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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Sep-23-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
USCCB, CRS urge presidential nominees to ponder world poverty issues
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Representatives from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services in a telephone press conference Sept. 23 called on the major parties' presidential candidates to lay out their foreign policy strategies in relation to the world's poor and overseas assistance. The campaigns of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain have failed to adequately address the global food crisis, the increasing role of the U.S. Defense Department in humanitarian work, the refocusing of U.S. foreign assistance, and how the government should help the poor adapt to climate change, said Bill O'Keefe, senior director for the advocacy department of the Baltimore-based CRS. The Obama and McCain campaigns also have failed to sufficiently articulate if their foreign policy programs would promote religious equality, strengthen international law, support a safe haven for foreign refugees, or actively pursue a comprehensive resolution between the Israelis and Palestinians, said Stephen Colecchi, director of the Office of International Justice and Peace for the USCCB. "This topic is timely considering that this Friday night (Sept. 26) the candidates will be debating foreign policy," O'Keefe said. "These are critical issues that are crying out for attention."
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Cardinal urges Congress to reject proposed Freedom of Choice Act
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Declaring that "we can't reduce abortions by promoting abortion," the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities has urged members of Congress to reject the proposed Freedom of Choice Act. In a Sept. 19 letter, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia said the legislation "would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government to reduce abortions in our country," force all Americans to subsidize abortion with their tax dollars and overturn "modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry" in all 50 states. The Freedom of Choice Act was introduced in both the House and Senate April 19, 2007, the day after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in Gonzales v. Carhart. Although no action has been taken in either house since then, "the Catholic bishops of the United States are gravely concerned about any possible consideration" of the legislation in the final weeks of the 110th Congress, Cardinal Rigali said.
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Economic crisis, low media focus blamed for scant storm relief gifts
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Destruction from the hurricanes and tropical storms that have devastated U.S. communities and Caribbean nations in the past few months has exceeded the damage Hurricane Katrina inflicted on New Orleans in 2005, but donations for relief efforts this time are drastically less. "I believe a combination of the recent economic crisis and the media attention, or lack there of, have presented challenges to us," said Patricia Hvidston, senior director of development for Catholic Charities USA. "We have gotten donations, and we're grateful to everyone who has made donations, but it's significantly lower than the response to Katrina." Donations to Catholic Charities in response to Katrina averaged $890 each from more than 180,000 contributors, but donations in response to the series of storms that have crippled communities along the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and elsewhere have only averaged $159 each from fewer than 1,000 supporters, Hvidston reported. Meanwhile, Catholic Relief Services has raised around $1 million for emergency aid for Cubans and Haitians affected during this hurricane season, but have fallen $1.5 million short of the agency's fundraising goal for those Caribbean nations, said Mark Melia, deputy vice president for charitable giving for the international relief agency.
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Catholic social agencies mobilize in Hurricane Ike relief efforts
HOUSTON (CNS) -- In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, Texas Catholic social agencies have swiftly mobilized to offer assistance to those affected by the storm, which hit the region Sept. 13. Staff members and volunteers from Catholic Charities have visited coastal communities such as Texas City, Dickinson and Bacliff, as well as Houston, to provide assistance to those in need. By coordinating relief efforts, Catholic Charities USA has opened a warehouse specifically for the purpose of delivery of goods to distribution sites. "We are focusing on Galveston County, and the needs of far-reaching communities who have limited access to government sponsored PODs (point of distribution)," said Jim Gajewski, Catholic Charities vice president of program services. Catholic Charities planned to continue its efforts in the field into the foreseeable future, as long as supplies lasted and the needs remained.
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Priests for Life takes education campaign on abortion to Congress
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Abortion supporters, including members of Congress and candidates for public office, are being challenged to explain their understanding of abortion by Priests for Life and other pro-life leaders. In a campaign that was taken to both houses of Congress over three days in mid-September, the pro-life leaders asked the elected officials, "Is this what you mean by abortion?" after showing them graphic diagrams, quotes from medical texts and testimony about the most common abortion procedure by a physician who once performed the procedure. The campaign is designed to come to a common understanding of the term abortion, said Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, during a media briefing Sept. 18 at the National Press Club. Joining the effort was Alveda C. King, the niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Dr. Anthony Levatino, an obstetrician-gynecologist who said he performed about 1,200 first- and second-trimester abortions during his first five years in private practice. Levatino no longer performs abortions. As part of the campaign, Priests for Life plans to issue a report on the response members of Congress had to its educational campaign.
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Catholic education is the work of all, says Washington archbishop
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Strengthening and supporting Catholic education at parishes and schools is the responsibility of all Catholics, said Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl. Catholics, as disciples of Jesus in today's world, are called to pass on the faith to others, he said in a Sept. 14 pastoral letter titled "Catholic Education: Looking to the Future With Confidence." "It is by celebrating our strengths, identifying areas for improvement and working together that Catholic education will flourish for generations to come, bringing them Christ's Gospel and helping them grow in their encounter with the living Lord," the archbishop said in the introduction to the letter. The pastoral detailed how the archdiocese is undergoing a comprehensive assessment of its parish religious education programs, and task forces are looking at ways to strengthen the Catholic identity, academic excellence, accessibility and affordability of Catholic schools to sustain them for the future. The planning will "include consultation with a wide range of people," it noted.
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WORLD
Indian Catholic leaders speak of conspiracy behind violence
BANGALORE, India (CNS) -- Church officials and others say there is a "clear conspiracy behind the sudden upsurge in the atrocities committed against Christian targets in different parts of India. "We are really distressed to see that atrocities on Christians are being reported from different parts of the country on a daily basis," Divine Word Father Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India told Catholic News Service. Though some of the attacks look sporadic, with incidents reported from different areas, Father Joseph pointed out that "there is a clear conspiracy to terrorize the Christian community." Dozens of attacks have been reported since Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, leader of Hindu nationalist groups in Orissa, was shot dead by Maoist rebels Aug. 23. "I publicly say we are deeply hurt. The church in Karnataka is wounded," Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore, chairman of the Karnataka Catholic Bishops' Council, told the state's chief minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, Sept. 22. "There is surely a conspiracy to terrorize the Christians."
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Salvadoran archbishop criticizes Venezuela's expulsion of activists
SAN SALVADOR (CNS) -- Archbishop Fernando Saenz Lacalle of San Salvador has criticized Venezuela's expulsion of two human rights activists. "When a government expels those who criticize it, it means that it doesn't accept criticisms and therefore is not democratic," Archbishop Saenz said after Mass Sept. 21. Venezuela expelled Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch's Americas program and a Chilean citizen, and Daniel Wilkinson, an American who is assistant director of the same program, Sept. 18. The expulsion followed the organization's publication of a report harshly critical of Venezuela's human rights policies. Venezuelan officials called the report inaccurate and said the U.S.-based organization was obeying U.S. government policy.
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Vatican official urges government to protect religious minorities
GENEVA (CNS) -- Governments must find ways to promote religious tolerance and avoid blasphemy laws that can backfire by targeting religious minorities, said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva. In some countries, religious defamation laws "have been used as weapons against personal enemies or as an excuse to incite mob violence," he said Sept. 19 at a U.N. Human Rights Council session focusing on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. "Such actions result in polarizing religious communities rather than in promoting intolerance He said governments should work to promote tolerance through concrete juridical norms, ending discrimination on the state and social level. He also said they should promote better protection of individuals from group violence and should adopt "the practice of reasonable accommodation of religious practice." Schools, the media and faith communities also play a vital role in fostering mutual understanding and constructive coexistence, he said.
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Priests hope Syrian-Lebanese ties would keep Christians in Mideast
DAMASCUS, Syria (CNS) -- As Syria and Lebanon take steps to establish diplomatic relations, some Syrian priests hope the resulting stability will encourage Christians to stay in the Middle East. Such relations could also help the region's unstable economy, the other reason Christians leave the area, the priests said. "It's really great for Syria and Lebanon to have good relations. This is something the church encourages," says Father Elieaa Faddoul of the Zeitouneh Melkite Catholic Church in Damascus. "It's important to have good relations so that young people will stay." Syria and Lebanon have not had diplomatic relations since each declared independence from France, in 1936 and 1943 respectively. In August, Lebanon and Syria agreed to start working toward diplomatic relations and formally demarcating their borders.
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Two Maronite priests among 600 Lebanese detained in Syria
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Two Maronite Catholic priests are among some 600 Lebanese who remain detained in Syria; some have been there more than three decades. The issue has remained unresolved in talks about diplomatic relations between the two countries. "Syria has dealt badly with Lebanese issues in general and with the detainees issue in particular," said Ghazi Aad, director of Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile, which seeks an international commission with full power to investigate all cases of forced disappearances that occurred at the hands of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon. Father Albert Cherfan and Father Sleiman Abi-Khalil disappeared in October 1990, one day after Syria invaded and gained control of Lebanon. Witnesses last saw them drinking coffee with a Syrian officer in their monastery in Beit Mery, a Christian mountain area east of Beirut. When the last Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon in April 2005, families of the detainees and former prisoners broke their silence. Since the Syrian pullout, family members of detainees have campaigned with Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile, frequently staging sit-ins and calling for an international investigation.
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PEOPLE
French priest keeps alive memories, uncovers graves of Ukrainian Jews
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Father Patrick Desbois said he will never forget one of the first interviews he had with an elderly man who saw Nazi soldiers murder Jews in Ukraine. While German music played through a gramophone, the man was forced to dig a huge hole for his fellow villagers' grave, Father Desbois said during a presentation at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Sept. 22. Since 2001, Father Desbois and a team of researchers have found 800 of an estimated 2,000 Nazi execution sites by crisscrossing the Ukrainian countryside and interviewing elderly men and women in remote villages. About 1.5 million Jews were killed by the Nazis across Ukraine in what has become called "the Holocaust of bullets" -- a lesser-known part of the Nazi machine that killed 6 million Jews, most gassed and burned in concentrations camps. "We will not let our brothers lie in the field while we lie in our beds and sleep quietly," the priest said. "What will we say to them when we see them in heaven?" he asked. "We didn't have time to bury you?"
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