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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Bishop Andrew J. McDonald
Rockville Centre,
Little Rock bishops
retire; successors
NAMED
Washington (CNS)
B ishop James T. McHugh has
become head of the Diocese of
Rockville Centre, N.Y., succeeding
Bishop John R. McGann, who is
retiring. Pope John Paul II also
accepted the resignation of Bishop
Andrew J. McDonald of Little Rock,
Ark., and named the vicar general of
the Diocese of Memphis, Tenn.,
Monsignor James Peter Sartain, as
his successor. In Rockville Centre,
Bishop McHugh had been coadjutor
to Bishop McGann for nearly a year.
Under church law a coadjutor auto
matically succeeds the bishop when
the bishop retires or dies. The
changes in Rockville Centre and
Little Rock were announced in
Washington January 4 by Archbishop
Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio
to the United States.
Cardinal O’Connor
OKS BEGINNING
SAINTHOOD CAUSE FOR
Archbishop Sheen
New York (CNS)
C ardinal John J. O’Connor of New
York has given provisional
approval to initiate the sainthood
cause of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
Archbishop Sheen, who died in 1979,
rose to radio and television fame in
the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s and was a
popular speaker at retreats and con
ferences. His famous television series
of talks, called “Life Is Worth
Living,” was broadcast Tuesday
evenings in prime time on ABC-TV
from 1951 to 1957. Archbishop
Sheen was also director of
Propagation of the Faith, wrote news
paper columns and conducted a suc
cessful convert ministry. His saint
hood cause is being promoted by the
Archbishop Sheen Foundation, based
in the archbishop’s home town of El
Paso, Illinois.
OAS COMMISSION BLAMES
El Salvador for
Jesuits’ 1989 murders
Washington (CNS)
T he Inter-American Human Rights
Commission of the Organization
of American States said the govern
ment of El Salvador is responsible for
the murders of six Jesuits and two
women in 1989. In a report released in
late December, the Washington-based
commission found that Salvadoran
state agents carried out the murders
and covered them up in violation of
international human rights law and the
Geneva Conventions concerning the
conduct of internal armed conflict.
The commission called on the
Salvadoran government to rescind its
amnesty law, complete a full investi
gation into the murders and punish
those responsible.
Holy Year can be time
OF GRACE FOR FAMILIES,
POPE SAYS
Vatican City (CNS)
H oly Year 2000 can be a time of
grace and redemption for fami
lies, Pope John Paul II said. “Family
members are called to conversion,
mutual acceptance and forgiveness,
so that they will be strengthened for
their vocation in the world,” the pope
said during his weekly general audi
ence December 29. The pope urged
families to model themselves after
the Holy Family, whose feast day
was celebrated December 26. “The
example of the Holy Family teaches
us that every Christian family must
be based on a communion of love
between husband and wife, between
parents and children, on unfailing
fidelity and openness to the gift of
life,” he said.
Vatican asks for over
haul OF COMMISSION FOR
English translations
Vatican City (CNS)
T he Vatican has called for a com
plete overhaul of the commission
which translates liturgical texts into
English. Questioning the quality of
the International Commission on
English in the Liturgy’s work as well
as the way it functions, the Vatican
ordered the revision of the commis
sion’s statutes. Cardinal Jorge Medi
na Estevez, prefect of the Congre
gation for Divine Worship and the
Sacraments, said the new statutes
must give his office a greater say in
the work of the commission, known
as ICEL, including Vatican clearance
of ICEL personnel. Representatives
of the 11 bishops’ conferences which
sponsor ICEL will meet January 21
in London to discuss Cardinal
Medina’s letter.
Supporting marriage is
NO EXCUSE TO BASH GAYS,
CARDINAL SAYS
Los Angeles (CNS)
C ardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los
Angeles urged California
Catholics to back an upcoming refer
endum defining marriage as a con
tract between a man and a woman,
but he said they should oppose any
one who “will use this measure to
promote hatred against homosexual
persons.” In a statement on the issue
December 20 the cardinal reaffirmed
the archdiocese’s “well-established
ministerial commitment to homosex
ual persons and their families.”
Californians are to vote on Propo
sition 22, a referendum on the legal
definition of marriage, on March 7.
Thursday, January 6, 2000
The initiative says that only a union
between a woman and a man is valid
or recognized in California law.
Vatican agency says
31 MISSIONARIES KILLED
IN 1999
Vatican City (CNS)
T hirty-one church workers were
killed in mission territories in
1999, Vatican missionary news service
Fides said. Fides, the news agency of
the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples, counted 15
martyrs in Africa, 10 in Asia and six in
South or Central America. Rather than
being a cause for mourning, Fides
director Father Bernardo Cervellera
said, martyrdom belongs to the joy of
Holy Year 2000. “The jubilee year is a
year of grace, conversion, (and) pil
grimage,” Father Cervellera said in a
December 28 editorial preceding
Fides’ annual list of martyrs.
Congressman calls for
FULL DISCLOSURE ON
House chaplain
SELECTION
Washington (CNS)
R ep. John Dingell, D-Mich., rank
ing Democrat on the House
Commerce Committee, called for a
full release of all records, transcripts
and other materials relating to the
selection of the new House chaplain.
In a December 20 letter to House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, Dingell
noted that “questions have been
raised both publicly and privately”
about the decision by House leaders
not to nominate a Catholic priest to
the chaplaincy position despite the
high recommendation the priest
received from the bipartisan search
committee. Dingell, who is Catholic,
proposed that before House members
vote on the new chaplain January 27,
they be presented with all committee
records, transcripts, staff memoranda,
correspondence and other materials
relating to the chaplain search.
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