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The Southern Cross, Page 2
In Jordan, pope walks
IN FOOTSTEPS OF SAINT
John the Baptist
Amman, Jordan (CNS)
R eading from chapters of salva
tion history in the Holy Land of
Jordan, Pope John Paul II evoked
Saint John the Baptist as a sure guide
for Christians of all ages, then
walked in his footsteps near the
Jordan River. During a Mass in an
Amman soccer stadium March 21 for
20,000 Jordanian Catholics, the pope
recalled how John the Baptist, an
itinerant preacher, had prepared
Christ’s path throughout the river val
ley more than 2,000 years ago. “We
look for a guide to show us the way.
And there comes to meet us the fig
ure of John the Baptist, a voice that
cries in the wilderness,” the pope
said.
Cardinal announces
opening of Dorothy
Day’s sainthood cause
New York (CNS)
C ardinal John J. O’Connor of New
York announced “with great joy”
that the Vatican had approved open
ing the cause for canonization of
Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker
leader who died in 1980. “With this
approval comes the title Servant of
God,” he wrote in his March 16 col
umn in his archdiocesan weekly
newspaper, Catholic New York.
“What a gift to the church in New
York and to the church universal this
is!” On the same day, Bishop Joseph
A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston,
Texas, president of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops,
issued a statement calling the Vatican
approval “a blessed moment for the
church in the United States.”
Religious leaders laud
PAPAL APOLOGY
Washington (CNS)
P ope John Paul II’s jubilee-year
apology for wrongs committed by
Catholics has drawn strong praise
from U.S. religious leaders including
two national rabbinical groups. In a
joint statement the Central
Conference of American Rabbis
(Reform) and the Rabbinical
Assembly (Conservative) hailed the
pope’s “inspiring leadership” and
“courageous strides in working to
heal the historic breach that has sepa
rated our communities.” In a separate
statement the Executive Committee
of the Rabbinic Committee for
Interreligious Dialogue called the
pope’s expression of sorrow a “revo
lutionary and epic-making confes
sion.”
Prelate discusses steps
TO BE TAKEN AFTER
SEMINARY DEAN’S ARREST
San Francisco (CNS)
A rchbishop William J. Levada of
San Francisco issued an open
letter March 10 outlining steps to ad
dress issues surrounding the arrest of
a seminary official for alleged
involvement in soliciting sex with
minors over the Internet. Father Carl
A. Schipper, 57, a priest of the San
Francisco Archdiocese and the acade
mic dean at Saint Patrick Seminary in
Menlo Park, was arrested at his Santa
Rosa home March 2. He also alleged
ly used the Internet to distribute ille
gal materials. The arrest followed a
six-month investigation during which
investigators in the San Jose Police
Department’s sexual assault unit
posed as young boys on the Internet
and were allegedly in contact with
the priest.
Study shows private
SCHOOL VOUCHERS HELP
D.C. CHILDREN EXCEL
Washington (CNS)
A recent Harvard University study
reveals that African American
students in grades 2 to 5 attending
private or Catholics schools in Wa
shington with the help of financial
aid scored higher in math and reading
than their peers in public schools.
The 810-student survey compared
Washington Scholarship Fund recipi
ents—who are students living in the
District of Columbia randomly selec
ted by lottery to receive tuition vou
chers—with those students who did
not get chosen and remained in pub
lic schools. The students were tested
about six to seven months after enter
ing a private or Catholic school. Ap
proximately 70 percent of all Wash
ington Scholarship Fund recipients
attend Catholic schools.
Religion good for
MARRIAGE, RESEARCHER
SAYS
Washington (CNS)
4 413 eligion is good for marriage,”
JXj'esearcher Michael Lawler
said at a meeting March 16 on min
istry to interchurch marriages.
“Churches have to be involved in
marriage preparation as extensively
as they can be,” said Lawler, a theol
ogy professor at Creighton University
in Omaha, Nebraska, and director of
the university’s Center for Marriage
and Family. The meeting focused on
a national study Lawler conducted
comparing interchurch and same-
church marriages. One of the study’s
findings, Lawler said, was that joint
involvement in religious activities
was one of the “three greatest predic
tors of marital stability.” The second
predictor was, he said: the fewer reli
gious differences a couple had, the
less likely they were to end up sepa
rated or divorced. He said the third
biggest factor was whether the per
son’s family approved of the spouse
when they got married.
Interview with priest’s
KILLER CREATES STIR
in Poland
Warsaw (CNS)
A Polish TV director resigned in
the wake of an interview in
which a former secret police agent
joked about his role in the murder of
a popular priest. Poland’s state TV
chairman, Robert Kwiatkowski, said
he had suspended the head of pro
grams in the central city of Lodz for
the March 9 interview, which was
filmed while the ex-agent, Grzegorz
Thursday, March 23, 2000
Piotrowski, was on leave from jail.
The director later resigned.
Piotrowski was jailed for 25 years for
the 1984 kidnap and murder of
Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a popular
priest linked to the then-outlawed
Solidarity movement. Piotrowski is
due for release in August 2001
because of good-conduct reports.
Florida judge
OVERTURNS OPPORTUNITY
Scholarship Program
Tallahassee (CNS)
A Florida judge’s ruling March 14
that the use of public funds in
private schools is unconstitutional
puts the Opportunity Scholarship
Program supported by the Florida
bishops and Gov. Jeb Bush on the
path to higher courts. Michael
McCarron, executive director of the
Florida Catholic Conference, said the
case will likely end up at the Florida
Supreme Court. Larry D. Keough,
associate for education at the confer
ence, expressed disappointment at the
ruling by Circuit Judge L. Ralph
Smith of Tallahassee that struck
down Florida’s less than year-old
Opportunity Scholarship Program.
Vatican criticizes
European Parliament
VOTE ON GAY RIGHTS
Vatican City (CNS)
T he Vatican strongly criticized a
European Parliament vote recog
nizing the legal rights of gay couples,
calling it an attack on the institution
of the family. “This resolution repre
sents a serious and repeated attack
against the family, which is founded
on marriage,” said a March 17 state
ment by the Pontifical Council for
the Family. The European
Parliament, in a 251-169 vote March
16, urged member states to extend
the same legal status as married cou
ples to couples who live together,
whether heterosexual or homosexual.
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