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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Miami nun says she’s
“heartbroken, devastat
ed” by Elian seizure
West Palm Beach (CNS)
T he Miami nun who broke her neu
trality on the Elian Gonzalez case
earlier this year by advocating the 6-
year-old be permitted to stay in the
United States said she was “heartbro
ken and devastated” over his seizure
by federal agents. “I was shocked that
a peaceful transfer, which according to
all reports appeared so close, failed to
materialize,” Dominican Sister Jeanne
O’Laughlin, president of Barry Uni
versity, said in statement about the
April 22 seizure. “It’s a real travesty
of justice that this had to come to such
a needless and violent transition.”
At Jubilee for Workers,
pope urges globaliza
tion OF SOLIDARITY
. Rome (CNS)
C elebrating one of the biggest
events of Holy Year 2000, Pope
John Paul II appealed for a globaliza
tion that extends beyond the econo
my to encompass worldwide solidari
ty. At the Jubilee for Workers, held
May 1 on the Tor Vergata University
campus on the outskirts of Rome and
attended by about 200,000 people,
the pope called for a resolution to
labor inequality and injustice
throughout the world. Despite tech
nological progress, he said, “realities
such as unemployment, exploitation
of minors and low wages persist.” He
warned that “the organization of
labor does not always respect the dig
nity of the human person, and the
universal destination of resources is
not always given due consideration.”
Heads of ICEL bishops’
BODIES MEET OVER
constitution, mission
Washington (CNS)
H eads of the major English-speak
ing bishops’ conferences that
comprise the International Commis
sion on English in the Liturgy met
April 25 in Washington to discuss the
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revised ICEL constitution required by
the Vatican, as well as the commis
sion’s broader purpose. According to
a joint statement authorized by the
participants and released by the U.S.
Catholic Conference, “the meeting
involved an exchange of information,
and it was not the purpose of the par
ticipants to take any formal action on
behalf of their conferences.”
“New martyrs”
CEREMONY TO FEATURE
ECUMENICAL PARTICIPATION
Vatican City (CNS)
C hristian representatives from all
over the world are expected to
join Pope John Paul II in a May 7
prayer service to commemorate “new
martyrs” of the 20th century, but
without naming them. The highlight
of the ecumenical celebration at
Rome’s ancient Colosseum will be
the reading of testimonials for eight
categories of Christian witnesses who
died for the faith. Many of them were
victims of communist regimes or
Marxist groups. A list of more than
12,000 new martyrs based on names
sent in by Christian communities
around the globe will eventually be
presented to the pope, but will not be
published, Vatican officials said at a
jjress conference April 8.
Vatican official faults
CONTINUED RELIANCE ON
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Vatican City (CNS)
T he Vatican’s foreign minister said
April 27 that nations which rely
on nuclear weapons showed that “the
rule of law, confidence in others and
the will to dialogue are not yet priori
ties.” Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran,
whose formal title is secretary for
relations with states, called nuclear
deterrence “a distressing solution for
a world overwhelmed with wea
pons.” Instead, he said, expectations
of the world’s citizens at the begin
ning of a new millennium should
lead nations toward “progressive and
effective disarmament.”
Court weighs gay
RIGHTS, ABILITY OF SCOUTS
TO CHOOSE MEMBERS
Washington (CNS)
I n oral arguments April 26 about
the dismissal of a gay Boy Scout
leader, the Supreme Court justices
considered the Scouts’ right to ex
clude some members based on the
group’s morality standards. The high
court’s last case of this term raised
questions about whether the doctrines
and membership standards of private
organizations would be subject to
court interpretation if the justices
were to uphold the lower court’s rul
ing. Boy Scouts of America vs. Dale
stems from a New Jersey Supreme
Court finding that the Scouts were a
place of public accommodation and
therefore had to accept James Dale as
a member and assistant leader under
anti-discrimination laws.
New Zealand bishops
SUPPORT SAME-SEX
COUPLES’ rights
Wellington, New Zealand (CNS)
N ew' Zealand’s bishops said they
support a system of registration
which would give same-sex couples
rights in law without the right to
marry. The 10 members of the New
Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Confe
rence made their submission to the
Ministry of Justice in response to a
ministry discussion paper, reported
the newspaper, the New Zealand
Catholic, in late April. The bishops
said marriage is defined by sexual
differentiation, and any law change
should not redefine it. Instead, a sys-
» tern of registration could give same-
sex couples access to certain legal
rights and benefits available to mar
ried couples, they said, adding that
the conditions of registration should
relate to proprietorial and civic rights
only. “Registration should not, for
example, involve an exchange of
vows,” the bishops said. They said
registered relationships should be
included in law wherever marriage
confers rights or obligations in
Thursday, May 4, 2000
respect to income support, tax credit
entitlement, legal aid or the division
of property if the relationship breaks
down. Nonregistered relationships
should be included in legislation
“wherever similar rights and obliga
tions are given to opposite-sex de
facto relationships,” the bishops said.
Same-sex couples should not have
the right to adopt children, they said.
And even when one person in such a
relationship is a biological parent, the
bishops are against the couple having
joint legal parent status.
Jewish scholar finds
MEETING ON INCARNATION
A LEARNING EXPERIENCE
New York (CNS)
A Jewish professor of religion at
Barnard College in New York and
a specialist in Judaism of the New
Testament era said a recent interreli
gious conference on the Incarnation
was “a learning experience for me.”
The professor, Alan Segal, said he had
come to see the concept of “the angel
of the Lord,” phenomena such as the
burning bush of Moses and other
aspects of his tradition as precedents
for the Christian idea of “the motion of
God downward to meet humanity.”
“Of course, Christianity goes further
than Judaism ever did,” he said.
Slow rise in Catholic
SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
CONTINUES, NCEA SAYS
Baltimore, MD (CNS)
C atholic school enrollment contin
ued its “slow and steady growth”
in the 1999-2000 school year, increa
sing by 4,600 students over the previ
ous year, officials of the National Ca
tholic Educational Association an
nounced April 25. The increase to
2,653,038 students came despite a net
loss of 36 schools, with the closing
or consolidation of 73 schools and
the opening of 37 new schools. En
rollment has increased by some
86,000 students in the past seven
years, said Leonard DeFiore, NCEA
president.
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