Multi-faith
reality
A Kosovar Muslim woman wearing a headscarf walks near the construction
of the Cathedral of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in Pristina, Kosovo,
June 24. The Kosovo education ministry banned religious garb in primary
and high schools in 2009. While few countries ban headscarves in schools,
analysts say Kosovo did so to ensure respect for the secular constitution
in the young country.
CNS PHOTO/HAZIR REKA/REUTERS
|
|
Music for the pope
Musicians from Malawi perform during Pope Benedict
XVI’s general audience at the Vatican, June 23.
CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING |
Catholic center fights rule for
pregnant women
SILVER SPRING, Md. (CNS) — Centro Tepeyac Women’s Center in
Silver Spring has filed a lawsuit in federal court against a Montgomery
County regulation that forces the county’s four pregnancy centers
— but not abortion clinics — to post a sign recommending that
any woman who is or could be pregnant consult a licensed health care provider.
“The government cannot create certain speech rules just because
people want to talk about pregnancy choices,” said Mark Rienzi,
a law professor at the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University
of America and lead counsel in the center’s lawsuit against the
regulation.
“And it certainly cannot target pro-life speakers for special sign
requirements and fines while leaving speech by abortion clinics entirely
unregulated,” he said. “This new regulation violates every
core principle of free speech law.”
$20 million gift to Boston College to train principals
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. (CNS) — Boston College’s Lynch School
of Education has received a $20 million gift to fund a new educational
leadership academy that will be the first in the nation to jointly train
and support new principals from Catholic, public and charter schools.
The money is from Carolyn and Peter Lynch, who are longtime supporters
of educational initiatives and benefactors of the Jesuit-run college and
Boston’s inner-city Catholic schools.
Peter, a 1965 Boston College graduate, is vice chairman of Fidelity Management
and Research Co., and Carolyn is a noted philanthropist and the president
and chief executive of the Lynch Foundation.
‘Grave concern’ about abortion-causing drug
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee
on Pro-Life Activities expressed “grave concern” about a drug
labeled as an emergency contraceptive and the Food and Drug Administration’s
process for approving it. He said it was misleading to call it a contraceptive,
as it is also known to cause abortions.
The drug, ulipristal, is being marketed under the brand name ellaOne or
ella, and would be available only by prescription. It is said to prevent
pregnancy five days after sex — two days longer than the morning-after
pill known as Plan B, which is sold over-the-counter to women 17 and older.
The FDA’s advisory panel of 11 reproductive health experts voted
unanimously for ulipristal’s approval and called it safe and effective.
Oaxaca priest beaten, detained for activism
OAXACA, Mexico (CNS) — A Catholic priest known for his environmental
activism has been accused of inciting a violent protest against a Canadian
mining project in the state of Oaxaca that led to the deaths of a small-town
mayor and a municipal official.
Father Martin Octavio Garcia Ortiz denied the allegations stemming from
the June 19 incident. He described the accusations as politically motivated
revenge and said they come in the run-up to local elections July 4 that
will try to unseat the incumbent party after 80 years of uninterrupted
rule.
The priest said his accusers abducted him, held him for six hours and
beat him in a private home until state police rescued him. He was subsequently
ordered held for 30 days while judicial officials review his case.
“I’m a government hostage,” Father Garcia said from
his hospital bed in the state capital, Oaxaca city, as six state police
officers guarded his room. “The state government has been in favor
of this project,” he said. “If I’m out of the way, they
can work freely.”
The unrest reflects the ongoing conflicts over foreign-owned mining operations
in Latin America, which often split communities between those in favor
of job creation and economic growth and opponents who fear negative environmental
and social consequences.
Florida Gov. Crist vetoes ultrasound bill
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Although Florida Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a
bill that would have required women to have an ultrasound before a first-trimester
abortion, similar legislation is having more success in other states.
In Louisiana, a bill requiring ultrasounds before all abortions is awaiting
the signature of Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has said he supports the legislation.
In Michigan, where an ultrasound already is required before an abortion,
a Senate committee is considering a bill that would mandate high-quality
images from the best ultrasound equipment available at the facility where
the abortion is performed.
Currently in Florida, ultrasounds are required before all second- and
third-trimester abortions in order to determine the gestational age and
location of the fetus. The Florida Catholic Conference estimated that
more than 80 percent of abortion clinics in the state already perform
ultrasounds before first-trimester abortions.
Empire State Bldg. denies tribute to Mother Teresa
NEW YORK (CNS) — Brushing off calls from political leaders and others
to reconsider, the Empire State Building management stood by its decision
to deny a request that the building pay tribute to Blessed Mother Teresa
with a lighting display on the 100th anniversary of her birth Aug. 26.
A protest outside the iconic Manhattan building will be held instead,
led by William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious
and Civil Rights. The U.S. Postal Service is scheduled to issue a commemorative
stamp bearing Mother Teresa’s image the same day.
Building owner Anthony Malkin said his decision not to light the building
is “final and irrevocable.”
Mother Teresa, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, died Sept.
5, 1997. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 2003.
Pope urges fair treatment for world’s refugees
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI appealed for fair treatment
of the world’s refugees, saying they deserve to be welcomed with
respect for their rights and human dignity. At the same time, the pope
said refugees should show respect for the identity of their host countries.
Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio, head of the Pontifical Council for Migrants
and Travelers, said at a prayer vigil June 17 that refugee movements in
recent years have become “real humanitarian crises” of biblical
proportions.
BP oil leak offers ‘lesson in humility’
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The “sense of powerlessness and delay”
in resolving the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history offers a lesson
about the limits of technology, a Vatican official said. Jesuit Father
Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the leaking BP oil well
in the Gulf of Mexico was a disaster “of enormous proportions, and
getting worse.”
He compared it to the 1984 chemical factory explosion in Bhopal, India,
or the 1986 meltdown of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
“What is striking in this case is the sense of powerlessness and
delay in finding a solution to this disaster faced by one of the largest
and most technologically advanced oil multinationals in the world, but
also by the most powerful country on earth,” Father Lombardi said.
“This is not the eruption of a volcano, but a relatively small man-made
hole in the seabed.”
He said he hoped people would draw from the disaster a lesson of prudence
and care in the use of the earth’s resources. “Perhaps we
can also draw a lesson in humility.”
Naples cardinal subject of kickbacks inquiry
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As Italian magistrates continue a wide-ranging
investigation into public works contracts and suspected kickbacks, they
have informed Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples that he is a subject
of the investigation. The investigators are looking at contracts Cardinal
Sepe made with government officials while he was head of the Congregation
for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2001-2006.
Italian newspapers speculated that the cardinal sold property below market
value to a government minister who then allocated public funds for work
on the Vatican building housing the congregation. There are also questions
about how the cardinal helped a government official — now under
investigation — find an apartment.
At a press conference in Naples June 21, Cardinal Sepe said, “I
always did everything with maximum transparency. I always acted in accordance
with my conscience, having the good of the Church as my only objective,”
he said.
back
to top
home
|
