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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jan-31-2012
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Detroit bishops among those blogging about 'ad limina' visit to Vatican
DETROIT (CNS) -- Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron and his four auxiliary bishops are the latest group of U.S. bishops to give Catholics back home an up-close look at their "ad limina" visit to the Vatican through blog postings. Early in January, the Archdiocese of Detroit started a blog -- http://aodonline.wordpress.com -- to collect a "spiritual bouquet" for the intentions of Pope Benedict XVI. Parishes, Catholic schools and individuals from the Detroit area used the blog to write their pledges of prayers and acts of charity for the pope's intentions. The spiritual bouquet was to be presented in the form of a scroll to Pope Benedict when the bishops from Michigan and Ohio visit with him and Vatican officials Feb. 1-5. Bishops are required to make an "ad limina" visit to the Vatican every five years to report on the status of their dioceses. Detroit's bishops were sharing their "ad limina" experience by writing updates as they made their way to the holy sites of Rome and the Vatican. "The whole point of this pilgrimage is to reaffirm and strengthen our communion with the pope, the bishop of Rome," Archbishop Vigneron said in a letter to the Detroit Archdiocese prior to leaving for Rome. "And this communion concerns not just me as a bishop, but you as members of the local church entrusted to my care. Your communion in life and faith with your bishop, and my communion with the pope mean that you and I share the same life of grace as does Pope Benedict." U.S. bishops began "ad limina" visits by episcopal region in November. By the end of January, bishops from five regions had been to the Vatican, with more of the visits scheduled through May. There are a total of 15 regions in the United States, 14 of them geographic and one that is for the Eastern Catholic bishops.
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WORLD
Pope to visit Mexico, Cuba March 23-28, meet leaders, Catholic faithful
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and bishops and Catholics from the region when he visits Mexico and Cuba in late March. He will also greet bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as pray at the shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre in Cuba. It will be his third visit to the Americas after the United States in 2008 and Brazil in 2007. After a 14-hour flight from Rome to Mexico, the pope is scheduled to be in Leon, Mexico, March 23-26. After a three-and-a-half-hour flight to Cuba, he will be in Santiago de Cuba and Havana March 26-28. He will arrive back in Rome after a 10-hour flight March 29. During his trip, Pope Benedict will celebrate three outdoor Masses, including one marking the 400th anniversary of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, patroness of Cuba. In Mexico, he will have a special meeting with children and a vespers service with bishops from Latin America, and in Cuba he will make a private visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre.
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Bishop says world must help rebuild 'functioning authority' in Somalia
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The international community must contribute to reconstructing a "functioning authority" in Somalia, said the bishop who serves as administrator of the country's only Catholic diocese. After 21 years of "practically anarchy," Somalia "has become a failed state, a black hole," said Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, who took over as administrator of the diocese in neighboring Somalia in 1989, when the bishop of Mogadishu was killed. Referring to the ongoing problem of Somali pirates on shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and the military costs of patrolling those waters, the bishop told Catholic News Service, "The solution is not simply on the sea, but the solution comes on the land." He said while he does not deny the need to protect ships or limit the use of force on land, "the military aspect should not be the first approach." The international community must use a multifaceted approach: military, human and political, he said during a Jan. 30 Washington interview. Bishop Bertin visited the United States at the invitation of Caritas Internationalis and planned meetings with U.N. officials in New York. He said he hoped to keep drawing attention to the situation in Somalia and sustain the hope of the people there. The international community must be encouraged to "search carefully, more carefully ... for a Somali leadership." Warlords have conducted a reign of terror, blocking aid, killing rivals and seizing women and girls as sex slaves.
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New York cardinal-designate: Bethlehem U. helps build culture of peace
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNS) -- Bethlehem University is helping create a "culture of peace and life, and a civilization of love" by bringing together students of different backgrounds, New York Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan said during a visit to Bethlehem University. "This is classical Catholic thought -- that one of the greatest natural things you can do for human beings is education, and when you expose people to the truth, progress happens, justice happens, friendship happens," he said Jan. 31, during a Holy Land pilgrimage with a group of 50 archdiocesan priests. "To educate for us is not only a natural endeavor, it is a supernatural endeavor ... because Jesus said, 'I am the truth,' so we bring people closer to God, we bring people closer to Jesus, we bring people closer to each other." While those ideals may seem "cerebral" and "lofty," they can be seen being played out at Bethlehem University, he said. The university "is particularly valuable ... because it is working and it is bringing people together. We saw non-Catholic Christians, Catholics, Muslims and maybe even people with no religion, and they not only are classmates, they are becoming friends. And for the rest of their lives they are going to work together, they are going to know one another's children, and that is creating a culture of peace; that's creating a culture of life, that's creating civilization of love," he said. The cardinal-designate spoke to Catholic News Service during Catholic Schools Week, which in the U.S. is celebrated Jan. 29-Feb. 5. The group arrived in the Holy Land Jan. 26 and was scheduled to leave Feb. 2.
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PEOPLE
Pope names Archbishop Francesco Moraglia new patriarch of Venice
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI named Cardinal Angelo Scola's successor to the patriarchate of Venice, a historically significant archdiocese. Archbishop Francesco Moraglia, 58, had served as bishop of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato since 2007 and was named Jan. 31 the new patriarch of Venice -- a see made vacant when the pope named Cardinal Scola archbishop of Milan last June. Born in Genoa, Archbishop Moraglia has a doctorate in dogmatic theology. He has taught dogmatic and sacramental theology and he headed a regional institute of religious studies in Liguria from 1994 to 2007. He is president of the administrative council of the Italian bishops' "Communication and Culture" foundation and is a consultor for the Congregation for Clergy. Venice is a major see from which three popes in the 20th century have come: Popes Pius X, John XXIII and John Paul I had all served as patriarchs of Venice.
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Two women accused of stealing $1 million each from two archdioceses
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Employees of the New York and Philadelphia archdioceses are accused of stealing $1 million each in church funds over the past decade. In New York, archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling said Jan. 30 that Anita Collins, who had worked for the archdiocese since 2003, allegedly stole about $1 million before she was fired Dec. 6. Collins used "a sophisticated fraud to manipulate the accounts payable system in the Department of Education Finance Office," Zwilling said. Collins was arraigned Jan. 30 on criminal charges of grand larceny and falsifying business records and ordered held on $750,000 bail. She faces a possible jail sentence of up to 25 years. In Philadelphia, Anita Guzzardi, who was named chief financial officer of the archdiocese July 1, was terminated from employment later in July when alleged "financial accounting irregularities" were discovered. Although an investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office was continuing, sources said the amount involved is nearly $1 million. No criminal charges have been filed against Guzzardi. Both archdioceses were said to be cooperating with the local investigations and reviewing their internal financial oversight procedures. "Sadly, there will always be individuals who seek to exploit and circumvent whatever system is established, but we will remain vigilant in our oversight," Zwilling said.
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Reducing poverty will help bring about the kingdom of God, bishop says
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (CNS) -- While Jesus said we will "always have the poor" with us, "if each of us stops on his or her own journey to help a neighbor in need, the kingdom of God will come closer to realization each day," said Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, in a pastoral letter on poverty. With his words, Jesus "provides a sad reminder that due to the way we think about and react with each other, we will 'always have the poor' with us," added Bishop Murry. But Jesus also called upon his followers, he said, "to see and love our neighbors as ourselves. There is a sense that we have lost our historic concern for the poor among us. Sometimes we hear language and share attitudes that deride persons living in poverty," said the bishop, who also is secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The pastoral, "Who Is My Neighbor?" was dated January 2012 to coincide with National Poverty Awareness Month. Poverty "is not a simple problem" because it "involves family dynamics, minimal material resources, missed opportunities, personal fears, complex relationships, cultural norms, geographic locations, isolation and lack of understanding," Bishop Murry said. "Some who are poor are embarrassed to admit they have lost their jobs, their homes, and sometimes even their identity. Feeling hopeless and abandoned adds to the fear that their lives will never be what they were because they are too old for the job market and possess skills that are out of date," he added.
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