter and leave the campus.
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Oncologist: Medicine makes Lourdes' cures hard to prove miraculous
LOURDES, France (CNS) -- A 9-year-old girl shivered as her stiff arm air-dried. She had just run it under holy water from the spigots near the Massabielle grotto at the Sanctuaries of Our Lady of Lourdes. Her grandmother said she was hoping the girl, who had a stroke last year, would recover totally after visiting Lourdes in mid-February. Approximately 15,000 people known to be sick come to Lourdes every year, said Dr. Marco Tampellini, an Italian oncologist who collaborates with the Lourdes Medical Bureau, which reviews medical documentation for cases of potentially miraculous cures resulting from a visit. Tampellini helps gather medical information on cases for the bureau's French doctor, who is appointed by the bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes. Since 1883, the bureau has examined the records of more than 7,000 people claiming they were cured after visiting the sanctuaries, Tampellini told Catholic News Service. Only 67 such cures have been considered miracles.
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