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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Nov-4-2009
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Maine voters reject gay marriage; Catholics win two governor races
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Maine voters Nov. 3 rejected same-sex marriage, overturning a marriage equality law passed in May. But in Washington state, it appeared that a referendum to uphold a law granting same-sex domestic partners the same rights as married spouses would be narrowly approved, 51 percent to 49 percent. The referendum had been opposed by Washington's Catholic bishops. The bishops also had opposed an initiative that would have limited government spending growth to inflation plus population growth, with excess revenue used to reduce property taxes. Voters, siding with Catholic and other faith leaders, rejected it by a 5-to-4 margin. The religious leaders warned the initiative would have cut human services and made the state's recession permanent. In Maine after vote totals were announced on the same-sex marriage law, Bishop Richard J. Malone, head of the statewide Portland Diocese, said: "I want to thank the people of Maine for protecting and reaffirming their support for marriage as it has been understood for millennia by civilizations and religions around the world." Republicans won the two governor's races up for grabs in 2009. In Virginia, voters elected a governor whose pro-life views had come under fire from his opponent. Bob McDonnell, a Catholic, won with nearly 60 percent of the vote over his Democratic rival, R. Creigh Deeds. In New Jersey, incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine was ousted in a three-way race. The Republican, Chris Christie, a Catholic, won with 49 percent of the vote to Corzine's 43 percent. Chris Daggett, an independent, saw his double-digit support melt away in the campaign's waning days and wound up with 6 percent.
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U.S. Anglican-Catholic consultation welcomes Vatican action
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Vatican's Oct. 20 announcement on the creation of personal ordinariates for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church was among the topics discussed during the 66th meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation in the United States. The gathering Oct. 26-27 at the Washington Retreat House welcomed the Vatican's action to reach out to Anglicans who wish to enter the Catholic Church while "preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony." Members from both churches also examined immigration reform in the United States and discussed Pope John Paul II's 1993 encyclical "Veritatis Splendor" ("The Splendor of Truth"), which outlined fundamental elements of Catholic moral teaching. The meeting marked the third round of the dialogue considering the theme "Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Common Ground and Divergences." In particular, members of the consultation welcomed the Catholic Church's acknowledgment of a substantial overlap in faith and the legitimacy of many Anglican traditions. They said the recognition comes from more than 40 years of official dialogue between the two churches.
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Rector of theological institute elected president of Paulist Fathers
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Paulist Father Michael McGarry, rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies in Jerusalem, has been elected president of his religious order. Father McGarry, 61, will officially take office as the Paulist Fathers' 18th president during the Paulist General Assembly next May. He will succeed Paulist Father John F. Duffy and serve a four-year term. The "fine work" of the current administration "has positioned us well to address the pressing issues of personnel, ... finances and translating the Gospel to the present age," Father McGarry said in a statement. "I hope to build on (Father Duffy's) administration by strengthening our national and regional ministries as well as our very important foundations across the country" with the guidance of the Paulist General Assembly and General Council, he said. The Paulist Fathers, known formally as the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, were founded in 1858 in New York City by Father Isaac T. Hecker and his companions in an effort to evangelize North Americans. It was the first order of Catholic priests founded in the United States.
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WORLD
Vatican denounces European ruling against crucifixes in schools
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican said it experienced "surprise and sorrow" when a European court ruled that the crucifixes hanging in Italian public schools violate religious freedom. The European Court of Human Rights ruled Nov. 3 that the crucifixes hanging in every public classroom in Italy were "a violation of the freedom of parents to educate their children according to their own convictions and of the religious freedom of the students." Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, reacted to the decision saying, "The crucifix has always been a sign of God's offer of love and a sign of union and welcome for all humanity. It is sad that it is being considered a sign of division, exclusion or limitation of freedom. That is not what it is and that is not the common feeling of our people." In his statement Nov. 3, Father Lombardi said, "It also is surprising that a European court is intervening so heavily in a matter that is deeply tied to the historic, cultural and spiritual identity of the Italian people." The case was brought to the court by a Finnish-born Italian citizen who had been trying since 2002 to get the crucifixes removed from the school her children attended in Abano Terme, Italy. Italy's minister of public education, Mariastella Gelmini, announced the government would appeal the decision, saying the presence of the crucifixes "does not mean adherence to Catholicism, but is a symbol of our tradition. The history of Italy includes symbols and removing them would be to remove a part of ourselves."
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Bethlehem University student detained, deported to Gaza
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- A student from a Catholic-run university in the West Bank was detained and deported to her home in the Gaza Strip two months before completing her studies. Berlanty Azzam, a 21-year-old business administration major and translation minor at Bethlehem University, was returning to Bethlehem from a job interview in Ramallah, West Bank, Oct. 28 when the bus on which she was traveling was stopped by Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint. Azzam and a man from Gaza were removed from the bus. "I was not there illegally," Azzam said in a phone interview from Gaza Nov. 3. Azzam has lived in the West Bank since 2005, the year she received a permit to travel from Gaza through Israel for her studies at the university, run by the Christian Brothers. On Oct. 28 she was traveling from one Palestinian-controlled area of the West Bank to another, but had to pass through an Israeli checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, said Keren Tamir, spokeswoman for Gisha, the Israel legal center for freedom of movement. Tamir, whose center filed an urgent petition to the Israeli High Court on behalf of Azzam, noted that Israel still retains security control over large parts of the West Bank.
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Church needs healthy debates, conducted with caution, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church needs healthy debates between theologians to increase the understanding of faith, but the debate must always uphold official church teaching and must be conducted in a way that does not confuse the faithful, Pope Benedict XVI said. The 12th-century theological debates between St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Abelard, a French theologian, demonstrate "the usefulness and necessity of a healthy theological discussion in the church, especially when the questions debated have not been defined by the magisterium, which always must remain an essential point of reference," the pope said. During his weekly general audience Nov. 4, Pope Benedict spoke about what modern Catholics can learn from the debates between St. Bernard, who followed the monastic theological tradition emphasizing faith and prayer, and Abelard, who followed the scholastic tradition emphasizing the use of reason. Abelard's theological career was marked, several times, by church condemnations of some of his positions, particularly regarding what he taught about the Trinity. Pope Benedict said the censures of Abelard's work are a reminder that theologians must be careful to give precedence to the principles of faith that come from revelation and not to interpretations suggested by philosophy. When a theologian strays into error, the Vatican must intervene in service of the truth, said the pope, who spent more than 20 years as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
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Church officials: Zimbabwe reconciliation workshops draw big crowds
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Church-run reconciliation workshops in Zimbabwe that include lessons in political participation are drawing large crowds, say church officials in the southern African country. "It is very exciting; the fear in people is slowly going away and they want to participate in forming a new order," Father Edward Ndete, parliamentary liaison officer for the Zimbabwe bishops' conference, told Catholic News Service in an Oct. 30 telephone interview from the capital, Harare. Most Zimbabweans want a rift in the country's coalition government to be fixed, Father Ndete said, noting that President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party is "very afraid" of losing power. While the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans "have changed enormously for the better" since the government was formed by longtime rivals Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February, "it is in Zanu-PF's interest for the unity government to fail because it doesn't like to share power," he said. Tsvangirai, the prime minister, withdrew from Cabinet meetings in mid-October to protest a crackdown on his supporters and a deadlock over key appointments.
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PEOPLE
Retired Archbishops Hannan, Schulte both suffer health setbacks
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Retired New Orleans Archbishops Philip M. Hannan and Francis B. Schulte -- two of the four living archbishops of New Orleans -- have suffered recent health setbacks, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond announced Nov. 2. Archbishop Hannan, 96, the third-oldest bishop in the United States, was hospitalized twice in the previous week, once for low blood pressure and a second time for a series of ministrokes. However, Archbishop Hannan was resting comfortably at his home in Covington, La., and was eating well and walking, said Archbishop Aymond, who administered the sacrament of the sick to Archbishop Hannan Nov. 2. Archbishop Schulte, 82, suffered two falls and was resting in an assisted living facility in Philadelphia. Archbishop Hannan served as the 11th archbishop of New Orleans from 1965 to 1989, and his successor, Archbishop Schulte, served from 1989 to 2002. New Orleans is the only diocese in the U.S. and perhaps the only one in the world to have four living archbishops.
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Judge postpones Canadian bishop's hearing on child porn charges
OTTAWA (CNS) -- A judge postponed retired Bishop Raymond Lahey's court hearing until December after one of his lawyers asked for more disclosure of evidence against his client, charged with possession and importation of child pornography. The former bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, had been expected to appear in an Ottawa courtroom Nov. 4 for a plea. On Nov. 2, an Ottawa police spokesman said officers had completed their forensic investigation of material seized from the bishop, including his laptop, memory sticks and cell phones. Bishop Lahey could still face additional charges in Nova Scotia. Royal Canadian Mounted Police there executed a search warrant Oct. 13, seizing computers and electronic equipment from Bishop Lahey's residences in Antigonish and Sydney. "The forensic analysis of the media seized during the search warrant is still ongoing," Sgt. Brigdit Leger, RCMP spokeswoman, said Nov. 2. She indicated that this kind of forensic analysis can take several weeks.
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