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The Southern Cross, Page 2 House approves gold medal FOR POPE Washington (CNS) he House on May 23 voted 416-1 to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Pope John Paul II. In statements on the House floor supporting the bill, several members of Congress cited the pope’s battle against communism, his worldwide travels and ecu menical outreach. “He is truly a world leader and an unparalleled champion of those who cannot speak for themselves: the poor, the unborn, those con demned to death and those whose basic rights as children of God are trampled upon by oppressive regimes,” said Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J. Sister Gramick refuses silence, RISKS EXPULSION FROM ORDER Washington (CNS) ister Jeannine Gramick has taken the first step toward dismissal from the School Sisters of Notre Dame by refusing a formal command from her superior general not to speak or write at all about homosexuality or the Vatican order banning her from all homosexual ministry. Calling her refusal “a matter of conscience,” the 58-year-old Baltimore nun said in a statement released May 26 that silencing her on those matters would make her give up her “human right to self-defense.” “I choose not to collaborate in my own oppression,” she said. Sister Rosemary Howarth, her superior general in Rome, gave the silencing order in response to Vatican demands. Pope: “moral accountability” NEEDED IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Vatican City (CNS) ope John Paul II called for “moral accountabil ity” in international affairs based on clear con cepts of good and evil. Addressing the new ambas sador from Greece to the Holy See May 26, the pope praised efforts to establish an international court of justice for crimes against humanity. He said this was an expression of a growing desire to establish globally accepted moral standards. “Yet ironically, the call for an objective standard of moral accountability is in many cases accompanied by the spread of a relativistic approach to truth, which effectively denies any objective criterion of good and evil,” he said. Brazilian cardinal says libera tion THEOLOGY ALIVE, GROWING Warsaw, Poland (CNS) Brazilian cardinal said liberation theology is “alive and growing in strength” in parts of the Latin American church. Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Ams, retired archbishop of Sao Paulo, added that “liberation theology and the life of church commu nities rest on the word of Jesus, which provides inspiration for overcoming hardships and suffer ings through nonviolent action.” “We can’t say lib eration theology has ended, even if it has faced afflictions, as well as a certain phase of stagna tion,” he added. In a May interview with Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza daily, the 79-year-old cardinal said liberation theology “taught humanity to take history in its hands” and was growing again among Latin America’s basic Christian communities. Rwandan bishop, in letter to POPE, PROTESTS INNOCENCE Vatican City (CNS) Rwandan Catholic bishop facing the death penalty told Pope John Paul II the govern ment’s request that he be executed is “totally unjust.” Writing on the stationery of the Rwandan ministry of national security’s Kigali prison, Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro, 57, thanked the pope for his May 10 offer of prayers and moral support. Pope John Paul sent Bishop Misago the telegram the day after prosecutors called for the death penalty in his trial on charges that he was an accomplice in genocide. A verdict is expected June 15. Anti-Catholicism continues “despite progress” Baltimore (CNS) espite “a tremendous amount of progress” in recent years, the Catholic Church continues to be defamed and disparaged in American society, the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights said May 24. William Donohue, who has headed the New York-based Catholic league for the past seven years, was the speaker at the opening banquet for the Catholic Press Association’s annual convention in Baltimore. He criticized the “lame submissive mentality” among many Catholic lay people who consider the prob lem of anti-Catholicism to be something handled by the bishops and not an issue for the laity. Cardinal calls for “moral revo lution” AGAINST DEATH PENALTY Washington (CNS) lthough public skepticism about the death penalty is growing, it will take a “moral revo lution” that supports justice without vengeance to change things, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony told a National Press Club audience. “Simple solutions rarely address difficult prob- Thursday, June 1, 2000 lems,” Cardinal Mahony said at the club’s May 25 newsmaker luncheon. What is needed instead is a moral revolution that shows respect for all human life, “especially the unborn and the poor, the crime victims and even the violent offender,” he said. Religious faith offers science MEANING, POPE SAYS Vatican City (CNS) ope John Paul II urged scientists to be open to the contribution of religious faith in providing ethical principles for research and technology as well as to give science an overall meaning. Faith “is able to integrate and assimilate every research, for all research, through a deeper understanding of created reality in all its specificity, gives man the possibility of discovering the Creator,” he said. The pope made his remarks May 25 to 2,500 par ticipants of the Jubilee for Men and Women from the World of Learning, which drew theologians, philosophers, and physical and social scientists— predominantly Christians—from around the world. Former Australian Labor Party SENATOR ORDAINED TO PRIESTHOOD Hobart, Australia (CNS) ith his ordination to the priesthood, a former top Australian official has a new role to speak in the name of Christ and about the things of God, said the archbishop who ordained him. Archbishop Adrian Doyle of Hobart ordained Michael Tate, a law professor, former Australian Labor Party senator, justice minister and Australian ambassador, before almost 1,000 people packed into Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Hobart May 19. Guests included retired Archbishop Eric D’Arcy of Hobart, some 70 priests from around the world, and family and friends including many national and state dignitaries from political, legal and church circles. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey dies at age 68 Scranton, PA (CNS) ormer Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey, whose outspokenness against abortion cost him the chance to speak at the 1992 Democratic National Convention, died May 30 at Mercy Hospital in Scranton from what was described as an infection. He was 68. He had his name attached to a lawsuit that became a 1992 Supreme Court abortion case, Planned Parenthood vs. Casey. The suit challenged the constitutionality of 1989's Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act, most of which was upheld by the high court. To Subscribe I Send this in to your parish, I together with your check for * $15, made out to the parish. For more information call j The Southern Cross I (912)238-2320 Name Address I Phone ( ) S ■ Parish ■ I J (USPS 505 680) Deadline: All material for publication on Thursday Publisher: must be received at the latest by noon on the previ- Most Rev. J. Kevin Boland, D.D. ous Friday. Director of Communications: Mrs. Barbara D. King Editor: A>f SS ^ R ev Douglas K. 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