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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Apr-18-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Pope says divisions, abandoning tradition weaken Christian witness
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Using unusually strong words for an ecumenical prayer service, Pope Benedict XVI said the witness of Christians in the world is weakened not only by their divisions, but also by some communities turning their backs on Christian tradition. "Communion with the church in every age," he said, is needed particularly "at the time when the world is losing its bearings and needs a persuasive common witness to the saving power of the Gospel." The pope met April 18 with about 250 representatives of U.S. ecumenical organizations and a dozen Christian churches and denominations for evening prayer at St. Joseph's Church in New York. He began by praising the ecumenical commitment of U.S. Christians and acknowledging that the agreements found in their theological dialogues have contributed to the theological agreements later forged by the Vatican and its official dialogue partners. But Pope Benedict also focused on ways the Christian obligation to share the good news of the Gospel suffers in the modern world.
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At New York synagogue, pope encourages 'bridges of friendship'
NEW YORK (CNS) -- In a brief, movingly simple visit to a New York synagogue, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his respect for the city's Jewish community and encouraged the building of "bridges of friendship" between religions. The encounter April 18 marked the first time a pope has visited a Jewish place of worship in the United States, and it came a day before the start of the Jewish Passover. The pope said he felt especially close to Jews as they "prepare to celebrate the great deeds of the Almighty and to sing the praises of him who has worked such wonders for his people." He was welcomed at the Park East Synagogue by Rabbi Arthur Schneier, 78, an Austrian-born Holocaust survivor, who called his visit historic and "a reaffirmation of your outreach, good will and commitment to enhancing Jewish-Catholic relations." The rabbi also used the opportunity to wish the pope "mazel tov," or best wishes on his 81st birthday two days earlier. A choir from the Park East Day School performed during the meeting, which was kept brief because the Jewish Sabbath observance was set to begin at sunset.
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Bush summit seeks help for inner-city Catholic schools
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President George W. Bush said his concern about the growing loss of urban Catholic schools was a prime reason he was convening a summit on inner-city and faith-based schools the week of April 21. Speaking to the fifth annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast April 18, Bush said the summit would highlight the lack of educational options low-income urban students are facing. "I am concerned about the loss of a major national asset, and that is the decline of Catholic schools, particularly in inner-city America," he told an enthusiastic crowd of 2,000 gathered at the Washington Hilton hotel. The summit is expected to draw educators, clergy, funders and business leaders to begin discussing options for public, private and parochial urban schools. Bush said the goal was to urge Congress to develop "reasonable legislation" and practical solutions to "save these schools and, more importantly, to save the children." Citing the long history of Catholic education in the U.S., Bush commended those in the audience who are working to preserve Catholic education.
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President welcomes pope; other U.S. actions send a different signal
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The official words from the U.S. president to the pope were an interesting contrast to simultaneous actions being taken by two arms of the U.S. government April 16. As President George W. Bush was telling Pope Benedict XVI on the South Lawn at the White House that the United States is "a nation of compassion," the U.S. Supreme Court, with a majority of its justices who are Catholics, was upholding the constitutionality of a form of capital punishment that the church opposes in nearly all circumstances. In a splintered ruling, six justices wrote separate opinions that, added together, constituted a 7-2 majority upholding the legality of lethal injection. In another ironic bit of timing, immigration agents in several states were conducting raids of workplaces where largely Hispanic immigrants work, while back at the White House April 16 Bush was telling the pope at the official welcoming ceremony for him that "Americans believe that the measure of a free society is how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us." At that hour in half a dozen states, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were processing hundreds of workers, suspected of being in the country illegally, detained that morning at poultry processing plants, a doughnut factory and a chain of Mexican restaurants.
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At Nationals Park, a very long day, but 'the Holy Spirit was there'
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- People who had a professional interest in the April 17 papal Mass at Nationals Stadium -- security, media reps, choirs, musicians, stadium facilitators, food coordinators and souvenir vendors -- began arriving as early as 3 a.m. By 6 a.m. choirs positioned in the seats directly behind the makeshift altar were transported front and center to the humongous, walk-on-water TV screen with perfect color and sound towering in the backdrop of the papal altar. "I wonder if they truly realize just how stunning they are," said one woman who watched in rapt attention to rehearsals featuring stately soloists and passionate ensembles coordinated in dress. "Ave Maria ... gratia plena ..." echoed all around, hauntingly beautiful music. After the event, Dr. James Marsh, director of the Student Health Service at Georgetown University and a member of the papal Mass choir, said after seven weeks of weekly rehearsal, "Everything came together so beautifully today ... the setting, the sounds, the sites, the words of the Holy Father -- it was really incredible. With 45,000 people, it still was very intimate," he added. "The Holy Spirit was there."
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Diplomats welcome Pope Benedict's visit to United Nations
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Brazil's representative to the United Nations, said the pope's April 18 U.N. visit will confirm the resolve of delegations to fulfill the world body's purposes, "including peace among nations, the respect for human rights and development for all." She was exuberant in her praise of the pope's presence at the United Nations. "It is the appropriate venue for a message that all peoples will hear with great interest and benefit," she said. Early in the morning April 18, diplomats streamed into the United Nations to attend the pope's speech in the General Assembly hall later that morning. His U.N. speech was to be followed by greetings to the staff and personnel. He also was scheduled to meet with a smaller group of diplomats. The pope arrived in New York from Washington shortly after 9:30 a.m. By visiting the United Nations, Pope Benedict is continuing a papal tradition: Pope John Paul II visited the United Nations twice, in 1979 and 1995, and Pope Paul VI did so in 1965.
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Scripted interreligious encounter sparks spontaneous remarks
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After Pope Benedict XVI addressed about 200 interreligious leaders at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington April 17, the scripted encounter with the pope turned into something resembling a town-hall meeting. As scheduled after his official address in the cultural center's atrium, Pope Benedict personally greeted 10 representatives of the five main religions present. But when he went into a separate room to give Passover greetings to Jewish representatives, three Muslims and a couple of other interreligious leaders told the remaining audience what they said to the pope during their brief encounter with him. Though the informal remarks were calm, the spontaneous scene startled those who had settled down after the pope left for the closed-door session with the Jews. Sayyid Syeed, national director of interfaith and community alliances for the Washington-based Islamic Society of North America, was the first to stand up and share. "People would have gone home with a curiosity (and not knowing) what we said" to the pope, Syeed told Catholic News Service April 18.
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College educators say they're encouraged, challenged by pope's words
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Right after Pope Benedict XVI's address to Catholic educators April 17 at The Catholic University of America in Washington, college presidents and superintendents were ready to do their homework. Several of them said they wanted to carefully read and reread the pope's address to unpack its rich, detailed message. During the address to more than 400 educators, the pope spoke softly, reading his text as prepared. His words were interrupted twice with applause -- when he expressed "profound gratitude" for the educators' work and when he implored them to continue their efforts for "those in poorer areas." The intellectual depth of his message was not lost on these educators, nor was the fact that he spoke to them as one who understands their challenges, telling them he knows of their sacrifice and dedication from his "own days as a professor." "He came to us as a colleague and as the Holy Father," said Cynthia Zane, president of Hilbert College in Hamburg, N.Y. Referring to the pope's intellectualism and college teaching experience, she added, "Who better to understand our work and our mission?"
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WORLD
Pope, at U.N., says no government or religion can limit human rights
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- Neither government nor religion has a right to change or limit human rights, because those rights flow from the dignity of each person created in God's image, Pope Benedict XVI said. In his April 18 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, the pope insisted that human rights cannot be limited or rewritten on the basis of national interests or majority rule. But he also said the role of religions is not to dictate government policy, but to help their members strive to find the truth, including the truth about the dignity of all people even if their religious views are different. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the pope and met privately with him before the pope addressed the General Assembly. In his public welcoming remarks, the U.N. leader said, "The United Nations is a secular institution, composed of 192 states. We have six official languages but no official religion. We do not have a chapel -- though we do have a meditation room. But if you ask those of us who work for the United Nations what motivates us, many of us reply in a language of faith," he said. "We see what we do not only as a job, but as a mission." He added, "Your Holiness, in so many ways, our mission unites us with yours."
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Pope compares U.N. workers to family, where strong protect weak
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- Reflecting the organization's mission, U.N. workers form a kind of family in which the strong protect the weak, Pope Benedict XVI said. Addressing the staff of the United Nations April 18 following his address to the General Assembly, the pope said they laid the foundation for the organization's mandate of monitoring how well various governments protect their own citizens. Expressing appreciation for their work, he said U.N. personnel represent a "microcosm of the whole world, in which each individual makes an indispensable contribution from the perspective of his or her particular cultural and religious heritage." In his introduction, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said U.N. staff members are "driven by their own brand of faith, but one which unites them with one another." The pope's visit, said Ban, lifted their spirits and faith. The pope noted the similarity between the United Nations and Vatican City State: Both are surrounded by large cities, and both strive to fulfill a "worldwide mission to promote peace and justice."
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Couples for Christ in Philippines apologizes for split in membership
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- A representative of Couples for Christ said the Manila-based Catholic lay movement published an apology in a newspaper to comply with a Vatican instruction to publicly acknowledge errors that contributed to a split among its members. Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, issued an "internal private letter" March 11 to Couples for Christ Executive Director Jose Tale, said Zeny Jimenez, the representative. The letter addressed the controversy that led to the creation in 2007 of a separate group in the Antipolo Diocese, "Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life," led by Couples for Christ founder Frank Padilla. Couples for Christ published the apology April 7 in the Philippine Star, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. The apology outlined its global vision and mission but also said, "We sincerely apologize for any scandal that the Couples for Christ leadership, past or present, may have caused among the faithful with our previous partnerships."
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PEOPLE
Victims of priestly sexual abuse share feelings about papal meeting
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI held an unscheduled meeting April 17 with victims of priestly sexual abuse, shortly after pledging the church's continued efforts to help heal the wounds caused by such acts. "It's what I've wanted since 2003," said Bernie McDaid of the papal meeting, "and now I finally got it." He was one of numerous youngsters in the Boston Archdiocese abused in the 1960s and '70s by then-Father Joseph Birmingham, who has since been laicized. Faith Johnston, 23, who as a young teen was abused over several months by a Colombian priest inside her parish's rectory, told CNN of the papal meeting, "I had my mother's rosary beads, which she gave to me before I left home, and I was clutching those and praying for the strength to say the right thing." Johnston added, "I didn't end up saying anything (to the pope). I got up to him and I burst into tears. But honestly, I don't think any words I could have said ... my tears alone -- it just spoke so much." Olan Horne, abused by Birmingham after he was transferred by Boston archdiocesan officials from McDaid's parish to his own, told CNN April 17 that one thing he, McDaid and Johnston had to do during the meeting "was to allow the Holy Father to be the Holy Father. And I think there was a great balance between that and him hearing us."
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Brooklyn students greet Pope Benedict as he arrives in New York
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport slightly ahead of schedule April 18, but two students from the Brooklyn Diocese's Catholic schools were ready for him. Kaitlin Karcher, an eighth-grader at Our Lady of Grace School in Howard Beach, and Christopher Jordan, a fifth-grader at Divine Mercy Catholic Academy in Ozone Park, were chosen to hand Pope Benedict flowers as he arrived in New York for the second leg of his U.S. trip. The pope arrived shortly after 9:30 a.m. aboard the Alitalia Boeing 777 that had carried him from Rome to Washington April 15. In addition to the two schoolchildren, those greeting the pope at the airport included New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; New York Gov. David A. Paterson; Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, whose diocese includes the airport; Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York; and Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, who also was hosting Pope Benedict as his houseguest.
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Retired Vatican envoy from tiny San Marino helped heal world
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Little did this pre-eminent surgeon from the tiny Republic of San Marino know that becoming an ambassador to the even smaller Vatican City State would give him a new platform from which to heal the world. Giovanni Galassi, the recently retired dean of the diplomatic corps and San Marino's former ambassador to the Holy See, said, "All my life I've been operating on sick people, and it's always been a one-on-one relationship; me over here and the patient over there." The cancer and transplant specialist told Catholic News Service April 16 that becoming a diplomat made him realize "one person can also help 100, 1,000, even 10,000 people" by speaking out against and trying to rectify the poverty, hunger and other injustices facing the multitudes. The world of diplomacy allowed him "to multiply that sense of hope I felt inside me to help others" and expand his ministry of curing people to promoting a social and spiritual healing of society, he said. Galassi met with Pope Benedict XVI April 7 to say farewell after serving the Vatican for three decades.
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Pope's visit to synagogue 'clear message' of good will, rabbi says
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI's April 18 visit to a synagogue during the New York leg of his U.S. visit is a "clear message of good will to the Jewish community," said the rabbi hosting the pope. Rabbi Arthur Schneier, senior rabbi of Park East Synagogue, said his own commitment to interreligious dialogue prompted him to invite the pope to visit his house of worship. He extended the invitation while visiting the Vatican in March. "I have worked for 46 years for religious freedom, human rights and interreligious dialogue from my pulpit," he said in an interview with Catholic News Service in the days leading up to the papal visit. "Our synagogue has been the scene of interreligious dialogue on many occasions," he said. It has hosted Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and the chief rabbi of Israel.
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N.J. church goods store repairs items for use at Yankee Stadium Mass
RARITAN, N.J. (CNS) -- Although Mark Maher won't be attending Pope Benedict XVI's Mass in New York April 20, his presence will be felt during the historic event at Yankee Stadium. Maher, owner of Trinity Church Goods in Raritan, was responsible for the restoration of six large candleholders and a cross that will be carried in the procession at the Mass. In addition to selling books, gifts and church supplies, the Trinity store contracts with craftsmen to restore items for parishes. For Maher, a parishioner of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Three Bridges, this unique restoration job came through a chance meeting. While on a trip to Rome last year, Maher met Msgr. Wallace A. Harris, chairman of the priests' council of the Archdiocese of New York. Subsequently Maher did some work for Msgr. Harris and kept in touch with him, but was unaware that the priest was involved in preparations for the pope's New York visit. "Then one day he called me up and said, 'I have a job for you,'" Maher said. The restorer planned to watch the Yankee Stadium Mass on television, knowing that "all eyes will be on the altar" where the items he worked on will be seen by the world.
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