|
|
|
|
News Briefs
|
NEWS BRIEFS Dec-2-2009
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
District votes for same-sex marriage; archdiocese continues dialogue
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Washington Archdiocese vowed continued dialogue with the District of Columbia's City Council to seek "a balance of interests in the legislation" after the council Dec. 1 gave preliminary approval to a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. In an 11-2 vote the council passed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009. A required second vote was to take place in the weeks ahead, then the bill was to be sent on to Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has said he will sign it. District laws also are subject to congressional review under the Home Rule Charter. "As the legislation moves forward, the Archdiocese of Washington will continue its dialogue with the council," Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said in a Dec. 1 statement. As written, the current legislation would require faith-based social service providers to compromise their religious teachings and beliefs on gay marriage in order to be eligible to partner with the district government in providing social services to Washington residents. The Washington Archdiocese is morally opposed to the bill because it redefines marriage. The church's opposition is based on the Catholic Church's teaching that marriage is a permanent union between one man and one woman.
- - -
Catholics hopeful, dejected by Obama plan to add troops in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic groups with a stake in matters of war and peace were alternately hopeful and dejected by President Barack Obama's plan to add 30,000 troops to the war effort in Afghanistan. "I think he's making a tragic and horrible mistake," David Robinson, head of Pax Christi USA, said of Obama during a Dec. 2 telephone interview with Catholic News Service from Pax Christi headquarters in Erie, Pa. "The irony of him announcing this fateful escalation the week before (Obama accepts) the Nobel Peace Prize, this is Greek tragedy." Maryknoll Sister Mary Ellen Gallagher, who is on the staff of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns in Maryknoll, N.Y., said she hopes and prays that this strategy works. "But after eight years of this war, with the toll it takes on our own soldiers, the toll it takes on the people in Afghanistan, the lack of training in these eight years for the Afghani soldiers: Where have they been in all these eight years? Why have they not been trained to protect their own people? These are the questions that we have," she said. Obama outlined his war plans in a Dec. 1 address at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Broadcast across the nation, Obama said he would add 30,000 soldiers to the effort, but also announced the withdrawal of troops beginning in July 2011 in the expectation that the Afghan government would be able to accept the added responsibility
- - -
NIH approves 13 embryonic stem-cell lines for funding; more expected
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Thirteen human embryonic stem-cell lines have been approved for use in federally funded research and approval of many more lines is expected to follow, the head of the National Institutes of Health announced Dec. 2. Dr. Francis S. Collins, who took over as NIH director in August, said in a telephone briefing with the media that it was a "significant day" in the efforts to achieve President Barack Obama's goal of "a loosening up of what had been considered too stringent requirements" for federal funding of research involving human embryonic stem cells. Collins said the 13 stem-cell lines -- 11 developed at Children's Hospital Boston and two at Rockefeller University in New York -- were approved after NIH staff determined that the scientists who created the lines had followed the "very detailed informed consent process" outlined in NIH guidelines published in July. "In accordance with the guidelines, these stem-cell lines were derived from embryos that were donated under ethically sound informed consent processes," said Collins. "More lines are under review now." When the final guidelines were published July 7, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, then chairman of the bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said they ignored the comments of tens of thousands of Americans who expressed opposition to embryonic stem-cell research during the public comment period and failed to respect "existing federal law against funding research in which human embryos are harmed or destroyed."
- - -
On and off campus, programs help students keep ties to Catholic faith
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Whether they attend Catholic, private or public colleges, Catholic students can face challenges to their faith in the new environment of campus life. But a variety of programs on and off campus are working to remind students of their Catholic roots and helping to make their college experience not only a time of academic growth, but of spiritual growth as well. More than 100 college students who are parishioners at St. James Church in Setauket, N.Y., receive twice-yearly reminders "that your parish family loves you and is thinking of you," according to Mary Arasi, who has been running the program for 15 years. The reminder comes in the form of a care package that includes homemade baked goods, a copy of the local town newspaper, an assortment of candy and other snacks, a religious article and a handwritten note signed, "God bless you, your St. James parish family." This fall 117 students received the care packages. "We had 36 bakers making baked goods all week," Arasi said. Another 40 volunteers assembled the boxes, which were then placed near the altar at Sunday Mass to be picked up and mailed by parish families. "It's something the whole parish is behind, and the kids remember getting them," she added. "And if one of these boxes gets to one of these kids on a bad day and is able to brighten it, it's all worth it."
- - -
WORLD
Love of God, fellow man is driving force of human spirit, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Choosing to love God and fellow human beings is the only choice that gives meaning to peoples' lives, Pope Benedict XVI said in reviewing the teachings of William of St.-Thierry, a 12th-century monk. At his weekly general audience Dec. 2, the pope explained the writings of the monastic theologian who believed that love of God is "the ultimate vocation and driving force of the human spirit." Pope Benedict has been analyzing the lives and works of important church figures from Europe in the Middle Ages during his weekly catechesis, drawing out ideas that can be relevant to contemporary men and women. The pope called William "a singer of love and truth," whose writings "teach us to make the fundamental choice of our lives, that which gives sense and value to all the other choices: the love of God and our neighbor." Born in present day Belgium around 1075, William served as abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St.-Thierry near Reims, France, where he attempted to undertake reforms, the pope said. After meeting resistance William gave up his position for a more contemplative life at the Cistercian abbey of Signy, where he died in 1148.
- - -
Vatican Film Library celebrates anniversary with DVD on Vatican II
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To commemorate the 50th anniversary of its establishment, the Vatican Film Library issued a special DVD dedicated to the Second Vatican Council. In 1959, Blessed Pope John XXIII instituted the film library to collect and preserve film and television programs of high cultural and religious value as well as footage of the popes and the life of the church. That same year he also announced the church would hold a Second Vatican Council to discuss the church's relationship with the modern world." The DVD, titled "The Vatican Film Library: Images from the Council," provides details about the film library and gives extended commentary on Vatican II. It includes original black and white footage taken during the council and audio addresses by Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. The DVD "is of great importance for those who haven't lived that moment" when the council met between 1962 and1965, said Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The DVD is available in Vatican bookstores or by emailing the film library at fv@pccs.va. Cost is about $38 plus shipping and handling.
- - -
PEOPLE
Cardinal Foley decides to step down as Vatican's 'voice of Christmas'
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After 25 years doing the English-language commentary for the pope's Christmas midnight Mass, U.S. Cardinal John P. Foley is stepping away from the microphone and hanging up the headphones. "I guess I'm truly the Ghost of Christmas Past now," he told Vatican Radio Nov. 24. The cardinal, grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, was first asked by the U.S. television network NBC to do the broadcast in 1984. He continued guiding U.S. audiences through the service and, eventually, other media outlets began getting his commentary as well. His voice was heard in the Philippines, Nigeria, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana and occasionally some Scandinavian countries, he told Catholic News Service. Cardinal Foley noted that his absence is not the biggest change broadcasters and viewers will notice with Pope Benedict's Christmas Eve Mass this year. The Vatican announced in late November that the pope would begin his "midnight" Mass at 10 p.m. Rome time.
- - -
New abbot elected to head Oregon Benedictine abbey, seminary
ST. BENEDICT, Ore. (CNS) -- Soon after his election to lead Mount Angel Abbey in St. Benedict, the new abbot received a large pectoral crucifix as a sign of his office. "The sun is shining but when I cast my eyes down, as they should be, I see this chain around my neck and, hanging from the chain, not a bed of roses but a cross," Benedictine Abbot Gregory Duerr said in a spontaneous address after his election. "But, that is OK because we are Christians and we have a certain attitude about chains and crosses and we are even told that we can glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," he said. The 11th abbot to lead the 127-year old monastic community, Abbot Duerr was elected Nov. 18 to succeed Abbot Nathan Zodrow, who retired in August citing health reasons. In early 2010 Portland Archbishop John G. Vlazny will confer the abbatial blessing, a formal service in which Abbot Duerr will receive his miter, crosier and ring. An abbot's authority over his community is similar to the authority exercised by a bishop over his diocese. Mount Angel Abbey operates one of the largest seminaries in the western United States. Bishops from as far away as Samoa send their men to the hilltop overlooking the Willamette River Valley. Abbot Duerr is responsible for the personnel and apostolate of the abbey and its seminary, which he also serves as chancellor. He guides Mount Angel's community as well as the community at Our Lady of Angels Priory in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
END
Copyright (c) 2009 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
|
|
|
|
