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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Aug-19-2009
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Pro-life leaders say health care reform must exclude abortion
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Despite their support for health care reform in general, representatives of the National Black Pro-Life Union and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists said Aug. 18 they could not endorse any current health care reform proposal in its entirety. They said they object to the fact that no health reform measure specifically forbids funding for euthanasia and abortion. Joining their opposition was Alveda King, director of African-American outreach for the Catholic organization Priests for Life, who said she cannot begin to think about backing a health care bill until those issues are explicitly disallowed in the legislation. King, the niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the others were among pro-life leaders who spoke at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington. "Does America believe that life with dignity should last from the womb until the time of natural death?" King asked. "That's the question we're playing with." U.S. pro-life advocates, including the Catholic bishops, have said any health care reform measure must include coverage for all people from conception until natural death, continue the federal ban on funding for abortions and preserve conscience protections for doctors, nurses and other health care workers.
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Prayer, fasting campaign planned for upcoming economic summit
PITTSBURGH (CNS) -- Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik has urged local Catholics to be welcoming and offer hospitality and prayer when the city hosts the Sept. 24-25 Group of 20 summit focusing on the economic recession. The Catholic Men's Fellowship of Pittsburgh and the National Fellowship of Catholic Men plan to do their part by conducting an international prayer and fasting campaign during the gathering. Leaders of the two organizations were asking Catholics from around the world to support and/or participate in the campaign, which is detailed on the fellowship's Web site at www.cmfpitt.org. A 40-day fast began Aug. 15 and was to run to Sept. 23. Patrick Molyneaux, co-director of the Catholic Men's Fellowship, pointed out that the developed world is rapidly moving away from Judeo-Christian values in the name of "economics" and that people must allow the Holy Spirit to inspire Christians to unify in prayer for world economic decision-makers. The G-20 is an informal forum that promotes discussion among industrial and emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability. It includes representatives of 19 countries and the European Union; representatives of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are ex-officio members.
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St. Louis archbishop urges Catholics to support Catholic schools
ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, newly installed as the head of the St. Louis Archdiocese, gave high marks to Catholic education and also called on local Catholics to help make Catholic schools more affordable. The archbishop described Catholic schools in the St. Louis Archdiocese as "a tremendous gift" with "a great history" and a special emphasis on evangelizing. "It is one of the reasons why the St. Louis Archdiocese and the people here are known for their great faith," he said. He also acknowledged that a significant problem many parents face when considering Catholic education is the high cost of tuition. Archbishop Carlson pointed out that Catholic education is much more expensive than when he and his sisters attended Catholic schools. For one thing, "we had religious sisters and now we have lay teachers. We must pay them a just wage," he said in a recent interview with the St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan newspaper. He noted that even though parents are the primary educators of their children Catholic schools "do an excellent job" of providing training in faith.
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WORLD
Well-prepared priests essential for new evangelization, pope says
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Without well-prepared priests, "the new evangelization" of society will be just a slogan, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Today we see a need for each priest to be a witness of the infinite mercy of God with a life completely conquered by Christ and for them to learn this from the very first years of their preparation in the seminary," the pope said. During his weekly general audience Aug. 19, the pope spoke about St. John Eudes, the 17th-century founder of the Eudists, a religious congregation dedicated to training diocesan priests. The French saint's feast day is Aug. 19. An estimated 3,000 people gathered in the courtyard of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo for the audience. Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of Baltimore was seated in the front row. Pope Benedict said the training of seminarians and priests is crucial for ensuring that "the new evangelization is not just an attractive slogan, but that it becomes a reality." A priesthood candidate's time in the seminary, he said, must be like the time the disciples spent alone with Jesus after being called to follow him and before being sent out to preach the Gospel.
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US bishops press for further easing of restrictions on Cuba
HAVANA (CNS) -- A delegation of U.S. Catholic bishops visiting Cuba urged U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leaders to take advantage of the change in the U.S. administration to end the trade embargo Washington has imposed on the island nation since 1962. "I believe that the church (both in Cuba and the U.S.) wants to be the protagonist of a better approach," Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., a member of the U.S. bishops' international policy committee, told reporters at a press conference in Havana Aug. 18. After a meeting earlier in the day with the staff at the U.S. Interests Section, which represents the government in the absence of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries, Bishop Wenski said he believes the Obama administration's revision of policies toward Cuba is serious and proceeding step by step. The U.S. church supports easing travel to Cuba and eliminating the embargo that prohibits most trade between the two countries. Bishop Wenski, Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and San Antonio Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu were visiting Cuba the week of Aug. 17, in part to see the island's progress in recovering from three hurricanes and two tropical storms that hit late last summer and fall.
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Filipinos mobilize to fight aerial spraying of agricultural lands
QUEZON CITY, Philippines (CNS) -- Farmer Cecilia Moran fought back tears as she told how the aerial spraying of chemicals on a banana plantation near her home made her child ill. "She had a hard time breathing and her skin was itchy and irritated," the 47-year-old mother told 60 representatives of church and human rights groups, school workers, artists, and environmental and social development activists. The Asian church news agency UCA News reported that Moran claimed illnesses in her village in Davao City, on Mindanao Island, are triggered by the spraying of chemicals. Children and adults living in the area suffer from blindness, paralysis, cerebral palsy, respiratory and lung problems, cancer and goiter, she claimed. Moran, a member of Citizens Against Aerial Spraying, said the group is appealing for help after legal action failed despite a Department of Health study recommending the banning of aerial spraying. At an early August meeting in Quezon City, Jesuit seminarian Jomarie Manzano promised Citizens Against Aerial Spraying that he would organize students at the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University to support campaigns against the aerial spraying of harmful chemicals.
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PEOPLE
Medal of Honor for US soldier killed in battle called bittersweet
MAYDEN-SHA, Afghanistan (CNS) -- Over his military career, Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti, 30, won dozens of awards for valor, for achievement, and for sheer grit and ability -- but this one will be his last. Monti, a Catholic who was confirmed at St. Ann Church in Raynham, Mass., will be honored posthumously with the Medal of Honor in September. It is the crowning measure of an American military hero. It is the United States' highest military honor. Many of Monti's fellow soldiers have been redeployed back to Afghanistan -- where he died. In interviews gathered on the battlefield, they remembered a lighthearted, fun-loving man who could whip soldiers into a unified fighting force capable of handling any situation with confidence. For these men, the award is a bittersweet but well-deserved honor. "Those are the awards no one wants because it hurts," said 1st Sgt. Gary Hunsucker, 44, in an interview in eastern Afghanistan.
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US Jesuit who dedicated life to education dies in Nepal
KATMANDU, Nepal (CNS) -- U.S. Jesuit Father James J. Donnelly, who served in Nepal for nearly 50 years, died in Katmandu Aug. 17. The priest, who had dedicated his life to education in his adopted homeland, was 80 and suffering from various ailments, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. "Father Donnelly was a warm-hearted person and an astounding teacher," Jesuit Father Augustine Amakkatt told the crowd at the funeral held at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption Aug. 17. The late priest was also a "walking encyclopedia of chronology of Nepal," an expert on the Himalayan mountain peaks and a lover of Nepal's natural beauty, Father Amakkatt said. Father Donnelly was born in Cincinnati and came to Nepal as a young priest just after his ordination in 1961. He taught English at both of Nepal's Jesuit-run schools and served as principal of one for 10 years.
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Columnist-commentator Robert Novak dies at age 78
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Robert Novak, a longtime syndicated columnist and political commentator who joined the Catholic Church in 1998, died at his home in Washington early Aug. 18 after battling brain cancer for more than a year. A funeral Mass was to be celebrated for him Aug. 21 at St. Patrick Church in Washington, followed by a private interment. Novak, 78, gave up his newspaper column once he received his cancer diagnosis. The tumor was discovered some days after Novak hit a homeless man while driving in downtown Washington. After the accident, according to an Associated Press story, he was hospitalized when he collapsed during a visit to Massachusetts, and doctors there found the tumor. Novak was editor of the syndicated Evans-Novak Political Report, which had its home at the Chicago Sun-Times. The column continued for 30 years until the death of Rowland Evans Jr. in 2001. Novak then wrote the column on his own until discontinuing it last year. He also served as co-host from 1980 to 2005 of several of the CNN cable channel's political talk shows, including "Crossfire."
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Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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