World News

Pope to visit Muslims, Jews

Bomb explodes outside school

Lack of aid coordination

‘In Truth, Peace’ theme for WPD

Slain nun honored

CHICOPEE, Mass. (CNS) — A memorial service at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Chicopee honored the life of Sister Dorothy Stang, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur who was murdered in Brazil in February after nearly 40 years of ministry to the desperately poor of that country. It was the second of five prayer services planned by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in the province covering western Massachusetts and Connecticut. The events honor the work of the Catholic nun and "the many people who have died in the struggle for justice in the Amazon Valley," said Sister Barbara Farrell, who presided at the Chicopee service. The gathering included a presentation that documented the missionary’s life, her murder and the international repercussions that followed. Sister Farrell, who spent several months visiting the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Brazil in 1977, told The Catholic Observer, newspaper of the Springfield, Mass., Diocese, that Sister Stang had always wanted to be a missionary.

Demolitions condemned

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The international community should pressure Zimbabwe’s government to stop a widely criticized wave of shantytown demolitions that has left hundreds of thousands homeless, said the head of the U.S. bishops’ international policy committee. Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., also called on Zimbabwe to provide "shelter, food and full restitution of property and other losses" to the people displaced by the government’s Operation Drive Out Trash. "We urge the government of Zimbabwe to facilitate the efforts of those organizations, including those sponsored by the church, to provide humanitarian and development assistance to the poor and defenseless," Bishop Ricard said in a June 24 statement released in Washington. Zimbabwe’s government said the demolitions were carried out to eliminate illegal settlements that had contributed to a rise in crime in Zimbabwe’s deteriorating cities, but Bishop Ricard said the reasons the government offered "cannot justify the cruel violence visited by the authorities on peaceful and innocent people."

Man arrested for protest

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Los Angeles police arrested a protester against clergy sexual abuse who disrupted Sunday worship in the Los Angeles cathedral June 26 by handcuffing himself to the bishop’s chair. The incident at the 10 a.m. Mass in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels began just after Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles finished his homily, in which he talked about personnel training, background checks and other archdiocesan efforts to protect children from sexual abuse. The protester, James C. Robertson, 58, approached the cathedra, or bishop’s chair, and handcuffed himself to the back of the chair. Security guards surrounded him and remained there silently for the rest of Mass. When the service was over, police removed him and arrested him for disrupting a religious service in a place of worship, a misdemeanor punishable under California law by a fine up to $1,000, up to one year in prison, or both. Robertson, who says he was sexually abused by two Catholic priests as a teenager in the 1960s, is a member of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Parishioners open free clinic

COLONIAL BEACH, Va. (CNS) — They didn’t know whether to expect one patient or 1,000 on their first day, but quantity was not a concern for the volunteers staffing the Guadalupe Free Medical Clinic. Although they only saw a handful of patients the first day, Father Jerome Magat, parochial vicar at St. Elizabeth Parish in Colonial Beach, who spearheaded the clinic’s formation, is confident that "once word gets around the community, it’ll pick up." Father Magat was assigned to Colonial Beach in October 2003, and said he spent the first six months of his assignment assessing the needs of the community and parish. "If you live here, you notice there are significant needs," he said. "There are a lot of poor people." He knew he wanted to provide some sort of service in the house next to the parish office, but he didn’t want to duplicate ministries being offered by other churches. There are already successful thrift stores run by Protestant churches, but there were no free medical clinics. Equipped with donations from free clinics in Fredericksburg and Lynchburg and equipment bought with private donations, the Guadalupe clinic opened its doors for the first time in early June. The Knights of Columbus helped to renovate the building for use as a clinic, and many were present on opening day. Their hard work earned them the honor of Knights of Columbus project of the year in Virginia for 2005. "The people involved (in opening the clinic) have been incredible," said Dr. Dan Muldorn, the first physician to see patients at the clinic. "They have done everything right and that’s why it’s going to be successful. We’re starting small and serving acute needs of patients, but I see it growing."

Teen wins duck stamp comp

GRANTSBURG, Wis. (CNS) — Kerissa Nelson, the 17-year-old winner of the 2005 National Junior Duck Stamp competition, credits her God-given talent for the success of her painting of a pair of ring-necked ducks. "God gave me these talents, I just put them to use. That’s the biggest part of winning this award," said Nelson, a member of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Grantsburg. Nelson, who competed against junior artists from across the country, also gave credit to her Grantsburg High School art teacher, Bruce Teigen. "He thought I had the potential to enter the competition. He knew I had talent and helped shape that talent," she said. "He’s been the biggest influence on my art." Duck stamps, formally known as Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, serve both as a hunting license for migratory waterfowl and a conservation tool, generating more than $670 million since 1934 to purchase or lease more than 5.2 million acres of waterfowl habitat in the United States. The junior duck stamp program for students in kindergarten to 12th grade began in 1989 and includes an environmental education program aimed at teaching conservation through the arts. A federal duck stamp and a junior duck stamp are produced each year by the U.S. Postal Service for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, but they are not valid for postage.

NFP required for engaged couples

FARGO, N.D. (CNS) — Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo has announced that engaged couples across the diocese will have to be instructed in the theology of the body and complete an approved course in natural family planning before they can marry in the Catholic Church. He announced the new policy July 18. It takes effect Sept. 8. The Fargo diocesan communications office said the Denver Archdiocese is the only other one in the country that requires completion of a natural family planning course before marriage. The Fargo Diocese covers the eastern half of North Dakota and has about 78,000 Catholics.

Polish Shrine celebrates 50 years

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CNS) — Polish-American Catholics celebrated their faith with thousands of other pilgrims June 26 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown. The occasion marked 50 years since Pauline Father Michael M. Zembrzuski dedicated an old Bucks County barn-turned-chapel to Our Lady of Czestochowa. Now a massive complex, the shrine attracts nearly a million people every year from across the U.S. and Canada. In a procession led by 50 members of the Knights of Columbus — one Knight for each year of the shrine’s existence — 120 priests from the United States, Poland and Rome surrounded an outdoor altar constructed on the steps of the shrine church.

Terri Schindler scholarship

NAPLES, Fla. (CNS) — Ave Maria University in Naples announced July 8 the establishment of the Terri Schindler Schiavo scholarship for students in the university’s pretheologate program who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood. The initial idea for the scholarship came from Joseph Grady, the father of an Ave Maria University student and president of My Jesus Mercy Ministries, an apostolate that promotes the Divine Mercy devotion. He also made the first contribution to the fund. According to an announcement, university leaders hope to the scholarship will assist future priests as well as lay people "in creating and developing a Catholic culture of life." Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio, the university’s provost, said the scholarship will commemorate Schiavo’s life and promote a positive message.

Doubts about CAFTA treaty

WASHINGTON (CNS) — As the House of Representatives was preparing to vote on the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, religious voices were casting doubts about who would really benefit if the treaty were implemented. At a July 21 prayer breakfast organized by the Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment, clergy from both the United States and Central American nations that would be included in the treaty voiced strong reservations about the treaty and its intended effects. U.S.-born Auxiliary Bishop David A. Zywiec of Bluefields, Nicaragua, said that when Central America’s bishops discussed CAFTA last November, they asked themselves, "How does this help human development? How does this help human dignity? How does this help people get time off for vacation? How does this help people help the children and their schools?" "These are some of the human values" that should be present in a treaty, but are currently lacking in CAFTA, Bishop Zywiec said.

A merging of cultures

MINNEAPOLIS (CNS) — A north Minneapolis parish that has watched its population dwindle has merged with a nearby Vietnamese parish whose numbers have doubled in the past 18 years. The merger, which took effect July 1, will make use of the large facilities at St. Anne Parish while injecting the historic church with a new shot of vibrancy from the St. Joseph Hien community, parish leaders said. "We’re looking forward to having children here again, and young people," said Anne Gibbs, a lifelong member of St. Anne. She said St. Anne now has about 130 members; meanwhile, St. Joseph Hien, the archdiocese’s Vietnamese parish, has been bursting at the seams since it was established in 1987. The new parish will called the St. Anne-St. Joseph Hien Catholic Community, and members will meet at St. Anne Church.

Alleged miracle investigated

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (CNS) — In the first event of its kind in the history of the Metuchen Diocese, Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski presided at the closing session of an investigation into an alleged miracle attributed to the late Cardinal Terence Cooke. The investigation involved a cancer survivor who claims he was cured through the intercession of Cardinal Cooke. The cardinal was archbishop of New York from 1968 until his death in 1983 at age 62. He died of leukemia. A year after his death the Cardinal Cooke Guild was established to promote his sainthood cause, initiated by Cardinal Cooke’s immediate successor, Cardinal John J. O’Connor, who is also now deceased. At the June 28 closing ceremony in the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center chapel in Piscataway, Lori Brower, diocesan chancellor, notarized facts of the case, which were then sealed and sent to the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes, which will investigate the claim and decide if it was a miracle. Brower said she could not identify the survivor because of the rules of confidentiality, but said he was a resident of the Metuchen Diocese at the time of the alleged miracle.

Roberts would be fourth Catholic

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Judge John G. Roberts would become the fourth Catholic member of the current Supreme Court if he is confirmed by the Senate for the opening created by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement. Roberts, 50, was nominated July 19 by President George W. Bush, who called him "a man of extraordinary accomplishment and ability" who has "a good heart." Roberts has been a judge of the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia for two years, after working in private practice in Washington and as a U.S. deputy solicitor general from 1989 to 1993. He also served as a clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. During the Reagan administration, he was an aide to White House counsel Fred Fielding and to Attorney General William French Smith. While in private practice, he was among the legal advisers for Bush during the 2000 battle over Florida’s disputed presidential election results. In private practice for Hogan and Hartson, and at the Justice Department, he regularly wrote briefs on cases before the Supreme Court and has argued cases there dozens of times.