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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Nov-17-2009
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Bishops OK marriage pastoral with many changes, some opposition
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a pastoral letter on marriage Nov. 17 despite concerns voiced by some bishops about the document's pastoral tone and content. Nearly 100 changes in two rounds of amendments preceded the 180-45 vote in favor of "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan" during the bishops' fall general assembly. Two-thirds of the USCCB membership, or 175 votes, was required for passage. There were three abstentions. An effort by retired Archbishop Francis T. Hurley of Anchorage, Alaska, to remand the document to the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth for rewriting failed 56-169, with three abstentions. He had wanted to see the pastoral letter expanded in some areas, switched around in sections and rewritten to incorporate parts of "Caritas in Veritate" ("Charity in Truth"), Pope Benedict XVI's recent encyclical. But Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., chairman of the subcommittee that drafted the letter on marriage, strongly opposed the move, calling the document "worthy of giving us direction for the next three years."
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Bishops approve translations of final five sections of Roman Missal
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops approved the English translation and U.S. adaptations of five final sections of the Roman Missal in voting on the second day of their annual fall general assembly in Baltimore. With overwhelming majority votes, the bishops approved translations of the proper of the saints, specific prayers to each saint in the universal liturgical calendar; the commons, general prayers for celebrating saints listed in the "Roman Martyrology"; the Roman Missal supplement; the U.S. propers, a collection of orations and formularies for feasts and memorials particular to the U.S. liturgical calendar; and U.S. adaptations to the Roman Missal. There was some debate on the floor about a separate piece of the translations -- the antiphons -- which has not come to the bishops for consideration, but instead has advanced through the Vatican's approval procedures without the consultation of the English-language bishops' conferences around the world. But the final five sections of the missal before the bishops passed with minimal discussion and only a handful of proposed amendments to the texts. The Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship now must grant its "recognitio," or approval, to allow the translations to proceed.
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Bishops approve revised directives on withdrawal of food, water
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- U.S. bishops overwhelmingly approved a revision to the directives that guide Catholic heath care facilities, clarifying that patients with chronic conditions who are not imminently dying should receive food and water by "medically assisted" means if they cannot take them normally. The vote was 219-4 in favor of the revision Nov. 17, the second day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops fall general assembly. "As a general rule, there is an obligation to provide patients with food and water, including medically assisted nutrition and hydration for those who cannot take food orally," says the revised text of the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services" prepared by the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine. "This obligation extends to patients in chronic conditions (e.g., the 'persistent vegetative state') who can reasonably be expected to live indefinitely if given such care," the new text adds. Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the bishops' doctrine committee, said the changes would help bishops to be "teachers of the faith," medical practitioners to "follow the appropriate medical protocols" and "our people when they face these difficult decision" for themselves or their loved ones.
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Bishops: No CCHD funds go to groups that oppose church teaching
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Members of the U.S. bishops' subcommittee overseeing the Catholic Campaign for Human Development reassured their fellow bishops and donors that "no group that opposes Catholic social or moral teaching is eligible for funding" from their domestic anti-poverty campaign. "We pledge our ongoing efforts to ensure that all CCHD funds are used faithfully, effectively and in accord with Catholic social and moral teaching," Bishop Roger P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss., subcommittee chairman, and the five other bishops who sit on the subcommittee said Nov. 17 in a statement to the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. They were joined by Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., chairman of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. CCHD's essential mission is "to help the poor overcome poverty," the bishops' statement said. By contributing to the national collection, Catholics can respond to Pope Benedict XVI's invitation for every disciple of Christ to help the poor, it added. "Across our nation, CCHD is helping thousands of low-income families improve their lives and communities, to seek justice and to defend their dignity," the statement said, adding that in the nation's current economic conditions the program is needed "now more than ever."
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USCCB efforts on health care reform measure seen as lesson for future
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The successful effort by leaders and staff members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to press lawmakers to keep abortion out of health care reform legislation in the House of Representatives provides an example for the future, according to the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. "It was a good example of how we as a conference can work together to have a positive influence on legislation," said Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., in a Nov. 16 report to his fellow bishops. The fact that House members knew the bishops wanted to see health reform succeed as long as it was abortion-neutral "allowed us to be heard in a number of different areas," the bishop added. Bishop Murphy made the comments at the USCCB fall general assembly in Baltimore after the full body of bishops gave its endorsement to an earlier statement by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago after House passage Nov. 7 of the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
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CRS work spreads far, but its name is too little known, report says
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Only 22 percent of Catholics polled could name Catholic Relief Services as a humanitarian agency that works overseas, reported New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 16. That 22 percent was double the number who could name CRS in a similar poll a year earlier, he added, asking the bishops to help spread the word about the agency. In a report during the opening day of the bishops' fall general assembly in Baltimore, Archbishop Dolan, chairman of the CRS board of directors, reminded the bishops that CRS is their agency "and we would love it if you could increasingly see CRS as a resource ... as you teach about the Gospel call to care for our brothers and sisters who are in greatest need." Archbishop Dolan also asked the bishops to promote CRS before any other overseas humanitarian agencies. As the agency demonstrated in recent months with its response to typhoons in the Philippines, an earthquake in Indonesia, a tsunami in Samoa and monsoon flooding in India, he said, "In each case, CRS was one of the first there, and we don't leave."
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Bishops choose chairmen-elect for committees
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops chose new chairmen-elect for five committees in balloting Nov. 17. The chairmen-elect will serve for a year alongside the current chairmen before taking full direction of the committees. In electronic voting Nov. 17, members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops elected Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis as chairman-elect of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations; Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans, chairman-elect of the Committee on Divine Worship; Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman-elect of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, recently named to head the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., as chairman-elect of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of San Antonio, chairman-elect of the Committee on Migration.
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Bishops OK budget for 2010, 3 percent assessment increase for 2011
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops approved a budget of $144.5 million for 2010, which represents an increase of less than 0.2 percent over the 2009 budget. Also Nov. 17, the second day of the bishops' annual fall general assembly in Baltimore, they approved a 3 percent increase in the diocesan assessment, to take effect in 2011. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., chairman of the bishops' Committee on Budget and Finance, said the assessment increase would be the first in "several years" for dioceses. He said the 2010 budget increase allows for the possibility of a pay raise of 1 percent for most employees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Although last November the bishops had approved a budget increase for 2009, the financial picture for the conference changed so quickly that, a month later, the bishops imposed a budget freeze, which resulted in a wage freeze for employees. The budget was approved 222-7, with six abstentions. The diocesan assessment was approved 155-26, with one abstention. "It's a balanced budget," Archbishop Kurtz said, adding that the budget carries "a slight surplus" of $44,000 based on revenues of $144.6 million.
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Effort to keep abortion legal costs women, society, professor says
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- One professor speaking at a Georgetown University Law Center symposium on abortion suggested that society in general and women in particular bear the costs of an ongoing quest to enshrine a right to an abortion under the law. Women wonder "will opportunities be there" for them if they carry a pregnancy to term, said Robin West, a Georgetown University law professor. They may feel a decision to have an abortion ensures them certain opportunities, but abortion also relieves society of the obligation to ensure equal opportunities for pregnant women who decide to give birth, she said. West also criticized a "myopic focus" on so-called abortion rights by supporters of legal abortion. She said such a focus takes away from other issues that must be addressed, including teen pregnancy, pregnant women who are addicted or jailed, children conceived in rape, and even the larger issue of health care for themselves, their partners and their children. She made her remarks at a Nov. 13 conference, "A New Abortion Debate: Emerging Perspectives on Choice, Life and Law," co-sponsored by two Georgetown law student groups, the Georgetown Progressive Alliance for Life and Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice.
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WORLD
Vatican officials say church must improve service to deaf community
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While the Catholic Church no longer considers deafness an impediment to ordination, there are only 13 priests in the world who were ordained deaf, said officials of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry. Msgr. Jean-Marie Mpendawatu, undersecretary of the council, said eight of the 13 work in the United States, two minister in Great Britain and one each serve in Brazil, Congo and South Korea. Father Savino Castiglione, a member of the Congregation of the Little Mission for the Deaf, said the problem is not one of barriers imposed by the church, but is a result of practical educational difficulties. The lack of deaf priests was one of the topics discussed Nov. 17 when the pontifical council presented the program for its annual international conference, scheduled for Nov. 19-21. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the council, said there are more than 278 million deaf people in the world, and at least 1.3 million of them are Catholic. "That is a lot and the church must act," he said.
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Philippine police charge three rebels, others with priest's kidnapping
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- Philippine police have charged three members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and several others with the kidnapping of Irish Columban Father Michael Sinnott. "We have strong evidence against them and we have witnesses," Philippine National Police Director-General Jesus Verzosa told The Philippine Daily Inquirer, adding that investigations are continuing. His remarks were reported by the Asian church news agency UCA News. The news of charges came as about 1,000 government troops launched an operation Nov. 16 at the boundary of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte provinces in an attempt to capture those responsible. Armed men seized Father Sinnott, 79, from the Columban Fathers' house in Pagadian City Oct. 11. He was held for 30 days in the jungle and released to the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The kidnappers had demanded a $2 million ransom, but that reportedly was not paid.
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Jordanian priests: U.S. religious freedom report gives false picture
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Jordanian priests criticized a U.S. State Department report that reviewed religious freedom in Jordan, accusing it of presenting a false picture and ignoring the reality of Jordanian religious harmony. "The ... allegations of discrimination and narrowing of the rights of Christians in Jordan (in the report) are unfounded and the positive co-existence (in Jordan) is the best response to this report," said a mid-November statement from Father Refat Bader, a spokesman for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which includes Jordan. In the 2009 Report on International Religious Freedom, released Oct. 26 the State Department noted the Jordanian Constitution stipulates there should be no discrimination on grounds of religion, but that the government's application of Islamic law, "infringes upon the religious rights and freedoms ... by prohibiting conversion from Islam and discriminating against religious minorities in some matters." In his statement, Father Bader said findings in the report were in response to Jordan's expulsion of some U.S. Christian groups, which went to Jordan "under cover of humanitarian activities, (and instead) they (behaved) suspiciously and illegally." He accused the report of being politically motivated rather than aiming to seek the truth about human rights in Jordan.
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After synod, Africa's Catholics hope bishops promote good governance
LUSAKA, Zambia (CNS) -- Just weeks after the conclusion of the Synod of Bishops for Africa in Rome, Catholics across the continent said they hope their church leaders will do more to promote good governance and to fight corruption, HIV and AIDS, poverty and injustice. The three-week synod ended Oct. 25, but in telephone interviews from around Africa, Catholics expressed their hopes for the church's next steps. "After the synod, their task is clear. They have to make the church relevant and credible: relevant in touching the real lives of people, credible through practicing what they preach. That's their challenge," said Ife Ngwowudu, 40, a parishioner at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Lagos, Nigeria. Mercy Chifundo, 36, a member of St. John Parish in Mzimba, Malawi, said she is more concerned about the need for African bishops to ensure that governments provide their citizens with good and efficient social services. Joseph Kalusa, a parishioner at the Cathedral of the Child Jesus in Lusaka, Zambia, said he is counting on the bishops to fight the greed and injustices being perpetrated against the weak and the voiceless in Africa.
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Cardinal blogs about Berlin-type wall between China, universal church
HONG KONG (CNS) -- As Europeans celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, said he wished that the wall that divided Chinese Catholics from the universal church also would fall. "It has been 20 years since the Berlin Wall collapsed ... it came with a wave of liberation of peoples," Cardinal Zen said on his personal blog Nov. 17. "It was not just the integration of the East and the West in Germany, it was about the end of the Cold War." He said that today, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association was the wall that divided Chinese Catholics from the universal church and noted that Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics said "state agencies" exercising control over the church independently of the Vatican is "incompatible with Catholic doctrine." He also said the papal letter, which called for reconciliation between China's government-registered and clandestine Catholic communities, should have been another opportunity to bring down the wall separating Chinese Catholics from the universal church. "Chinese bishops in communion with the pope ... should no longer be submissive to the secular organization that places itself above the bishops," the cardinal said.
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PEOPLE
Reports say Pope John Paul closer to being declared venerable
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The cardinal- and bishop-members of the Congregation for Saints' Causes voted unanimously Nov. 16 to recommend that Pope Benedict XVI formally recognize that Pope John Paul II heroically lived the Christian virtues, Italian newspapers reported. The Vatican did not deny or confirm that the vote took place because the process is supposed to be secret until Pope Benedict signs the decree recognizing the heroic virtue of his predecessor and declares him venerable. Pope Benedict generally signs a dozen or more decrees three times a year: in April, in June or July and in December. Members of the saints' congregation meet regularly to study the life stories, eyewitness testimony and other documentation promoting the causes of proposed saints. The information is contained in a "positio," or position paper, prepared by the promoter of the individual's cause. When the cardinals and bishops are satisfied that the "positio" is complete and demonstrates that the sainthood candidate lived an extraordinarily holy life, they recommend the pope sign the first decree.
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Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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