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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jan-27-2010
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Pro-life ad featuring college quarterback to air during Super Bowl
NEW YORK (CNS) -- An ad scheduled to air on CBS during the network's broadcast of the Feb. 7 Super Bowl has generated criticism from groups such as the National Organization for Women because of its pro-life message. The 30-second spot will feature recent University of Florida graduate Tim Tebow, the Gators' star quarterback who graduated in December. The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner led his team to victory in the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1. Sponsored by Focus on the Family, a Christian advocacy group based in Colorado Springs, Colo., the ad reportedly will highlight Tebow's mother, Pam, who decided against medical advice not to abort him. Pam suffered from a dangerous infection during a mission trip to the Philippines, and doctors recommended that she terminate her pregnancy, fearing she might die in childbirth or the child might be stillborn. A spokesman for the organization said the theme of the ad is "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life," but he would not comment on the content of the ad. Several women's groups have complained to CBS about the ad, urging it not air, but the network released a statement Jan. 26 saying it was standing behind the ad. The network said it has revised its policies on advocacy ads in recent years as have other media outlets. NOW and other women's groups, such as the Women's Media Center, an organization that says it works "to make women visible and powerful in the media," have called the ad divisive and inappropriate for the setting.
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Archbishop prays new N.J. governor will have 'wisdom of Solomon'
NEWARK, N.J. (CNS) -- Hours before Chris Christie was inaugurated as the 55th governor of New Jersey, Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark prayed that the new administration would be "blessed with the wisdom of Solomon." "You will need it," the archbishop added in his homily at the inaugural Mass Jan. 19 at Newark's Cathedral of Sacred Heart. Acknowledging that governing will be an "arduous undertaking," given the many financial problems facing the state, Archbishop Myers made reference to a passage in the First Book of Kings, when God engaged the young King Solomon, offering to give Solomon anything he wanted. "Solomon responded to God: Give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong," Archbishop Myers said. Pleased with Solomon's request, God gave the king wisdom. "Wisdom is the gift to see things as God sees them," the archbishop said. The 47-year-old Christie, a Catholic and a graduate of Seton Hall Law School, did not address the gathering at the Mass, but acknowledged applause with a wave and a smile when he entered the cathedral.
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Web site offers Catholics a way to support bishops with prayer
MADISON, Wis. (CNS) -- A prayer campaign that began in 2005 to offer support to Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison has been expanded to allow Catholics nationwide to sign up to pray for their bishops online. Rosary for the Bishop was inspired by a passage from Chapter 17 of Exodus, which refers to Aaron and Hur holding up Moses' hands during battle. "We need to support our bishops' hands so that they do not weary in the battle for the faith," said Syte Reitz, a Madison-area Catholic who initiated the campaign. "Many Catholics pray the rosary every day," he added. "Why not pray one for our bishops? They are our shepherds, and their job is not easy. They need and deserve our prayers." Reitz's son, Tom, then a computer science student, developed the Web site at www.rosaryforthebishop.org where people can sign up online to pray for multiple bishops, if they wish. There also is an option for users to receive a reminder message by e-mail or Twitter when they are scheduled to pray. "If you want to pray for Bishop Morlino on Mondays and Archbishop (Timothy M.) Dolan of New York on the first Friday of every month, you can do that," said Tom Reitz. "And the neat part is that you can see statistics about how many other people are praying too."
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New law allows US taxpayers to take 2009 deduction for Haiti relief
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Under a new U.S. tax law, people who have donated to charities providing relief to Haitians since the Jan. 12 earthquake can take a tax deduction for the contribution on their 2009 tax return instead of their 2010 return. The measure was passed unanimously by the House Jan. 20 and by the Senate Jan. 21. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law Jan. 22. "This measure provides an immediate benefit for those who have already given and incentive for those who are considering a charitable contribution. We must do everything we can to help the people of Haiti and the aid workers working so feverishly on the ground to help them," said a Jan. 22 statement released by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. In 2004 Congress passed similar legislation for contributions to aid agencies helping the victims of the tsunami in Indonesia. An IRS announcement about the new law has been posted on the Web site www.irs.gov.
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WORLD
Remembering Holocaust, pope prays for respect for all people
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Pope Benedict XVI prayed that honoring the memory of the 6 million Jews who died in the Nazi death camps would lead everyone to greater respect for each human being. "Deeply moved, we remember the innumerable victims of the blind racial and religious hatred, who suffered deportation, prison and death in those repugnant and inhuman places," he said Jan. 27 at the end of his weekly general audience. Reading his prepared remarks in both German and Italian, the pope told the estimated 5,000 people at the general audience that Jan. 27 marked the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp at Oswiecim, Poland, and the rescue of "the few survivors." "That event and the testimony of the survivors revealed to the world the heinous crimes of an unheard-of cruelty that were committed in the extermination camps created by Nazi Germany," he said. Holocaust Remembrance Day, he said, is a time to "remember all the victims of those crimes, especially the planned annihilation of the Jews, and to honor those who, risking their own lives, protected the persecuted, opposing the homicidal madness."
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Haitians living in Dominican Republic return home to find relatives
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CNS) -- Saintivo Gassant boarded a small, intercity bus with 37 other passengers -- mostly fellow Haitians -- at a ramshackle station in the Dominican capital, beginning a seven-hour journey back to the rubble of his native Port-au-Prince. He carried a backpack stuffed with documents: immigration papers, a copy of his university degree, and even photos, including a snapshot of him with the president of the Dominican Republic at a tourism exhibition. He clutched the backpack tightly for much of the first leg of the journey, knowing its contents could prevent any glitches in his attempt to bring his 12-year-old daughter, Kimberley, back to the Dominican Republic. Gassant knew few details about her situation, just that Kimberley had been living temporarily with her mother when the magnitude 7 earthquake flattened the Haitian capital Jan. 12, and that she was now living in the street, under the care of his sister. Gassant was just one of the thousands of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic -- and points farther abroad -- to return to Port-au-Prince in search of information on loved ones and, in many cases, to retrieve them from the ruins of an earthquake that claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and destroyed a city that will not be fully reconstructed for years.
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Britain's House of Lords backs church arguments on Equality Bill
LONDON (CNS) -- Britain's House of Lords rejected government proposals that the Catholic bishops said could have forced the church to accept women, sexually active gays and transsexuals into the priesthood. Members voted 216-178 in favor of an Equality Bill amendment to protect the existing rights of churches to insist that clergy and high-profile lay employees live consistent with Christian moral teaching. Two attempts by the government to reverse the vote later were defeated during the Jan. 25 debate. The successful amendment deleted a paragraph that said an exemption would apply solely to those people who spent most of their working time in leading worship and teaching doctrine. Catholic, Anglican and evangelical church leaders said the paragraph would narrow the definition of a ministry so radically that no clergy would be able to qualify for an exemption. They said priests spent the majority of their time involved in pastoral work, private prayer and study, administration and building maintenance. The Catholic bishops said the bill meant the churches could be sued by anyone who was turned away as a candidate for the priesthood on grounds of gender or sexual lifestyle -- and that they would be powerless to stop priests from entering into legally recognized same-sex unions, leading promiscuous lifestyles or having sex-change operations. The government has not yet said if it intends to challenge the amendment when the bill returns to the House of Commons later this year.
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St. Francis is model of dialogue, respect for creation, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Calling St. Francis of Assisi "an authentic giant of holiness," Pope Benedict XVI said the 13th-century saint continues to be a model for living simply, respecting God's creation and entering into dialogue with people of other religions. Continuing a series of talks about theologians and saints of the Middle Ages at his weekly general audience Jan. 27, the pope said St. Francis offers a clear demonstration that "the saints are the best interpreters of the Gospel" for people of every age. Early in his process of conversion, the pope said, Francis was praying in the crumbling church of St. Damian in Assisi and heard Jesus speaking from the cross, telling him to repair the church. He carried out the work with his own hands. "But the ruinous state of that church was a symbol of the dramatic, disturbing situation of the entire church of that age with its superficial faith that did not form and transform people's lives and with a clergy that was not zealous," the pope said. The church "was decomposing from within," he said. St. Francis dedicated himself to living the Gospel in a radical way, preaching its message far and wide and renewing the whole church, the pope said.
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PEOPLE
Catholic agency in Miami helps Haitians apply for protected status
MIAMI (CNS) -- Massenat Pierre, 56, was thankful that Catholic Legal Services in the Miami Archdiocese helped her apply for temporary protected status to stay in the United States. "She's happy because she has no place to go," said her son, Massenat Jean-Claude, who came to the United States in 1984 and became a citizen in 1996. His mother arrived Sept. 18 for a visit. Now, she has no home to return to. "Her house in the Clercine section of Port-au-Prince was destroyed in the earthquake," Jean-Claude said as he helped his mother at the Catholic Legal Services outreach center set up at Notre Dame d'Haiti Church in Miami. Like Pierre, hundreds of other Haitians have come to the church seeking help with their application for temporary protected status, known as TPS. On Jan. 15 Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the government would grant the status to Haitians already in this country, because of their home country's fragile situation. It will allow them to stay in the U.S. legally and work for at least 18 months. Randy McGrorty, chief executive officer of Catholic Legal Services, and Myriam Mezadieu, the agency's administrator, supervised the volunteers and the agency's staff on the second floor of the building that was once Notre Dame Academy for girls. "It's been really hectic here," McGrorty told the Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Miami Archdiocese. "We knew there would be a tremendous need for legal services. And we knew there would be scam artists out there ready to take advantage of Haitians seeking TPS."
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Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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