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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Oct-28-2009
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Archdiocese opposes legalizing gay marriage in District of Columbia
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Washington Archdiocese said in written testimony Oct. 26 that it opposes legislation to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in the District of Columbia and is concerned the bill "would restrict the free exercise of religious beliefs if it is passed as drafted." The archdiocese said it "opposes this legislation and any effort to redefine marriage as other than that between a man and a woman." It said, "Besides overturning the definition of marriage," the bill has no exemptions for churches and faith-based organizations that oppose gay marriage for religious reasons but provide services to the general public or rent space to individuals or groups outside their faith. Citing the Knights of Columbus and religiously-owned nonprofits such as Catholic Charities as examples, it said that under the measure they would be forced to offer their facilities and services to same-sex couples or face a lawsuit. The archdiocese's testimony was presented during a hearing of the district's Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. Hundreds of district residents spoke out on both sides of the issue. A coalition of groups has filed a request with the district's Board of Elections and Ethics that there be an initiative on the ballot next year to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.
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Not all solutions to infertility problems are moral, bishops say
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although the Catholic Church shares the pain of married couples facing "unanticipated childlessness," some reproductive technologies "are not legitimate ways to solve" infertility problems, the U.S. bishops say in a document that will be before them in November. The 22-page document, "Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology," is designed as a companion to the bishops' 2006 statement, "Married Love and the Gift of Life," which urged Catholic couples to reject the use of artificial contraception and to learn how natural family planning can benefit the marital relationship. Like the earlier document, "Life-Giving Love in an Age of Technology" is in question-and-answer format, with a short introduction. "In an age of advances in reproductive medicine, many solutions are offered to couples going through" infertility problems, says the draft of the new document, which will be debated and voted on during the bishops' fall general assembly Nov. 16-19 in Baltimore. "Some solutions offered to infertile couples do justice to their dignity as individuals and as a couple, and to the full human dignity of their child, by helping their marital act to be life-giving," the document says. "Others are morally flawed efforts to replace the marital act that are not worthy of the tremendous gift God offers to husband and wife by calling them together as spouses and parents. In short, procedures that assist the marital act in being procreative are morally acceptable, while those that substitute for it are not," it adds.
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Catholic high school teachers in Camden, N.J., ratify contract
CAMDEN, N.J. (CNS) -- Catholic high school teachers from four schools voted to ratify their contract with the Camden Diocese, ending a strike at three of the schools in late October. The four-year contract provides salary increases averaging about 3 percent per year and a comprehensive benefits package for the teachers. The 167 teachers involved in the contract negotiations were represented by the Catholic Teachers Union and serve more than 3,000 students. The teachers' contract expired Aug. 31 and had been extended to Oct. 15. They started their strike Oct. 20 in a dispute about salary increases and benefits. Under the new contract, teachers will receive a 5 percent salary increase over the first two years and a 3.5 percent increase during both the third year and the fourth year of the contract, as well as a $250 signing bonus. In the third year of the contract, teachers will begin paying 5 percent of their health care premiums. The teachers' union initially sought a 9 percent salary increase over the next two years, which would have brought the average teacher salary from $43,500 to $47,415. Diocesan officials argued that such an increase would have required a significant tuition increase for parents.
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Bishop Tobin invites Rep. Kennedy to discuss health care reform issue
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) -- Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence has invited Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to engage in a discussion about the issue of health care reform following the legislator's sharp criticism about the U.S. Catholic bishops' role in the debate. Bishop Tobin told Kennedy in an Oct. 27 letter that, as Congress "nears agreement on a final bill, I believe it is important that you are provided with specific facts about the Catholic Church's position on this critical issue." As of early afternoon Oct. 28, the congressman had not responded to the bishop's invitation. The bishop sent his letter in response to Kennedy's Oct. 22 interview with Cybercast News Service in which the congressman said the bishops were fanning "the flames of dissent and discord" by insisting that health reform not include abortion funding. "I can't understand for the life of me how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time, where the very dignity of the human person is being respected by the fact that we're caring and giving health care" to the millions of people who are currently uninsured, Kennedy said in the CNSNews.com interview. In his letter Bishop Tobin wrote: "For many years, the Catholic Church has been clear and consistent in its support of comprehensive health care reform, support that continues to this day."
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WORLD
Pope calls for more attentive, prayerful listening to Gospel readings
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI invited all Catholics to listen more carefully and prayerfully to the Gospel readings, especially during Sunday Mass, and to set aside a bit of time every day to meditate on the word of God. "A purely theoretical, profane reading is not enough in order to reach the heart of sacred Scripture. One must read it in the spirit in which it was written and created," he said during his general audience in St. Peter's Square Oct. 28. The pope began a new cycle of talks by dedicating his catechesis to the renewal of theology during the 12th century. Two basic models of or approaches to theology emerged at the time: monastic and scholastic theology, he said. "Monastic theology grew out of the prayerful contemplation of the Scriptures and the texts of the church fathers, stressing their interior unity and spiritual meaning centered on the mystery of Christ," he said. Unlike monastic theology, "scholastic theology sought to clarify the understanding of the faith by studying the sources and the use of logic," he said.
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Religious freedoms still 'widely violated,' says Vatican's UN nuncio
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- The right to religious freedom "continues to be widely violated," the Vatican's nuncio to the United Nations told a U.N. committee Oct. 21. Archbishop Celestino Migliore stressed that there is "no religion on the planet" free from discrimination and noted that "acts of intolerance and violations of religious freedom continue to be perpetrated in many forms." He told the U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with social, cultural and humanitarian issues, that more cases of religious freedom violations have recently been brought to courts and international human rights groups. Amid the increase of religious intolerance worldwide, he said Christians have been the group most discriminated against. In recent months, Christian communities in Asian and Middle Eastern countries have been attacked, leaving many injured and killed and churches and homes burned. He said these actions have occurred in response to anti-blasphemy laws that criminalize any defamation of Islam and often are used to "foster injustice, sectarian violence and violence between religions." Under these laws, some people have falsely accused others of blasphemy to settle a personal score.
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Philippine bishop cancels cemetery Mass after explosion at cathedral
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- The bishop of Jolo has canceled the All Saints' Day Mass at a cemetery following an explosion at the diocesan cathedral in the southern Philippines. Bishop Angelito Lampon said it was a "precautionary measure," reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. In an article posted on the Philippine bishops' Web site, Bishop Lampon said even though he would not celebrate Mass at the cemetery Nov. 1 he would still go ahead with brief prayers for the dead and the blessing of graves. Beginning the evening of Oct. 31, Christian Filipinos traditionally visit cemeteries to show respect for their dead on All Saints' Day as well as on All Souls' Day Nov. 2. Oblate Father Romeo Villanueva, the Jolo justice and peace commission director, said the grenade attack Oct. 27 on Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral caused little damage, "mostly a few broken jalousie windows." The grenade exploded midmorning at the rear of the cathedral near the bishops' cemetery in Jolo, the capital of the predominantly Muslim Sulu province. There were no reported casualties and no group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
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Dissident theologian criticizes pope's opening to Anglicans
ROME (CNS) -- Dissident theologian Father Hans Kung criticized Pope Benedict XVI for his recent opening to discontented Anglicans, charging the pope was "fishing" for the most conservative Christians to the detriment of the larger church. Father Kung said the invitation to traditionalist Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church went against years of ecumenical work on the part of both churches, calling it instead "a nonecumenical piracy of priests." The pope's basic message is: "Traditionalists of all churches, unite under the dome of St. Peter's!" Father Kung wrote in an editorial Oct. 28 in the Rome daily La Repubblica. "Look: The fisherman is fishing above all on the 'right' side of the lake. But the water is muddy," he said. The Vatican announced Oct. 20 that the pope was establishing a new structure to welcome Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church while maintaining some of their spiritual and liturgical traditions. Many of the Anglicans who have asked the Vatican for such a provision are dismayed by the ordination of women and by the blessing of homosexual unions and the ordination of openly gay bishops in some provinces of the Anglican Communion.
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PEOPLE
Pope appoints pastor to be auxiliary bishop for Diocese of Joliet
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Father Joseph M. Siegel, a pastor in Elmhurst, Ill., to be an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Joliet, Ill. The appointment was announced in Washington Oct. 28 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop-designate Siegel, ordained for the Joliet Diocese in 1988, has been pastor of Visitation Parish in Elmhurst since 2004. At age 46, he will be one of the youngest bishops in the U.S. Catholic Church. His episcopal ordination was scheduled for Jan. 19 at the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet, the church where he was baptized and ordained a priest. Bishop J. Peter Sartain of Joliet welcomed the appointment, calling Bishop-designate Siegel "a native son with deep roots in the city of Joliet and the entire diocese" and pledging to work "in collaboration with him in the pastoral care of our people." Bishop-designate Siegel currently chairs the steering committee for the diocesan Year of the Eucharist and eucharistic congress and is a member of the bishop's Respect Life Advisory Board. In his spare time, he enjoys playing the piano and organ, reading, classical music and Chicago Cubs baseball.
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Head of Knights of Columbus honored by city of Rome
ROME (CNS) -- The head of the Knights of Columbus has been awarded Rome's "Lupa Capitolina" prize in recognition of the work and service the organization has carried out in the Italian capital for nearly a century. Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson was given the award by Rome's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, during a ceremony in the city hall Oct. 28. In a written statement released Oct. 27, Anderson said he was honored to receive the award from the city of Rome. "As both the 'Eternal City' and the center of the Catholic Church, Rome has a special place in the hearts of the Knights of Columbus, and we look forward to another 90 years of service in this great city," he said. Since the 1920s, the Knights have run several sports centers in Rome that young people can use for free. The Knights have also covered the costs for numerous renovations and repairs inside and outside St. Peter's Basilica, including restoring the basilica's facade. The Knights pay for the satellite uplink for major international telecasts from the Vatican, such as the pope's Christmas Mass.
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