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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Apr-30-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Wisconsin bishops release pastoral letter on stem-cell research
LA CROSSE, Wis. (CNS) -- Wisconsin's bishops are calling for "reasonable standards for the protection of human life and dignity" in an April 29 pastoral letter addressing embryonic stem-cell research. Without being specific, the bishops said their letter is not meant to "'impose' narrow doctrinal beliefs" on the broader community, but to recognize that "we are called to harness new developments at the cutting edge of science in ways that respect the dignity of all human life, especially in its most vulnerable stages." Released by the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the two-page letter, "Serving All and Sacrificing None," was signed by Bishops Jerome E. Listecki of La Crosse, Peter F. Christensen of Superior and Robert C. Morlino of Madison, and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee, who also is administrator of the vacant Green Bay Diocese. The issue is especially contentious in Wisconsin because taxpayers fund embryonic stem-cell research through the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Stem-Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center.
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Industrialized farms must treat rural America better, commission says
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A report by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production does not see an end to "intensive" livestock-raising practices, or even the confined feeding operations that characterize much of the beef, pork and poultry industry today. But commissioners said they want to see improvements in animal safety, human health, the environment and rural America as a result of their recommendations. Rural America's social health has declined because of "what has happened over the last 60 years with the increased mechanization of farming operations," said Holy Cross Brother David Andrews, a commission member and former executive director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, at an April 29 Washington briefing during which the recommendations were released. With the increased concentration of feeding operations, "you're having just as many hogs, but fewer farmers," Brother Andrews said.
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CRS chairman says agency practices church teachings on condoms
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a letter to U.S. bishops, the chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services said the agency's HIV/AIDS programs practice church teachings on condom use and abstinence before marriage. "In no cases does CRS promote, purchase or distribute condoms," said Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee, CRS chairman, in the letter obtained April 29 by Catholic News Service. Saying that "all HIV programs supported by CRS promote abstinence until marriage and mutual fidelity within marriage," Archbishop Dolan noted that CRS' positions "are fully in keeping with (U.S. bishops') conference policies." CRS is the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency. The archbishop wrote the letter, dated April 23, in response to an article by The Catholic World Report which said that CRS was not adhering to church teaching because it was promoting condoms and omitting its logo on a Zambian HIV informational tool. Archbishop Dolan said "CRS' name does not appear on HIV pedagogical flip charts because the tools belong not to us, but to the government of Zambia's Ministry of Health." In fact, he noted, "CRS was able to convince the government of Zambia to include discussions on abstinence, behavior change and fidelity in marriage within the material, information that was absent in previous drafts."
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Haiti's food crisis prolongs national angst, promotes flight in boats
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A new prime minister in Haiti may temporarily lower anxiety among hungry citizens, but two Catholic Church officials said the government must focus on reducing food prices to prevent future rioting and stop more Haitians from trying to flee the nation in rickety boats. "There is a keen interest by people to see if other commodities, besides rice, can be lowered to some degree," said William Canny, country representative in Haiti for the U.S. bishops' international aid agency, Catholic Relief Services. "At this point, we're hearing from the people in Port-au-Prince that the government is going to have to step in and do something about this, or there are going to be more riots." Coadjutor Bishop Pierre-Antoine Paulo of Port-de-Paix, Haiti, said people in the northwestern portion of the country continue to take to the seas to try to reach Florida, risking their lives in response to the food crisis in the poorest nation in the Americas. That trend will only increase if the government does not deal with rising food prices in Haiti, Bishop Paulo said.
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Fire destroys two buildings at John Michael Talbot's hermitage
BERRYVILLE, Ark. (CNS) -- An April 28 fire destroyed the common center and chapel at Little Portion Hermitage near Berryville. The hermitage, the home of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity led by musician John Michael Talbot, worked with firefighters from four different fire departments to stop the blaze. "Everybody was heroic," Talbot told the Arkansas Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock. "People were going into the building to save things." Damages were estimated to be at least $500,000. The common center housed the hermitage's library, kitchen, archives and offices. Also destroyed was Talbot's lighting and sound equipment; he was scheduled to leave May 2 for a monthlong tour of Canada. Both of the buildings that were destroyed were built between 1983 and 1989.
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Catholic Worker Movement marks 75th anniversary without fanfare
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Seventy-fifth anniversary or not, lunch still must be served at the New York Catholic Worker's Maryhouse. Hungry people will be waiting, as they are every day. Jane Sammon knows the routine: hospitality, meals, conversation, responding in whatever way possible to people in need. She's been at Maryhouse for nearly 36 years, arriving in the summer of 1972 from Cleveland to live a life of voluntary poverty and personal sacrifice with a deep commitment to the works of mercy. It's a way of life many admire but few venture to try. Maryhouse is a place where the world is made better for people "little by little," as Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day often would say, recalling the example of St. Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus. It's a place where people are readily welcomed and their human dignity is uplifted. Day wanted a place where Christ would feel at home. "It's an amazing thing that really has very little to do with us," said Sammon, 60. "It's the grace of God that keeps us going."
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WORLD
Pope says trip to U.S. was opportunity to give, receive hope, faith
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said his April 15-20 visit to the United Nations and the United States was an opportunity to give -- and to receive -- a witness to the power of hope and faith. Reflecting on his trip during his April 30 weekly general audience, the pope said the hope that flows from faith in Christ can vanquish even the darkness cast by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Christian hope, "stronger than sin and death, animated a moment filled with emotion, which I passed in silence in the abyss of ground zero, where I lighted a candle, praying for all the victims of that terrible tragedy," the pope said. The pope began his general audience by publicly thanking the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and President George W. Bush for inviting him, and all those who greeted him with affection and offered prayers for the success of his visit.
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Archbishop urges justice, not death for Iraqis on trial for genocide
ROME (CNS) -- An Iraqi archbishop said justice should be served, but no death sentence should be handed down to eight defendants facing charges of genocide in Iraq. Among those being tried is a Chaldean Catholic, Tariq Aziz, who served as deputy prime minister during former President Saddam Hussein's regime. Aziz has been in U.S. custody for the past five years. Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk reminded people of the need for "justice, but in respect for human rights and the dignity of the person," which precludes "any capital sentence," according to the Rome-based missionary news agency AsiaNews. The archbishop issued his April 29 appeal the same day the trial opened in Baghdad. No formal charges were read and the court quickly adjourned until May 20 because one defendant was unable to be present due to illness.
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Iranian Muslims, Vatican reps say faith is never against reason
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While faith sometimes calls for belief in something that goes beyond a person's ability to understand, faith is never against reason, said participants in a Vatican-Iranian Catholic-Muslim dialogue. Six representatives of Iran's Islamic Culture and Relations Organization met with a six-member delegation of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome April 28-30 to discuss the relationship between faith and reason. The topic was a key theme in Pope Benedict XVI's September 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany, in which he offended many Muslims by quoting a 14th-century Christian emperor's criticism of Islam and raised questions about the relationship between faith and reason in Islam. The Vatican-Iranian dialogue participants met briefly with Pope Benedict April 30 after his general audience.
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New chair of Canadian Indian truth commission wants to hear all sides
OTTAWA (CNS) -- The newly appointed chair of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission said he is planning wide-ranging public meetings in an effort to hear everyone's story. "The only way to understand this tragic legacy is to understand all its components," said Judge Harry LaForme, 61, in an interview April 29. Referring to the abuses at residential schools run by several Christian denominations and maintained by the federal government between 1870 and 1996, LaForme said the schools' policy intended to "remove the Indian from the child" by taking him from his family, because the "wigwam was more powerful" than the institution. "That's the tree that poisoned all the fruit," he said. But LaForme acknowledged that not every residential school survivor was a victim: Some had positive experiences, and he wants to hear their stories, too. He also wants to hear from the churches and from the people who worked in the schools.
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PEOPLE
Alaskan governor praised for response to her Down syndrome child
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNS) -- Local Catholic leaders and advocates for the disabled praised Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, for fully embracing the arrival of their fifth child, who was born with Down syndrome April 18. In a statement, the Palin family said they knew, through early testing, that Trig Paxon Van Palin "would face special challenges." Despite Trig's disability, the Palins said they felt "privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives." The Palin family's public comments stand in contrast to the stark reality of statistics showing that more than 90 percent of women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to abort the child. Several Catholic leaders expressed admiration for the way the governor and her family embraced their new baby. "It is a beautiful witness, especially for someone who is so public like the governor," Anchorage Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz told the Catholic Anchor, the archdiocesan newspaper. "Clearly her actions are a public witness to the fact that every child is a gift."
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Catholic Charities USA's volunteer of the year empowers men with AIDS
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A 19-year volunteer ministering to men with HIV and AIDS in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., has been named Catholic Charities USA's 2008 volunteer of the year. Ray Suttles, 68, of Wharton, N.J., was selected from among 10 finalists who serve in a variety of programs at local Catholic Charities agencies nationwide. A native of North Carolina who grew up a Southern Baptist, Suttles has worked with dozens of men since 1989 at Hope House, which provides services to clients living on the margins in Dover, N.J. Suttles began volunteering at Hope House after learning that his best friend and roommate from college contracted AIDS. Although Suttles was in New Jersey and his friend was in Atlanta, he wanted to do something to support the man he had known for more than 25 years during his time of greatest need. "There was an old Peggy Lee song that kept playing over and over in my head, which went 'Is that all there is?'" he recalled. "It was very troubling because I felt there was something I needed to do with my life. The opportunity to work at Hope House was like a miracle in many ways. It was something that ignited my spirit. ... It has truly changed my life," Suttles said.
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Bishop Pelotte's resignation accepted nine months after injuries
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The resignation of Bishop Donald E. Pelotte of Gallup, N.M., was accepted April 30 by Pope Benedict XVI, citing the canon law provision for ill health or other serious reason. The resignation was announced in Washington by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop Pelotte, 63, had been on a medical leave of absence since December, five months after he said he was injured in a fall at his home. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted was named apostolic administrator of the Gallup Diocese in January and will serve in that position until a permanent replacement is named by the Vatican. Bishop Pelotte suffered head injuries and severe bruising to his shoulder, arms, legs, hands and knuckles at his home last July. Although initially the extent of his injuries led to speculation that he might have been assaulted, the bishop said he had fallen down the stairs and authorities did not pursue the matter further.
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Author Anne Rice talks of losing, regaining her Catholic faith
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- Most people know author Anne Rice for her detailed characterization of vampires and vivid descriptions of their haunts in the streets and homes of New Orleans, where she was born and raised. But a growing number of people today are reading Rice's second novel about Christ, "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana." Her first book on Jesus' early years, "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," was published in 2005, several years after she consecrated her life to Christ. Before that time, Anne (O'Brien) Rice was searching for redemption after her break with the Catholic Church at age 18 and her marriage to Stan Rice, a professed atheist. "I made the terrible mistake of losing my faith, of just thinking, if I can't live within the confines of the church, if I don't find it possible to do this, if I think the church is wrong, then maybe God doesn't exist," Rice said in an interview with The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, from her home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. "I stopped talking to God," she added. "I stopped asking for his help. I stopped really praying. ... The mistake was rigidity, it was a lack of flexibility, a lack of being able to open up to some new experiences and not make such a violent break with the church."
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