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May
21, 2007 
VOL.
45, NO. 10Oakland,
CA
 |
Pro-family
rally in Rome |
 |
Tornado’s
fury levels town |
California
suicide bill seen as ‘anti-Catholic’
SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- Calling proposed California physician-assisted
suicide legislation “strongly and implicitly anti-Catholic”
and accusing its advocates of “trying to bend the Catholic Church’s
moral teaching to the will of the culture of death agenda,” an international
expert on bioethics urged listeners at a May 7 lecture to do everything
in their power to help defeat the controversial bill.
The California Compassionate Choices Act, Assembly Bill 374 would allow
physicians to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to people diagnosed
with a terminal illness, given less than six months to live and declared
mentally competent. Wesley J. Smith, keynote speaker at a public policy
breakfast at St. Mary’s Cathedral, said the measure seeks to establish
“ending life as an appropriate way to relieve suffering.”
Once that premise has been established, he said, it becomes logical to
extend what would be seen “as a legitimate medical treatment”
to the chronically ill, the terminally ill at any stage, individuals in
intractable pain and even those who are depressed.
Amnesty
International backs access to abortion
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The International Executive Committee of Amnesty International
has declared that a woman should have full, legal access to abortion in
cases of rape or incest or if her life or health is at grave risk. The
new policy calls for eliminating criminal penalties for anyone who provides
an abortion or obtains one.
Last fall, when Amnesty was considering such a policy, the head of the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warned that the human rights advocacy
group would risk its “well-deserved moral credibility” if
it abandoned its neutral stance on abortion.
Pope
OKs stricter norms for mandatory feast days
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has approved stricter guidelines
for determining which saints will be remembered with mandatory feast days.
The General Roman Calendar, the universal schedule of holy days and feast
days for the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, is so packed that more
selectivity is needed. The pope determines who makes the universal calendar
based on recommendations from the Congregation for Divine Worship and
the Sacraments congregation,.According to the new norms published in the
bulletin in mid-May, those recommendations will be more difficult to obtain,
Immigrants
have God-given human rights
PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- The basic moral principle that everyone is entitled
to God-given human rights is the key to understanding the Catholic Church’s
support for immigrants, said Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony May
8 in Philadelphia. The current U.S. immigration system accepts the labor,
taxes and purchasing power of immigrants who are separated from their
families, Cardinal Mahony said, and yet millions of them who are in the
country illegally are not protected by laws.
Vatican
says disarmament needed to stop weapons
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If the world is to help stop the spread of nuclear
weapons, nations must take positive steps toward nuclear disarmament,
a Vatican official said. Nuclear disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation
“are interdependent and mutually reinforcing,” said Msgr.
Michael W. Banach, the Vatican’s representative to the Preparatory
Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.
“Responsible implementation” of international agreements concerning
nuclear weapons represents a crucial step “in the fight against
nuclear terrorism” and promoting “a culture of life,”
peace and human development, he said in a May 1 address.
Spokane
parishes to raise funds for abuse claims
SPOKANE, Wash. (CNS) -- Parishes of the Spokane Diocese have started local
fundraising campaigns to raise $10 million collectively as their contribution
to the diocese’s $48 million clergy sexual abuse settlement with
180 victims. In an assessment based on parish income, two of the largest
parishes, St. Mary in Spokane and St. Patrick in Pasco, are responsible
for raising more than $600,000 each, according to a parish-by-parish listing
in the May 3 issue of the Inland Register, the Spokane diocesan newsmagazine.
Part of the settlement approved April 24 by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia
Williams includes a diocese-wide reorganization of the parishes in which
each parish will incorporate as a nonprofit, nonmember corporation.
Climate
change seen as an ethical issue
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- Global warming is not just an environmental issue
but must be seen in “ethical, economic, social and political terms
as well,” Archbishop Celestino Migliore told a gathering of high-ranking
development officials at the United Nations May 10. He warned that global
warming and energy shortages could have a disproportionate effect on the
world’s poor.
“Many of the most vulnerable societies, already facing energy problems,
rely upon agriculture, the very sector most likely to suffer from climatic
shifts,” he said.
Irish
court rules on abortion for 17-year-old
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- The High Court in Dublin has ruled that the country’s
health authorities have no right to stop a 17-year-old girl from traveling
abroad for an abortion. The case arose when the girl learned that the
child she is carrying suffers from anencephaly and would have a life expectancy
of just a few days outside the womb.
Ireland is one of the only countries in Europe where abortion remains
illegal.
Mexican
bishop threatened for helping victims of rape
GUADALAJARA, Mexico (CNS) -- A Mexican bishop said he has been threatened
for advocating on behalf of 13 women allegedly raped by Mexican soldiers.
Bishop Raul Vera Lopez of Saltillo, known as a champion of indigenous
and other human rights, said he has been “under pressure and receiving
threats not to get involved in the case” of the sex-trade workers
who said they were raped last July.
The victims claimed the rapes occurred in July in Castanos, a town near
Monclova, a steel-producing center approximately 120 miles south of the
Texas border. The alleged attackers were guarding ballots after the disputed
July 2 presidential election.
Leaders
seek prayers for new government
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- Christian leaders in Northern Ireland have encouraged
citizens to pray for the success of the region’s fledgling Catholic-Protestant
power-sharing government. Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh issued a statement
with the heads of the Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, calling
May 8 a “historic day” when enemies joined together to form
the power-sharing government.
The new government returns home rule to Northern Ireland after a five-year
suspension. The religious leaders, who have been instrumental in persuading
members of the paramilitaries to decommission their weapons, said they
wanted to “invite Christian people to give thanks to God for all
that has been accomplished and to pray that guidance and courage might
be given to those who lead our community in the days ahead.”
