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News Briefs
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NEWS BRIEFS Jul-9-2012
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Religious group praises action to stop student loan interest rate hike
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A coalition of religious groups praised passage of a measure to extend the low interest rate on student loans, calling it a "true bipartisanship" effort. President Barack Obama signed the legislation July 6. For a one-year period, it keeps the interest rate at 3.4 percent on new loans for millions of college students. "We are grateful to President Obama's leadership and to all of the Republicans and Democrats who reached across the aisle and got this done," said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network. The group is a coalition of more than 75 religious denominations and faith communities, human rights, environmental and labor organizations focusing on the biblical concept of debt forgiveness. Just days before the vote in Congress, members of Jubilee USA Network delivered petitions urging action to prevent rising student loan interest rates. The interest rate on Stafford student loans had been set to double to 6.8 percent. In addition to the student loan provision, the measure signed by the president also extends federal transportation spending for two years and extends the national Flood Insurance Program for five years. The Stafford loans are federally subsidized loans for low- and middle-income undergraduate student.
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Vietnam memorial helps veterans remember lost comrades, find healing
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When LaSalette Father Phil Salois visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, he always goes to panel 13 on the west side of the memorial and looks to lines 70 and 71. There he finds the names of Spc. Herb Klug and 1st Lt. Terrance Bowell, whose deaths in Vietnam March 1, 1970, changed Father Salois' life forever. Now chief of the chaplain service for the VA Boston Healthcare System and national chaplain of Vietnam Veterans of America, Father Salois was not a chaplain or even a priest when he and Klug ran into a firefight 60 miles northeast of Saigon to rescue several members of his unit in the Army's 199th Light Infantry Brigade and to retrieve the body of Bowell, who had been killed in action. It was then that Father Salois told God, "If you bring me back safe and sound, I'll do anything you want." He was one of only seven members of the 27-man unit who "didn't receive a scratch" that day. It took him a while to realize that God wanted him to become a priest and he was ordained in 1984. He has devoted much of his priesthood to helping veterans recover from post-traumatic stress disorder. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, marking its 30th anniversary this year, can be a big part of the healing process for survivors of the Vietnam War, in which more than 58,000 Americans died. About 4 million people visit the memorial each year, making it one of the most visited monuments on the National Mall in Washington. Among those whose names appear on the black granite memorial designed by Maya Lin, then a Yale undergraduate architecture student, are eight women and 16 members of the clergy -- seven Catholic, seven Protestant and two Jewish, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to build the memorial.
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WORLD
Religious leaders challenge South Sudanese officials to end corruption
NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) -- One year after achieving independence, South Sudan remains plagued with corruption and ethnic discontent, prompting Catholic and Episcopal bishops to challenge the fledgling country's political leaders to "a change of heart leading to a change of behavior." In a message marking the July 9 anniversary, Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba, South Sudan's capital, and Episcopal Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, primate of the Episcopal Church in Sudan, expressed concern about reports of money being stolen by the country's high-ranking officials. "Corruption has become endemic within certain classes. This is unacceptable," the church leaders said. The archbishops also cited rising ethnic tensions in local communities as well as growing concerns throughout the country about the ethnic makeup of government institutions. Pointing to growing conflicts along the tenuous South Sudan-Sudan border, the archbishops rejected "war as an option to resolve disputes and call upon all parties to implement a meaningful cease-fire and withdrawal of armed forces from the border region." The message said: "We dream of two nations at peace with each other, cooperating to make the best us of their God-given resources, promoting free interaction between citizens, living side by side in solidarity and mutual respect, celebrating their shared history and forgiving any wrongs they may have to done to each other."
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Mexican cardinal prays for peace as postelection tensions increase
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City prayed for peace as postelection tensions increased in Mexico, where one candidate says the presidential election was plagued by vote buying and irregularities. A copy of the prayer also was published in the archdiocesan newspaper Desde la Fe. It called for an end to the postelection rancor and asked "that the distinctive participants in the electoral contest ... peacefully resolve their differences of opinion." The election returned the previously long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party -- once notorious for its anti-clerical attitudes -- to power after 12 years in opposition. A partial recount of the July 1 election by federal officials gave presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto 38.2 percent of the vote, nearly 7 points more than runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who headed a coalition of three left-wing parties. Lopez Obrador has alleged Institutional Revolutionary Party operatives plied poor voters with giveaways and pre-paid cards from a supermarket chain, which media outlets showed was inundated after the election with people trying to redeem what they said they were promised. The party denies the allegations, and Pena Nieto has denied ever buying votes. Soriana, the supermarket chain, says it has no relationship any political party. Lopez Obrador has a history of not accepting favorable outcomes -- such as 2006, when he narrowly lost a presidential contest he considered fraudulent and subsequently shut down central Mexico City for six weeks with protests.
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Mission work requires Gospel joy, living God's love, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Bringing God's word to mission lands is successful only when missionaries live the Gospel with joy and share the love and goodness they receive from God, Pope Benedict XVI said. "What is good has the inherent need to be conveyed, to give itself; it cannot stay closed up in itself (because) something good and goodness itself are essentially 'communicatio,'" that is, sharing with others, he said during a brief visit to a center belonging to the missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word. The pope, who began his vacation July 3 at the papal summer villa of Castel Gandolfo, took a short trip July 9 to the center in the nearby village of Nemi, in the Alban hills southeast of Rome. He used his cane when entering the center's chapel and when walking the grounds. The pope said he had fond memories of the center where he spent a week in the spring of 1965 working with three dozen other prelates to draft the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity ("Ad Gentes"). Then-Father Joseph Ratzinger was a theological consultant during Vatican II and was appointed to an editorial commission, led by Verbite Father Johannes Schutte, to help prepare the draft document of the decree. Father Schutte's invitation to be part of the commission came as a surprise to 37-year-old Father Ratzinger, as "I was a very young theologian of no great importance," the pope said during an informal talk to Verbite fathers attending their general chapter meeting. Being in the company of so many eminent theologians and charged with "such an important and beautiful task to prepare a decree on mission" represented "spiritual enrichment and a great gift for me," the pope said, adding that it was "perhaps the most memorable" time he had during the whole council.
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Head of Vatican court describes 'VatiLeaks' as 'most grave crimes'
CORK, Ireland (CNS) -- The head of the Vatican's highest court described the spate of leaks of confidential Vatican documents as "most grave crimes" and warned that those responsible must be discovered and "appropriately sanctioned." Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, said the confidentiality of Pope Benedict XVI's communications must be respected in order for the pope to carry out his work in service of the church. "It is not a question of hiding anything but of respecting conscience," the U.S.-born cardinal told reporters following his address to the Fifth Fota International Liturgy Conference. He added that he was appalled by what had happened in the events dubbed "VatiLeaks" by the Italian media. "I am trusting and praying that these people will be discovered and they will be properly sanctioned," he said. Speaking July 9, the final day of the three-day conference focusing on the theme "Celebrating the Eucharist: Sacrifice and Communion," Cardinal Burke discussed the Eucharist as sacrifice in canonical history. The cardinal particularly mentioned Canon 818, which safeguards against a priest celebrating Mass introducing his own wording, prayers or preaching according to his own judgment.
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PEOPLE
Bishop Finn's trial on misdemeanor charges still set for Sept. 24
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CNS) -- Despite a technical glitch that notified users of an online system that the jury trial of Bishop Robert W. Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspected abuse had been canceled, the trial remains scheduled for Sept. 24. The bishop and the diocese entered not guilty pleas to the charges in October. A spokeswoman for the Jackson County prosecutor's office told Catholic News Service July 9 that the court's notification system had mistakenly listed Bishop Finn's trial as canceled when some cases being handled by Jackson County Circuit Judge John M. Torrence were transferred to another judge. The notice went out a week after Torrence ordered the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to turn over the records on its past investigations of alleged sexual abuse by five priests. The judge also directed the diocese to give prosecutors its notes and other information about an independent investigation conducted by former U.S. attorney Todd Graves into the diocese's handling of the case of Father Shawn Ratigan, who is facing child pornography charges in state and federal court. Torrence said, however, that the materials related to past abuse investigations -- because of their sensitive and confidential nature -- may not be photocopied by prosecutors and must be returned to the diocese within 10 days after the end of the case.
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Pressured by China, new bishop goes on retreat after ordination
SHANGHAI (CNS) -- Newly ordained Auxiliary Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin of Shanghai failed to show up for his first Mass at St. Ignatius Cathedral after telling the congregation at his ordination that he would step down from the local and national offices of the Catholic Patriotic Association to devote himself entirely to his ministry. Local church sources told the Asian church news agency UCA News that Bishop Ma has freedom of movement, but Chinese authorities have restricted him from exercising his episcopal ministry because they were displeased by Bishop Ma's speech during his July 7 ordination. They said he spent July 8 in Sheshan, on the outskirts of Shanghai, where the diocese has a Marian shrine and seminary. Bishop Ma is the first government-approved bishop in recent years to announce publicly that he would give up his duties with the Catholic Patriotic Association, UCA News reported. Chinese officials "looked very serious when walking out of the cathedral," one source said, adding that three tables reserved for government officials at the banquet following the ordination were left empty. Late July 8, priests and nuns of the Shanghai Diocese received a text message from Bishop Ma saying he felt "mentally and physically exhausted" after his ordination. The message said Shanghai Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian agreed to let him make a personal retreat at the shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan. A Shanghai priest said Bishop Ma was having a rough time. "It is painful, but is good for the conscience of the church in China. His witness is an encouragement for our Catholics, so we can only pray for him," the priest said.
END
Copyright (c) 2012 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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