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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Mar-14-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
CARA surveys Catholics on observance of Lenten practices
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- While a majority of U.S. Catholics say they abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent, slightly less than half follow other customary Lenten practices. The findings, released March 11, come from a survey of 1,007 randomly selected self-identified Catholics, age 18 or older, conducted Feb. 1-20 by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Sixty percent said they do not eat meat on Fridays during Lent, but only 45 percent said they typically receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. A slightly smaller percentage, 44 percent, said that besides giving up something, they do something positive during Lent, like giving money to the needy or trying to be a better person. Only 38 percent said that besides meat on Fridays, they give up or abstain from something else during Lent. Stronger adherence to those Lenten practices were seen in the nine in 10 Catholic adults who said they attend Mass at least weekly.
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Agencies' efforts to reduce hunger focus of White House round-table
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The work of Catholic Charities USA and its affiliates throughout the nation was highlighted March 13 at a White House-sponsored round-table on reducing hunger both domestically and internationally. "Hunger is symptomatic of a larger part of the story," said Candy Hill, Catholic Charities' senior vice president of social policy and government affairs, at the event, titled "Faith-Based and Community Solutions to Hunger at Home and Abroad." Hill said Catholic Charities agencies were seeing more working people, including some holding down two jobs, who still need food assistance. "Food is the first thing people come to us for," Hill said, adding that 6.75 million people used Catholic Charities for food assistance last year. "Half of the people represented the numbers we heard today," she said. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer had said at the start of the symposium that 12.5 million people were what he termed "food insecure" in 2006, meaning they were at risk of going hungry at some point during the year.
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Bishop criticizes production of 'The Vagina Monologues' at Notre Dame
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (CNS) -- The bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend has criticized the University of Notre Dame for once again allowing an on-campus production of "The Vagina Monologues," a play that explicitly discusses women's sexuality. In a March 12 statement, Bishop John M. D'Arcy reiterated his objections to the play being performed at Notre Dame as it has been in previous years, calling it "an affront to human dignity." The bishop noted that this year's production at the university was even more offensive because performances were scheduled on Monday and Tuesday of Easter week. The play, based on interviews with numerous women, is a series of monologues in which women discuss their sexual experiences, including rape and other forms of violence against them. For the 10th year in a row, college campuses across the country have sponsored limited productions of the play with students reading the script. The shows are put on to benefit a campaign called V-Day, which raises money for organizations working to stop violence against women and girls.
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Free health clinic will be part of Oakland's new cathedral center
OAKLAND, Calif. (CNS) -- A free medical clinic for uninsured children and adults will open in October as part of the new Christ the Light Cathedral Center in downtown Oakland. The clinic is being sponsored by the Order of Malta, Western Association USA, and will offer no-cost care in a section of the cathedral's office building. Oakland Bishop Allen H. Vigneron said the clinic will be a tangible sign of the cathedral's "ministry of charity." He first envisioned the clinic while on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, in 2005 with a local group of Knights and Dames of Malta. Each year members of the international organization take thousands of sick people to Lourdes to pray for physical and spiritual healing. "I saw the care being given to the sick there and realized that this would be a wonderful service at our new cathedral," Bishop Vigneron said. He proposed the idea of a clinic to the East Bay members of the organization and they have spent the past two years bringing the vision to reality.
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WORLD
Rabbi says Vatican official to issue statement on Good Friday prayer
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jewish leaders have been assured that the Vatican secretary of state will issue a statement in March saying that the pope's revised prayer for Good Friday for the Tridentine rite is not a call for Catholics to try to convert Jews. Rabbi David Rosen, chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, said March 13 the statement would "allow the vast majority of Jews involved in dialogues with Catholics to re-engage as before." Representatives of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel had been scheduled to be in Rome March 9-12 for their regularly scheduled dialogue with the Vatican. However, the rabbis asked for a clarification from the Vatican about the prayer and postponed their trip. Pope Benedict XVI's revision of the Good Friday prayer applies only to the liturgy celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal, or Tridentine rite. The new prayer removed 1962 language referring to the "blindness" of the Jews, but it prays that Jews will recognize Jesus, the savior, and that "all Israel may be saved."
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Pope says polarizing Bolivia will not bring economic well-being
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Welcoming the first Bolivian ambassador named by President Evo Morales, Pope Benedict XVI said polarizing Bolivian society will not bring the justice and economic well-being for which all Bolivians hope. "It is not possible to remain indifferent when social tension is rising and spreads an atmosphere that does not encourage understanding," Pope Benedict said March 14 in his speech welcoming Ambassador Carlos de la Riva Guerra. "I think we all share the conviction that the positions, which sometimes have been encouraged and applauded, hamper the constructive dialogue needed to find solutions of economic fairness and justice for the common good, especially for those who have difficulty living in a dignified way," the pope said. De la Riva told the pope: "We cannot deny" that at the beginning of Morales' mandate as president in 2006 "some voices of confrontation were raised against the Catholic Church." But, he said, the discussions that followed helped government officials come to a greater understanding of the role of the church in Bolivia.
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Pope calls death of Iraqi archbishop 'act of inhuman violence'
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI called the kidnapping and death of an Iraqi archbishop "an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being and seriously harms the ... coexistence among the beloved Iraqi people." Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, 65, was kidnapped Feb. 29 in an attack that left his driver and two bodyguards dead. The pope had made several public appeals for his release. Catholic leaders in Iraq said March 13 that they had recovered the archbishop's body after the kidnappers told them where they had buried him. Police were unclear if Archbishop Rahho had been killed. He had no bullet wounds, his body showed signs of decomposition and he appeared to have been dead a week, reported the British news agency Reuters. Archbishop Rahho's funeral and burial were March 14 outside Mosul, a northern Iraqi city considered to be a stronghold of al-Qaida, according to The Associated Press. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed al-Qaida for the archbishop's death.
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U.S. ambassador expects pope's April visit to be thought-provoking
ROME (CNS) -- The new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican said she expects Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming visit to the United States to be a thought-provoking event for Catholics, non-Catholics and international representatives. Americans who listen carefully will discover in the pope a "world-class intellectual who can speak in terms that are simple and clear and readily accessible," Mary Ann Glendon said in an interview with Catholic News Service March 14. The pope can be expected to touch on some particular social issues, but his deeper message will be about conscience-forming and the values that underpin life in the church and in society, she said. Glendon spoke in her office at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, which overlooks the imperial ruins of the Palatine Hill and an ancient Roman racetrack. The ambassador took up her post in late February and hit the ground running. In addition to helping plan for the papal visit, she is already preparing a series of four major human rights conferences and considering an embassy-sponsored program to help fund and train Catholic health care workers.
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Iraqi refugees in Lebanon not shocked over news of archbishop's death
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Iraqi Chaldean Catholic refugees in Beirut expressed fear for Christians still living in Iraq, but said they were not shocked upon hearing the news of the kidnapping and death of Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, Iraq. Karim, a 41-year-old father of four who fled to Lebanon from Mosul in 2007, said: "We were praying for his release. But we've seen enough kidnapping and murders to expect differently. It is sad, not only this kidnapping and assassination, but they are kidnapping and assassinating Christians daily." Karim, like all the refugees interviewed by Catholic News Service in Beirut March 13, requested his full name not be used. Between 5,000 and 10,000 Iraqi Chaldean Catholics are refugees in Lebanon. Akram, a 55-year-old Iraqi who fled to Lebanon from Mosul with his wife and eight children last April, said, "We were very, very sad, not just today, but since Feb. 29" when the archbishop was kidnapped in an attack that left his driver and two bodyguards dead.
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First Catholic church building in Qatar is sign of hope, says pastor
ROME (CNS) -- The March 14 inauguration of the first Catholic church built in predominantly Muslim Qatar "is a sign of great hope for the church" in the region, said the new church's pastor. Capuchin Father Tomasito Veneracion, the new parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary Church, told Aid to the Church in Need that the construction and opening of the new church was a "historic event." Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic organization funding religious projects worldwide, including the construction of the church in Qatar, published the Philippine priest's remarks in a March 12 press release. For decades, Christians in Qatar had to practice their faith in cramped garages, private homes and, most recently, in foreign schools and prefabricated halls. In April 2003 the government of this tiny Persian Gulf nation overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that guaranteed freedom of expression, religion, assembly and association. That meant local mission parishes went from being underground, but tolerated, to legally recognized.
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PEOPLE
Pope calls death of Iraqi archbishop 'act of inhuman violence'
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI called the kidnapping and death of an Iraqi archbishop "an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being." Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, 65, was kidnapped Feb. 29 in an attack that left his driver and two bodyguards dead. The pope had made several public appeals for his release. Catholic leaders in Iraq said March 13 that they had recovered the archbishop's body after the kidnappers told them where they had buried him. Police were unclear if Archbishop Rahho had been killed. He had no bullet wounds, his body showed signs of decomposition and he appeared to have been dead a week, reported the British news agency Reuters. Archbishop Rahho's funeral and burial were March 14 outside Mosul, a northern Iraqi city considered to be a stronghold of al-Qaida, according to The Associated Press. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed al-Qaida for the archbishop's death. The Vatican announced March 14 that Pope Benedict would celebrate a memorial Mass for the archbishop March 17 in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.
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Chiara Lubich, founder of Focolare movement, dies at 88
ROME (CNS) -- Chiara Lubich, the 88-year-old founder and perpetually smiling symbol of the Focolare movement, died early March 14 after what Pope Benedict XVI said was "a long and fruitful life" marked by her love for Jesus. Lubich died in her room near the Focolare headquarters in Rocca di Papa, south of Rome. In a telegram, Pope Benedict offered his condolences to her family, members of the Focolare movement and all those "who appreciated her constant commitment for communion in the church, for ecumenical dialogue and for brotherhood among all peoples." The pope also expressed his thanks to God "for the witness of her life spent in listening to the needs of contemporary people in full fidelity to the church and to the pope." Pope Benedict asked that all those who admired "the marvels that God worked through her" would follow in her footsteps, keeping her vision alive. Lubich's funeral was scheduled for March 18 at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, presiding.
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