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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS May-27-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Fewer youths will attend World Youth Day than in previous years
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- World Youth Day events typically draw hundreds of thousands of youths and in some countries they have reached or surpassed the 1 million mark. This year's event in Sydney, Australia, July 15-20 will be on a much smaller scale. The largest World Youth Day turnout was 4 million in Manila, Philippines, in 1995. Other big crowds include: 2 million in Rome in 2000; 1.6 million in Czestochowa, Poland, in 1991; 1.2 million in Paris in 1997; and 1 million in Cologne, Germany, in 2005. World Youth Day officials have been saying they expect 225,000 pilgrims to take part in this year's events, including 100,000 Australians. But local news reports have questioned if the projected figure is accurate, stating the final count may be significantly lower. Danny Casey, chief operating officer of World Youth Day 2008, said in a statement that World Youth Day officials have "always expected there would be high demand from young Catholics around the world to come to Australia for World Youth Day." He also noted that the World Youth Day office has received more than 168,000 international registration queries. "But we always anticipated that a proportion of those were unlikely to follow through with an actual registration because of a range of factors including distance and cost," he added.
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Catholic teens confirmed amid year of turmoil in Texas town
ELDORADO, Texas (CNS) -- As the crow flies, the Yearning for Zion Ranch is about eight miles from the bell tower at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, tucked just inside the city limits of Eldorado in west Texas. One can, in fact, stand outside the front doors of the Eldorado Catholic church and see the tops of the glistening spires and steeples that jut up to the north from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple on the ranch. Despite their proximity, the chasm between the two religions has seldom been so evident as it was the evening of May 21, when 10 youths from Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Peter, the parish mission church in nearby Mertzon, received the sacrament of confirmation. Their journey on the sacramental road, the young people will say, was not unlike the road traveled by their peers in other parts of the state or country. However, the news of what may be occurring at the ranch, run by a polygamist sect, and the resultant horde of media that descended on the town offered insights few other confirmation candidates will likely ever experience. "I don't agree with a lot of what they do, in particular multiple marriages and the other things they have said may be going on," said 16-year-old Timothy Cuevas, "but I must be religiously tolerant of others."
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Second column clarifies archbishop's stand on Communion for governor
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., has reiterated his request that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius not receive Communion until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion, but said he will not ask eucharistic ministers to refuse to give her Communion. The archbishop answered questions about his stand in the May 23 issue of The Leaven, archdiocesan newspaper, saying he had received "a significant number of pro and con communications" about his column in the newspaper two weeks earlier. "In my request to Gov. Sebelius, I have made clear that it is her responsibility not to present herself for reception of holy Communion," he wrote. "I am hopeful that she will comply with this request." But Archbishop Naumann also said that "pastorally, it is certainly preferable not to burden ministers of the Eucharist with the responsibility to refuse Communion to someone," although such ministers "do have an obligation to protect the sacrament from misuse or abuse." "I have, at this moment, not asked the ministers of the Eucharist not to give holy Communion to the governor," he added. He said he made his initial request to the governor before she vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, which would have placed new requirements on abortion providers. An attempt to override the veto failed by two votes in the Kansas Senate.
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WORLD
Lebanese archbishop: Election of new president marks new beginning
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- The May 25 election of Lebanon's new president and an agreement signed by rival political leaders mark a fresh start for the country, said a Lebanese archbishop. The agreement signed May 21 in Doha, Qatar, also opens "a relevant gate toward peace and stability in Middle Eastern countries," Maronite Catholic Archbishop Bechara Rai of Jbeil told Catholic News Service May 24. "Certainly, it's a new beginning," for Lebanon, he said. The Doha Agreement between the Western-backed government and the Iranian-backed, Hezbollah-led opposition ended an 18-month political crisis that nearly plunged the country into a civil war. The Doha Agreement called for the election of consensus candidate Michel Suleiman as president, the formation of a national unity government and reform of the electoral law prior to the 2009 parliamentary elections. Suleiman's election "will grant trust and confidence to the people and bring back new hope to the soul of the Lebanese," said Archbishop Rai. Suleiman, a native of Amchit, a coastal village north of Beirut, is from Archbishop Rai's diocese.
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Church official: Rural Zimbabweans fear for their lives amid violence
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Zimbabweans in rural areas "fear for their lives," a church official said after a report warned that Zimbabwe is headed toward civil war. Postelection attacks have been "most severe" in rural areas, and many Zimbabweans in these areas may be too afraid to vote for the opposition in the runoff presidential election June 27, said Alouis Chaumba, head of Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. However, many people in the country's towns and cities "are motivated to vote again to ensure an end to the present system," he told Catholic News Service in a May 26 telephone interview from the capital, Harare. "Many communities feel that voting will be an act of solidarity with their friends who have been killed or wounded in the violence, so that they did not die in vain," Chaumba said. A report on postelection violence in Zimbabwe by the Solidarity Peace Trust, an ecumenical group of church organizations from Zimbabwe and South Africa, said, "There needs to be a general recognition that Zimbabwe is sinking fast into the conditions of a civil war, propelled largely by the increasing reliance on violence by the ruling party to stay in power, and the rapidly shrinking spaces for any form of peaceful political intervention." The report, released in Johannesburg, South Africa, May 21, contained about 50 eyewitness accounts of orchestrated beatings, torture and the destruction of homes and shops.
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Mexican bishop urges more information on shooting death of cardinal
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- A bishop in Mexico marked the 15th anniversary of the slaying of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo of Guadalajara by demanding more information on his violent death. Bishop Leopoldo Gonzalez Gonzalez of Tapachula, secretary-general of the Mexican bishops' conference, called the cardinal's murder "a crime of state" and demanded that former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who governed 1988-1994, be more open with investigators still probing the unresolved case. Cardinal Posadas was shot dead May 24, 1993, at Guadalajara's airport. A federal investigation said the cardinal inadvertently was caught in the middle of a shootout between rival narcotics trafficking cartels, which were active in the Guadalajara area during the 1990s. Alfredo Araujo Avila, a top hit man for the Arellano Felix cartel, was arrested in January and implicated in the airport shootout. Araujo was the 13th person to be arrested in connection with the killing, but the Archdiocese of Guadalajara said his detention changed nothing. Several Catholic officials have rejected the federal explanation and considered the prelate's death to be a homicide. They noted that Cardinal Posadas was wearing his usual clerical robes and was shot at close range in the late-afternoon attack that claimed seven lives. "We disagree with the hypothesis of confusion," Bishop Gonzalez said during the May 22 press conference.
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Vatican completes restoration of mausoleum under St. Peter's
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican has completed the restoration of the largest and most luxurious mausoleum in the vast necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica. The Mausoleum of the Valerii displays some of the most ornate decoration among the 22 family mausoleums in the ancient underground cemetery. "We had wanted to restore it for a long time, but we didn't have the money. Now we're extremely happy" the funding came through and the yearlong restoration has been completed, said Maria Cristina Stella, an official at the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the office responsible for the basilica's upkeep. The $300,000 project was funded by the Rome-based Foundation for Music and Sacred Art, the Italian branch of Mercedes-Benz, and other sponsors. Stella and other Vatican officials spoke at a May 27 press conference at the Fabbrica's headquarters near the basilica. The Vatican necropolis includes the burial grounds where St. Peter's tomb has been venerated since early Christian times.
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Pope tells Chinese Catholics he continues to pray for them
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With a brief phrase in Chinese and warm words of welcome in Italian, Pope Benedict XVI told Chinese Catholics living in Italy that he continued to pray for Catholics in their homeland and, especially, for victims of the May 12 earthquake. Hundreds of Chinese Catholics from all over Italy came to Rome to attend a special Mass in the Basilica of St. Mary Major May 24, the day Pope Benedict had asked Catholics around the world to devote to prayers for China. The group joined the pope May 25 for the midday recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter's Square. "I entrust to the merciful love of God all of your fellow citizens who have died in recent days as a consequence of the earthquake that struck a vast area of your country," the pope told the group. "I renew my personal closeness to those who are living through hours of agony and tribulation." The Chinese government said May 27 that the official death toll from the quake had risen to more than 67,000; it also said more than 360,000 people were injured, some 20,000 people were still missing, and tens of thousands were being evacuated because of the danger of flooding from burst dams. Pope Benedict said, "Thanks to the fraternal solidarity of all, may the people of those areas be able to return soon to a normal life."
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Twice during special Mass, Chinese Catholics recite papal prayer
SHANGHAI, China (CNS) -- Chinese pilgrims, mainly from the Shanghai Diocese, read aloud Pope Benedict XVI's "Prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan" as they celebrated the Sheshan Marian shrine's feast day on the outskirts of Shanghai. Around 2,500 pilgrims packed the shrine's minor Basilica of St. Mary May 24, the day of prayer for the church in China that the pope called for in his June 2007 letter to mainland Catholics, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Xing Wenzhi of Shanghai was the main celebrant at the basilica Mass. The pope' prayer, released by the Vatican May 16, was read aloud twice during the Mass, once unexpectedly, priests later confirmed. Bishop Xing told UCA News after the Mass that he believed local Catholics would soon memorize the prayer, despite its length, as they love every word written by the pope. He recalled that when he showed the Chinese version of the prayer, taken from the Internet, to Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai, the 92-year-old prelate immediately responded, "Print it." The diocese printed 2,000 pilgrimage booklets with the pope's prayer and his coat of arms. During remarks at the beginning of Mass, Father Raphael Gao Chaopeng pointed out that Pope Benedict made May 24 special this year by designating it World Day of Prayer for the Church in China. This shows "we are no longer an orphan but a family member in the universal church," said the priest, who teaches at Sheshan Seminary, at the foot of the shrine hill.
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PEOPLE
Pope names Missionaries of Africa provincial as head of Prince Albert
OTTAWA (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Father Albert Thevenot, the Montreal-based provincial superior of the Missionaries of Africa, as the new bishop for the Prince Albert Diocese in Saskatchewan. On May 26, Pope Benedict also accepted the resignation of Bishop Blaise Morand as head of the diocese. Bishop Morand will be age 77 Sept. 12. Born in Manitoba in 1945, Bishop-designate Thevenot became a priest in 1980. He recalled always "having an interest in helping other people in far-off lands." He chose the Missionaries of Africa because they were the only congregation that he knew of that was serving in Africa. He spent 15 years in Tanzania, doing parish work, teaching and working with youth. "It was better than I thought it would be," he said in an interview from Montreal. "I learned more from the Africans about what is mission than I could bring them. I think they changed us more than we changed them," he said. Bishop-designate Thevenot served in Rome for the order's general council and worked with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He returned to Canada in 2004 and became provincial in July 2006.
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Seven named to seats on U.S. bishops' National Review Board
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Two educators, a district court judge, a psychologist and a civic association leader will begin three-year terms on the National Review Board June 1. A judge and another psychologist also have been named to the board for terms beginning June 1, 2009. Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced the appointments May 22. Established by the bishops in 2002, the board reviews diocesan compliance with the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," oversees diocesan audits on child protection policies and practices, and recommends ways to ensure child protection to dioceses and church-based agencies. Joining the board this June 1 are: Ana Maria Catanazaro, an associate professor, director of public health programs and director of La Salle Neighborhood Nursing Center at La Salle University in Philadelphia; Ruben Gallegos, executive director of International Educational Services Inc., a Los Fresnos, Texas-based child care association for unaccompanied minors from Central America; Al Notzon III, recently retired as the director of the Alamo Area Council of Governments in Texas and chairman of the San Antonio Archdiocesan Review Board; Thomas Plante, professor of psychology at Santa Clara University and adjunct clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine; and Judge Geraldine Rivera of the second judicial district of New Mexico's District Court. Charles Handel, a psychologist who practices in Cincinnati and is an adjunct professor of psychology at Xavier University, and Anna Moran a judge on the Kenai, Alaska, Superior Court's third judicial district will begin their terms in June 2009.
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Two families, an ocean apart, reunited by St. Gaetano
PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- Not many people can say they have a cousin for a saint. But Justin Catanoso can, and he writes about it in his first book, "My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family and Miracles," published this May by William Morrow. The book brings to life one of the church's newest canonized saints, St. Gaetano Catanoso, an Italian parish priest who served in a rural region with extreme poverty and a high rate of illiteracy and was a breeding ground for crime. Canonized in October 2005, the Italian diocesan priest was one of five men in the first group of saints proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. He lived from 1879-1963. Known for a spirit of charity, humility and sacrifice, St. Gaetano was dedicated to the holy face of Christ. He revived Marian and eucharistic devotions in his local parish and founded an organization to help subsidize education for poor seminarians. "Padre Gaetano came to believe he could do no less than to love with the same kind of intensity that Jesus loved. How else could he soften so many hardened souls?" Catanoso writes in his book. "Like St. Veronica, herself, Padre Gaetano would fall in step with the many, many poor hobbling all around him. He would wipe their faces of tears and blood. He would love them blindly, radically, unconditionally."
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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