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June
20, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 12Oakland,
CA
|
Holocaust
trains RNS PHOTO/REUTERS/Alex Grimm
|
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New
papal stamps RNS PHOTO/REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico |
SF reaches settlement on some
abuse cases
SAN
FRANCISCO — The Archdiocese of San Francisco and its insurance carriers
have accepted a proposal by a court- appointed mediator, retired Judge
Coleman Fannin, that will result in the payment of approximately $21,250,000
to 15 individuals who had filed lawsuits against the archdiocese stemming
from clergy child abuse dating back several decades. The figure includes
the payment of recent verdicts rendered in favor of three of the claimants.
This settlement resolves over one quarter of the pending cases in which
the archdiocese is named as the primary defendant. As part of the
mediator’s proposal, the archdiocese will contribute approximately
$6.6 million to the total settlement amount. The $6.6 million will be
paid entirely from archdiocesan funds. No parish or school assets will
be utilized to fund the settlement, archdiocesan officials said.
Secretary decides not to burn
papal papers
VATICAN CITY (RNS) – Archbishop Stanislao Dziwisz, Pope John Paul
II’s long-serving personal secretary, has disregarded a request
by the late pontiff that his correspondence be burned, raising the prospect
that the late pope’s personal writings may eventually become public.
Archbishop Dziwisz told Polish radio that the detailed papal correspondence
should be left for posterity. The letters, he said, might be useful in
the late pope’s beatification process. The archbishop explained
that although Pope John Paul II left instructions in his will that his
private correspondence be destroyed, it did not deserve to disappear,
constituting “a major heritage, an enormous treasure, made up of
brilliant texts of great variety.”
“Nothing has been burned,” said Archbishop Dziwisz, who was
appointed archbishop of Krakow, Pope John Paul’s former archdiocese,
June 3 by Pope Benedict XVI. “Nothing is fit for burning, everything
should be preserved and kept for history, for the future generations,
every single sentence.” He served as Pope John Paul’s secretary
for some 40 years before the pontiff died April 2.
Pope says only chastity can prevent
AIDS
VATICAN CITY (RNS)— Upholding the Catholic Church’s opposition
to the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, Pope Benedict XVI
told African bishops, June 10, that the only “fail-safe” methods
are fidelity and chastity.
He urged the bishops to continue their efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS virus,
“which not only kills but seriously threatens the economic and social
stability of the continent.”
“The traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only
fail-safe way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS,” he said.
Anti-Semitic writing stalls priest’s
beatification
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The Vatican has suspended plans to beatify
the founder of the Dehonian order of priests to allow investigation of
anti-Semitic views he expressed in newly published writing.
The Vatican acted at the request of French bishops, who feared that raising
Father Leon Dehon to within one step of sainthood would strain Catholic-Jewish
dialogue.
Dehon (1843-1925) had been scheduled to be declared blessed by Pope John
Paul II during a Mass in St. Peter’s Square on April 24. The ceremony
was not rescheduled after John Paul’s death on April 2.
The case is reportedly under review by a Vatican-appointed committee of
theologians and historians, which will present its findings to the pope
for his final decision.
Religious groups urge end to
Zimbabwe evictions
GENEVA (RNS) – Religious and human rights groups, along with a top
U.N. official, are calling on the Zimbabwe government to end its campaign
of evicting the urban poor and destroying their shacks and market stalls.
An estimated 200,000 people have lost their homes and another 30,000 have
been arrested or detained since the government began its “cleanup”
May 19, according to Miloon Kothari, a U.N. expert on housing. “We
have a very grave crisis on our hands,” he said. “It is quite
clearly a gross violation” of human rights.
Zimbabwe’s churches have called on the government to end the crackdown,
dubbed Operation Restore Order.
Detained Chinese priest released
after two months
BEIJING (AP) – A Catholic priest from China’s unofficial church
has been released by authorities after spending two months in detention,
a U.S.-based religious monitoring group said June 6.
Father Zhao Kexun, an administrator of the diocese in Xuanhua, was taken
away by government security agents March 30 as he returned from a service
at a private home.
Father Zhao, 75, was released June 1. It was not immediately clear why
he was taken, where he was held or what his condition was.
China forced Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly
after the officially atheistic Communist Party took power.
Worship is now allowed only in government-controlled churches, which recognize
the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.
Millions, however, belong to unofficial congregations still loyal to Rome.
The government’s official Roman Catholic church claims 4 million
believers, and foreign experts say the unofficial church has 12 million
followers.
Lack of blacks causes group to postpone start
NEW YORK (RNS) – A new group that aims to bring U.S. Catholic, Orthodox
and Protestant Christians together for the first time has been postponed
because the effort has received little interest from black churches.
The fledgling group, Christian Churches Together in the USA (CCT), has
struggled to recruit historically black churches, who have been skeptical
that their issues would be addressed in another ecumenical group. At a
meeting June 1-3 in Los Altos, 67 leaders from some 31 church bodies decided
to postpone a formal launch that was scheduled for September to allow
more “productive and positive conversation” with churches
that have not yet joined.
The effort to build a broader “ecumenical table” was launched
four years ago as a loose-knit forum for U.S. churches to work together,
including Catholics, evangelicals and Pentecostals who had been reluctant
to join other ecumenical groups.
French priest on trial for alleged
rapes
NANTERRE, France (AP) – A French Catholic priest went on trial June
6 in suburban Paris on charges of raping and sexually abusing six Senegalese
children in the 1990s.
Father Francois Lefort des Ylouses, 59, could face up to 20 years in prison
if convicted. He denies the charges and remains free under judicial watch
during the trial.
A total of 95 witnesses, including five of the six alleged victims, are
expected to appear during the trial.
Father Lefort said the alleged victims “are now interested in financial
issues.” The case came to light in 1995 after a children’s
advocacy group filed a complaint with Paris authorities. He is accused
of sexual abuse against children both in Senegal and at his home west
of Paris.
Pope condemns ‘anarchic’
same-sex unions
ROME (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI condemned same-sex unions as anarchic
“pseudo-matrimony” June 6.
Pope Benedict said matrimony was not just a “casual sociological
construction” that changed in certain times in history but rather
an institution that had its roots “in the most profound essence
of the human being.”
“The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like free
unions, trial marriages and going up to pseudo-matrimonies by people of
the same sex, are rather expressions of an anarchic freedom that wrongly
passes for true freedom of man,” he said.
Judge rejects landmark abuse
settlement
BURLINGTON, Ky. (RNS) — A Kentucky judge rejected a record-setting,
$120 million sexual abuse settlement between victims and the Diocese of
Covington, Ky., saying it is nothing more than a “sound bite,”
Circuit Judge John Potter ruled the actual money available to victims
is only the $40 million offered by the diocese.
An additional $80 million would be made available for victims’ compensation
only if a lawsuit filed by the diocese May 26 against three insurance
carriers netted that amount of payment.
The insurers are American Insurance Co. of Novato, Calif.; Catholic Relief
Insurance Co. of America and the Catholic Mutual Relief Society, both
based in Omaha, Neb.
The Catholic Mutual Group, headed by Omaha Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss,
criticized the deal, noting that it was “saddened that the diocese
has chosen to sue the church’s self-insurance fund without prior
notification or consultation.”
