News Briefs
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Country's debate over Keystone XL pipeline is far from over
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President Barack Obama's decision to deny a permit for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline to carry Canadian crude oil to Gulf Coast refineries should have surprised no one, not even the project's staunchest supporters. The president promised he would nix the permit after Congress inserted a deadline for his decision in the bill extending the middle class tax cut passed just before Christmas. In denying the permit, Obama said it was not because the project wasn't needed but rather that the 60 days he was given to make up his mind was far too short to complete a second environmental review of the pipeline route, including a 92-mile stretch through the ecologically sensitive Nebraska Sandhills. The first review by the State Department was called into question when the Environmental Protection Agency cited several shortcomings in the findings and critics of the process complained that officials rammed approval through with little consideration for environmental concerns. Obama's Jan. 18 decision for all intents and purposes pushes the issue into 2013, after the Nov. 6 election. The deadline from Congress came in response to Obama's pre-Thanksgiving announcement that he was delaying a decision for a year to allow for further study. Environmentalists, religious activists, grass-roots community groups and indigenous communities cheered Obama's denial, while construction trade unions joined the oil and gas industry and key business associations in flaying the action. A group of Democrats in Congress also believe Obama was wrong, citing the country's need for jobs and the need to reduce oil imports from less dependable foreign sources. And Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the country's largest oil and gas lobbying group, said Obama will face serious political consequences because of his decision as the presidential campaign unfolds.
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HHS move amounts to 'to hell with you,' bishop says as protests mount
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A week after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told individuals and institutions who oppose contraception "to hell with you," as one bishop put it, members of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy were mobilizing their followers to fight. Bishops across the country -- including Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans and Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla. -- were preparing letters to be read at all Masses during the Jan. 28-29 weekend. But one of the most strongly worded reactions to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' Jan. 20 announcement that religious organizations could delay but not opt out of a requirement that all health plans cover contraception and sterilization at no cost came from Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh, in a column titled "To hell with you." Sebelius and the Obama administration "have said 'To hell with you' to the Catholic faithful of the United States," Bishop Zubik wrote. "To hell with your religious beliefs. To hell with your religious liberty. To hell with your freedom of conscience. We'll give you a year, they are saying, and then you have to knuckle under." He called on Catholics in the Pittsburgh Diocese to "do all possible to rescind" the contraceptive mandate by writing to President Barack Obama, Sebelius and their members of Congress about this "unprecedented federal interference in the right of Catholics to serve their community without violating their fundamental moral beliefs." Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria, Ill., enlisted the aid of St. Michael the Archangel in fighting "this unprecedented governmental assault upon the moral convictions of our faith."
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Catholic voters urged to press US government to rescind HHS mandate
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) -- It will be up to Catholic voters to convince the federal government to rescind a recent decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to go forward with a mandate that all health insurance plans cover contraceptives and sterilization free of charge, said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. "Bishops can't tell politicians what to do, but Catholic voters can," the Philadelphia archbishop said during a visit to Nashville. Political leaders respond to pressure from citizens, he added, and Catholics ought to demand respect for religious values. Archbishop Chaput joined fellow bishops in urging Catholics in the pew to be more politically active. "The very principle of religious freedom, the first freedom in the Bill of Rights, is at stake here," he said. "That's a lot to be at stake. Once it's lost, you don't get it back." The archbishop celebrated a Mass of investiture at Nashville's Cathedral of the Incarnation Jan. 26 for Dominican Sister Mary Sarah Galbraith as the new president of Aquinas College, which is owned and operated by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation. At the Mass, she was formally installed in the post she has held since last summer. The Mass was on the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the college's namesake. Archbishop Chaput celebrated it for Nashville Bishop David R. Choby, who was in Rome. He was among the bishops from Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky making their "ad limina" visits to report on the status of their dioceses to the pope and Vatican officials. The Philadelphia archbishop knew Sister Mary Sarah from Denver, when he was archbishop there and she was a teacher at a parish school there at the time.
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Summit brings together pro-life lawyers, members of advocacy groups
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- If the argument against abortion is "grounded in the concept of human equality, you kind of catch people off guard" because "it's not a religious argument," a University of Notre Dame law professor told a pro-life crowd gathered at the National Press Club in Washington. "Biology and modern science have confirmed that the unborn child is as much one of us as anyone in this room, from the moment of conception, a fully integrated self-directed human life, so the question isn't when life begins, but when moral and legal protection can be ascribed to that life," said O.C. Snead. He was among several speakers at "The Law of Life Summit" sponsored by the Ave Maria University School of Law Jan. 21. It was one of several events planned to coincide with the 39th annual March for Life marking the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. The summit drew a number of speakers from pro-life law firms, advocacy groups and other organizations who gave an overview of their work. Snead has been on the faculty of Notre Dame's Law School since 2005. His principal area of expertise is public bioethics -- the governance of science, medicine and biotechnology "in the name of ethical goods." He said he has found the argument that abortion is about human rights to be effective when he has spoken at law schools, the United Nations and UNESCO "to people who are not religious people, who are not in the habit of thinking about pro-life principles but are in the habit of thinking about equality and human rights."
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WORLD
Christianity, religion risk oblivion in many parts of world, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christianity and even religious belief are in grave danger across the globe, risking oblivion, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Across vast areas of the earth, faith runs the danger of extinguishing like a flame that runs out of fuel," he said. The world faces "a profound crisis of faith, and a loss of a sense of religion constitutes the biggest challenge for the church today," he said. The pope said the renewal of faith has to be a priority for all members of the church and said he hoped the upcoming Year of Faith, starting in October, would further such effort. Pope Benedict met Jan. 27 with about 70 officials, members and consultants of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office he led for more than 20 years before being elected pope. He said integral to helping the Gospel message seem more credible in today's world was Christian unity -- a theme that members of the congregation discussed during their four-day plenary meeting. Pope Benedict said the search for Christian unity requires a solid foundation in truth and Scripture, not the establishment of rules and agreements that are mutually beneficial. "Rather, the heart of true ecumenism is faith, where people encounter the truth that is revealed in the word of God," he said. "Without faith, the whole ecumenical movement would be reduced to a form of 'social contract' that's adhered to out of common interest," the pope said.
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Bishops plan to use London Olympics to renew interest in Catholic faith
MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- British bishops plan to use the 2012 London Olympic Games to renew interest in the Catholic faith, with initiatives ranging from fighting human trafficking and homelessness to promoting youth ministry and ecumenical dialogue. The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales is also preparing resources for liturgies and holy hours and will post them on the Internet before the July 27-Aug. 12 games. Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the bishops' conference, called the Olympics and Paralympics "a moment of great opportunity for us all. These great sporting events generate all sorts of good ideas and initiatives, particularly for young people, reminding all of us of the importance of good health, the dignity of our bodies, the care of our physical well-being and its spiritual meaning," the archbishop said in a Jan. 24 statement. "The example of many who are dedicated to training routines in preparation for these games reminds us of the need for good habits and routines in our own daily lives if we are to make the most of our God-given talents," he said. The Catholic Church in Britain has been preparing for three years to seize the opportunity presented by the games to evangelize, said James Parker, the Catholic executive coordinator for the games. Twenty-four chaplains have been trained for the occasion, and training is also being offered to representatives of more than 5,000 Catholic churches who will organize parish events, such as street parties, during the games. In London, visitors will have access to two Catholic hospitality centers -- one at Westminster Cathedral and the other at St Anthony Parish, the church closest to the XXX Olympiad Stadium.
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Half a century after Vatican II, a year of faith and debate
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Fifty years ago this October, Blessed John XXIII and more than 2,500 bishops and heads of religious orders from around the world gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for the opening session of the Second Vatican Council. Over the following three years, Vatican II would issue 16 major "pronouncements" on such fundamental questions as the authority of the church's hierarchy, the interpretation of Scripture, and the proper roles of clergy and laity. Those documents, and the deliberations that produced them, have transformed how the Catholic Church understands and presents itself within the context of modern secular culture and society. Because Vatican II was one of the monumental events in modern religious history, its golden anniversary will naturally be the occasion for numerous commemorative events, including liturgical celebrations, publications and academic conferences. At a Vatican II exhibition at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which opened in late January and will run until November 2013, the displays include original handwritten pages from Pope John's speech at the council's opening session, and a Vatican passport issued at the time to a young Polish bishop named Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II. Yet Vatican II is not merely of historical interest; it is very much a living issue in the church today. Scholars still debate to what extent the council's achievements, in such areas as interfaith dialogue and liturgical reform, were organic developments in the church's history or radical breaks with the past. And clergy and laity alike differ over how expansively to apply the council's pronouncements, whether sticking closely to the letter of the documents or following a more broadly construed "spirit of Vatican II." Pope Benedict XVI has rejected what he calls the "hermeneutics of discontinuity and rupture" in the present-day understanding of the council and has called instead for interpreting Vatican II as an instance of "renewal in continuity" with the church's 2,000 years of tradition. Exploring and promoting that idea will be a major goal of the Year of Faith that begins this Oct. 11, exactly half a century to the day since Vatican II opened.
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In San Salvador, vets continue long tradition of occupying cathedral
SAN SALVADOR (CNS) -- A group of former guerrillas has spent more than two weeks in San Salvador's Metropolitan Cathedral to demand better economic conditions, continuing a long tradition of the cathedral as a place to expose perceived injustices. The veterans of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front began their occupation Jan. 12, demanding that President Mauricio Funes meets previously agreed-upon arrangements, such as the inclusion of parents of combatants killed in action into the pension system. However, archdiocesan officials have said they must vacate the premises. Veterans have occupied Metropolitan Cathedral several times since 1992, when peace accords ended 12 years of civil war. They claim some points of the accords have not been fulfilled. During the civil war, leftist groups occupied the cathedral regularly to denounce human rights violations. It was among the few places where they could do so without being killed by security forces. Archbishop Oscar A. Romero, murdered by death squads in March 1980, often denounced from the cathedral the murders committed by government forces during the civil war. He was buried in the cathedral's crypt. "Many still believe that cathedral is the place where one can claim anything and you will be heard, because Archbishop Romero preached here ... that's very nice, very beautiful," Msgr. Jesus Delgado Acevedo, vicar general, told Catholic News Service.
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PEOPLE
French president rejects calls for secular values to be in constitution
PARIS (CNS) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy rejected calls for secular values to be enshrined into his country's constitution and urged religious leaders to do more to spread their message in the country. "A secular society is one which has decided to separate churches from the state, so the state doesn't have to account for its choices to churches, and churches don't depend on the state to live and organize -- this is secularity, a secular republic," he told religious leaders at a traditional New Year meeting Jan. 25. "But this doesn't mean churches, respecting the law, are forbidden from speaking. Nor does it mean your words shouldn't go beyond the walls of your places of worship. That would be a strange idea of democracy: Everyone has a right to speak, except you," he told the leaders, including Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois. Sarkozy said France's status as a "secular and social republic" was "written in black and white" in its constitution, along with its guiding principle of "laicite," or secularism. However, he added that the country's religions should also participate in national debates and in "creating our cultural identities." He said it would be a "strange schizophrenia" to preserve France's religious heritage while insisting religions had "nothing more to say, offer and impart." The president told the religious leaders: "The spiritual richness you animate, the depth of thought you embody, the values you bear all have a vocation to address themselves to those who never cross the threshold of your churches, mosques, synagogues and temples."
Copyright (c) 2012 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops