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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Feb-28-2011
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Hawaii OKs civil unions; Maryland House panel debates same-sex marriage
HONOLULU (CNS) -- Hawaii Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed same-sex civil unions into law Feb. 23, a week after the bill passed the state Legislature, calling it a "triumph for everyone." Civil unions will be legal in the 50th state beginning Jan. 1, 2012. The law extends the same rights, benefits, protections and responsibilities of spouses in marriage to homosexual couples in a civil union. The Hawaii Catholic Conference said it was disappointed with lawmakers' support for the measure and the governor's endorsement. "Passage of this legislation is just a step toward the legalization of same-sex marriage," said the conference, the church's public policy arm, in a Feb. 23 statement. "Marriage is what it is and always has been, no matter how this Legislature defines it; however, the public understanding of marriage will be negatively affected by passage of a law that ignores the natural fact that sexual complementarity is at the very core of marriage," it said. "The impact of this legislation on Catholic ministries remains an important and thus far unanswered concern." Meanwhile in Maryland, a committee of the House of Delegates opened a hearing about same-sex marriage Feb. 25; a vote by the full House was expected to follow quickly. The state Senate passed the measure Feb. 24, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has promised to sign it into law. In a homily Feb. 13 at an archdiocesan Mass for World Marriage Day, Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien said the recognition of marriage as being between one man and one woman is not arbitrary. "This recognition, bestowed on marriage by societies throughout human history, originates in a simple biological fact," he said. "The union of one man and one woman is the only relationship capable of creating children and nurturing them together as father and mother."
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Cuban archbishop seeking global pilgrims for anniversary celebration
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- By the time they reached Washington, Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn, N.Y., had been on a travel circuit for several days with Cuban Archbishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez of Santiago and there was more to come. With Bishop Cisneros and Mario Paredes, the board chairman of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders, as his guides, Archbishop Garcia, the president of the Cuban bishops' conference, was meeting with Cuban-Americans and church leaders in U.S. cities that included New York, Miami and Boston. Among the goals of the meetings, receptions and dinners was to solicit support for Archbishop Garcia's dream of a fitting 400th anniversary celebration for the statue revered as representing the patroness of Cuba, Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre. La Caridad nos une (The Virgin of Charity) "unites us," said Archbishop Garcia, "whether inside Cuba or outside Cuba, there is a sense that we are all one church." For several years, Archbishop Garcia has been laying the groundwork for what he hopes will be a global pilgrimage next year to the small southeastern Cuba town of El Cobre, home to the Basilica Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity, long the home of a petite statue of Mary recovered by three fishermen in 1612 in the nearby Bay of Nipe. The image is revered as the patroness of Cuba and the sanctuary hosts thousands of pilgrims annually, concentrated around the Sept. 8 feast of the Virgin of Charity. Most of those visitors come from within Cuba, however, and Archbishop Garcia has long dreamed of bringing many more pilgrims from across Cuba and around the world.
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Rights of women, their children 'inextricably connected,' says speaker
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- Reproductive health policy should be informed by accurate data, not polarizing ideology, and illuminated by moral values and an ethical framework that respects the dignity of women, according to speakers at a U.N. event Feb 24. The panel, "Advancing the Well-Being of Women and Children," was held in conjunction with the 55th session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. It was sponsored by the Holy See's Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of St. Lucia to the U.N. and the Path to Peace Foundation. Monique Chireau, assistant professor at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., described women's reproductive health as a gender, development and human rights issue. She said reproductive health is sometimes contemporary code for health care and education that includes abortion under the guise of family planning. Chireau said she preferred alternate terminology. "Reproductive health is a state of freedom from destructive activities and practices that compromise a woman's health, well-being and dignity, such as abortion. It includes the provision of services and knowledge that promote women's health, dignity and well-being as well as that of her family. The rights of women are inextricably connected to the rights of their children," she said. "The ultimate reproductive right of women is the right to say no to destructive practices and influences, to be able to protect her children, and to strive for optimal health and well-being for herself and her family," Chireau said.
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Pro-lifers hail passage of regulations for Virginia abortion clinics
RICHMOND, Va. (CNS) -- The Virginia Senate Feb. 24 passed a measure that requires the state Board of Health to regulate abortion clinics as hospitals rather than as physicians offices, a bill long sought by pro-life supporters. In a statement, the Virginia Catholic Conference, which represents the state's bishops on policy concerns, called it a "common-sense, long-overdue measure" that has been "a top priority of the Virginia Catholic Conference and its pro-life allies." The vote in the Senate was tied 20-20, until Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling voted to break the tie in favor of the bill. The measure had already passed the House of Delegates. Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell has said he will sign it into law and it would go into effect July 1. The health board will have 280 days from the law's enactment to write new rules for clinics that perform at least five first-trimester abortions a month. The board could require clinics to allow health inspectors into the facility and call for the clinics to have specific equipment available. With Senate passage of the measure, Virginia's General Assembly has "decided the abortion industry should no longer be exempt from safety standards that apply to other surgery centers, "said Jeff Caruso, the Catholic conference's executive director. "The Virginia bishops have long sought these regulations because, although state legislation cannot put an end to legal abortions, it can reduce their occurrence and prevent policies that favor the abortion industry," he added.
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Discounts available on pre-orders of new Roman Missal
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- USCCB Publishing is accepting pre-orders for the altar and chapel editions of the third edition of the Roman Missal, with 25 percent discounts available through June 30. Both the larger altar edition and the more compact chapel edition will be beautifully designed and bound, consistent with USCCB versions of previous liturgical books, and will feature four-color artwork from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. With the 25 percent discounts, pre-ordered altar editions (No. 7-100) will cost $126.75 each and chapel editions (No. 7-192) $86.25 each. (Discounts cannot be combined.) After June 30, the missals will sell for $169 and the chapel edition for $115. The new Roman Missal ritual books, which go into use in the United States on the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27, will begin shipping Oct. 3. The USCCB Publishing editions of the Roman Missal may be pre-ordered at www.usccbpublishing.org, using discount code RM-0311. Pre-orders can also be placed by telephone to (800) 235-8722; by e-mail to css@usccb.org; by U.S. mail to 3211 Fourth St. NE, Washington, DC 20017; or by fax to (202) 722-8709.
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WORLD
Authentically proclaim Gospel in tech-savvy world, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just as Jesus was able to effectively communicate God's word with parables involving pastures and sheep, the church needs to discover modern day metaphors that will capture the attention and hearts of today's tech-savvy men and women, Pope Benedict XVI said. However, proclaiming the Gospel can't be based on punchy slogans or "linguistic seduction," he said, the communicator must be a true witness who displays Christian values and respect for dialogue. The pope spoke to participants of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications' plenary assembly being held Feb. 28-March 3 on the theme "Language and Communication." The pope said Feb. 28: "The digital culture poses new challenges to our ability to speak and listen to a symbolic language that speaks of transcendence." Jesus knew to use symbols and ideas that were an essential part of the culture at the time, such as sheep, fields, seeds, the banquet or feast and so on, he said. "Today we are called to discover, in the digital culture, too, symbols and metaphors that are meaningful to people, that can be helpful in talking to modern men and women about the kingdom of God," he said.
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Pope advises people to let go of anxieties and trust in God
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict said living one's faith means putting God before material wealth. The pope, speaking at his Sunday blessing to some 30,000 people in St. Peter's Square Feb. 27, commented on a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew, in which Jesus tells people not to worry about what they eat or wear, because God will always provide for their needs. The pope said this kind of trust in God is not a form of "fatalism." He said: "Faith in providence, in fact, does not dispense us from working to have a dignified life, but frees us from worry over material things and from fear about the future." The pope said that in the Gospel passage, Jesus invites people to "trust in the provident care of our heavenly Father and to seek first his kingdom and its righteousness." For a Christian, this is the "true perspective" of life, he said. "Faced with the situation of so many people, near and far, who live in poverty, this speech of Jesus can appear unrealistic or even evasive. In reality, the Lord wants us to understand clearly that one cannot serve two masters: God and wealth," he said.
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As rallies continue, Vatican expresses concern about Libya
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With pro-democracy movements moving across North Africa and the Middle East, the situation in Libya worries the Vatican because of the loss of human lives, "the targeting of civilians and of peaceful protesters, and the indiscriminate use of force," a Vatican representative told the U.N. Human Rights Council. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, told the council Feb. 25 that the Vatican supports all efforts to encourage a dialogue between pro-democracy demonstrators and the government of Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Since late January, demonstrators across the region have taken to the streets calling for democratic reforms; the protests led to leadership changes in Egypt and Tunisia, but saw a violent crackdown in Libya where some 1,000 people were believed to have been killed, foreign workers were being evacuated and about 100,000 people were said to have fled to Egypt and Tunisia. Archbishop Tomasi told the Human Rights Council, "Violence only leads to a humanitarian catastrophe. Especially vulnerable in this crisis are asylum seekers, refugees and irregular immigrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa, who risk being made a scapegoat of accumulated frustrations." Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, apostolic vicar of Tripoli, Libya, said 2,000 Eritreans showed up at a church and church-run facilities Feb. 27 asking for help. "My heart is breaking because we can't do anything for them. My thoughts go out especially to the women and children, who truly are the 'least' the Gospel talks about," Bishop Martinelli told Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
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Pope says women often persuaded by others to have abortions
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said that pregnant women facing difficulties due to their personal circumstances or to health issues of the fetus can be misled by doctors or people close to them into believing that abortion is the best solution. And those who have undergone abortions often find themselves beset by serious psychological and spiritual problems from the "deep wound" that is the consequence of actions that "betray the innate vocation for human good," the pope said. Pope Benedict made his remarks at a Feb. 26 audience with participants in the 27th General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life who met at the Vatican Feb. 24-26. Members of the academy, doctors and bioethics experts discussed the results of months of study on the controversial subject of umbilical cord blood banking and on the phenomenon of post-abortion trauma. The meeting was led by Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, who took over as president of the life academy in June 2010. Pope Benedict said that doctors in particular are called upon to defend against those who "mislead" many women into "believing that abortion will be the answer to family, economic or social difficulties."
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Pilgrims flock to Medjugorje while Vatican studies alleged apparitions
MEDJUGORJE, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNS) -- A Vatican-appointed commission is studying the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje, but pilgrims keep arriving in the small town. As the 30th anniversary of the alleged apparitions approaches, the town is experiencing a building boom with new hostels, restaurants and shops that cater to pilgrims. The 11 Franciscan friars assigned to the town's convent and its sole parish -- St. James -- are assisted by visiting priests in ministering to the pilgrims and the town's 3,500 residents, who pack the church even in the winter when pilgrim buses are few and far between. A few hotels and dozens and dozens of family-run hostels offer more than 10,000 beds for pilgrims. Individuals and members of organized groups climb the craggy Apparition Hill where six village children said they first saw Mary in June 1981. The pilgrims pray the rosary as they trudge up the hill, careful not to twist their ankles on the slices of rock jutting out of the hillside. Most of the Medjugorje "seers" have said the apparitions have continued every day for years. Three say they still have visions each day, while the other three see Mary only once a year now. All six are now married and have children. Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez, Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo and Jakov Colo still live year round in Medjugorje or a nearby village; each of them was contacted in late February but declined to be interviewed.
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Medjugorje pilgrims fund social projects, including drug-recovery
MEDJUGORJE, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNS) -- Millions of pilgrims have come to Medjugorje and reported experiencing conversion in the village where six young people claimed they began seeing Mary in 1981. In the 30 years since, many of the pilgrims have made donations that helped make huge changes in the lives of orphaned children, women in difficulty and young men with serious addiction problems, usually involving drugs. The men who live in the Merciful Father Community on the edge of Medjugorje have conversion stories of their own and they know it is thanks to the alleged visions and the generosity of the pilgrims that they have a chance for a better future. Brano Bakic, 32, has completed 33 months of the three-year recovery program that focuses on prayer and work according to a very strict schedule that begins at 6 a.m. each day. "I believe that God saved me, that Mary saved me," he said. The former heroin addict said that when a social worker first dropped him off at the community gates, "nothing was clear. There was only big confusion. But now I know God saved me and I'm ready for a good life." The recovery community was founded 10 years ago by Franciscan Father Slavko Barbaric, who founded Mother's Village in 1993 to care for orphans from the Balkans War. The village now includes a large kindergarten, family-style homes for 55 children whose parents have died or no longer can care for them, a house for pregnant women in crisis and the Merciful Father Community. Franciscan Father Svetozar Kraljevic, current director of the village, said the Franciscans were able to build and to expand the village "knowing that the pilgrims had every desire and intention to help."
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John Paul sainthood promoter says documents show authentic spirituality
ROME (CNS) -- The man responsible for promoting the cause of sainthood for Pope John Paul II said the thousands of documents that crossed his desk showed that the public pontiff and the private man were one and the same. Msgr. Slawomir Oder, who as postulator of the process of canonization of the late pope oversaw the gathering of innumerable papal documents, personal letters, diplomatic dispatches, testimony from friends, prelates and the faithful, said the material showed "the complete transparency of his life as a man and as a priest." Msgr. Oder spoke Feb. 25 at the Legionaries of Christ's Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University in Rome about how he had gotten to know the Polish pope intimately through the material that testified to his life. On Jan. 14, after five years of investigation into the life of the late pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI approved a miracle attributed to his intercession, clearing the way to the beatification, which will take place May 1 at St. Peter's Square. The pope the world came to know through his many travels and high visibility was the real Karol Wojtyla, Msgr. Oder said. "His friendliness, his love for prayer, his spontaneity, his ability to create a rapport with people" were not traits that were invented by the media but rather "constituted the essence of his own personality," he said.
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Chilean miners visit Holy Land to thank God for being rescued
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Despite the overwhelming media attention they received and heated debate over the purpose of their visit, 25 Chilean miners who arrived in Israel in late February said theirs was a visit of thanksgiving. "We want to thank God for all that he did for us. Our faith and hope were fundamental for our survival," said Mario Gomez, the oldest of the 33 miners trapped for more than two months underground while dramatic rescue efforts attracted worldwide attention. "It was a miracle," Gomez said of his rescue; he was 63 at the time. "There is one being who could achieve that, and that is God. He gave us a second life. When we exited the capsule, we returned to being ourselves." The miners said they were eager to see the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Via Dolorosa -- the traditional route of Jesus' Way of the Cross -- and the Western Wall among other religious and historic sites. Richard Villarroel and his wife, Dana Castro, brought along their 4-month-old-son, Richard, born six days after the rescue. "We prayed every day. I lost count of the numbers of Hail Marys and Our Fathers we said," said Villarroel, who carried his son in a baby carrier on his chest. Young Richard was covered with a Jewish prayer shawl to protect him from the sun as they walked on the Via Dolorosa surrounded by cameras. Maintaining a vigil above ground during the rescue, Castro said she was strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit, whose presence she felt. "Now I want to give thanks to God and his son who was here. I want to have some quiet and talk to them. Now we are all three here," she said.
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Hogar de Cristo house in southern Chile helps quake, tsunami victims
EL MOLINO, Chile (CNS) -- For Macarena Vergara, Hogar de Cristo has been a sanctuary, a place to escape the turmoil of the past year and respond to the needs of her community. Since the Feb. 27, 2010, magnitude 8.8 earthquake and three-story tsunami that wiped out her home in the fishing village of Dichato, Hogar de Cristo (Christ's home) has become a meeting place for the Catholic community. Founded in the mid-1940s by St. Alberto Hurtado, the Hogar de Cristo movement was created as a place for people living in the streets, which is not far from reality for the residents of El Molino, the largest of 106 government settlements in the areas hardest-hit by the catastrophe. Since the disaster, the more than 450 families who lost their homes have lived in cramped wooden huts in El Molino. "One day you went to bed with everything and the next you woke up with nothing," Vergara said. "And that's extremely hard for the people of Dichato because we never lived with this sort of poverty." A year later most families have settled into a routine and something approaching normality. Additions have been built onto the original wooden shacks, windows installed and gardens planted. But frustrations are never far from the surface. "In the winter everything turns to mud," Vergara said. "Of course the kids loved it -- what kid doesn't? But it gets everywhere -- the floors of the house, the walls, everywhere."
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Priest praises bill that gives more protection to migrants in Mexico
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- A Catholic priest serving undocumented migrants praised new immigration legislation that would provide more rights and legal protections to the thousands of Central and South Americans traveling through the country toward the United States. Father Jose Alejandro Solalinde, whose defense of migrants has brought death threats from criminal gangs and immense media attention for his outspoken advocacy, said the new legislation also discards potential sanctions against those working on behalf of migrants. "All the parties have come out in favor of human beings. This is amazing," Father Solalinde, director of the Brothers of the Road migrant shelter in Oaxaca state, told Radio Formula Feb. 25. The bill, he added, would "decriminalize" migration. Provisions in the legislation include new 180-day "migrant" visas for those crossing Mexican territory and an overhaul to the National Immigration Institute to improve staffing and eliminate wrongdoing and to provide migrants with access to health and legal services. The Senate unanimously approved the legislation Feb. 24. The law now goes to the lower house of Congress for debate. The legislation represents a step toward improving the treatment and protection of migrants on Mexican territory, where the criminal gangs and drug cartels regularly kidnap migrants for ransom and exploit their fears of denouncing such crimes to the proper authorities -- who, in some parts of Mexico, are complicit with the kidnappers, Father Solalinde has alleged.
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PEOPLE
Pope accepts resignation of 90-year-old Maronite patriarch
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Lebanese Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, the 90-year-old head of the Maronite Catholic Church. In a letter Feb. 26, Pope Benedict said the cardinal began his ministry as patriarch or head of the Maronite Church in 1986, "in the turmoil of the war that bloodied Lebanon for too many years. With the ardent desire for peace for your country, you have guided this church and traveled the world to comfort your people who were forced to emigrate." The pope said: "Peace finally came back," and while it is "always fragile," it continues to reign in Lebanon. As the head of an Eastern Catholic Church, Cardinal Sfeir could have served for life but chose to ask the pope to accept his resignation. In a country where religious identity and political identity often are entwined, Cardinal Sfeir has been criticized at times for being too political, while at other times he was criticized for not engaging directly enough in the practical affairs of the country. During Lebanon's civil war, Cardinal Sfeir tried to continue the tradition of the Maronite patriarch serving as a reference point of Lebanese cultural identity in a way that would bring the country's Christians and Muslims together; he urged Christians and Muslims to stop fighting, to respect one another and to rebuild the country. In 1990, during a Christian vs. Christian battle for East Beirut, the cardinal-designate threatened to excommunicate anyone ordering or carrying out a shooting.
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Father Hunt, America editor-in-chief from 1984 to 1998, dead at 74
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Jesuit Father George W. Hunt, whose 14-year tenure as editor-in-chief of America made him the longest-serving editor in the magazine's more than 100-year history, died Feb. 25 of cancer at the Fordham University Jesuit community in New York. He was 74. His funeral Mass was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. March 1 in the University Church on the Rosehill campus of Fordham University. After stepping down as America's editor-in-chief in 1998, Father Hunt served until his death as director of the Archbishop Hughes Institute on Religion and Culture at Fordham. According to its website, the institute is devoted to "exploring the relationships between religion and other aspects of contemporary life." Father Hunt joined the America staff as literary editor in 1981 and was editor-in-chief from 1984 to 1998. "Each editor has put his stamp on America," wrote Jesuit Father Jim Martin in a blog about Father Hunt's death on the magazine's website. "Each has given the magazine a certain tone. Under George, I would say that the magazine was rather 'literary.' ... George was a literary type himself (and one-time literary editor), having written scholarly books on the writers John Cheever and John Updike." In another blog post on the website, former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, a friend of Father Hunt's since the early 1980s, described the priest as "a man of remarkable talents and wide learning."
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