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By Catholic News Service
Washington
Vatican official calls for U.N. reform, backs new peace-building unit
UNITED NATIONS -- The Vatican secretary of state called for institutional reform of the United Nations "that is attentive to the real demands of our peoples rather than to the balance of power" and supported the establishment of a Peace-Building Commission to help people heal after conflicts. Speaking on the last day of the Sept. 14-16 summit of heads of state and government at U.N. headquarters in New York, Cardinal Angelo Sodano said "ordinary men and women, the many millions who constitute the 'we the people' of the U.N. charter," are asking world leaders to "give us a modern institution, capable of taking resolutions and then enforcing them." The cardinal added, "This is an insistent appeal issued to us by men and women who are disheartened by promises made and not kept, resolutions adopted and not enforced." The high-level plenary session brought together leaders of more than 170 countries and resulted in a 35-page final statement that touched on terrorism, development issues, peace-building, human rights, the environment and international health.
Knights, other groups appeal new ruling on Pledge of Allegiance
WASHINGTON -- The Knights of Columbus and other parties in a lawsuit filed over the Pledge of Allegiance have appealed a federal judge's ruling that the pledge cannot be recited in public schools because of its reference to God. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento, Calif., said Sept. 14 that under a previous ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the practice unconstitutional, the current case is legally resolved already. In the previous case, the Supreme Court ruled in June that Dr. Michael Newdow lacked the legal standing to sue his daughter's California school district over the practice of reciting the pledge. The high court declined to decide whether the words "under God" made it unconstitutional to recite the pledge in public schools. The new lawsuit was again filed by Newdow, a physician and an attorney who represented himself before the Supreme Court last March, but this time with the participation of other students who live in four Sacramento-area school districts.
Charities official urges quick action on housing for Katrina victims
WASHINGTON -- An official of Catholic Charities USA called on Congress Sept. 15 to work quickly to address and fund the critical housing needs of victims of Hurricane Katrina. "We need initiatives to produce safe and affordable housing, especially for very low-income families," said Sharon M. Daly, senior policy adviser for Catholic Charities USA, in testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services' Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. She said Catholic Charities officials "have been thrilled by the kindness and generosity of Americans and people throughout the world who are making enormous sacrifices to reach out with their time and treasure to aid Katrina survivors." But, Daly said, Congress "must act quickly now to honor the survivors and the responders by authorizing and appropriating the necessary funding for the housing and other services that are necessary for people to participate in rebuilding their communities or adapting to new ones."
Church offers morally acceptable options for infertile couples
WASHINGTON -- At least 15 percent of U.S. women experience fertility-related problems sometime during their reproductive years. And Catholic women are no exception. Although the growing field of assisted reproductive technology offers many options for those who have no moral qualms about in vitro fertilization or other methods that bring about reproduction outside the marital act, there may seem to be limited options for those who want to follow Catholic teaching. Not so, say staff members at the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction in Omaha, Neb., and its Center for NaPro Ethics. The institute's founder and director, Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers, has developed the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, a natural method of family planning and monitoring gynecological health, and a comprehensive system of women's health called natural procreative technology, or NaPro technology for short. Through its Omaha headquarters and more than 150 satellite offices in the U.S. and abroad, physicians and other practitioners of FertilityCare offer reproductive services and obstetric and gynecological medicine that conform to Catholic teaching on marriage and responsible parenthood.
Big business of assisted reproduction raises myriad legal issues
WASHINGTON -- At Fairfax Cryobank in Fairfax, Va., $450 can buy you sperm guaranteed to be from a donor who has earned or is studying for a doctorate. The price of the other essential ingredient to make a baby is more dear, judging from the Web site of Egg Donation Inc. in Encino, Calif. "An egg donor's fee can range from $5,000 to $15,000," the Web site says. "Additional compensation is offered to those donors who have earned a postgraduate degree; have a unique skill, characteristic or trait; or if she has previously (donated eggs) with our program and her couple achieved a pregnancy." But not every "order" for eggs can be easily filled. "Asian and Jewish donors are always in demand as are tall, attractive donors with a master's or doctorate degree," the Egg Donation Inc. Web site says. As assisted reproduction becomes more and more a high-finance commercial enterprise, taking in an estimated $2 billion annually, the legal questions surrounding parentage have become more and more complicated. "The most astonishing thing about the law in this area is that, even on questions like who's your parent, the laws are absent or haphazardly developed," said Helen Alvare, an associate professor at the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington.
Before his death, pope prayed to 'go to the house of the Father'
VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II's last words before his death were "Let me go to the house of the Father," according to the Vatican's official account of his final hours. The pope murmured the phrase in Polish "with a very weak voice and mumbled words" to those gathered at his bedside six hours before he died April 2, the Vatican said. The detailed chronology was contained in a special 223-page supplement to the "Acta Apostolica Sedis," the official record of Vatican documents and acts, released Sept. 19. Most of the account deals with previously published information about the pope's deteriorating medical condition, the actions taken at his death, the arrangements for his funeral and his final testament. The volume also contained more than 150 pages of condolence messages and testimonials that arrived from political and religious leaders around the world.
Pope: Priests need deep faith to increase effectiveness of Eucharist
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy -- Priests are called to lead lives of deep faith, love and prayer so as to strengthen the effectiveness of the Eucharist they consecrate daily, Pope Benedict XVI said. "The validity of the sacrament does not depend on the holiness of the celebrant, but its effectiveness, for himself and for the others, will be much greater the more he lives with deep faith, burning love (and a) fervent spirit of prayer," the pope said at his Sunday Angelus Sept. 18. He reminded the several hundred pilgrims gathered in the courtyard of his summer residence outside Rome that the month of October would mark the end of the Year of the Eucharist. For all Christians, but especially for priests, there is a relationship between holiness and the Eucharist, the pope said.
New bishop's first task is to teach faith, pope says
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy -- The first task of a bishop is to teach his people the Christian faith, helping them see that God loves each one of them and that he has revealed himself in Christ, Pope Benedict XVI told a group of new bishops. The 110 bishops, including five from Eastern Catholic churches, were appointed over the past year. They were in Rome for a course sponsored by the Congregation for Bishops and designed to give them practical information for dealing with their new responsibilities. Pope Benedict, who as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had been one of the key speakers at the course in previous years, told the bishops it was important for the Vatican to offer them "an adequate reflection on the challenges and problems that await you." Meeting the bishops Sept. 19 at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, the new pope told the new bishops that their first task is to teach the faith.
Caritas head calls U.N. summit 'missed opportunity'
VATICAN CITY -- The failure of a recent U.N. summit to take concrete action against poverty represented a "missed opportunity of staggering proportions," said the head of the worldwide Catholic charities organization, Caritas Internationalis. "The hope for achievements targeted for 2015 was daunting, but politically perfectly possible in a world with the wealth and the technology to dent dehumanizing poverty," Duncan MacLaren, Caritas secretary-general, said in a Sept. 15 statement. The intended focus of the Sept. 14-16 U.N. World Summit in New York had been to review the Millennium Development Goals on alleviating poverty and investing in health, education and the environment in the poorest countries of the world. While the final document from the U.N. summit recommitted to the goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015 and addressed issues on U.N. reform, terrorism, human rights and peace-building, some critics said the document failed to fully address rich nations' previous commitments to fight world poverty.
Papal envoy says U.S. must not be abandoned during Katrina recovery
VATICAN CITY -- "The United States must not be abandoned" as it continues to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and begins to grapple with the poverty revealed by the disaster, said a special papal envoy. Archbishop Paul Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," said after a four-day visit to affected areas in Louisiana and Mississippi that he was afraid "the superpower may isolate itself and stay isolated" in the wake of the natural disaster. As a sign of his personal solidarity, Pope Benedict XVI sent Archbishop Cordes to the United States Sept. 10-14 to meet with victims of the hurricane and with church and government officials. In a Sept. 17 interview with Vatican Radio, the archbishop said while he had seen "terrible scenes" during his visit he had also witnessed "gestures of great humanity."
New Orleans archbishop visits displaced families at Catholic school
WASHINGTON -- In New Orleans, they had never met their archbishop. Now, nearly 1,100 miles to the north, they had their chance. Like Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans, these families had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Archbishop Hughes has found temporary quarters 80 miles north, in Baton Rouge, La. The Curran and Beaudet families fled the Gulf Coast before Hurricane Katrina struck and eventually made it to the Washington area, where the wives in both families had grown up. The archbishop met the families, and other young evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 16 at Blessed Sacrament School in Washington, which the women had attended as children -- and where their own children were now being enrolled. Archbishop Hughes, who earlier had participated in a prayer service for hurricane victims at the Washington National Cathedral, visited classrooms and addressed students. "I come from New Orleans. At least, I used to come from New Orleans," he said in one classroom.
Maryknoll nun completes prison term for SOA trespass conviction
MARYKNOLL, N.Y. -- Maryknoll Sister Lelia "Lil" Mattingly said her now-completed six-month prison term for trespassing last November at the home of the former School of the Americas deepened her faith and strengthened her resolve to work for the closure of the training facility for Latin American military. Now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the school at Fort Benning, Ga., is the site of an annual protest by demonstrators who say some of the worst violators of human rights in Latin America have been trained there. The U.S. Department of Defense, which runs the school, says its curriculum teaches Latin American military personnel democratic principles and respect for human rights. Sister Lil was one of 15 protesters arrested and charged with trespassing at last year's demonstration, which drew a record 16,000 participants. This year's demonstration is set for Nov. 18-20.
Two priests nominated to be next USCCB general secretary
WASHINGTON -- Two priests with national and international church experience have been nominated to be the next general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. They are Msgr. David J. Malloy, 49, USCCB associate general secretary since 2001, and Msgr. John J. Strynkowski, 66, pastor of the Cathedral-Basilica of St. James in Brooklyn, N.Y., and a former executive director of the USCCB Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices. Both priests have served in the Vatican. The bishops are to vote on the next general secretary, the chief staff officer overseeing their national offices, during their fall general meeting in Washington Nov. 14-17. The USCCB Administrative Committee approved the choice of the two nominees during a meeting Sept. 13-14. The priest selected will succeed Msgr. William P. Fay, 56. A Boston priest, Msgr. Fay has been with the USCCB since 1995, first as associate general secretary, then as general secretary-elect for a year and as general secretary since 2001. The new general secretary will take office for a five-year term beginning Feb. 3, 2006, when Msgr. Fay's term ends.
September 20, 2005, National Catholic Reporter
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