News Briefs
By Catholic News Service
U.S.
Political turnaround: Democrats are the ones talking about religion
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Rev. Jim Wallis finds it unexpected and refreshing that the majority of "God talk" in this presidential election season has been among and about Democratic candidates and that the dialogue takes a broad view of what's important to religiously motivated voters. "The surprise is that something we believed in and hoped would happen happened a lot faster than we thought," said Rev. Wallis, executive director of Sojourners and a minister of the American Baptist Church, at an April 24 panel discussion on the role of religion in politics. For more than a decade, Rev. Wallis has been among religious leaders pushing to get politicians to see that issues such as poverty, world debt and global warming are important to millions of voters who believe faith calls them to consider more than just abortion or narrowly defined "family values" as election issues. He said he was pleasantly surprised to see that even among white Christian evangelicals -- a plum voting bloc for Republican candidates in the last few elections -- poverty and the Iraq War were polling as higher priorities than abortion and same-sex marriage.
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White House summit examines plight of urban faith-based schools
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Educators, school lobbyists and business and government representatives gathered at a White House summit April 24 to examine ways to reverse the trend of faith-based schools being closed in U.S. cities. Although the term "faith-based schools" was used throughout the day and representatives from a variety of religious schools were present, the majority of attendees represented Catholic schools, and many of the presentations focused on the benefit these schools provide, the reality of their closing and steps already taken to keep them open. The White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools included several panel discussions and an address by President George W. Bush, who told the group of about 250 participants at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington that faith-based schools in America's cities are "a critical national asset." "We have an interest in the health of these institutions," the president said, noting that he hoped the summit would highlight the problem and let people know "it's in the country's interest" to help these schools stay open.
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Senate passes bill that bars discrimination based on genetic testing
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A bill passed April 24 by the U.S. Senate barring health insurers and employers from discriminating against individuals because of their own or their family's genetic information has won praise from the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Deirdre McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications in the secretariat, said the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act will protect born and unborn children as well as children in the process of adoption. "This bill helps protect and empower families to welcome and nurture some of the most vulnerable members of their family," McQuade said. "The bill protects vulnerable populations from discrimination, whether those groups are ethnic, racial or gender-based, or based on their vulnerable size and location, namely in utero or in the lab somewhere." Approved unanimously, 95-0, in the Senate April 24, the legislation would prevent insurers from using genetic data to set premiums or determine enrollment eligibility for anyone. The bill also bans the use of genetic information by employers in hiring, firing or promotion decisions.
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Dignity, not utility, must govern bioethics, law students told
STANFORD, Calif. (CNS) -- Human dignity rises above all other considerations in biomedical research and health care and must govern ethical decisions in the lab and at the bedside, Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, the chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, told Stanford University law students April 9. Pellegrino spoke about the council's newly published anthology, "Human Dignity and Bioethics." The book is a response to critics who have complained that dignity is both too vague a standard and too theologically oriented to have a place in bioethics. Addressing students in a classroom at Stanford Law School, Pellegrino made a forceful claim for the inescapability of dignity -- the lived experience of being human -- for anyone making ethical choices in research, in the clinic and in general biology. "Wherever you start, wherever you go, you'll have to come back to either accepting the notion or denying it utterly, and then we can weigh out for you the implications of denying that to a human being," he said.
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Philadelphia Archdiocese closes 'blessed' bicentennial year
VILLANOVA, Pa. (CNS) -- The Archdiocese of Philadelphia closed its yearlong bicentennial celebration April 13 with a late-afternoon Mass that drew more than 5,000 Catholics to the Pavilion at Villanova University. "We're just so blessed to have a church that is true -- and stays true -- to the teachings of Jesus Christ through the centuries," said John Monastra, 38, a husband and father of five from St. Agnes Parish in Sellersville. "That's what we're celebrating here." Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali was the principal celebrant and homilist. "Our 200-year history testifies to what can be accomplished when we trust in Jesus Christ and place ourselves at his service," said the cardinal. "Spectacular" was how 81-year-old Jim Battin of Nativity of Our Lord Parish in Warminster summed up the Mass. "It was a lesson of a lifetime and a privilege of a lifetime," added his wife, 79-year-old Mary Lou Battin. The ethnic diversity of the archdiocese was evident throughout the Mass, beginning with a procession that included colorful banners representing the countries of origin of thousands of immigrant Catholics in the archdiocese.
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Impact of pope's visit goes beyond his six-day stay, say observers
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI left New York April 20 after his six-day visit to the United States, Catholics were catching their breath from the whirlwind tour and many were trying to figure out what kind of impact the visit would leave in its wake. The trip -- anticipated since last November -- prompted a fair amount of guesswork about what the pontiff would and wouldn't say. Pope Benedict, not swayed by hearsay, frequently reiterated that the theme of the visit was "Christ Our Hope" and stressed his optimism that the visit would prompt "a time of spiritual renewal for all Americans." Whether he was addressing international or interreligious leaders, educators, priests and religious, bishops, youths or baseball stadiums full of Catholics, the pope stuck with that message of hope in Christ throughout his various stops. Overall reviews of the papal visit were positive and then some. "In general, the visit was a terrific success. He hit a home run every time he went up to bat," said Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center in Washington.
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WORLD
Homeless people occupy historic basilica in Naples
NAPLES, Italy (CNS) -- A group of 348 homeless people, including 115 children, occupied a historic basilica in Naples, demanding that government officials find them permanent public housing. Masses at the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, popularly known as "the Carmine," were suspended after the basilica was occupied April 4 by more than 150 people who had been forcibly removed from a building they had been illegally occupying for several years. The Carmelite priests, whose order has staffed the parish since the 13th century, have not made any public statements about the occupation. And Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples, who had been meeting regularly with city officials, commented publicly for the first time April 21. He said the city had promised him that the original group of homeless people, who were registered as residents of Naples, would be provided with temporary housing by April 23 or 24, but further meetings would be needed to find a solution for the homeless from other cities who have joined those occupying the church.
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Pope says music can bring hope to wounded world
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Music can bring hope to a wounded humanity, Pope Benedict XVI said. At the end of an evening concert held in his honor April 24 to mark the third anniversary of the start of his pontificate, Pope Benedict said there is "a mysterious and deep kinship between music and hope, between song and eternal life." The musical arts, therefore, have enormous spiritual value and are called to "instill hope in the human spirit so scarred and at times wounded by earthly life," he said. Milan's Giuseppe Verdi symphony orchestra and chorus performed works by Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven and Luciano Berio in the Vatican's Paul VI hall to a large audience that included the pope's elder brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger. Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano, who sat next to the pope during the performance, offered the concert to the pope as a gift. Pope Benedict told the audience the joy music and song bring is "a constant invitation to the faithful and people of good will to dedicate themselves to offer humanity a future rich with hope."
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Pope to give homily by satellite at eucharistic congress in Quebec
QUEBEC CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will give the homily via satellite transmission from Rome at the closing Mass of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City. Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec, president of the planning committee for the congress, made the announcement at a news conference April 24 in Quebec. Speaking in French, the cardinal invited everyone to attend the outdoor event, which will be held on the historic Plains of Abraham, the site of a decisive battle in 1759 between British and French troops that led to the fall of Quebec. Congress organizers hope that up to 50,000 people will attend the June 22 Mass in which the pope's homily will be transmitted in real time to giant screens. Officials also announced that the location for the closing Mass, known as the "Statio Orbis," had been moved from the originally selected site near the Quebec Citadel, a military fortification built in the early 1800s. Instead, it will be held farther west on the battlefield in an area where the first national eucharistic congress was held 70 years ago. The field is used for various sporting, community and recreational events.
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Church leaders call for justice after murder in Peru's Amazon region
PUERTO MALDONADO, Peru (CNS) -- The recent murder of a local government official who was killed when he helped stop a truckload of illegal timber has prompted church leaders to call for justice and better stewardship of Peru's southeastern Amazon region. In a statement issued after a pastoral meeting in mid-April, Bishop Francisco Gonzalez Hernandez of Puerto Maldonado, priests, sisters and lay church workers expressed their "repudiation and indignation for this crime, which cries out to heaven for justice." They called on the government to investigate the murder of Julio Garcia Agapito, "so this case does not go unpunished, like so many others." Garcia was shot eight times Feb. 26 as he sat in the office of the National Institute of Natural Resources in Alerta, a small town near the border with Bolivia. He had been called to help with the inspection of a truckload of timber that apparently had been brought into Peru illegally from Bolivia. During the inspection, the driver tried to escape with the truck. While police were chasing him, the gunman, whom witnesses identified as a relative of the driver, killed Garcia and fled. He still has not been arrested.
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PEOPLE
Three Chicago siblings serve their country as another waits in wings
CHICAGO (CNS) -- Elvira Sosa never saw herself as a military mother. No one in her family, or her husband Pedro's family, had ever served in uniform. So when her middle son, Robert Sosa, told her he had enlisted in the Army four years ago, she didn't believe him at first. Then, her older son, Oscar Sosa, decided to join his brother in the service. Most recently, her daughter, Rosemary Sosa, enlisted in the National Guard. Even the baby of the family, 7-year-old Adrian, has announced he wants to be a soldier like his brothers and sister. Elvira said she copes with the threat of her children being in harm's way by spending a lot of time in prayer. A parishioner at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Chicago, the mother of five works the night shift at a Keebler plant and uses her dinner break to pray the rosary. During the day, she cares for the two children of her oldest daughter, Laura. "People say, 'How do you do it? I would be a nervous wreck,'" said Elvira, seated in an easy chair flanked by military portraits. "I am a nervous wreck, but I have my faith."
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Young man dedicates years to walk the world for Christian unity
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While the church officially dedicates a week every year to pray for Christian unity, one young man has dedicated two years to try to heal divisions by walking across the world. Samuel Clear, 29, said when he asked friends and family whether he should circle the planet promoting prayer for unity one of them replied the idea was "too stupid to be anything but from the Lord." After he began his journey on foot 492 days ago from Cabo Branco in Brazil, Clear reached Rome and spent time April 21 speaking with Vatican officials from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity about his mission. Clear told Catholic News Service he was inspired to walk the world not as a pilgrim but as a missionary inviting people to pray for Christian unity. He also asked people he met to join his "walk4one" initiative in which Christians set their clock, watch and cell phone alarms for 4:01 as a reminder to pray daily. Born on the Australian island of Tasmania, Clear had been working for the Catholic youth ministry, Youth Mission Team Australia, before he set out on his journey.
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Cardinal: Relics of Padre Pio remind Catholics saints were people
SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, Italy (CNS) -- Venerating the relics of St. Padre Pio is a reminder that the saints were real men and women who lived for God, said Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes. Cardinal Saraiva Martins celebrated Mass April 24 at San Giovanni Rotondo before officially unveiling the new, crystal tomb in which Padre Pio has been reburied. Pilgrims will be able to view the body of the Capuchin friar, who died Sept. 26, 1968. The Capuchins of San Giovanni Rotondo and the papal delegate for the shrine, Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, have said the body will be on view at least until September, but perhaps for as long as a year, before the crystal will be covered. Padre Pio's body was exhumed March 2 to verify the state of the body and allow technicians to ensure its long-term preservation. The friars said the body was in "fair condition," although the skull and parts of the upper body showed serious decay. The archbishop and the Capuchins hired the London-based Gems Studio to create a silicone mask -- including a short moustache and ample beard -- for the body.
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops