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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jul-3-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Thompson opens convention with criticism of Obama, Supreme Court
ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- Actor and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson opened the annual convention of the National Right to Life Committee July 3 with a speech highly critical of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and of some recent Supreme Court decisions. Thompson, who represented Tennessee in the Senate from 1994 to 2002 and made a brief run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, said some recent decisions of the Supreme Court "would astound the Founding Fathers who created it" and described Obama as "one of the most inexperienced and one of the most liberal" members of the Senate. "Think George McGovern, without the experience," he said, referring to the longtime U.S. senator from South Dakota who was the unsuccessful 1972 Democratic nominee for president. Thompson delivered the first major keynote address at the July 3-5 convention at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington. Long aligned with the Republican Party, the National Right to Life Committee also had scheduled a keynote talk by GOP strategist Karl Rove and a videotaped message from Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
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Newspaper looks at report alleging Catholic hospitals' ethical lapses
HUNTINGTON, Ind. (CNS) -- A national Catholic newspaper said a report alleging that thousands of sterilizations, and possibly some abortions, took place in 23 Texas Catholic hospitals from 2000 to 2003 has prompted Catholic hospital officials in the state to scrutinize their records and stirred intense discussions among hospital officials, directors of the facilities' parent health systems and local bishops. The newspaper, Our Sunday Visitor in Huntington, published an investigative story about the report in its July 13 edition. The report was made by a group of anonymous whistle-blowers who compiled hospital diagnostic and procedure codes to determine there were 9,684 instances of allegedly unequivocal "sterilization for contraceptive purposes" from 2000 to 2003. The group, which Our Sunday Visitor said it contacted through an intermediary, also cited data indicating 39 abortions were performed at Catholic hospitals. Group members noted, however, the data could be subject to interpretation because it could include morally acceptable procedures such as surgery to remove a baby that has died in the mother's womb or emergency services for an abortion performed at another location. Andrew Rivas, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference, the official public policy arm of the state's bishops, told Our Sunday Visitor that Texas bishops were investigating the report and seeking information from hospital administrators.
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University's trustees experience El Salvador immersion program
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Students at the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco often take part in summer or semester immersion trips, but these trips aren't vacations. They're meant for students to gain an understanding of the rest of the world in a more personal way so that they might be better leaders in society, said Claudio Chiuchiarelli, chair of the school's board of trustees. The university has 35 immersion programs and 25 more traditional study-abroad programs in 18 different countries, he said. The students are "not just racking up volunteer hours; it's students understanding issues that other people in other parts of the world face," he told Catholic News Service in a phone interview. That is why visiting other cultures is so important, not just for students, but for the people in charge of the university as well, he said. This year, instead of holding their meeting in a hotel conference room, the University of San Francisco's board of trustees, university president Jesuit Father Stephen Privett and others associated with the school went on an immersion trip to El Salvador for seven days in June, he said. The goal was to get the group to understand what the students are doing on these trips, he said.
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Bishop apologizes for 'tragedy' of abortion aided by Charities' staff
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond, Va., expressed his "profound apology for the loss of the life of one of the most vulnerable among us" after employees of a Catholic Charities office in his diocese helped a refugee minor obtain an abortion last January. "I apologize for the profound embarrassment this has caused the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, and Catholics throughout the United States," Bishop DiLorenzo said in a letter published in the June 30 edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Virginian. "The guilt and depression that many of us experience as a result of the behavior of a few is something that we will bear for a long time to come," he added. Calling the abortion a "monumental tragedy," the bishop said, "I join my sadness to yours at the loss of the life of an unborn child whose teenage mother was in the foster care of Commonwealth Catholic Charities."
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WORLD
Traditionalists say they've met Vatican's deadline for reconciliation
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The traditionalist Society of St. Pius X said it met the Vatican's deadline to respond to a memo outlining preliminary conditions for full reconciliation with the rest of the Catholic Church. However, a statement released by the Swiss-based society July 1 implied that the traditionalist group did not accept all the conditions set out in the letter, and it appealed to Pope Benedict XVI to lift the 1988 decree of excommunication against the society's bishops who were ordained without papal permission. The Vatican press office said July 3 that it did not plan to comment on the statement. In the July 1 statement, the Society of St. Pius said, "The very general -- not to say vague -- character of the demands singularly contrasts with the urgency of the ultimatum," adding that they appeared to be geared simply to promoting dialogue rather than resolving differences. The memorandum was given June 4 to the head of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the Vatican official in charge of dialogue with the traditionalists.
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Pope expresses joy upon hearing news of hostages released in Colombia
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI expressed joy upon hearing that hostages held by Colombian rebels had been freed after the Colombian army staged a bloodless military operation. The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said the July 2 liberation of 15 hostages from the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is also "a sign of hope" for peace in a country that has been plagued by rebel violence for decades. The pope "is happy about this very wonderful news," he said July 2. Colombian soldiers disguised as rebels tricked local FARC commanders into letting the hostages be airlifted in an unmarked helicopter. Among those liberated were three U.S. contractors, who had been held by FARC since 2003. They were flown to Texas July 3. They had been captured when their drug surveillance plane went down in a rebel-held jungle.
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Move to fingerprint Gypsies reminds many of Italy's darker days
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In mid-April Silvio Berlusconi was elected prime minister of Italy in a campaign focused on increasing security and fighting crime, particularly by cracking down on illegal immigration. In addition to strengthening local government's power to expel undocumented foreigners, the Berlusconi government has focused its crime-fighting efforts on the estimated 140,000 Roma and Sinti -- Gypsies -- who live in the country. At least half the Gypsies are Italian citizens. Within a month of his election, Berlusconi's government was promising to dismantle unauthorized Roma camps, leading to expressions of concern by Vatican officials and a variety of religious leaders in Italy. The concern became outrage in late June when Interior Minister Roberto Maroni announced plans to fingerprint every Gypsy in Italy, including children. Maroni said the plan would enable the government to identify each person and check whether he or she was in Italy legally. Children were included in the plan, he said, because it was the only way to keep track of whether their parents were sending them to school or were forcing them out on the streets to beg or steal.
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Pope recognizes miracles attributed to missionary in Hawaii, others
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has authorized publication of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Damien de Veuster of Molokai, clearing the way for his canonization. The decree was the first of 13 published by the Vatican July 3 after Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, met the pope at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome. Blessed Damien was a 19th-century Belgian missionary, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Born in 1840, he spent the last 16 years of his life caring for patients with Hansen's disease, or leprosy, on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Blessed Damien died in 1889 and was beatified in 1995. With the recognition of the miracle, the date for Pope Benedict's celebration of his canonization will be set later. Another of the decrees approved by the pope July 3 involved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Louis and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin, the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux. Louis lived from 1823 to 1894 and his wife from 1831 to 1877.
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Argentine prelates meet vice president to mediate farming dispute
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNS) -- Argentine Catholic prelates met with Argentine Vice President Julio Cobos to mediate the ongoing dispute between the government and agricultural producers. Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, president of the Argentine bishops' conference, headed the delegation of Archbishop Luis Villalba of Tucuman, retired Archbishop Ruben Di Monte of Mercedes and Bishop Sergio Fenoy of San Miguel. After the July 1 meeting, bishops' conference spokesman Jorge Oesteheld said the bishops spoke about "the necessity for dialogue and (the roll of) the institutions for preserving the social peace." He said, "Fortunately this situation of unrest is less worrying than it was recently, but attention has to be paid to finding a solution in order to cross this bridge." Since Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's March announcement of an increase in the export tax on grains, farmers across the country have staged protests and blockaded highways, plunging the country into its worst crisis since the economic collapse in 2001.
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PEOPLE
Pope to be first reader in Bible-reading marathon for TV
ROME (CNS) -- On the evening of the opening of the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible, Pope Benedict XVI will serve as the first reader on Italian state television's Bible-reading marathon. Plans for "The Bible, Day and Night" were unveiled during a July 3 press conference in the Rome offices of RAI, the state-owned broadcasting company. Beginning Oct. 5, each of about 1,200 people will read for between four and eight minutes until all 73 books of the Catholic editions of the Bible have been read. No commentary will be offered and the only pause provided will be a musical interlude every 90 minutes. Pope Benedict's reading from the Book of Genesis will be broadcast on RaiUno, RAI's flagship station. Most of the other readings expected to take place over the course of seven days and six nights will be broadcast on RaiEdu, a satellite channel.
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Canadian campaign seeks to stop abortion doctor from receiving honor
TORONTO (CNS) -- A nationwide campaign has been building to push Prime Minister Stephen Harper into reversing a decision to give the Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler, whose 19-year legal battle led to the lifting of the country's restrictions on abortion. Since the July 1 announcement that Morgentaler would receive Canada's highest civilian honor, Catholics and other pro-life advocates have been uniform in their denunciations. On July 2 the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops called on the "appropriate authorities to reconsider this nomination and not to award this distinction to Mr. Morgentaler." Morgentaler began his crusade for legalized abortion in the 1960s. He opened his first abortion clinic in Montreal in 1969 and was charged in 1970 under the country's existing abortion law. Eventually, his case landed before the Supreme Court of Canada which, in 1988, ruled that the country's abortion law was unconstitutional because it violated the right to "life, liberty and security of the person." Before that point, abortions were restricted and had to be done in hospitals. Since that time, Canada has had no law limiting abortions.
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Dominican priest accused of sexual misconduct jailed; order is sued
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A Dominican priest accused of sexual misconduct with at least three minor boys has been criminally charged in Maryland and his religious order has been sued. The criminal charge stems from the case of a now 21-year-old Germantown, Md., man. The Minnesota attorney who represented him in a civil abuse case settled in 2007 for a reported $1.2 million has now filed a civil suit against the priest and the Dominicans' New York-based province on behalf of the other two boys, who are brothers from Springfield, Mass. Attorney Jeff Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., told Catholic News Service July 2 he has documented proof the Dominican provincial leaders knew about the Maryland allegations against the priest, but chose to keep him in active ministry involving youths in another part of the country. Though Dominican Father Aaron Joseph "A.J." Cote, 56, has been navigating the civil legal system for the past three years, this is the first time he has had to defend himself against a criminal charge, which is custodian child abuse, filed by the Montgomery County (Md.) Department of Police following several years of investigation.
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