Visit from St. Nick
The shoes of students at Christ the King School in Irondequoit, N.Y.,
each hold a candy cane and a card during a celebration of St. Nicholas’
feast day. Students put their shoes filled with toiletries in the
hallway for a collection by the Red Cross. While the students were
in class, “St. Nicholas” replaced the toiletries with
cards and candy canes.
CNS PHOTO/MIKE CRUPI/CATHOLIC
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Protest at Ft. Benning
Young people join a rally at the gates of the Western Hemisphere Institute
for Security Cooperation at Fort Benning near Columbus, Ga., Nov.
22. Formerly known as the School of the Americas, the institute trains
military personnel from Latin American countries and its graduates
have been responsible for murders of Church personnel.
CNS PHOTO/JIM WEST
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13 embryonic stem-cell lines
approved for funding
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Thirteen human embryonic stem-cell lines have
been approved for use in federally funded research and approval of many
more lines is expected to follow, the head of the National Institutes
of Health announced Dec. 2. Dr. Francis S. Collins, who took over as NIH
director in August, said it was a “significant day” in the
efforts to achieve President Barack Obama’s goal of “a loosening
up of what had been considered too stringent requirements” for federal
funding of research involving human embryonic stem cells.
Collins said the 13 stem-cell lines were approved after NIH staff determined
that the scientists who created the lines had followed the “very
detailed informed consent process” outlined in NIH guidelines published
in July. “In accordance with the guidelines, these stem-cell lines
were derived from embryos that were donated under ethically sound informed
consent processes,” said Collins.
When the final guidelines were published, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia,
then chair of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said
they ignored the comments of tens of thousands of Americans who expressed
opposition to embryonic stem-cell research during the public comment period
and failed to respect “existing federal law against funding research
in which human embryos are harmed or destroyed.”
SF Archdiocese to appeal ruling on property taxes
SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — The San Francisco Archdiocese said it was
confident a civil court would rule in its favor over a determination by
a city tax appeals board that the archdiocese owes millions of dollars
in unpaid property transfer taxes.
In a unanimous ruling Nov. 30, San Francisco’s Transfer Tax Appeals
Board said the archdiocese must pay property transfer taxes for moving
church properties from one nonprofit entity to another. According to the
board, the archdiocese owes $14.4 million.
In a statement released the same day, the archdiocese said that more than
19 months ago, it presented “a straightforward transaction”
requesting to change the titles of ownership on various pieces of property,
including churches, vacant lots, apartment buildings, schools and storefronts
around the city. But it said it has faced “inexcusable delays and,
at times, arrogance” from the city’s Office of the Assessor-Recorder
in its handling of the request.
According to the archdiocese, the transfers were part of an internal reorganization
and not subject to taxation according to the law on intrachurch property
transfers.
Irish Mercy Sisters pledge $191 million to abuse victims
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) — Ireland’s Sisters of Mercy have pledged
to contribute an additional 128 million euros ($191 million) to compensate
victims of abuse in government schools and orphanages run by the order.
That equals the amount that 18 religious orders — including the
Sisters of Mercy — agreed to pay under terms of a 2002 deal with
the Irish government.
The Christian Brothers announced in late November they would contribute
an additional 161 million euros ($239 million). Four other religious congregations
have also announced additional contributions.
In May, an independent commission on child abuse issued a report that
said a climate of fear created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment
permeated most of Ireland’s residential care institutions for children
and all those run for boys from 1940 through the 1970s.
Bridgeport Diocese releases documents on abuse cases
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (CNS) — The Diocese of Bridgeport announced Dec.
1 it has released thousands of pages of court documents related to clergy
sexual abuse cases that were settled in 2001. The diocese complied with
court orders to turn over the documents to the Superior Court in Waterbury
and to the attorneys for the four newspapers that sued to obtain the material.
On Nov. 2 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to accept the diocese’s
appeal of the Connecticut Supreme Court’s ruling that the papers
must be released, ending years of appeals. The 12,000 pages of documents
include materials submitted to trial courts by the diocese preceding the
settlement of 23 lawsuits involving six priests.
Alaska bishops urge action on global climate change
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNS) — Citing Pope Benedict XVI’s recent
calls to protect nature, Alaska’s four Catholic bishops have urged
Congress to take action on global climate change. “Addressing global
climate change is about our responsibility to care for God’s creation
and to care for one another, especially the weak and the vulnerable,”
wrote Alaska’s four bishops in a Nov. 17 letter to Republican Sen.
Lisa Murkowski, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich and Republican Congressman
Don Young, the state’s only House member.
In the letter, Archbishop Roger L. Schwietz and retired Archbishop Francis
T. Hurley of Anchorage joined Bishop Donald J. Kettler of Fairbanks and
Bishop Edward J. Burns of Juneau in asking Alaska’s congressional
delegation to support legislation such as the Clean Energy Jobs and American
Power Act of 2009. The bill, S. 1733, was introduced in October by Sens.
John Kerry, D-Mass., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. It has now advanced to
the full Senate.
Swiss bishops criticize ban on minaret construction
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The bishops of Switzerland said the country’s
ban on the construction of minarets, the Muslim prayer towers, represents
an obstacle to interreligious harmony. The ban aggravates interfaith tensions
and could have negative repercussions on Christian minorities in Muslim
countries, said the bishops.. The prohibition was adopted by Swiss voters
in a referendum that passed with a 58 percent majority.
There are about 150 mosques in Switzerland serving 400,000 Muslims; only
four have minarets and, unlike in Islamic countries, they are not used
to call Muslims to prayer. The bishops said the referendum campaign, promoted
by right-wing parties, had used exaggeration and caricature, and demonstrated
that “religious peace does not operate by itself and always needs
to be defended.” Banning the building of minarets “increases
the problems of coexistence between religions and cultures,” the
bishops said.
Chaldean church targeted in bombings in Mosul
LONDON (CNS) — A Chaldean Catholic church, rectory and convent in
the northern Iraq city of Mosul were bombed in two separate incidents
in late November, but no one was injured. Explosives were detonated inside
St. Ephrem’s Church Nov. 26, and the building was reduced to a “blackened
shell,” said a Nov. 27 statement by the British branch of Aid to
the Church in Need, a charity working to help persecuted Christians around
the world
Hours later a bomb was thrown at St Theresa’s Convent in New Mosul,
west of the city. At least five Dominican sisters who were in the complex
at the time of the attack escaped unharmed.
Bishop says election only exit from political crisis
MEXICO CITY (CNS) — The president of the Honduran bishops’
communications department expressed early satisfaction with Nov. 29 elections
that he said would allow the Central American country to emerge from a
five-month political crisis provoked by the ouster and exile of President
Manuel Zelaya. “The only exit that we had from the political crisis
was the elections,” Auxiliary Bishop Romulo Emiliani Sanchez of
San Pedro Sula told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview.
The bishops’ conference had called on Hondurans to support the electoral
process, “but did not oblige them to do so,” Bishop Emiliani
said.
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