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NEWS
BRIEFS Jan-18-2002
By Catholic News
Service
U.S.
Bishops' liturgy director urges
Lenten fast from violence,
apathy
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- This Lent,
Catholics should fast not only from food but from
violence, apathy and sin, said Father James P. Moroney,
executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for
Liturgy. In a reflection on Ash Wednesday he said the
cross of ashes Catholics receive on their forehead this
Feb. 13 may remind them of the "ashes before our eyes
too often these past six months" from the grim
destruction at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
While ashes "conjure up death and darkness and the end
of things," he said, Catholics are marked with ashes at
the start of Lent "so that each of us might turn from
all that is earthly, dark and sinful and return to the
Gospel of life."
- - -
Florida bishops ask Gov. Bush for
death penalty commutation
TALLAHASSEE,
Fla. (CNS) -- Florida's Catholic bishops have asked Gov.
Jeb Bush to commute the death sentence of convicted
murderer Amos King to life imprisonment without parole.
King was scheduled to be executed Jan. 24 for the 1976
rape and murder of 68-year-old Natalie Brady after his
escape from a work-release center. Brady lived alone in
a one-story house near the center. King, then 22, was
serving time for a parole violation and had a
work-release job washing dishes at a nearby restaurant.
He was sentenced to death after his 1977 conviction, but
the sentence was vacated, and reimposed in a new penalty
phase of his trial. On Jan. 15, he lost a bid for a stay
of execution in a Florida court. The bishops said in
their Jan. 17 statement issued in Tallahassee by the
Florida Catholic Conference, said, that killing Amos
King for this crime "cannot right the wrong that was
done."
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New
organization aims to enlighten faith of college
students
LINCOLN, Neb. (CNS) --
University of Illinois senior Carly Thomas admits that
the word "evangelization" often carries a negative
connotation in the minds of college-age Catholics.
However, since joining a Bible study sponsored by the
Fellowship of Catholic University Students -- or FOCUS
-- last year and attending the movement's national
conference in Lincoln Jan. 11-13, Thomas has experienced
firsthand a method capable of reversing such
perceptions. Instead of producing Catholic speakers to
inspire large crowds, FOCUS, the 4-year-old college
outreach based in Greeley, Colo., trains recent college
graduates to spend their time with student leaders on
university campuses from Michigan to Montana.
- -
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WORLD
Muslims, Orthodox make strong
presence at Assisi peace
pilgrimage
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A
Vatican list of scheduled participants in Pope John Paul
II's Jan. 24 day of prayer for peace features an
especially strong presence of Muslim and Orthodox
representatives. Muslims from 17 countries -- including
from five Middle East nations, Libya, Pakistan and the
United States -- make up nearly a third of the 91
non-Christian participants. The 30 Orthodox
participants, including three patriarchs, represent 18
Eastern churches, four more than were represented at the
pope's original Assisi prayer summit in 1986. The
Vatican's preliminary list of participants named 191
participants, of whom 44 were Vatican officials,
Catholic ecumenical and interreligious experts or
prominent church leaders, including Cardinal Edward M.
Egan of New York
- - -
Vatican reconciles with
Archbishop Lefebvre supporters in
Brazil
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Brazilian
followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre were to
formally return to full communion with the Catholic
Church during an evening ceremony Jan. 18, the Vatican's
Fides news agency reported. The ceremony, planned for
the city of Campos, would include a formal act of
recognition of the authority of Pope John Paul II and of
the legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council, including
its liturgical reforms, Fides said. The news agency,
part of the Congregation for the Evangelization of
Peoples, also reported Jan. 18 that the pope would
establish an apostolic administration for the priests
and faithful of the Brazilian Priestly Association of
St. John Vianney and would give them permission to
continue celebrating the liturgy according to the
pre-Vatican II rites.
- - -
Mainland Chinese lose right to
residency case in Hong Kong
HONG KONG
(CNS) -- Mainland-born Chinese with Hong Kong parents
said they faced an uncertain future after losing a court
appeal to stay in Hong Kong." I don't know what to do
now. My parents have not been told about the ruling. I
am disappointed at the cruelty of the government. It has
been a difficult time waiting all these years," Yang
Xiutian told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based
in Thailand. Human rights groups met Jan. 10 at the
Caritas center in Hong Kong to explain the ruling to
residency seekers who now face deportation to mainland
China. Church groups and aid organizations have pledged
to petition the United Nations about the
ruling.
- - -
PEOPLE
Polish cardinal says he hid
Solidarity members during martial
law
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A Polish
cardinal has described how he helped hide Solidarity
union leaders after the 1981 imposition of martial law
and illegally stored large sums of money for the
movement. "Martial law didn't only affect believers --
we gave help and protection to everyone threatened with
loss of freedom," said Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz of
Wroclaw. "Various Solidarity activists took refuge in my
residence, and none were caught -- thank God. Either the
police didn't want to catch them, or we were able to
keep it secret," he told Poland's Rzeczpospolita daily
newspaper in a January interview. Cardinal Gulbinowicz,
73, said he voiced immediate opposition to martial law
when it was declared Dec. 13, 1981, and he looked for
ways to help Solidarity members.
- - -
Rome rabbi says Christians must
accept Jews' salvation without
Jesus
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When the
Catholic Church says it believes God remains faithful to
his covenant with the people of Israel, it must admit
the possibility that Jews can be saved without believing
in Jesus Christ, Rome's new chief rabbi said. "Many
Christians say Jews will not be saved because their
religion is incomplete without Jesus," Rabbi Riccardo Di
Segni said at a Jan. 17 conference at Rome's major
seminary. The conference was one of the events held
throughout Italy to mark the annual day for
Christian-Jewish dialogue sponsored by the Italian
bishops' conference. The theme for the day was "Noah
walked with God: The Universalism of Israel."
- -
-
Defrocked priest
found guilty of indecent assault on
child
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (CNS) -- John
Geoghan, the defrocked priest of the Boston Archdiocese
accused of molesting more than 130 children, was found
guilty Jan. 18 of indecent assault and battery on a
10-year-old boy. Geoghan, 66, could receive up to 10
years in prison for that conviction. In addition he
faces a second trial in late February on charges of
raping a minor. The jury deliberated about eight hours
before delivering its verdict.
END
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