|
|
|
|
News Briefs
|
NEWS BRIEFS Dec-1-2008
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Catholic Charities USA warns against fraudulent e-mails on Internet
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic Charities USA officials have demanded that groups using the Catholic Charities name to solicit funds on the Internet discontinue using the trademark and urged potential donors to research the authenticity of an organization before making a contribution. "Fraudulent e-mails that are misappropriating the name of Catholic Charities USA and its affiliates are being sent to extract money and/or personal information from unsuspecting recipients and are circulating on the Internet," said Brandon Pinney, spokesman for Catholic Charities USA. The e-mails are labeled with the subject titles "Grant Notification," "The Catholic Charity," "The Catholic Charity Foundation" and "From the Office of the Cash Grant Program," Pinney told Catholic News Service Dec. 1. The name "Catholic Charities" was used within the body of some of the e-mails, said Candy S. Hill, senior vice president for social policy and government affairs at Catholic Charities USA. The messages -- which come from several different e-mail addresses and provide a variety of contact names -- ask recipients for detailed personal information, Pinney said. In an effort to stop the e-mails, Father Larry Snyder, Catholic Charities USA president, replied Nov. 26 to each of the addresses brought to the organization's attention, insisting the sender stop disseminating such confusing messages or suffer consequences.
- - -
Bishop Weigand of Sacramento retires; Bishop Soto succeeds him
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop William K. Weigand of Sacramento, Calif. He will be succeeded by Bishop Jaime Soto, who has been coadjutor of the diocese since Oct. 11, 2007, and is one of 26 active Hispanic Catholic bishops in the United States. A coadjutor automatically becomes the head of the diocese upon the retirement or death of its bishop. The announcement was made in Washington Nov. 29 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. At the end of a two-hour Mass of thanksgiving Nov. 30, which drew more than 1,200 people to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, Bishop Weigand handed his crosier to Bishop Soto, 52, whose episcopal motto is "Gozo y Esperanza ("Joy and Hope"). In his homily, Bishop Weigand told the congregation it had been "an honor and a privilege" to be their bishop. He told his successor: "You are inheriting a very special flock." Bishop Soto was scheduled to celebrate two Masses at the cathedral Dec. 7, one in English and one in Spanish, to celebrate his succession.
- - -
St. Paul has daily impact on people, says Greek Orthodox patriarch
HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (CNS) -- St. Paul the Apostle's writings and ministry have a daily impact on people almost 2,000 years later and "an ocean away," and the Pauline year is not long enough to fully appreciate his legacy, Archbishop Demetrios told an audience in Huntington. The patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church in the U.S. said St. Paul's influence is apparent if often unnoticed today and pointed out how often St. Paul is quoted, not just in church circles, but in everyday life. "Fight the good fight," "labor of love," "the wages of sin" and "suffer fools gladly" are among the common expressions from the 13 letters in the New Testament attributed to St. Paul, Archbishop Demetrios said. Yet the apostle's legacy is "more profound," he noted. Archbishop Demetrios, who is a Pauline scholar, made the remarks Nov. 23 in delivering the sixth annual Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua lecture on pastoral theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary in the Rockville Centre Diocese.
- - -
WORLD
Mumbai bishop urges Indians to forgive, unite after attacks
MUMBAI, India (CNS) -- A Mumbai church leader urged Catholics and people of all religions to forgive and unite after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Auxiliary Bishop Bosco Penha of Mumbai told the Asian church news agency UCA News Nov. 27 that the church condemned "this dastardly act of terrorism." All Catholics, he said, should "go on their knees to pray and get involved in building bridges" among people of all religions and "spread peace, harmony and brotherhood in the city." Bishop Penha is currently in charge of the archdiocese while Mumbai Cardinal Oswald Gracias recuperates from cancer surgery. "The unprecedented ferocity of the terror attack" shocked local church leaders, Bishop Penha admitted. He said he had talked to Cardinal Gracias about the Catholic Church taking more "responsibility" to do "something solid in Mumbai."
- - -
Pope condemns terrorist attacks in India, prays for victims
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI condemned the wave of terrorist attacks in India as acts of "cruel and senseless violence," and led prayers for the nearly 200 people who died and the hundreds injured in the bloodshed. A Vatican spokesman, meanwhile, warned that if extremists continue to exploit the ethnic and religious tensions of southern Asia the results could be even more tragic. Speaking at his noon blessing Nov. 30, the pope asked for prayers for the victims of the attacks in Mumbai, the Indian financial capital, where suspected Islamic militants assaulted at least 10 targets in a three-day siege that began Nov. 26. The pope also expressed concern for the clashes between rival ethnic and religious groups in Jos, Nigeria, where at least 200 people were killed Nov. 28-29. Churches and mosques were burned in the rioting.
- - -
Pope begins Advent by asking Christians to be signs of hope
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In their prayers and through their actions in Advent, Christians are called to be signs of hope for a world marked by holiness and justice, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Advent is the spiritual season of hope par excellence, when the whole church is called to become hope for itself and for the world," the pope said Nov. 29 as he celebrated vespers on the eve of the first Sunday of Advent. The pope's homily at the evening prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica, the morning Mass he celebrated Nov. 30 at Rome's Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls and his midday Angelus address at the Vatican afterward all focused on Advent as a time to remember that Christ became human, died for our sins, rose from the dead and will return at the end of time. Advent hope, he said during the evening prayer service, is a recognition of the ongoing need for salvation. "We do not await the Lord as some beautiful decoration for a world already saved," he said, but as the only one who can bring to completion the work begun with his incarnation, death and resurrection.
- - -
Vatican official warns of increasing food insecurity
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Vatican representative warned of increasing food insecurity in the world and called for a greater global commitment to long-term agricultural improvement. Msgr. Renato Volante made the remarks in an address Nov. 27 to the 35th special session of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. The FAO was discussing reform of its own structures to better respond to food crises around the globe. Msgr. Volante said the FAO should underline the essential importance of agriculture in development, and not merely promote short-term management of food resources. "Too often strategies are adopted which pursue particular goals rather then a holistic vision which ranks the human needs first. Such an attitude produces negative effects in the rural sector, especially where poverty, underdevelopment, malnutrition and environmental degradation are more evident," he said.
- - -
Vatican confirms tentative plans for papal visit to Holy Land in 2009
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican has confirmed tentative plans for Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Holy Land in 2009. Israeli sources said the most likely time for the visit would be in May, with stops in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The pope was invited to visit Israel by Israeli President Shimon Peres in 2007. At that time, the pope made it clear he hoped to make the trip, but Vatican diplomats said the timing would depend in large part on efforts to calm the simmering Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In recent months, Israeli and Vatican officials began making more concrete plans for a papal visit. The contacts were first reported Nov. 27 by the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz and were confirmed by the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See. Ha'aretz said the most likely time frame for the trip was the second week in May.
- - -
Without ethics, financial crisis could be a catastrophe, nuncio warns
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A leading Vatican diplomat warned that the current financial crisis could become a catastrophe unless solutions are found that respect ethics and involve all levels of society. "It is necessary to recover some basic aspects of finances, such as the primacy of labor over capital, of human relationships over purely financial transactions, and of ethics over the sole criterion of efficiency," Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio to the United Nations, told Vatican Radio Nov. 28. "For some time we've found ourselves in the middle of a financial crisis that could become a catastrophe if its effects are allowed to impact other crises: in economics, food and energy," he said. Archbishop Migliore made the remarks on the eve of the U.N.-sponsored International Conference on Financing for Development Nov. 29-Dec. 2 in Doha, Qatar. The archbishop led a Vatican delegation to the conference.
- - -
Pope gives thanks for improved Catholic-Orthodox relations
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After meeting three times in one year with Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Pope Benedict XVI said it was obvious that official relations between Catholics and Orthodox are growing deeper. "I give thanks to God that he has enabled us to deepen the bonds of mutual love between us, supported by prayer and ever more regular fraternal contact," the pope said in a message to the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox believers. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, delivered the message to the patriarch during ceremonies marking the Nov. 30 feast of St. Andrew, the patron saint of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In his message, the pope said he had been "blessed three times" in 2008 with personal visits by Patriarch Bartholomew: in March, in June for the opening of the Pauline year, and in October, when the patriarch addressed the world Synod of Bishops on the word of God.
- - -
Iraqi archbishop: U.S. pact is step forward, but instability remains
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Iraqi parliament's approval of a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal represents "a step forward," but the country still faces deep divisions and serious risks, an Iraqi archbishop said. "Iraq is still profoundly divided within itself," Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk told the Rome-based agency AsiaNews Nov. 28. "One cannot speak of national unity, and even the government recognizes this. Everyone is trying to gain greater influence in his own territory, and even the capital, Baghdad, which should represent the symbol of unity, is in reality subdivided into sectors controlled by very specific factions," Archbishop Sako said. He made the comments the day after Iraq's parliament voted to approve a security pact that requires U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq no later than the end of 2011. Under the pact, the United States would remove combat forces from Iraqi cities and villages by the end of June 2009.
- - -
Vatican official condemns violence in Congo, urges swift action
GENEVA (CNS) -- The atrocities unfolding in Congo call for immediate condemnation and the protection of human rights, said a Vatican official. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, said, "The international community cannot stand by idle and needs to speak out clearly" and act swiftly to counter the "grave infringements of human rights" in Congo. The archbishop spoke Nov. 28 during a special session of the Human Rights Council focused on the situation in eastern Congo. The daily reports of human suffering, death, rape, looting, forced recruitments and the displacement of civilians because of fighting in North Kivu "are deeply troubling to the delegation of the Holy See," Archbishop Tomasi said. He urged the world community to condemn the violence and protect innocent victims by helping "to restore the rule of law and to search for the common good."
- - -
Nigerian violence mainly political, not religious, archbishop says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The outbreak of violence that left at least 200 people dead in central Nigeria was primarily political, not religious, a Nigerian archbishop said. Nigerian troops were sent to patrol the city of Jos in late November after roving mobs rioted, burned churches and mosques, and attacked people with gunfire and machetes. It was feared that the final death toll would be much higher. Pope Benedict XVI condemned the violence and prayed for the victims at his Sunday blessing Nov. 30. Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, told Vatican Radio the same day that, although news reports have spoken of a clash between Christian and Muslim gangs, the reality is much more complex. "It is a political problem. Politicians in Nigeria, however, when it suits them, try to exploit religion in support of their ways of doing things," said the archbishop, who was in Rome for church meetings.
- - -
Cardinal says Christians must accept the risk of dialogue
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Interreligious dialogue carries some risks, but the benefits it promises to all believers and to a world yearning for peace make it a risk Christians must be willing to take, a leading Vatican official said. "We are 'condemned' to dialogue," said French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, in a talk titled "Interreligious Dialogue: A Grace or a Risk?" In its Nov. 28 edition, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published an abridged version of the talk, which was delivered in Naples at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy. On Nov. 30, the newspaper published for the first time an article by a Muslim author. Khaled Fouad Allam, a sociology professor at Italy's University of Trieste and at Stanford University's Florence program, wrote about the philosophy of dialogue and its "social urgency and ethical and moral value" in a world struggling to come to terms with war, the destruction of the environment and the potential threats to human dignity posed by new biomedical technology.
- - -
Bishop: Discovery of Copernicus' remains highlights his contributions
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The bishop who supervised a successful search for the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus, a priest and the father of modern astronomy, said the discovery can represent the reconciliation of disputes between science and religion. "The conflict between interpretations of holy Scripture and empirical observations about the world resulted from a great misunderstanding which we've gradually moved away from," Auxiliary Bishop Jacek Jezierski of Warmia told Catholic News Service Dec. 1. "Since Copernicus was a key figure in this process, we wanted to honor him by finding his bones and reinterring him in a fitting way, something previous generations couldn't do despite 200 years of searching." Copernicus' remains, discovered at Frombork's 14th-century cathedral in 2005, were identified positively in November with forensic and DNA testing in Poland and Sweden.
- - -
PEOPLE
Placido Domingo says new CD highlights Pope John Paul II's humanity
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Famed tenor Placido Domingo said his new album of songs based on Pope John Paul II's poetry illustrates the great humanity and wide interests of the late pontiff. "It's not supposed to be a religious record, but one that illustrates his humanity and his literary and intellectual capacity," Domingo told Vatican Radio Nov. 28. "I reflected on this a long time, and told myself the world needs to know what John Paul II has written," he said. The album, titled "Amore Infinito" ("Infinite Love"), features 12 songs in various languages that were inspired by the poetry Pope John Paul wrote before his election as pope in 1978. The themes include the world of manual labor, young love, war, nature and family relations. "This was an act of faith and at the same time an artistic endeavor," Domingo said at a Vatican press conference. He said the album treated the pope's poetic compositions with great respect.
- - -
Pope prays for release of two Italian nuns kidnapped in Kenya
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The "painful and gravely unjust" kidnapping of two Italian nuns in Kenya is of great concern to Pope Benedict XVI, who continues to pray for their release, said a Vatican spokesman. The pope has been following news of the abductions "with concern and remains close in prayer to the suffering not only of the two kidnapped nuns, but also to that of their families" and their religious order, the Contemplative Missionary Movement of Father Charles de Foucauld, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi in a written statement Nov. 27. Sister Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Sister Maria Teresa Oliviero, 61, both from Cuneo, Italy, were kidnapped Nov. 10 in northeastern Kenya near the border with Somalia. Father Lombardi said the two nuns were well-known in Kenya "for their generous dedication to the very poor."
- - -
Brother who worked with sick is beatified in first Cuban ceremony
CAMAGUEY, Cuba (CNS) -- Brother Jose Olallo Valdes, a member of the Hospitaller Brothers of St. John of God who worked among Cuba's poor and sick in the 19th century, was beatified at an outdoor Mass attended by thousands of joyous people and broadcast nationwide. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, former prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, beatified the Cuban brother during a three-hour Mass Nov. 29 in the Plaza of Our Lady of Charity in Camaguey. It was the first beatification ceremony held in Cuba. In his homily, Cardinal Saraiva Martins said the event was a milestone and told the people of the Cuban Catholic Church: "You live in a memorable time. Confronted by a prevailing materialistic culture that is imposing and abandons the side of the weak and helpless, we learn from Blessed Olallo the virtue of knowing how to trust in God, of knowing how to love our neighbor in universal form."
- - -
Zambian police drop charges against priest-manager of radio station
LUSAKA, Zambia (CNS) -- Police in Zambia have dropped charges against Father Frank Bwalya, station manager of the Catholic Church's Radio Icengelo, who was arrested for allegedly issuing commentary intending to bring divisions between communities. A Kitwe district police official announced Nov. 26 that the charges against Father Bwalya were dropped for security reasons. Hundreds of people demonstrated and destroyed property in Kitwe, Zambia's largest mining town, after the priest was arrested and detained by police Nov. 12. Church and civil officials condemned the arrest and described it as an affront to freedom. Father Bwalya was arrested after his Kitwe-based community radio station broadcast a postelection phone-in program criticizing the disputed Oct. 30 election won by President Rupiah Banda. The priest described his release as a "victory for freedom of expression."
- - -
U.S. bishops' pro-life official, other pro-life leaders honored
NATICK, Mass. (CNS) -- Richard P. Doerflinger, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Office of Pro-Life Activities in Washington, was named one of six winners of the inaugural Life Prizes awarded by the Gerard Health Foundation in Natick. The awards recognize "individuals or groups that have made unsurpassed strides in preserving and upholding the sanctity of human life," according to an announcement on the prizes. Doerflinger, who is a bioethics expert, said he was grateful for the award and "humbled to be considered among the pro-life champions in the movement." He said in a statement, "We need more intelligent young people to enter the fray at the intersection of legislation, medicine and technology to protect human life at every stage, and I am confident that Life Prizes will be a major factor in inspiring future work."
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250
|
|
|
|
