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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Oct-7-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
As term opens, court declines to take four abortion-related cases
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- On the opening day of its fall term Oct. 6, the Supreme Court declined to hear four cases dealing with abortion or abortion-related protest efforts. It let stand lower court rulings that: require Arizona to issue "choose life" license plates to those who request them; uphold a multimillion-dollar verdict against anti-abortion activists who used "wanted" posters that identified four abortion doctors in Oregon; reverse a Missouri Department of Corrections policy that said prisoners could not be transported by prison authorities to have abortions, which are paid for by the prisoners themselves; leave intact the New Jersey Supreme Court's ruling that an abortion doctor had no legal obligation to advise a patient that the 6- to 8-week-old fetus she sought to abort was "a complete, separate, unique and irreplaceable human being."
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Archbishop hopes to see real work on immigration begin after election
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CNS) -- Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of San Antonio said he would like to see a moratorium on new state and local immigration legislation and echoed an earlier call by the body of U.S. bishops for an end to federal enforcement raids. "We need to find a way to stop lashing out at the problem and to start making sensible policy," the archbishop told Catholic public policy officials during a rally at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City. "This is a national crisis and it calls for national leadership," added the prelate, who is the nation's only active Hispanic Catholic archbishop and one of 26 active Hispanic bishops in the U.S. church. "I understand that the presidential candidates don't want to touch this issue before the election. Nor does Congress after the bitter failure of the 2007 immigration bill," he said. "But this is the hard work of democracy," he continued. "As soon as this election is over and a new government sworn in, we need to insist that our leaders roll up their sleeves and get to work on comprehensive immigration reform."
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Calm, consistency seen as key to strong church ties for mentally ill
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Calmness and consistency are crucial in welcoming those with mental illnesses into full participation in the church, a Capuchin Franciscan priest said Oct. 6 during a Web-based seminar sponsored by the National Catholic Partnership on Disability's Council on Mental Illness. Father Bob Malloy, chaplain and staff member at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit, joined Connie Rakitan, co-founder of Faith and Fellowship, a small-group, faith-sharing network in Chicago for those with and without mental illness, in discussing the topic "Come to the Table: Nurturing the Sacramental Life of People With Mental Illnesses." "Just as we build ramps and make accommodations for physical disabilities, we need to build psychological ramps and make attitudinal adjustments" to bring those with mental illness into greater participation in the church, said Deacon Tom Lambert, who moderated the discussion and who co-chairs the Archdiocese of Chicago's Commission on Mental Illness with Rakitan. The hourlong "Webinar" offered a variety of tips and guidelines to assist those with mental illness connect to the Mass and the sacraments and to help pastors, ushers and others at the parish and diocesan level encourage that connection.
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Mobile Mexican consulate helps immigrants, is target of protests
CONWAY, S.C. (CNS) -- A visit by a mobile Mexican consulate to a Catholic church in Conway drew hundreds of people seeking immigration services but also sparked a protest by activists opposed to illegal immigration. Members of the Horry County chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and other local residents showed up to protest the consulate's visit because they said it helped Hispanics who were in the country illegally get fake identification. Officials from the mobile consulate, based in Raleigh, N.C., said they were there to help Mexican nationals get valid cards called "matriculas" that could be used for travel or to prove identification in other situations. Consulate staff set up their services at St. James Church Sept. 27. They were not open for business until 7:30 a.m., but more than a hundred people were already lined up outside the church by 6:45 a.m. Large crowds of people continued to gather at the church throughout the day.
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Catholic disabilities group calls for defeat of suicide initiative
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The governance board of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability is urging rejection of Washington state's Initiative 1000, saying the so-called Death With Dignity Act "substitutes lethal prescriptions and illusory safeguards for compassionate care." The proposal before the state's voters Nov. 4 would allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of narcotics to terminally ill patients who would then self-administer the drugs. The resulting deaths would not be listed as suicides and death certificates would list the underlying illness as the cause of death, according to the initiative language. "Legalizing assisted suicide is abandoning the higher goal of truly compassionate care for the dying," the board statement said. "We urge you to vote 'no' on Initiative 1000 because, rather than providing patients death with dignity, it presumes that they are only dignified when dead."
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Too early to see effects of financial crisis on faith lives, some say
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although spiritual directors are not seeing much effect on their work from the nationwide economic crisis thus far, many predict that financial burdens facing the people they counsel will eventually affect their spiritual lives as well. That was the consensus from Catholic News Service interviews with Catholic spiritual directors chosen at random from the Web site of Spiritual Directors International. "Right now I can't say that I've seen an increase" in concerns about the economic situation, said Sister Beatrice Ste. Marie, a School Sister of Notre Dame who serves as spiritual director to "a few individuals" in the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., and helps out at Bishop Molloy Passionist Retreat House in Jamaica Estates during the weekends. "But the insecurities prompted by the financial crisis raise a number of spiritual issues for people," she added. "I expect that I'm going to see and hear more of it."
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Catholics attending EWTN conference say event is like family reunion
DEKALB, Ill. (CNS) -- Catholics from across the Midwest got a chance to rub elbows with their favorite personalities from the Eternal Word Television Network during the EWTN Family Conference in DeKalb Oct. 4-5. The theme of the gathering, held at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center, was "Called to Conversion in the Year of St. Paul." Speakers included the hosts of several popular shows on the network such as Raymond Arroyo, Marcus Grodi, Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa and Father Benedict Groeschel, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal. Rounding out the weekend were a special "Life on the Rock" program with students from the university's Newman Center Oct. 4 and an Oct. 5 children's concert with "The Donut Man" and his puppet Duncan. Attending the conference was "even better than meeting country singers," said Mary Julius of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Freeport.
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WORLD
Preaching should change lives, inspire, U.S. bishop tells synod
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After the current church year dedicated to St. Paul, the Catholic Church should dedicate a year to the art of preaching, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., told the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible. "Unfortunately, preaching in our day can lose its savor, become formulaic and uninspired, leaving the hearer empty," Bishop Kicanas, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told synod members meeting to discuss "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." Bishop Kicanas and Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, USCCB president, were among the 23 synod members to address the assembly Oct. 7. Each member submitted a summary of his talk, which was released to the press, and a synod briefing officer provided further details to reporters.
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In reports from continents, bishops stress Bible-related priorities
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Translating the Bible, making a copy affordable, helping people understand it and, especially, helping people live its message are important tasks for the Catholic Church, although the priorities differ from continent to continent. Before individuals began addressing the world Synod of Bishops, synod organizers chose five bishops to report Oct. 6 on "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church" in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The Vatican released four of the reports early Oct. 7; the report on the Americas was not immediately available. Nigerian Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, a well-known biblical scholar, said most African Catholics were thirsting so much for the word of God that "they were ready to lap dirty water from the poisonous pools in non-Catholic terrains." While the archbishop praised the remarkable work done by mainline Protestant churches and organizations to translate, print and distribute Bibles in Africa, he also said there were many anti-Catholic, fundamentalist groups using the Bible to try to lead Catholics away from the church.
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Pope, synod members get limited-edition polyglot Bible
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI and participants in the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible received a limited-edition polyglot Bible from the American Bible Society. Only 1,000 copies of the gilt-edge, deep-red, leather-bound volumes were printed to commemorate this year's synod dedicated to sacred Scripture and to mark the start of increased cooperation between the interdenominational society and the Vatican. The Rev. Dennis Dickerson, chairman of the American Bible Society's board of trustees and a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, told reporters Oct. 7 that presenting the pope earlier that morning with a one-of-a-kind, white leather-bound version of the polyglot Bible marked a "historic occasion" for the society. He said the society was proud this Bible represents "a linkage, a connection" between the society and the Catholic Church. The initiative was part of an ongoing effort by the society to deepen its relationship with the Catholic Church, he added.
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Official urges Canadian candidates to prioritize international aid
OTTAWA (CNS) -- The executive director of the Canadian Catholic international aid agency has urged candidates in the Oct. 14 federal elections to make international development a priority. Michael Casey, executive director of Development and Peace, noted that agency officials had "supported our partners in the South (Africa and Latin America) as they were hit by crisis upon crisis in the last few months." "We demand that Canadian politicians take responsibility for our country's role in the global social and economic environment and that they act to make this environment favorable and more just toward the poor," he said in an open letter to the candidates Oct. 2. Casey said he recognized improvements in the quality of Canada's aid programs with the recent passage of the Better Aid Bill, but added there was room for improvement in quantity and quality of aid. He said Canada provides only 0.28 percent of its gross national product toward development assistance, ranking 16th among the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Gross national product is the total of a nation's annual output of goods and services.
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English cardinal OKs hospital ethics code after controversy
LONDON (CNS) -- An English cardinal has authorized a new code of ethics to end practices contrary to church teaching at a Catholic hospital dogged by controversy over abortion referrals. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster said in a statement Oct. 2 that he "hopes the hospital will now move forward in its important health care mission, based on the teachings of the Catholic Church." London's Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth has been the focus of controversy since 2005 when complaints were made that its doctors were giving women abortion referrals and prescribing the morning-after pill. The new ethics code, announced Oct. 2, sets out a range of practices forbidden at the hospital. These include euthanasia, sex-change operations, in vitro fertilization, prenatal testing such as amniocentesis, sterilizations, the fitting of contraceptive devices and abortions on-site. A ban on abortion referrals, included in an earlier draft code, was not included in the code of ethics, because it was seen as a violation of doctors' National Health Service contracts.
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Reading Bible well requires ability to listen, Philippine bishop says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Reading Scripture well requires the ability to listen, something that is increasingly difficult in today's self-absorbed world, a Philippine bishop told the Synod of Bishops on the Bible. The short speech by Bishop Luis Tagle of Imus Oct. 7 was one of few synod interventions to draw applause, ending with a call for the church to "listen the way God listens" and become a voice for the poor and suffering. Bishop Tagle was one of 23 bishops who took the floor on the first day of individual speeches limited to five minutes each. He said the church can best help people learn to read Scripture by teaching them how to listen in faith, opening their hearts to God's word and allowing it to transform them and their actions. The church should offer "formation in holistic listening," he said. The bishop said the modern world offers ample evidence of the tragic lack of listening, including family conflicts, generational gaps and violence.
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Indian government leaders take seriously anti-Christian violence
NEW DELHI (CNS) -- Indian government leaders are taking seriously the anti-Christian violence rocking the country. Suresh Kurup, a member of Parliament, said attacks on Christians may become an issue during Parliament's winter session, which opens Oct. 17. He told the Asian church news agency UCA News Oct. 6 that several political parties, including his Marxist party, are getting ready to raise the issue "in a big way." Kurup, who visited Orissa and Karnataka after violence broke out in those states, said the parties would soon work out details for raising the issue in Parliament. He said he saw "the gravity of the situation" when he visited Mangalore, where several churches were attacked in September. "Christians are living in the shadow of fear and insecurity in that area," he said.
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PEOPLE
Undertakers find English cardinal's body had disintegrated
LONDON (CNS) -- English officials exhuming the body of Cardinal John Henry Newman in preparation for his likely beatification discovered that his body had disintegrated completely. Church officials planned to transfer the cardinal's remains from a secluded cemetery in the suburbs of Birmingham to a marble sarcophagus in the Birmingham Oratory, where he could more easily be venerated by pilgrims. But when undertakers opened his grave Oct. 2, they found there was nothing in it. "The absence of physical remains in the grave does not affect the progress of Cardinal Newman's cause in Rome," said Peter Jennings, press secretary for Cardinal Newman's cause. "The Birmingham Oratory has always been in possession of some actual physical remains of Cardinal Newman. These consist of some locks of hair." In an Oct. 4 statement, Jennings said both the cardinal's body and his wooden coffin had rotted away; not even any bones or teeth remained. All that was left were the brass handles of the coffin, attached to a few pieces of wood, and a few tassels from the cardinal's red hat.
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Macau government tests students after tainted-milk scandal
MACAU (CNS) -- In the wake of mainland China's tainted-milk scandal, Catholic school students are among the thousands of students who have undergone urine tests arranged by the Macau government. Some 10,000 students in 12 Macau schools have participated in a local government-funded milk program. About 7,000 of those students are believed to have consumed milk contaminated with melamine, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency. Melamine, an industrial chemical high in nitrogen, reportedly was added to some Chinese-made milk products so that testing of the milk powder would show an apparently high level of protein, for which nitrogen is an indicator. Sister Cecilia Lam Sok-wa, a member of the Missionary Dominican Sisters of the Rosary and principal of Holy Family School in Macau, told UCA News that several parents had phoned the school to ask about the tests conducted by medical teams sent by the government, but most were not too worried. So far, she added in early October, the test results had been negative.
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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