ABOVE: New ambassador to Vatican
Catholic theologian Miguel Diaz is sworn in as ambassador to the Vatican
in the Ben-ja-min Franklin room at the State Department in Washington,
Aug. 21. Assistant Secretary of State Phil Gordon administered the
standard governmental oath of office.
CNS PHOTO/COURTESY OF THE STATE
DEPT.
RIGHT: Change in Tulsa Diocese
Bishop Edward J. Slattery of Tulsa, Okla., faces the crucifix on the
altar as he celebrates Mass in early June at Holy Family Cathedral.
The bishop said he restored the liturgical practice called “ad
orientem” for Masses at the cathedral to recover a more authentic
Catholic worship. The practice has been largely abandoned since the
1960s.
CNS PHOTO/DAVE CRENSHAW/EASTERN
OKLAHOMA CATHOLIC |
 |
Vatican official dismisses talk
of Vatican II rollback
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone, has dismissed fears that Pope Benedict XVI plans to roll back
major ecclesial changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council. On the
contrary, the German pontiff has demonstrated his commitment to the council
during his more than four years as pope, Cardinal Bertone told the Vatican
newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
In the wake of recent reports about a planned move to reverse liturgical
changes made since Vatican II, Cardinal Bertone said reporters and observers
should stick to the actual actions undertaken by the pope since his election.
Cardinal Bertone pointed to several areas in which he said Pope Benedict
had promoted the teaching of Vatican II “with intelligence and depth
of thought,” including relations with Eastern and Orthodox churches
and dialogue with Judaism and Islam.
Episcopal nuns, priest join Catholic Church
BALTIMORE (CNS) — After seven years of prayer and discernment, a
community of Episcopal Sisters and their chaplain were to be received
into the Catholic Church during a Sept. 3 Mass celebrated by Baltimore
Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien. The archbishop was to welcome 10 members
of the Society of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor when he administers
the sacrament of Confirmation and the Sisters renew their vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience.
The Rev. Warren Tanghe, an Episcopal priest, also was to be received into
the Church and is discerning the possibility of becoming a Catholic priest.
Two Episcopal nuns who have decided not to become Catholic will continue
to live and minister alongside their soon-to-be Catholic Sisters. Members
of the community range in age from 59 to 94.
Excommunicated for views on women’s ordination
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois has confirmed
his excommunication from the Catholic Church but said he has not changed
his view that women who are called to priesthood should be ordained. He
urged the Church to turn away from what he called the sin of sexism.
Father Bourgeois said he was excommunicated Nov. 24, 2008, “latae
sententiae” — automatically — for not recanting his
public statements supporting the ordination of women, which is against
Church teaching. The 70-year-old former missionary said his beliefs are
based on his understanding of justice and equality as expressed in the
Gospel.
Church lacks funds for priests’medical bills
MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Saying that falling Sunday collections have
left the Archdiocese of Leon, Mexico, unable to pay the medical bills
of its infirm priests, Archbishop Jose Martin Rabago has called on Catholics
to continue supporting the Church financially in spite of the current
economic crisis.
Archbishop Martin said smaller Sunday collections and fewer donations
have left parishes and dioceses across Mexico unable to cover expenses
such as payroll, building upkeep and even benefits for prelates.
Court says diocese must release sealed records
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (CNS) — Officials from the Diocese of Bridgeport
said they were disappointed with an Aug. 25 ruling by the U.S. Supreme
Court saying documents from settled abuse cases should not remain sealed.
After the ruling, made by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the diocese said
it intends to “ask the full U.S. Supreme Court to review the important
constitutional issues that this case presents.”
The diocese wants to keep sealed more than 12,000 pages of depositions,
exhibits and legal arguments in 23 lawsuits involving six priests from
the Bridgeport Diocese. Most of the lawsuits were filed in the mid-1990s
and settled in 2001.
Centennial of Mother Teresa’s birth marked
CALCUTTA, India (CNS) — The Missionaries of Charity have launched
a year of programs celebrating the 2010 centennial of the birth of Blessed
Mother Teresa, the religious order’s founder who dedicated her life
to serving some of India’s poorest people.
Sister Mary Prema, the congregation’s superior general, said the
celebrations would conclude Aug. 26, 2010. Mother Teresa was born Aug.
26, 1910, into an ethnic Albanian family in Skopje, in present-day Macedonia.
She died in 1997 and was beatified in 2003.
Man sentenced for 2008 murder of Jesuit
MOSCOW (CNS) — A Moscow court has sentenced Mikhail Orekhov to 14
years in prison for the 2008 murder of Jesuit Father Victor Betancourt,
whose body was found Oct. 28. The jury ruled Orekhov was not guilty of
the murder of Jesuit Father Otto Messmer, also found dead at the same
time. Orekhov had been charged with both murders. Fathers Messmer, 47,
and Betancourt, 42, were found dead with severe head wounds in their apartment
in a Jesuit-owned building in downtown Moscow, not far from where they
worked at the Church of St. Louis of France.
The Jesuit headquarters in Rome expressed deep disappointment over the
verdict because the court failed to resolve the case of Father Messmer’s
killer. The Jesuits in Russia are considering further legal moves to clear
up the lingering questions.
Brother barred from post as regional superior
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Disappointed about being barred by the Vatican
from becoming regional superior for the United States of his religious
order because he is not a priest, Maryknoll Brother Wayne Fitzpatrick
said the decision raised concerns about the role of nonordained people
in Church leadership positions.
Maryknoll priests and Brothers elected Brother Fitzpatrick to the position
in May. The Vatican’s disapproval of his nomination, sent to the
Maryknoll superior general means the order must conduct a second election
to determine who will be its next U.S. superior.
South Korean president recalled: model Christian
SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) — Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung
will be remembered as a model Christian, Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk
of Seoul said during his funeral Mass at Myongdong Cathedral, Aug. 22.
Cardinal Cheong praised the first Korean Nobel laureate, who won the peace
prize in 2000 for his efforts to reach out to communist North Korea. He
called Kim a champion of human rights, democratization and peace on the
Korean peninsula.
Majority have no opinion on use of Tridentine Mass
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Nearly two-thirds of U.S. Catholics surveyed
said they have no opinion on the increased availability of the Tridentine
Mass since Pope Benedict XVI made it easier for parishes to offer the
traditional liturgy two years ago. Overall, 63 percent of Catholics held
a neutral opinion about the availability of the Tridentine Mass, according
to findings released Aug. 24 by the Center for Applied Research in the
Apostolate, a research center based at Georgetown University in Washington.
Of the survey’s 1,007 Catholic respondents, those who favor having
the traditional Mass offered more widely outnumbered those who oppose
the increased availability of the Tridentine rite by more than a 2-1 ratio,
or 25 percent to 12 percent.
Catholic college accused: health plan discrimination
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
has sided with claims from eight employees at Belmont Abbey College in
Belmont, N.C., that the institution’s 2007 decision not to offer
employees coverage of prescription contraceptives discriminates against
women. The July 30 letter from the EEOC effectively reverses an earlier
ruling in March, when the commission issued a “Dismissal and Notice
of Rights” determination letter stating it was closing its file
on the discrimination charge.
The new letter said that “by denying prescription contraceptive
drugs,” the Catholic college “is discriminating based on gender
because only females take oral prescription contraceptives. By denying
coverage, men are not affected, only women.”
N.J. bishops campaign against gay marriage
TRENTON, N.J. (CNS) — In New Jersey, where a vote on same-sex marriage
is anticipated soon after the November elections, the state’s Catholic
bishops are urging local Catholics to help uphold the sanctity of marriage
as a bond between a man and a woman. The bishops outlined the Church’s
teaching on marriage and the importance of maintaining the legal definition
of a married couple as a husband and wife in their Aug. 23 pastoral letter,
“The Call to Marriage Is Woven Deeply Into the Human Spirit.”
The letter was the official kickoff to the New Jersey Statewide Initiative
for Marriage Protection, a joint project of the New Jersey Catholic Conference,
the dioceses of New Jersey and the Knights of Columbus. New Jersey already
recognizes civil unions for same-sex couples.
Two Catholic colleges open pharmacy schools
WASHINGTON (CNS) — With a projected national shortage of pharmacists,
two U.S. Catholic colleges have opened pharmacy schools to help fill the
gap in meeting the country’s pharmaceutical needs. The College of
Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore and Jesuit-run Regis University in
Denver are two of four new U.S. pharmacy schools to open this fall semester.
By 2020 the country is expected to be short about 157,000 pharmacists
to meet society’s needs, according to Anne Lin, dean of the new
pharmacy school at the College of Notre Dame, which is sponsored by the
School Sisters of Notre Dame.
Dossier shows high rate of infant mortality
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Efforts to reduce infant mortality around the
world are showing positive results, but maternal death rates remain very
high in many developing nations, according to a report by the Vatican
news agency Fides. Infant mortality, defined as child deaths before they
reach the age of 5, claimed an estimated 9.2 million lives in 2007, the
dossier said. In 1990 death claimed some 13 million children under 5.
The hardest-hit areas remain sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, while
the greatest improvement came in Southeast Asia and North Africa.
back
to top
home
|
