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February 4, 2008 • VOL. 46, NO. 3 • Oakland,
CA
Prayers
for confiscated church CNS PHOTO/REUTERSy |
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New Jesuit leader CNS PHOTO/DON DOLL, S.J. |
Lebanese cardinal decries rising
tensions, violence
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) — Lebanese Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, Maronite
patriarch, said the country’s political dilemma cannot be solved
on the streets after several people were killed in riots. “Problems
cannot be solved through street protests, but rather inside constitutional
institutions,” said Cardinal Sfeir Jan. 28.
At least eight people were killed and more than 20 wounded in riots in
Beirut Jan. 27, raising tensions in Lebanon amid a presidential crisis
and recent car bombings. The violence began as a protest against electricity
power cuts.
Two days earlier, Jan. 25, a massive car bomb in a Christian area of Beirut
killed Lebanon’s top anti-terrorism investigator, who was involved
in probes related to a string of killings in recent years of mainly anti-Syrian
politicians and figures.
Lebanon has been without a president since Emile Lahoud’s term expired
Nov. 23. The parliamentary session to elect a president has been postponed
for the 13th time, until Feb. 11. According to Lebanon’s power-sharing
system, the presidential post is reserved for a Maronite Catholic.
Alleged Marian visionary excommunicated in Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) — A South Korean archbishop said an alleged
Marian visionary and her followers have been excommunicated automatically.
Archbishop Andreas Choi Chang-mou of Kwangju issued the decree Jan. 21,
saying “for Christians’ healthy faith life and the unity and
communion of the Church, I declare as such, though my heart grieves.”
Archbishop Choi said he met with Julia Youn, 60, and her husband in Naju
in 2003 to warn them against promoting the alleged apparitions and later
gave her a final warning in 2005, but they did not modify their actions.
The excommunication was not imposed by judgment but automatically results
from an action that places one outside the community of faith, Archbishop
Choi said.
Rochester bishop closes 13 schools in county
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (CNS) — Bishop Matthew H. Clark of Rochester has
accepted the recommendations of a diocesan task force that he close 13
of 24 Catholic schools in Monroe County, the seat of the 12-county diocese,
and cut tuition by more than 27 percent. He also accepted the recommendation
he provide a financial incentive for families to re-enroll displaced children
in the county’s remaining diocesan-run schools.
The moves are intended to stem “a growing financial deficit, rising
costs, declining enrollment and a number of schools operating well under
capacity,” the bishop’s letter to parents stated. “I
firmly believe that the changes we are implementing are essential,”
Bishop Clark told parents. “By acting now, we can free the system
of potentially crippling financial woes and work to ensure our overall
Catholic school program will not just survive but thrive in the future.”
Bishop apologizes for purchase problems
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (CNS) — The bishop of Belleville, under pressure
from his diocesan finance council over some expenditures, issued an apology
Jan. 22 and said the costs being questioned would be covered by an anonymous
donor. The statement by Bishop Edward K. Braxton briefly explained his
reasoning for using certain funds to buy furniture for the pastoral center
and vestments for the cathedral and apologized for anything he did to
contribute to “the confusion, mistrust, misunderstanding, loss of
confidence and even anger caused by these developments.”
The finance council had questioned the purchases in a letter copied to
the Vatican nuncio in the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi. At issue
were the bishop’s purchase last year of a conference table and chairs
for a meeting room at the chancery at a cost of $10,100, and five sets
of vestments bought for the Cathedral of St. Peter at a cost of about
$8,000.
New Catholic Latino assn. to address policy issues
SAN ANTONIO (CNS) — The new Catholic Association of Latino Leaders
was launched Jan. 16 with a call to U.S. Latinos to “bring to mainstream
America the blessings of the integration of faith and culture” found
in Latino culture. “Today, more than ever, our voices must be heard,”
said San Antonio Archbishop Jose H. Gomez at the group’s inaugural
national meeting.
The organization’s goal is to engage in public debate and affect
the national dialogue on matters important to Latinos, who are the fastest-growing
segment of the population in the United States and the Catholic Church.
Seventy-one percent of all growth in the U.S. Catholic Church since 1960
has come from the Latino community.
The archbishop lamented that many Latino families are separated by unjust
immigration laws, their hope is diminished by poverty and they still confront
discrimination.
More countries favor cluster-bomb ban
ROME (CNS) — The tide is turning among a growing number of the world’s
diplomats and government officials in favor of a ban on cluster bombs,
said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Vatican representative to U.N. agencies
in Geneva.
While the United Nations continues to negotiate proposals on cluster munitions,
a separate treaty begun with the so-called Oslo process is making major
progress, he said in a telephone interview.. During the Jan. 14-18 negotiations
in Geneva on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the archbishop
called the use of these munitions “unacceptable” and urged
nations to pay the price of peace and eliminate stockpiles of such weapons.
Phoenix parishes to become separate entities
PHOENIX (CNS) — The Phoenix Diocese is undertaking a comprehensive
restructuring process so that its civil organization matches the one already
in place canonically. Currently, the diocese is a corporate sole —
a legal entity consisting of a single incorporated office occupied by
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted. Through July 1, Church leaders will be preparing
each individual parish to become a separate, nonprofit corporation. Little
will change in day-to-day parish operations, according to diocesan officials.
Under the current civil structure, Bishop Olmsted is listed as the property
owner of all parish assets in trust for the given parish. But in actual
practice, as prescribed by canon law, the pastor makes almost all decisions
at the parish level.
Pope to change Tridentine prayer offensive to Jews
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has decided to reformulate
a Good Friday prayer in the 1962 Roman Missal that was offensive to Jews,
according to an Italian newspaper. The new prayer will drop all reference
to the “blindness” of the Jews in refusing Christ as savior,
Il Giornale reported. The Vatican did not officially confirm the report,
but sources said privately that a rewriting of the prayer was likely and
could be made public soon.
The issue arose last year when the pope liberalized use of the 1962 missal,
known popularly as the Tridentine rite. The missal contains a prayer for
the conversion of Jews, recited on Good Friday. While the prayer would
not be recited in most parishes, particular Catholic communities devoted
to the old rite could use it in Good Friday liturgies.
Cloning of embryos by U.S. company condemned
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Vatican official condemned the reported cloning
of human embryos and said the idea of using them to produce “personalized”
therapeutic stem cells was morally illicit and pointless. Such cloning
represents “the worst type of exploitation of the human being,”
said Bishop Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
The California biotech company Stemagen reported Jan. 17 that it had cloned
the embryos from adult skin cells. The company is interested in developing
clones of patients, from which stem cells could then be harvested to grow
replacement tissue. Five of the embryos were said to have been grown to
an advanced stage, to the point that they could have been implanted in
a womb. Company officials emphasized that they were not interested in
creating cloned babies.
