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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Apr-23-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Expanded role for lay ministers emerges as summit topic
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- An expanded role for professional lay ministers is high on the list of possible models for pastoral leadership that emerged from an unprecedented gathering in Orlando of 1,200 Catholics -- clergy, religious and laity -- preparing for the future of a changing church. Ideas for recruiting, training, utilizing, valuing and rewarding lay ministers abounded in Orlando April 22, as representatives of six national organizations reached the midpoint of their first National Ministry Summit, aimed at setting an agenda for responding to new realities in parish life. "Lay ministry is not about filling in the gap because of a shortage of ordained ministers and it's not about a struggle for the rights of people," said Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., episcopal adviser for the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project, a collaboration of the six national Catholic groups. The groups are the National Association for Lay Ministry, Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development, National Association of Church Personnel Administrators, National Association of Diaconate Directors, National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association and National Federation of Priests' Councils.
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Bishop considers outreach to those served by priest guilty of abuse
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla of Yakima, Wash., is considering some form of outreach to parishes in his diocese where a priest had been assigned prior to facing charges of sexual abuse at a parish in a neighboring diocese. Father Robert Siler, moderator of the curia for the Yakima Diocese, told Catholic News Service April 22 that the exact course of action, if any, has yet to be determined. It would involve all four parishes where the priest had served, he added. In recent weeks, Bishop Sevilla has faced questions about his handling of the case of Father Joaquin Estrada, who pleaded guilty in December 2003 to felony sexual abuse involving a teenage girl in Morrow County, Ore., in the neighboring Diocese of Baker. The bishop also was criticized for hiring a former seminarian who was under investigation for viewing child pornography in Oregon prior to his arrival in the Yakima Diocese.
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Religious order finds renewed life in the desert
PHOENIX (CNS) -- When Blessed Theodore de Celles founded the Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross in 1210, Christendom looked a bit different than it does today. Members of the order -- also known as Crosiers -- lived a spirituality based on Christ's suffering on the cross and his redemptive death and formed communities to pray and provide pastoral ministry. Surviving the Reformation, a multitude of wars and even the suppression of their order, Crosiers have managed to adapt to their surroundings and the pressing needs of the times. The Crosiers are now in the middle of another big change. Crosier Father David Donnay said, "We've basically been asking ourselves the question 'What is our gift for the church?'" In asking themselves that question, the Crosiers in America -- long based in Onamia, Minn. -- adopted a plan called "Vision 2010," which laid out goals for the order to reach by its 800th anniversary. One goal was to rethink the physical location of the order. With only about 70 Crosier brothers and priests nationwide, the order decided to consolidate its members into two communities, allowing for a more vibrant and fruitful communal life. Some remained in Onamia, but many -- including the provincial -- moved to Phoenix, where the Crosiers' daily business is now run.
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Health needs suffer when people seen only as workers, bishop says
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When people's health is seen primarily in relation to their ability to work, an economic downturn results in less attention to the health needs of the population, said Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va., in a recent talk. "As long as health care remains part of the social capital overhead of economic activity, the health needs of people are measured by their value to work," the bishop said at the 2008 Conference on Catholic Social Teaching and Access to Health Care in the United States. "When that economic activity falters and the demand for workers declines, so will the health care, and other forms of social capital, invested in them," he added. But Bishop Bransfield suggested several ways that Catholics, as part of "a church that heals," can lead the way in reforming attitudes toward health and societal practices that reflect a "moral understanding of the sacred and social nature of human beings." The bishop's talk opened the March 26-27 conference at Villanova University near Philadelphia.
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New models of pastoral leadership required for a changing U.S. church
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- New models of pastoral leadership will be required for a U.S. church that has changed significantly from a generation ago and will continue to change. The changes include an increase in the number of Catholics, a more-educated laity, a decrease in the number of priests and vowed religious, an increase in permanent deacons and professional lay ecclesial ministers, and growing cultural diversity in the church. Those changes were identified in a four-year study conducted in response to ongoing shifts in the Catholic Church. A coalition of six national Catholic organizations received a $2 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to conduct the study beginning in 2002 and to assess its findings. Marti R. Jewell, project director of the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project, addressed the major findings of the study April 21, the first full day of a national summit in Orlando to review and build upon the findings. An attentive audience of nearly 1,200 participants representing all six groups listened, eager to hear the results.
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WORLD
Traditionalist society says it's not time to reconcile with Vatican
ROME (CNS) -- The head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay, said the time is not right for reconciliation with the Vatican, despite expanded freedom to use the Tridentine rite. The reason, Bishop Fellay said, is that the liturgical move has not been accompanied by other measures aimed at reversing the "crisis" introduced by the Second Vatican Council. "Nothing has changed regarding Rome's willingness to follow the council's orientations, despite 40 years of crisis, despite the empty convents, the abandoned rectories, the empty churches," Bishop Fellay said in a letter dated April 14 and published on the society's Web site. Bishop Fellay repeated the society's frequent accusation that Vatican II introduced a mistaken vision of the church that is evident in the modern church's relationship with the world, with other religions and with states. He said the society "rejoices" that Pope Benedict XVI has allowed wider use of the preconciliar Tridentine rite, but said resistance among bishops to the older rite has been "at times brutal."
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Pro-lifers: Drop in abortions in Italy doesn't lessen issue's gravity
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- An Italian government report documenting a drop in the number of abortions in Italy and an increase in the number of doctors refusing to perform the procedure does not lessen the gravity of the government allowing innocent children to be put to death, said the head of Italy's Movement for Life. Carlo Casini, the movement's president, told Vatican Radio April 23 that the main point of the report was to defend the legalization of abortion "as if it were not questionable." The Ministry of Health's annual report on "the voluntary interruption of pregnancy," released April 22, said the 127,038 abortions performed in Italian hospitals and clinics in 2007 represented a 3 percent decline from the number of abortions reported in 2006 and an almost 46 percent decline from 1982. In 1982, the government said, 234,801 abortions were performed, the highest number reported in the 30 years that abortion has been legal in Italy.
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Zimbabwean church leaders: Opposition voters targeted for torture
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Zimbabwe's Christian leaders have called for international intervention in the country's crisis, saying that those accused of voting for the opposition in March 29 elections are being tortured, abducted and murdered. "We warn the world that if nothing is done to help the people of Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in Africa and elsewhere," said the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe in an April 22 statement from the capital, Harare. Noting that they recently "issued statements commending Zimbabweans for the generally peaceful and politically mature manner in which they conducted themselves before, during and soon after the elections," the leaders said recent reports from their churches throughout the country gave cause for alarm.
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Media report traffic to be restricted near Shanghai's Sheshan shrine
SHANGHAI, China (CNS) -- Shanghai media reported that, during the Marian month of May, traffic will be restricted around the suburban Sheshan area, where China's popular Marian shrine is located. The shrine is one of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in China, especially during May. This year even more pilgrims are expected to visit. Last June, Pope Benedict XVI asked Catholics worldwide to pray for the church in China May 24, the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians, the title under which Mary is venerated at the Sheshan shrine. A Shanghai church source told the Asian church news agency UCA News in April that the government negotiated with the Shanghai Diocese concerning traffic arrangements during the peak pilgrimage period April 30-May 25. The government is concerned about congestion and safety around Sheshan, he said. Some priests in other Chinese provinces told UCA News that government officials have warned them not to visit Sheshan or organize pilgrimages there in May.
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PEOPLE
LCWR names new executive director
SILVER SPRING, Md. (CNS) -- The Leadership Conference of Women Religious appointed Sister Jane Burke, a School Sister of Notre Dame, as its new executive director, effective in August. Most recently, she was the national manager for the Justice for Immigrants campaign sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In a 2007 interview with Catholic News Service, Sister Burke said many church-related immigration efforts involve "getting to the people in the pews" and helping them understand to apply the principles of Catholic social teaching to the treatment of immigrants. "We don't have to debate the issue to talk to one another," she said. "But we do need to talk to one another." Last May, she asked people across the country to join a "Million Prayers Initiative" for the passage of a comprehensive immigration bill. The bill got deadlocked in Congress. As executive director, Sister Burke will administer the 1,600-member LCWR, a canonically established organization for leaders of U.S. religious communities of women, representing about 67,000 Catholic sisters.
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Pope cites Vatican official's 'zeal and passion' to protect family
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, led church efforts to safeguard and promote a Catholic view of marriage and family life with untiring "zeal and passion," Pope Benedict XVI said. The 72-year-old Colombian cardinal died April 19 at Rome's Pius XI clinic, where he had been hospitalized since early April with a respiratory infection. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrated Cardinal Lopez Trujillo's funeral Mass April 23 in St. Peter's Basilica. Pope Benedict entered the basilica after Communion to preside over the final commendation and farewell and to address the congregation. "How can we not thank him for the courage with which he defended the nonnegotiable values of human life?" the pope asked. "We all admired his untiring activity."
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Chinese priest calls concelebrating papal Mass 'event of a lifetime'
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A Chinese priest studying in Washington called concelebrating Mass with Pope Benedict XVI and more than 1,300 other priests and bishops "the event of a lifetime." "During the celebration, I really understood what it means to be one catholic and apostolic church," said Father John Chen Guang Qian of the Archdiocese of Xi'an, China, who is pursuing a licentiate in sacred theology at The Catholic University of America. Father Chen said the more than 46,000 people at the April 17 Mass at Nationals Park waved flags and shed tears when the popemobile arrived in the stadium. "It was a wonderful experience for me to see this: conservative and liberal, black, white, Latino and Asian, they were all one," he said in a short reflection written for Catholic News Service. Father Chen noted that Pope Benedict talked about freedom and reconciliation when he was in Washington. "I hope that the Catholic Church in China will have reconciliation, unity and dialogue within the church and with the government," Father Chen said.
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Search continues for Brazilian priest strapped to helium balloons
SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) -- The search continues for Father Adelir Antonio de Carli, a Brazilian priest who strapped himself to 1,000 helium balloons April 20 and floated out to sea in southern Brazil. Father de Carli was attempting to raise money for a spiritual truck stop in the port city of Paranagua. His goal was to beat a 19-hour record of helium balloons in flight. A Brazilian air force jet spotted a handful of balloons in the water 30 miles from Florianopolis April 22, but when rescue vessels arrived on the scene they found no sign of the missing priest. The priest lost touch with ground personnel eight hours into his flight, after asking for help in using a Global Positioning System device he was carrying. At St. Christopher Church in Paranagua, where Father de Carli served, parishioners set up 24-hour shifts to pray for the priest.
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Cincinnati archbishop says pope 'knows our reality' in U.S. church
CINCINNATI (CNS) -- As the active U.S. Catholic bishop with the longest tenure in his diocese, Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk was one of three bishops who asked questions of Pope Benedict XVI at Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception April 16. The newest U.S. bishop, Bishop James V. Johnston of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Byzantine Archbishop Basil M. Schott of Pittsburgh each asked a question. The three questions -- dealing with the effect of secularism on the church, the issue of some Catholics leaving the faith and the need for more vocations -- had been prepared in advance. The bishops' questions for the pope amounted to "a ceremonial exchange," the archbishop explained. Preparing them was "a joint effort between the bishops' conference and the Vatican. I had no input whatsoever," he said. He asked the pope for his advice on how to deal with the problem of U.S. Catholics "abandoning the practice of the faith," either with "an explicit decision" or with "a quiet and gradual cessation" of attending Mass and identifying with the church. Among the causes of this "phenomena," he told the pope, is "an excessive emphasis on individualism, even in religion, and because of scandals in the church."
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