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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jun-23-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
New CARA report assesses likely Catholic influence on 2008 elections
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although Catholic Democrats outnumber Catholic Republicans in the United States, both are outnumbered by the 41 percent of U.S. Catholic voters who are not affiliated with either party, according to new data from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. In a report titled "Election '08 Forecast," released June 20, CARA compared data on party identification and the social, political and moral views of the estimated 47 million potential Catholic voters in the November election. Currently, 38 percent of Catholic voters identify themselves, either strongly or weakly, with the Democratic Party, while 21 percent said they were affiliated with the Republican Party, strongly or weakly. "If Catholics stick to their current party identification when voting for president, (presumptive Democratic nominee Sen.) Barack Obama would have the potential edge over (presumptive Republican nominee Sen.) John McCain among Catholics by more than 8 million," the report said, noting there would be 18 million Democrats compared to 10 million Republicans if they stay with their party affiliation.
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Churches, charities assist working class impacted by foreclosures
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Phones are ringing off the hook in at least one Catholic charity. "We get anywhere from 100 to 150 calls a day from people on the verge of losing their homes or renters who are being displaced," said Karen Wallensak, director of Catholic Charities Housing Resource Center in St. Louis. The St. Louis center employs 10 housing counselors who each carry a caseload of 40-60 families. Wallensak said they're helping, on average, 500 families at any one time. "We're pretty maxed out," she told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview June 20. Realtytrac.com, a foreclosure tracking firm, reported one in every 483 U.S. households was in some stage of foreclosure. Charities and churches nationwide are seeing an increase in requests for assistance. According to a Catholic Charities USA survey released June 11, 78 percent of Catholic Charities agencies nationwide reported an increase in requests for assistance with rent or mortgage payments.
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Catholics gather to observe150th anniversary of Paulist Fathers
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Hundreds of Catholics gathered in the nation's capital June 19-21 for the Paulist Fathers' 150th anniversary convocation and to learn from the roots of the movement to better evangelize the people of North America in the future. Paulist Father Lawrence Boadt, publisher of the Paulist Press, told his fellow religious order priests and the faithful assembled at The Catholic University of America that his organization was using modern technology in its evangelization efforts and welcomed suggestions on how to more effectively bring the voice of God to more Americans. The Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, known as the Paulist Fathers, was founded in 1858 by Father Isaac Thomas Hecker, a New York City native ordained as a Redemptorist priest in 1849.
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Sierra Club book recognizes Catholics doing their part on environment
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Don Conklin and Ellen Buelow are in good company -- and lots of it. The two New Mexico Catholics are, like Catholics everywhere, doing their part to help the environment and to make others aware of potential ecological dangers that arise from wasteful habits. Catholics, in fact, are prominently featured in nine chapters of a new Sierra Club book, "Faith in Action," which highlights faith-led environmental action in each of the 50 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Conklin and Buelow, members of Holy Rosary Parish in Albuquerque, N.M., helped engineer a light-bulb swap -- incandescent bulbs for energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs, in March. Before the swap was over, 3,000 bulbs changed hands. "We did this as a Lenten project," said Conklin, a pastoral associate at the 2,700-household parish. "And it didn't cost us a thing. It was sponsored by the Sierra Club and PNM," the electric company serving the Albuquerque area.
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Minor's abortion with Catholic Charities' help may have legal effects
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After employees of a Catholic Charities office in Richmond, Va., helped a refugee minor obtain an abortion, the U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services has revised its agreements with Catholic Charities agencies nationwide to explicitly ban "any services or actions contrary to Catholic teachings and beliefs." News of the Jan. 18 abortion and an exchange of letters from federal and church officials in April surfaced in mid-June after reports in The Wanderer, a national Catholic newspaper based in St. Paul, Minn., and The Washington Times daily newspaper. The abortion already has led to the firing of four employees of Commonwealth Catholic Charities who were involved in facilitating the abortion or helping the minor obtain a contraceptive device. An MRS employee responsible for supervising them also was suspended, according to an April 29 letter from three U.S. bishops to their fellow bishops. According to news reports, the minor in question was a 16-year-old Guatemalan who already had one child.
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Priests urged to care for their bodies the way they care for souls
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With studies confirming that a high percentage of U.S. clerics are overweight and lead inactive and nutritionally unhealthy lifestyles, several Catholic leaders in interviews with Catholic News Service said priests should focus on their bodies with the same care they give the souls of their parishioners. "We should remind our priests to take the time for relaxation and physical exercise," said Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, himself a physically fit 69-year-old Catholic leader. "It's very important for their health and their ministry." A 2001 national survey of more than 2,500 Christian religious leaders -- conducted by the pastoral leadership research project "Pulpit and Pew" based at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina -- said that 76 percent of Christian clergy were either overweight or obese, 15 percentage points higher than for the general U.S. population. The "Pulpit and Pew" study was the largest of recent surveys conducted on the health of U.S. clergy of several Christian denominations, all reaching similar conclusions.
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WORLD
Pope urges church to draw inspiration from Pauline year
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI asked the whole church to draw inspiration from the jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul and to imitate the apostle's courageous missionary efforts. St. Paul demonstrated that with firm faith "we can overcome every form of fear," the pope said at a Sunday blessing June 22. The pope officially was to open the Pauline year at a prayer service June 28 in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, where the saint's tomb is located. At his Sunday blessing, the pope spoke about the role of faith in conquering fear. He cited an episode from a difficult period in the evangelizing efforts of St. Paul, when God appeared in a vision and told him: "Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you." In fact, St. Paul continued to preach with courage, suffering martyrdom in the end, the pope said. The church is now preparing to celebrate the 2,000th year of his birth with the jubilee year, he said.
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Pope expresses hope Lebanon's beatified priest will help bring peace
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said he hoped that, together with Lebanon's saints, the recently beatified Capuchin Father Jacques Haddad will help bring lasting peace to this "beloved and martyred country." The pope expressed his joy over the June 22 beatification of the Capuchin Franciscan priest who worked tirelessly to help the poor and the sick, regardless of nationality or religion. At the end of his June 22 Angelus blessing in St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict said he hoped "with all his heart that the intercession of Blessed Abouna Yaacoub (Blessed Haddad's name in Arabic), united with Lebanon's saints, would finally bring that beloved and martyred country that has suffered too much closer to a stable peace." Blessed Haddad was beatified in ceremonies in Martyrs' Square in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, celebrated the beatification Mass with Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church.
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Pope prays for victims of Philippine ferryboat disaster
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the victims of a ferryboat disaster that left hundreds dead off the coast of the Philippines. The boat carrying about 800 people ran aground and capsized in a typhoon June 21. Two days later, only 38 survivors had been found. The pope, speaking at his Sunday blessing June 22 in St. Peter's Square, said he had been informed of the tragedy that morning. "While I give assurances of my spiritual closeness to the populations on the islands hit by the typhoon, I raise a special prayer to the Lord for the victims of this new sea tragedy, in which numerous children were apparently involved," he said. The Philippines government said it was investigating why the ferry was allowed to sail despite storm warnings.
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Via satellite video, pope urges Catholics to make world better
QUEBEC CITY (CNS) -- The Eucharist is the church's "most beautiful treasure" and introduces the faithful to eternal life, Pope Benedict XVI said in his homily during the closing Mass of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress June 22. Speaking via satellite video in both English and French on two giant video screens that loomed over the historic Plains of Abraham in the city's Battlefield Park, Pope Benedict told more than 55,000 pilgrims that the Eucharist "is the sacrament par excellence" and contains the mysteries of salvation. "It is the source and summit of all action and the life of the church," he said. The pope said the Eucharist does not separate the faithful from their contemporaries, but as the supreme gift of God's love calls people to make the world a better place.
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Church welcomes 12 young priests at eucharistic congress ordination
QUEBEC CITY (CNS) -- Twelve young men, including nine from new religious communities, were ordained at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress June 20, marking what one cardinal called renewed life in the Catholic Church. "I think this is the turning point in the history of our church," Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec told a June 21 news conference. He described the ordinations as "one of the highest points of the week"; the congress was held in Quebec City June 15-22. He noted that 12 other men who were ordained in 2008 or who will be ordained later this year also were invited to come forward during the ceremony. Thousands packed Quebec's hockey arena for the ordination, greeting the new priests with a roar of applause, cheers, standing ovations and tears.
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CRS staff resumes work following surprise rebel attacks in Chad
N'DJAMENA, Chad (CNS) -- Church aid workers have resumed their humanitarian work with hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by war following an inconclusive rebel attack on several towns in eastern Chad. "After three days in Cameroon, we returned to Chad on June 18, after the rebels left the country," said Samba Fall, head of programs in Chad for Catholic Relief Services, the overseas relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic bishops. Fall, a Senegalese citizen, had been evacuated June 16 along with other CRS staff, humanitarian organizations and United Nations agencies. After four days of surprise attacks on isolated outposts in the African country, the rebels clashed with government troops June 17 in Am-Zoer. Government sources reported that more than 160 rebels were killed in the battle. The rebel alliance said it lost only 27 fighters. Whatever the outcome, the battle seemed to end the current rebel campaign.
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Catholics say farewell to Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Retired Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem officially handed over his staff to Archbishop Fouad Twal during a Mass of thanksgiving, ending 20 years as head of the church in the Holy Land. Patriarch Sabbah turned 75 in March and submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI as required by canon law. He chose to celebrate his final Mass June 21 at the Church of Gethsemane. Archbishop Twal, who has been coadjutor of the Latin patriarchate for nearly three years, replaced Patriarch Sabbah during his installation Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher the following day. As he entered the Church of Gethsemane, Patriarch Sabbah was greeted by a standing ovation. Patriarch Sabbah urged the Christian community to take action by praying, reading Scripture, going to Mass and living lives ruled by love. The community must see the image of God in all people, live in communion with others and be able to forgive while still demanding their God-given rights, he said.
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PEOPLE
The Christophers make Russert interview available to public
NEW YORK (CNS) -- In tribute to the late Tim Russert, the Christophers are making a 1996 televised interview with the NBC News Washington bureau chief and "Meet the Press" moderator available in its entirety on the Web site www.christophers.org. Russert died June 13 at the age of 58. "Mr. Russert was a friend of the Christophers and truly embodied our organization's motto, 'It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness,' through his commitment to seeking the truth, always with fairness, integrity, civility and professionalism," said David DiCerto, a spokesman for the Christophers. "It was our honor to have him as a guest in 1996 on 'Christopher Closeup,' the public affairs television program produced by the Christophers," he said in a statement.
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At eucharistic congress, Burundian shares story of helping children
QUEBEC CITY (CNS) -- Marguerite Barankitse remembers the exact day her vocation came to life. It was Oct. 24, 1993, and she was staring at death. It was near the start of Burundi's 12-year civil war, fueled by the deep-seated hatred between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in her country. Confronted by Tutsi rebels in her native Burundi to turn over dozens of Hutu people she had been harboring in the offices of the Diocese of Ruyigi, where she worked, Barankitse refused. "I am a Christian before I am a Tutsi," she told the rebels. Infuriated, the rebels bound her and set the offices ablaze. Then they started executing the Hutu people; 72 people died. But Barankitse managed to free herself and escaped with 25 children. The following day they fled the city and lived on her family's land. One year later the local bishop offered her a former school building, where she established Maison Shalom, known as Shalom House, to assist child victims of war. Shalom is Hebrew for "peace." "I built Shalom House where I have put Hutu and Tutsi and Congolese together, and I told the children your ethnic origin is shalom," she told 10,000 pilgrims at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City June 22.
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Faith & Politics director predicts less contentious election cycle
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- For Father J. Cletus Kiley, the interplay of religion and politics isn't just a theme to consider in election years; it's his day job as president of the Faith & Politics Institute, a Capitol Hill organization founded by clergy and members of Congress. The nonpartisan, nondenominational institute hosts weekly spiritual reflection groups, sponsors lectures by speakers "whose lives reflect moral courage in the political arena," and organizes retreats and "experiential pilgrimages" for members of Congress. In the course of his two years at the institute, Father Kiley said he's noticed a distinct shift in tone in what had been a contentious sparring match between some Catholic members of Congress and a handful of church leaders who challenged the politicians' participation in the church over their legislative records, primarily support for keeping abortion legal.
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