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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jun-19-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Bishops urge G-8 nations to recommit to fight poverty, climate change
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The presidents of bishops' conferences associated with the Group of Eight industrialized nations have urged government leaders to honor their commitments to reduce global poverty and address climate change. In a letter released less than three weeks before the July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight leaders in Toyako, Japan, the bishops called upon the presidents of the convening countries to "reaffirm and build upon the substantial commitments" made at summits in 2005 and 2007. The G-8 includes Russia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was joined by the presidents of bishops' conferences in other G-8 countries in reminding the leaders of their promise to spend $50 billion annually on development assistance -- with half going to Africa -- by 2010. "This commitment must be met and additional commitments should be made in the areas of health care, education and humanitarian aid," the bishops wrote.
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Kansas tornado victims say faith got them through storm, aftermath
CHAPMAN, Kan. (CNS) -- Killer tornadoes that ripped through northern Kansas June 11 reduced the oldest Catholic church in the Diocese of Salina to rubble, caused considerable damage to another parish and is blamed for the deaths of two Kansans. However, as the dust settled in the aftermath of the twisters, the faith of many was reaffirmed. "It takes everything to make you get through something like this," said John Grau of Soldier, in the neighboring Archdiocese of Kansas City. He had clutched his wife, Barb, as a tornado flattened their home around them. "Not only your faith, but the people who come to help -- those are people of faith, too, and I think that's what really keeps you together," he said. One person was killed in the tornado that hit Soldier. Grau's house was one of three houses destroyed; 29 homes were damaged. According to the Kansas City Star daily newspaper, the town of Chapman suffered even worse damage when a half-milewide twister tore through that area. One resident was killed, and more than 60 houses and several businesses were destroyed.
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Inscribed bricks pay tribute to memories, lives touched by school
FALL RIVER, Mass. (CNS) -- The closure this June of Notre Dame School in Fall River after more than 100 years was greeted with many heavy hearts, but a couple in the parish launched a project to pay tribute to the memories and the lives touched by the school. The names of the students, teachers and staff members at the school for its last year have been inscribed in bricks, which have been placed together as a memorial in a garden on Notre Dame's parish grounds. A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes is also in the garden. In all, 169 bricks bear the name of a student, faculty or staff member of Notre Dame School, accompanied by 10 anonymous donor bricks. "It was devastating to receive news" that the school was closing, said Brian Dias, a Notre Dame parishioner, school parent and president of the school's Parents Association. He and his wife, Susan, spearheaded the school's brick memorial. "I knew right away that we wanted to do something to remember all these wonderful people," he told The Anchor, diocesan newspaper of Fall River.
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Rockville Centre bishop confers confirmation in Latin ceremony
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (CNS) -- They were not yet born when the new liturgy was introduced in the 1960s, but a dozen teens and preteens in the Diocese of Rockville Centre were happy to receive the sacrament of confirmation in a ceremony celebrated in Latin June 15. Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre conferred the sacrament at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre for a group of children and one adult whose families regularly attend a Latin-language Tridentine Mass each Sunday at St. Matthew's Church in Dix Hills. During a June 11 rehearsal at the cathedral, the confirmation candidates practiced for the liturgy, including the singing of two hymns in English -- "Come Holy Ghost" and "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" -- as well as Latin hymns such as "Tantum Ergo." Msgr. James Pereda, diocesan judicial vicar, who celebrates a weekly diocesan Tridentine Mass at St. Pius X Residence in Uniondale, led the rehearsal. Mercy Sister Sheila Browne, associate director of the diocesan Office of Worship, and Father Andrzej Zglejszewski, director of the office, also participated.
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College students gather to discuss campus ministry, plan projects
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Ninety-three college students involved in campus ministry programs gathered in Philadelphia recently for the Campus Ministry Leadership Institute, hosted by St. Joseph's University. Teams of one to five students traveled from 25 universities to the Jesuit university to learn about campus ministry and work on a project. Campus ministers also attended and worked alongside their students. Sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' education office, it was the 10th institute and was held at St. Joseph's University for the first time. One of the main objectives of the May 31-June 6 gathering was for participants to plan an event they could then take back to their colleges to implement in the fall. Past projects have ranged from retreats and community service projects to Scripture study and outreach to residence halls, according to the institute's Web site. "When do you ever get a whole week to plan and develop a project?" remarked Jenna Bolzenius, a student from the University of Missouri in Columbia who attended the institute.
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WORLD
Quebec cardinal says bishops should decide Tridentine Mass usage
QUEBEC CITY (CNS) -- Though a Vatican official said Pope Benedict XVI wants all parishes to have a Tridentine Mass, Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet expressed satisfaction with one parish in his archdiocese offering the rite. "I think the intention of the Holy Father is to allow the practice of the extraordinary rite where there is a need and a request," the cardinal said at a June 18 press conference at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress. "In our diocese we have one parish. At the moment there is no need for other places. I think this is responding to the need of the population," he said. Cardinal Ouellet said it is up to each bishop to determine how to handle the demand for Masses according to the extraordinary form of the Mass. The cardinal's remarks came after a Vatican official said Pope Benedict would like to see every parish have its own Mass in the Tridentine rite of the 1962 Roman Missal. In "Summorum Pontificum," published in July 2007, Pope Benedict indicated that Tridentine Masses should be made available in every parish where groups of the faithful desire it and where a priest has been trained to celebrate it. He also said the Mass from the Roman Missal in use since 1970 remains the ordinary form of the Mass, while the celebration of the Tridentine Mass is the extraordinary form.
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Marian images need artistic rehabilitation, says Vatican newspaper
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The loving, tender images of Mary breast-feeding the baby Jesus need an artistic and spiritual rehabilitation, said the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. A vast iconography of traditional Christian art has been "censored by the modern age" because images depicting Our Lady's naked breast for her child were deemed too "unseemly," the paper said June 19. Artists began depicting a fully clothed nursing Mary in sacred art in an attempt to make her seem less "carnal," but the depictions unfortunately also diminished her human, loving and tender side "that touches the hearts and faith of the devout," the newspaper said. The article, titled "Those Marys, Too Human, Censored by the Modern Age," was written by Christian historian Lucetta Scaraffia. It was one of two articles commenting on the release of a two-volume work documenting the variety in iconography and history of Mary. The work, "The Sword and Milk" by Tommaso Claudio Mineo, was presented to the public at a Vatican-sponsored event June 17.
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Vatican official says 'Humanae Vitae' defends freedom of women
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Although bitterly criticized as burdensome on Catholic couples when it was published in 1968, the encyclical "Humanae Vitae" has ended up defending the freedom of women and the fullness of married love, a top Vatican official said. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in mid-June that the encyclical on married love and procreation, which held that artificial birth control is morally wrong, has defended the value and sacred character of human love against a strictly technological approach. Cardinal Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, said doctrinal analysis and pastoral experience over the last 40 years have shown that "the encyclical, which at first appeared to be restrictive, in reality has actually safeguarded the unity and fullness of conjugal love." It has also "defended the freedom of women, the responsibility of married couples and the autonomy of people in developing countries," he said.
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Bishop warns that Kazakh religion law will 'destroy country's image'
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The Chicago-born secretary of the Kazakh bishops' conference has condemned a draft law that would restrict religion in the Central Asian republic. "Everything will be controlled and the rights to religion denied," said Bishop Henry Howaniec of Almaty, Kazakhstan. "They say they're afraid of religious extremists and fundamentalists, but where are they? All religious communities here will be affected and are deeply concerned, as should be their fellow Christians throughout the world," he said. If enacted, the law would violate Kazakhstan's 1999 agreement with the Vatican, which recognizes the church's rights, and would destroy the country's reputation for religious freedom, Bishop Howaniec told Catholic News Service in a June telephone interview. "Since its present religion law was passed in 1991, Kazakhstan has set an example, in contrast to the other nations of Central Asia. We have 130 different ethnic groups here all living in religious harmony," added Bishop Howaniec, who has worked in Kazakhstan for 15 years and headed the Almaty Diocese since 2003.
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Pope appeals for stability, religious freedom in Middle East
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI appealed to world leaders to help bring peace, stability and true religious freedom to the Middle East. "Peace is the only path that will also address the serious problem of the displaced and refugees and stop emigration, especially of Christians, which deeply hurts the Eastern churches," he said in a June 19 speech to representatives of Catholic communities in the Middle East and to Catholic aid agencies that assist them. During a private audience with some 80 participants of a Vatican meeting of church funding agencies for Eastern churches, the pope thanked the representatives for their dedication to offering desperately needed aid and support to Christian communities, especially in the Holy Land, which are "vital for the whole church." The pope urged the church funding agencies, whose umbrella organization is known by its Italian acronym, ROACO, to continue with their support of Iraqi Christians, including the internally displaced and those living in difficult conditions as refugees.
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Pope tells Pakistani bishops to keep trying despite hardships
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Pakistani bishops to persist in missionary efforts despite the hardships and burdens they face as a tiny religious minority. The bishops, in a meeting with the pope June 19, spoke frankly of new difficulties in evangelizing in an increasingly hostile Islamic environment. The country's seven bishops, who minister to a little more than a million Pakistani Catholics, were making their consultative "ad limina" visits to the Vatican. Archbishop Lawrence J. Saldanha of Lahore, president of the Pakistani bishops' conference, told the pope in an address that in the past the Catholic Church was held in high esteem for its educational and medical services. "But today we carry out our mission in a hostile and conservative Islamic milieu that is increasingly extremist, intolerant and militant. There is growing pressure to enforce the Shariah or Islamic way of life," he said.
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Pilgrims learn church history by visiting Quebec historical sites
QUEBEC CITY (CNS) -- Pilgrims who ventured away from the 49th International Eucharistic Congress grounds in this city are getting some lessons in church history -- almost 400 years of it. Quebec City is celebrating the 400th anniversary of its founding in 2008. And since the Catholic Church was there in the earliest years of this former French colony, it, too, is looking back. Pilgrims to the June 15-22 congress made the rounds June 18 to some of the most important Catholic institutions in Quebec City, including the tombs of Blessed Francois de Laval, first bishop of Quebec, who died 300 years ago; Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine of the Augustine Hospitaller Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus; and Blessed Marie de l'Incarnation, founder of an Ursuline convent in the city in 1639. "I hope you make the connection between the proclamation of the word and the Word made flesh in the lives of the saints," said Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Richard Grecco in the Ursuline chapel during a prayer service attended by about 500 pilgrims from Toronto and elsewhere.
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PEOPLE
Kabila visits pope, invites him to Congo
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo has invited Pope Benedict XVI to his African nation. During a private June 19 papal audience in the Vatican, Joseph Kabila invited the pope to visit his homeland as the two men discussed human rights and justice. Before the start of their 15-minute, closed-door talks, the pope asked Kabila, "What is the situation in your country?" The 37-year-old president was reported to have replied, "A bit better." Kabila had been scheduled to visit the pope in December, but the meeting was postponed when rebel fighters launched an offensive and captured a key town in the eastern Congo. The United Nations has peacekeeping troops in the area, and rebels continue to operate there. According to a Vatican communique released a few hours after the papal audience, the pope and Kabila spoke about the country's political and social situation, especially in the hard-hit eastern provinces.
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Obama, McCain among mourners at Washington funeral Mass for Russert
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees were among the scores of mourners at the June 18 private funeral Mass for NBC News Washington bureau chief and "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert, who died suddenly June 13 at the age of 58. In his homily, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, said the presence of both Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain was not only a special tribute to Russert, but to the U.S., speaking to the country's "values of respect and to those fundamental virtues which ultimately are more important even than politics and the shifting sands of public life." The funeral Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Georgetown section of Washington -- Russert's parish -- was private, but a speaker system was set up outside for listeners to hear the proceedings. A memorial service for Russert was held later the same day at the Kennedy Center in Washington and broadcast live on MSNBC; it featured tributes from fellow journalists Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and Maria Shriver; his former teacher, Mercy Sister Lucille Socciarelli; his son, Luke Russert; and others.
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Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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