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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Mar-25-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Protesters charged with felony for disrupting Easter Mass in Chicago
CHICAGO (CNS) -- Six young people -- all between the ages of 18 and 25 -- were charged with felony criminal defacement of property and simple battery after spattering fake blood on themselves and nearby worshippers during the 11 a.m. Easter Mass in the auditorium at Holy Name Cathedral's parish center in Chicago March 23. Easter Masses, the Easter Vigil and all Holy Week services were celebrated in the auditorium and other nearby locations because the cathedral has been closed for repairs since Feb. 26. On March 24 a Cook County judge set a minimum of $25,000 for bail for each protester, according to the Chicago Tribune, which also reported that if they are found guilty the six could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. The three men and three women, calling themselves "Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War," yelled slogans in support of ending the war in Iraq before they were removed by security guards and handcuffed by police. The Tribune reported that the six protesters were charged with a felony because they damaged property owned by a religious organization and it will cost the church about $3,000 for new carpeting and new chairs.
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Oakland Catholic agency forms teams to respond to murders
OAKLAND, Calif. (CNS) -- For Oakland families and friends jarred by the violent death of a young loved one, Catholic Charities of the East Bay's Crisis Response Support Network stands at the ready with its "ministry of presence." Within an hour after the Oakland Police Department calls to notify them of a homicide, the network's crisis counselors go to the crime scene, the hospital or the family home, said project director Millie Burns. Oakland has had 32 homicides so far this year; many of the murder victims have been young people. "We are there to comfort, to provide answers, to help with procedural matters and to give intensive support" to relatives, friends and classmates, Burns told The Catholic Voice, newspaper of the Oakland Dicoese. The program began in April 2007, Burns said, with funds from Oakland's violence prevention bill, known as Measure Y. It focuses on Oakland homicides where the victims are age 30 or younger. So far this year, the network's volunteers and staffers have responded to at least 21 homicides, Burns said. In 2007, teams responded to 60 murders.
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Lutheran who joined church at Easter Vigil says he feels he's home
WOODSIDE, N.Y. (CNS) -- At the Easter Vigil at St. Sebastian's Parish in Woodside knelt 40-year-old Ramon Montero, who stood out from the adolescents around him. Dressed in a flowing white robe and clutching a rosary, Montero seemed sedate but later admitted to being nervous. Immediately behind him were his mother and his sponsor, Paula Bennett, his aunt. Montero was one of nearly 40 catechumens and candidates entering into full communion with the Catholic Church at St. Sebastian's on Holy Saturday, March 22. And when it was over he said he felt like he was home. Across the country people of all ages and from all walks of life joined the church that day. Catechumens were baptized and confirmed, and they received their first Communion; candidates, who already had a valid baptism, entered into full communion with the church. The figures for this year are not yet available, but last year, according to the Official Catholic Directory, almost 64,500 catechumens and almost 93,000 candidates joined the church.
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Trip to Medjugorje puts woman on path to full membership in church
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- Deb Brunsberg, 52, of Coon Rapids still feels a bit woozy from the wild roller-coaster ride her life has been lately. Two years after a devastating divorce set her spiraling into the depths of despair, an 11-day trip to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina shot her at breakneck speed to the height of happiness. Her wild ride finally leveled off March 22 at the Easter Vigil, when she joined about 1,000 people in parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as they became full members of the Catholic Church. Across the country people of all ages and from all walks of life joined the church that day. Some were catechumens, who were baptized and confirmed and who received their first Communion; others were candidates, who already had a valid baptism and entered into full communion with the church. The figures for this year are not yet available, but last year, according to the Official Catholic Directory, almost 64,500 catechumens and almost 93,000 candidates joined the church.
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WORLD
Britain allows conscience vote on hybrids after prelates' appeals
LONDON (CNS) -- After Easter weekend appeals by British Catholic leaders, the government agreed to allow Labor Party legislators to vote according to their consciences on parts of a bill to legalize the creation of human-animal embryos for research. During his Easter homily, Cardinal Keith O'Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of seeking to pass a law that represents a "monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life." Cardinal O'Brien claimed the bill would allow experiments of "Frankenstein proportions" and accused Brown of attempting to drive into law a range of "hideous practices." The cardinal added: "Further, it seems that Labor members of Parliament are not to be allowed a free vote on this bill and consequently are denied the right to vote according to their conscience -- a right which all other political parties have allowed." However, Brown announced March 25 that he would allow a free vote on parts of the bill, which would legalize the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for research in the hope of obtaining cures for a range of illnesses, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
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Muslim baptized by pope says he wanted to show others not to fear
ROME (CNS) -- The Muslim-born journalist baptized by Pope Benedict XVI at the Easter Vigil said he wanted a public conversion to convince other former Muslims not to be afraid of practicing their new Christian faith. But a representative of a group of Muslim scholars who recently launched a new dialogue with the Vatican said the prominence given to the baptism of Magdi Allam, a frequent critic of Islam, raises disturbing questions. Allam, 55, was one of seven adults baptized by the pope March 22 in St. Peter's Basilica. Aref Ali Nayed, a spokesman for the 138 Muslim scholars who initiated the Common Word dialogue project last October and who established the Catholic-Muslim Forum for dialogue with the Vatican in early March, said conversion is a private matter, but the very public way in which Allam was baptized appeared "deliberate and provocative." However, according to a front-page article March 25 in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, signed by Giovanni Maria Vian, the editor, Allam's decision to be baptized and the Vatican's decision to include him in the papal ceremony did not carry with it any "hostile intention in the face of a great religion like Islam."
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In video interview, Zimbabwean archbishop admits he had affair
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube, who resigned as archbishop of Bulawayo last year after a sex scandal, has admitted he had an affair with a woman. The archbishop, one of the most outspoken critics of Zimbabwe's political leadership, made the admission to Frontier Africa TV, an independent film production company, in Zimbabwe before he boarded a plane for Rome in November 2007. One of the directors of Frontier Africa TV, Fred Bridgland, released the archbishop's remarks from the interview in a March 23 story in the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald. In the piece, Archbishop Ncube also spoke out against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who was widely expected to win re-election March 29. "It is true, I do admit that I did fail in keeping God's commandment with regard to adultery," Archbishop Ncube said. "Having failed in keeping the Seventh Commandment ... I would like to apologize to you (the people of Zimbabwe); I'd like to apologize that so many of you were praying for me, for the fact that so many of you standing with me in fact suffered so much," he said.
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PEOPLE
Philippine church leaders pray for ex-president diagnosed with cancer
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- Catholic leaders said they will pray for former Philippine President Corazon Aquino and will continue to celebrate Masses for truth, following her children's announcement that she has cancer. Aquino's son, Sen. Benigno Aquino III, and daughter, Kris Aquino-Yap, announced March 24 that their mother had been diagnosed with colon cancer and was scheduled for prechemotherapy procedures the following day. They would not reveal the stage of the illness, saying only that their mother asks for privacy and prayers, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. Aquino-Yap said her mother was making her condition known to explain her absence from the movement for truth she was leading with religious men and women and whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr., as well as the campaign for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's resignation amid allegations of corruption. The former president, 75, took office after the 1986 "people power" uprising in Manila deposed Ferdinand Marcos. She served as president for six years.
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Nun survives knife attack at convent in Pakistan
LAHORE, Pakistan (CNS) -- A member of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary has survived a knife attack at her convent in the southern outskirts of Lahore. Two young men broke into Sister Nuzrat Shafi's convent and slashed her throat March 8. The convent is in Youhanabad, the largest Christian area in Pakistan, on the outskirts of Lahore. The 34-year-old nun received nine stitches and has badly damaged vocal cords. Sister Shafi told the Asian church news agency UCA News that she was alone in the convent when she heard a knock on her door at about 3 p.m. Suddenly, two young men, about 25 years old, burst into the room. "First they asked for money and then for keys to the cupboards of other nuns. When I told them I was the youngest and had no idea where money is kept, they became furious, wrecked my cupboard and then slapped me. I cried for them not to touch me but was thrown on the bed. After that I do not know what happened," she said. She said the last thing she recalls before passing out was hearing her attackers say "Finish her." The police have not made any arrests.
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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