WORLD AND NATIONAL NEWS in BRIEF

World News

JERUSALEM (CNS) — Palestinians are facing an "ongoing humanitarian catastrophe" as the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, enters its fourth year, said a statement from Caritas offices in Jerusalem. "The trend for Palestinians continues to move farther down into the abyss of poverty and hopelessness," Caritas said in an Oct. 1 statement. It said it based its conclusions on a recent survey by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. The survey said more than 220 Palestinian households lost more than 50 percent of their normal income, and almost 23 percent of the Palestinian households in the Gaza Strip suffer from "highly critical living conditions." Samuel Martin, spokesman for Caritas in Jerusalem, said the Catholic humanitarian agency, which has been engaged in relief and development projects in the Holy Land since 1967, is having to deal with more social service cases as the intifada continues. "People are coming to us with medical needs, with tuition needs, with needs for assistance in employment opportunities," he said. "A lot more people are reaching the end of their savings and the end of their social net."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While Catholic theologians rarely use the word "limbo" nowadays, the question of what happens to babies who die without being baptized is still the subject of study. The International Theological Commission, whose members are appointed by Pope John Paul II, took up the question during their Oct. 4-8 meeting at the Vatican. According to an Oct. 6 statement, the 30 theologians from around the world discussed "the fate of children who have died without baptism." The discussion, it said, was framed "in the context of the universal salvific plan of God, of the uniqueness of Christ’s mediation and of the sacramentality of the church in the order of salvation." Limbo, never officially defined by the church, was a theological concept developed in the Middle Ages that said unbaptized babies — who had committed no sins, but were marked by original sin — would spend eternity in a state of "natural happiness," but would not enjoy the perfect communion with God that comes through baptism into Jesus Christ.

LANG SON, Vietnam (CNS) — The new cathedral in Vietnam’s northernmost diocese, Lang Son and Cao Bang, is a symbol of faith revival for Catholics, said one happy parishioner. Marie Nguyen Thi Thu Hoai, a young woman dressed in the traditional black skirt and white blouse of her ethnic Tay community, told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, that she "shed tears of happiness" attending Mass for the first time in the new church. "From now on, we will have our own cathedral, a sign of recovery of faith in our diocese, which suffered miseries and losses for many years due to war," said Hoai, 20, holding a traditional musical instrument called "dan tinh." Hoai, from Cao Bang province north of Lang Son province, was among nearly 2,000 Catholics from within and outside the country attending the consecration of the cathedral Oct. 2 in Lang Son, about 100 miles northeast of Hanoi.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Two Italian humanitarian workers held by kidnappers for 21 days in Iraq thanked Pope John Paul II for his prayers and public appeals for their release. "We want to thank you for being close to us and also the Iraqi people," Simona Torretta told the pope as she and fellow hostage Simona Pari knelt before him in a private audience at the Vatican Oct. 5. The pope expressed thanks to God for the happy conclusion to the ordeal that captured the attention of Italians for three weeks. The women were accompanied at the audience by their mothers, a sister of Torretta and a brother of Pari. They entered the papal library with the broad smiles that had become familiar to Italians from the posters plastered across the country and the incessant broadcasting of videotapes of them at work with the children of Baghdad. Torretta and Pari, both 29, were abducted by heavily armed gunmen Sept. 7 in the offices of their relief organization. Italians were horrified and outraged that the women, pacifists who opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, should be held hostage when they had been striving to improve the lot of Iraqis.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Increasing violence against Christians in northern Iraq has alarmed church leaders and prompted thousands of Catholics to flee the country, the Vatican missionary news agency Fides reported. The latest episode was an attack early Oct. 5 against a Chaldean Catholic family in Nineveh, near Mosul, by a band of Islamic fanatics. The assailants entered the house shouting: "We’ve come to exterminate you. This is the end for you Christians!" Fides reported, citing an unnamed source in Iraq. The attackers left after a struggle, but they killed 10-year-old Majed Sako. The tragedy left the boy’s parents in shock and the Christian community deeply apprehensive, the report said. The source cited by Fides said there were now dozens of attacks taking place against Christians in Iraq, but people were often too afraid to report them.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (CNS) — If it were not for strict U.S. immigration laws, many American delegations to the 48th International Eucharistic Congress would have been much larger, said a priest attending the event. The weeklong congress, which opened Oct. 10, was held in Guadalajara, home for many immigrants living in the United States. The problem, the U.S. priest said, is that many parishioners are among the estimated 3 million-5 million Mexican immigrants that live and work in the United States without work permits. "There’s about a dozen of us here, but we might have had a hundred people coming if it weren’t for" the immigration laws, said Father Phillip Bloom of Holy Family Parish in Seattle. Father Bloom said Hispanic parishioners outnumber the rest of the community by a 2-1 ratio, but only a few are living in the United States legally. "Those (with work visas) are the biggest part of our church’s group down here," said Father Bloom.

National News

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan offers an important lesson, not just for those who administer law, but for all people of good will, Boston Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley said Oct. 3. Too often the poor and suffering are invisible, but the good Samaritan took a risk and "became a neighbor to that man abandoned by the side of the road," the archbishop said in his homily at the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington. The prelate said that today’s society emphasizes selfishness rather than selfless love, and that in turn has shaped the world of politics, to the detriment of the common good. "It is an ethic of self which cannot sustain the house of freedom, cannot sustain democracy," Boston’s archbishop said. "If we are going to counter the culture of death with a culture of life, if we are going to counteract an ethic of self with a civilization of love, we must learn from the parable of the good Samaritan." Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick was the principal celebrant at the Mass, which is celebrated each year on the day before the Supreme Court opens its fall session.

NEW YORK (CNS) — Failure by nuclear and non-nuclear states to adhere to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty increases the possibility that terrorists will acquire such weapons, said the Vatican representative to the United Nations. The 1968 treaty is in a "fragile state" because the "original bargain" of "no proliferation in exchange for nuclear disarmament" is not being observed, said Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s permanent observer at the United Nations in New York. Instead, there has been an "ongoing struggle" between the non-nuclear countries to obtain weapons and the nuclear nations to further modernize their weapons, he said Oct. 7 at a meeting of the General Assembly’s First Committee, a subcommittee that deals with disarmament and international security. "Proliferation of these weapons greatly increases the likelihood of terrorist acquisition," he said.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (CNS) — Each year the Chinese Catholic community in Seattle sponsors a booth at a local fair that always brings results. "We find people that have been here for years and never knew that there was a Catholic Chinese community," said Father James Elliott, the community’s chaplain. "And so we give them a map (of the community), and many of them come on board." It’s a simple but effective means of outreach, and one of many steps necessary to bring attention to the Chinese Catholic community, according to participants at the 2004 pastoral and evangelization convention of the North American Chinese Clergy, Religious and Laity Association. About 50 priests, deacons, women religious and lay leaders from Chinese Catholic communities throughout North America took part in the Sept. 28-Oct. 1 convention at the Seattle Archdiocese’s Palisades Retreat Center in Federal Way. In interviews with The Catholic Northwest Progress, Seattle archdiocesan newspaper, Chinese Catholic leaders said evangelization, English-language skills, and preserving the native culture among members of the younger generation are among the challenges they face in serving Chinese immigrants.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (CNS) —The 900-member Catholic Medical Association has called for sweeping reform of health care delivery in the United States and proposed better ways to help the poor and uninsured, restore trust between patient and doctor, respect the conscience of all parties and control costs. The organization urged the reform in a statement titled "Health Care in America: A Catholic Proposal for Renewal," which was approved and released at the organization’s Sept. 23-25 convention in Orlando, Fla. After examining the present state of health care, the statement makes six main proposals: to reform tax laws to give incentives for people to purchase their own health insurance directly, with refundable tax credits enabling the poor to do so; to remove burdensome and unjust mandates from health care; to allow choice of private insurance policies through creation of voluntary groups that sponsor coverage; to encourage health savings accounts which allow the consumers to control more discretionary and routine health spending; to guarantee comprehensive protection of conscience; and to encourage experiments in diocesan self-insurance.

NEW YORK (CNS) — The American Jewish Committee awarded Dominican Sister Rose Thering its Jan Karski Moral Courage Award for her lifelong commitment to Christian-Jewish relations, her support for Israel and her opposition to anti-Semitism. "Sister Rose has remained a vigorous champion of these causes through the years, and has been a remarkable inspiration, an authentic role model for thousands of Christians and Jews," said Rabbi James Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser. "She defined her generation of Catholics and she changed history." Sister Thering received the award during a recent board meeting of the committee. In the 1960s, Sister Thering, in cooperation with the American Jewish Committee, conducted a ground-breaking study of textbooks used in Catholic schools. Because of her study, significant changes were made in the books’ material about Jews, Judaism and the Holocaust. She taught at the Institute for Judeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University in New Jersey for more than 30 years.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNS) — For nearly 20 years, Mary Jane Goffena taught public school students in Columbus. But that was a whole other lifetime ago. These days, she wears an ankle-length white garment with a collar, a sleeved purple scapular, and a white and purple veil. A rosary hangs around her waist. Around her neck hangs a pendant of a crucifix and monstrance. Today, she is Sister Margaret Mary, foundress of the Children of Mary, a semicontemplative order formed under the guidance of Columbus Bishop James A. Griffin for women between the ages of 18 and 36, who feel called to live simply while working and praying. One of the order’s missions is to promote eucharistic adoration. Sister Margaret Mary never imagined that one day she would be living as a hermit on 102 acres of untamed land in Ohio’s farm country, much less be the foundress of a new order of religious women consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.