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February
5, 2007
VOL.
45, NO. 3Oakland,
CA
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World
Youth Day cross |
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Mourning
Abbe Pierre |
Santa
Rosa Diocese repays parishes for funds lost
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (CNS) -- The Santa Rosa Diocese has finished restoring
to its parishes, cemeteries and schools the funds that were lost in the
1999 collapse of the diocesan consolidated fund. The diocese also has
repaid emergency loans it received from other dioceses across the country,
with the exception of the loans from other dioceses in California, including
$500,000 to the Oakland Diocese.
The diocesan capital campaign to recover from the 1999 crisis has raised
pledges totaling $18.6 million so far. Its target is $20 million.
Cardinal
Mahony urges advocacy for immigrants
ST. PAUL (CNS) -- The Church must supplement its ministerial programs
with political advocacy if it is to meet the needs of the growing immigrant
population in the United States, said Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.
Some people question the Church’s role in politics or challenge
the Church’s position on immigration reform, but the Church’s
mission is not limited to people’s spiritual well-being, the cardinal
said during a conference at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul,
Jan. 18.
Catholics should form their opinions on immigration by considering the
capacity of the United States to accept immigrants and the benefits immigrant
workers provide to the nation’s economy, the cardinal said.
Vatican
defends wartime actions of Pope Pius XII
ROME (CNS) -- Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state,
strongly defended Pope Pius XII’s wartime actions and said he had
coordinated Church efforts that saved the lives of many Jews. Cardinal
Bertone spoke Jan. 24 at the presentation of the Italian translation of
the book “The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust,”
by Martin Gilbert.
The cardinal said the book illustrated how people of many faiths, including
Christians and Muslims, had risked their lives to save Jews from Nazi
persecution and death in concentration camps. He said the Catholic Church
as an institution played a part in this effort, working under Pope
Pius and following his directives.
Bishop
defends phrasing about married deacons
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- A Mexican bishop is bucking Vatican orders to erase
a phrase in his pastoral plan that notes the desire among his indigenous
communities that married permanent deacons be ordained priests. The phrase
is not fanning the hopes of a married priesthood, but simply reporting
the feelings of many indigenous Catholics, said Bishop Felipe Arizmendi
Esquivel of San Cristobal de Las Casas in Mexico’s Chiapas state.
The phrase remains in the pastoral plan “because the faithful have
the right to be heard by their pastors. To listen is not the same as to
approve,” he said
U.S.
urged to improve relations with Cuba
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. government should emulate the Catholic Church
and look for a dramatic way to improve relations with Cuba, said a U.S.
lawmaker after returning from a fact-finding trip to the Caribbean island.
Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., cited the 1998 trip to Cuba by Pope John
Paul II and said it had a “dramatic impact” on improving the
Church’s situation in the communist-ruled country. “The pope’s
visit opened things up for the Church,” said McGovern. “We
should learn by that example.”
Parishes,
schools realigned in three East Coast states
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Faced with rising costs and shifting populations,
several dioceses in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey have announced
reorganization plans that involve closing or merging many of their parishes
and schools. In Buffalo, N.Y., 14 Catholic schools in the diocese will
close. In the Diocese of Scranton, Pa., Bishop Joseph F. Martino announced
reorganization of schools in seven counties.
Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York said 10 parishes will close and 11
will merge with other parishes. Five new parishes will be established
and new churches are planned for nine existing parishes. In Camden, N.J.,
the diocese has started a comprehensive planning initiative on two tracks
-- one for parishes and the other for Catholic elementary schools.
Book
offers new glimpse of John Paul II’s life
ROME (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II consulted with top aides about possibly
resigning in 2000 and set up a “specific procedure” for papal
resignation, says a new book by the pope’s former secretary. The
pope eventually decided that it was God’s will that he stay in office,
despite the illness that left him more and more debilitated, wrote Cardinal
Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, the late pope’s closest aide.
In the book, “A Life With Karol,” Cardinal Dziwisz offers
an inside glimpse at key moments of Pope John Paul’s life in Poland
and his 26-year pontificate. The book was being published in Polish and
Italian in late January.
He reports that the pope made more than 100 clandestine trips to ski or
hike in the Italian mountains and was rarely recognized by others on the
slopes
Parishes
will be urged to improve accounting
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A national advisory Accounting Practices Committee
has urged the U.S. bishops to institute tighter internal controls over
finances in the nation’s 19,000 parishes. Its recommendations included
establishing clear diocesan policies about conflict of interest, protection
of whistle-blowers and a fraud policy that would include prosecution in
all cases.
It also called for each diocese to require every parish to submit an annual
report to the bishop on the names and professional titles of the members
of the parish finance council, dates the council met, when it approved
the parish budget and what budget information was given to parishioners
and when. The report should include a copy of the parish’s published
financial statement, it said.
Cardinal
upset over same-sex adoption rules
LONDON (CNS) -- The president of the Bishops’ Conference of England
and Wales said he was “deeply disappointed” about the British
government’s refusal to exempt 13 Catholic adoption agencies from
gay rights regulations.
“We are, of course, deeply disappointed that no exemption will be
granted to our agencies on the grounds of widely held religious conviction
and conscience,” said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster,
England
The cardinal’s Jan. 29 statement followed an announcement by British
Prime Minister Tony Blair that adoption agencies would have until the
end of 2008 to comply with the Sexual Orientation Regulations outlawing
discrimination against homosexuals in services and facilities. Public
funding -- approximately $200 million a year -- will be withdrawn if agencies
refuse to place children with same-sex couples.
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Father
Drinan, five-time U.S. Congressman, dies WASHINGTON,
D.C. (CNS) -- Jesuit Father Robert F. Drinan, the first Catholic priest
to vote in the U.S. Congress, died Jan. 28 in Washington, D.C. The 86-year-old
priest had been suffering from pneumonia and congestive heart failure
for 10 days prior to his death. He had celebrated a Mass on Jan. 3 at
Trinity University in honor of new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Father Drinan represented Massachusetts’ 3rd District in Congress
for five terms, from 1971 to 1981, but his political career effectively
ended May 5, 1980, when he announced “with regret and pain”
that he would not seek re-election because of an order from his Jesuit
superiors. Father Pedro Arrupe, Jesuit superior general, said the order
reflected “the express wish” of Pope John Paul II.
At the press conference announcing his withdrawal from the race, Father
Drinan said his goal in Congress had been “to work for justice in
America and for peace throughout the world.”
He began teaching at Georgetown University in 1981 and the university
estimates that he taught some 6,000 students during his 26 years there.
At the time of his death he was teaching a class on religion and government
and an advanced seminar on legal ethics.
