Funeral in Tbilisi
A priest at a cemetery in Tbilisi, Georgia,
uses incense at the coffins of soldiers killed in the recent South
Ossetia conflict. Georgians flocked to church Aug. 28 to pray for
their country, and their Orthodox patriarch asked God to give them
back two breakaway provinces backed by Russia.
CNSPHOTO/DAVID MDZINARISHVILI/REUTERS
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Prayers against violence
Nuns listen to a speech by a Christian leader
during a rally in Calcutta, India, Aug. 29, in reaction to recent
anti-Christian violence in the Indian state of Orissa.
CNS PHOTO/JAYANTA SHAW/REUTERS |
Indian PM urged to end attack
on Christians
BANGALORE, India (CNS) — A delegation of Catholic and Protestant
leaders met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and asked him to
send federal forces to help end the violence and assist victims in Orissa
state.
During the meeting Aug. 28 in New Delhi, Singh called the anti-Christian
violence in Orissa a “national shame” and announced the government
will offer compensation to the families of those killed. By Aug. 28, at
least 14 people had died in the Hindu attacks against Christians. The
prime minister also promised to make available federal funds to assist
the thousands of Christians, most of them women and children, who have
fled the violence and become refugees in the forest.
Solar panels installed in Vatican assembly hall
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican will begin installing some 2,400
solar panels in late September, the first of several projects aimed at
exploiting renewable energy resources in the tiny city-state. The solar
modules, which are being donated by a German company, will be fitted atop
the roof of the Paul VI audience hall and will produce some 300,000 kilowatt-hours
of power each year.
Another solar-panel system will be installed this fall above the Vatican’s
employee cafeteria, providing 60 percent to 70 percent of the power needed
to heat and cool the building.
Supreme Court upholds Mexico City abortion law
MEXICO CITY (CNS) — The Mexican Supreme Court upheld a Mexico City
abortion law when eight of the 11 justices refused to consider a constitutional
challenge on the issue. Catholic officials across Mexico expressed sadness
at the decision, but also promised to focus their attention on better
serving pregnant women who might be considering abortion.
The Supreme Court “can make a crime legal, but it can never make
moral . . . the abominable murder of innocent children in the womb,”
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City said in a statement posted
on the Archdiocese of Mexico City web site.
Bishops concerned about the arming of citizens
MAKATI CITY, Philippines (CNS) — A human rights commission and several
Catholic bishops have expressed concern over a Philippine government plan
to arm civilian auxiliaries for protection. Leila de Lima, chairwoman
of the Commission on Human Rights, said Aug. 27 the commission opposes
the government’s plan to give guns to residents in Mindanao, in
the southern Philippines, the site of recent violence involving factions
of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, an Islamic separatist group. “
Kenyan Christian leaders ask for forgiveness
NAKURU, Kenya (CNS) — Christian leaders in Kenya pledged to work
for reconciliation and asked God for forgiveness for their role in widening
divisions in the country. In a statement signed by 1,300 Christian pastors,
the church leaders said they owned up to their sins of “taking partisan
positions on national issues; elevating our ethnic identities above our
Christian identity; direct involvement in party politics; and participation
in the postelection violence, (actions) which are made more ominous by
the deteriorating national values, sinful political strategies and failure
to faithfully stand for biblical values and principles.”
Concerns rise about Vietnam religious freedom
WASHINGTON (CNS) — A U.S. watchdog group released a report expressing
concern over persistent religious freedom violations in Vietnam. Religious
freedom “in Vietnam continues to be mixed, with improvements for
some religious communities but not for others, progress in some provinces
but not in others, reforms of laws at the national level that are not
fully implemented or are ignored at the local level, and still too many
abuses of and restrictions on religious freedom affecting most of Vietnam’s
diverse religious communities,” said the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom in a 32-page report released Aug. 25.
The commission is an independent, bipartisan federal agency mandated by
Congress to review international religious freedom and recommend to the
U.S. secretary of state which countries should be designated as “countries
of particular concern.”
New rules proposed for conscience protection
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The rights of doctors, nurses and other medical
personnel who do not want to be involved in abortion and sterilization
procedures for religious or moral reasons would get a boost under new
rules proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Announced
Aug. 21, the regulations are designed to increase awareness of three laws
already on the books, the first dating to 1973, regarding conscience protection
for health care workers. Hospitals and other health care institutions
that receive federal funds would be covered by the regulations as well.
The rules would cover a wide range of activities, from full-scale participation
in a procedure to the cleaning of instruments afterward, McQuade explained.
University rescinds Ruether appointment
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The University of San Diego is standing by its
decision to revoke the appointment of a nationally known Catholic feminist
theologian to its faculty even though a petition blasting the Catholic
university’s action has been delivered to the school. University
officials said there was a procedural error in offering the theologian,
Rosemary Radford Ruether, the Msgr. John R. Portman chair in Roman Catholic
theology for the fall 2009 semester and said her seat on the board of
directors of an organization that supports legal abortion makes her an
inappropriate choice for the position.
The mid-July withdrawal of the invitation has set off a national debate
over academic freedom versus Church doctrine at Catholic institutions
of higher education. Ruether told Catholic News Service Aug. 21 she fears
this decision will hinder the discussion of controversial issues at Catholic
universities. “It’s an unfortunate situation,” said
Pamela Gray Payton, assistant vice president for public affairs at the
university.
“By no means are we demeaning Dr. Ruether’s very respected
career in theology, but in the case of this chair, she was not an appropriate
selection. It should not have come to this.”
Hospital criticizes union’s method of organizing
SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — Kevin Murphy, vice president for theology
and ethics at the St. Joseph Health System, dismissed the notion that
his organization was anti-union and responded to criticism coming from
some Catholic leaders about the system’s conflict with United Healthcare
Workers West, a unit of the Service Employees International Union.
“This has less to do with social justice teaching and more to do
with context and mechanism,” he told Catholic San Francisco, newspaper
of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The hospital system, operated by
the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, opposes the union’s push for
“pre-election agreements” and believes that secret-ballot
elections under federal law better respect the dignity of each participant.
If a hospital official signed such an agreement, Murphy said, that would
be unfair to employees who might not want to belong to a union and who
would not have been given a chance to vote.
Maryknoll priest receives canonical warning
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois has received a
canonical warning from his order’s leadership council because of
his involvement in a reported ordination ceremony sponsored by Roman Catholic
Womenpriests. A canonical warning informs a person of a violation of Church
law. Any future violation of canon law could lead to additional penalties
such as the opening of dismissal procedures or excommunication. “I
have no intention of participating in a similar ceremony in the future,”
Father Bourgeois told Catholic News Service Aug. 19.
Kidnapping of Iraqi Christians denounced
LONDON (CNS) — Latin-rite Archbishop Jean Sleiman of Baghdad, Iraq,
has denounced the continuing kidnapping of Christians in his country and
urged the government to take more action to end such crimes. He said he
personally had received “countless” reports of kidnappings,
most generally for large ransoms. “The media ignores this matter,”
he said in an Aug. 22 interview with the British branch of Aid to the
Church in Need.
“It is not only Christians who are targeted but other groups. And
yet the Christians feel the injustice of the situation very keenly because
they have never played any part in the conflict within the country,”
he said.
Editorial calls for women to dress modestly
MEXICO CITY (CNS) — An editorial in an online publication from the
Archdiocese of Mexico City urging women to don more conservative attire
has generated headlines across the country as Catholic leaders defended
their call for modesty as a method of promoting dignity and reducing incidents
of sexual harassment and assault.
In a statement clarifying the editorial, Church leaders said women should
“make sure that their dress is not a pretext for being intimidated,
victimized by violence and sexually assaulted in a city where gender-based
violence is a part of everyday life.”
Pope urges drivers to examine consciences
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI, lamenting the high number
of traffic accidents over the summer holiday period, called on Christians
to make “a personal examination of conscience” about the way
they drive. Driving is both a moral and civil responsibility, the pope
said. Most accidents that cause fatalities or serious injuries can be
avoided, he said. “There needs to be a greater sense of responsibility,
above all on the part of drivers, because the accidents are often caused
by excessive speed and imprudent behavior,” he said.
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