Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross, Page 2
Thursday, August 24, 2000
Decree sets U.S. qualifications
FOR ACOLYTE, LECTOR
Washington (CNS)
he Vatican has recognized legislation adopted
by the U.S. bishops on standards for laymen to
be formally installed as acolytes or lectors. Bishop
Joseph A. Fiorenza, president of the National Con
ference of Catholic Bishops, decreed July 10 that
the new legislation will take effect September 1.
Under general church law, only men can be for
mally installed as acolytes or lectors on a stable
basis, although women may exercise those min
istries. The new U.S. law says, “A layman who is
to be installed in the ministries of lector or acolyte
on a stable basis must have completed his 21st
year of age. The candidate must also possess the
skills necessary for an effective proclamation of
the Word or service at the altar, be a fully initiated
member of the Catholic Church, be free of any
canonical penalty and live a life which befits the
ministry to be undertaken.”
Catholic Daughters hear report
ON POST-ABORTION MINISTRY
Bismarck, SD (CNS)
hrough its post-abortion ministry, now in its
16th year, the Catholic Church is seeking to
heal the physical, mental and spiritual suffering
that often follows an abortion, the Catholic
Daughters of the Americas heard at their biennial
meeting. Susan Wills, assistant director for pro
gram development at the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat
for Pro-Life Activities, addressed some 900 partic
ipants at the Catholic Daughters’ national conven
tion, held in Bismarck. “The truth about abortion
aftermath—long known through the church’s min
istry and the many books recounting personal sto
ries—is now becoming evident in large and unim
peachable research studies,” Wills said.
Courts reject partial-birth
ABORTION BANS, PARENTAL NOTICE
Washington (CNS)
ederal courts struck down two state laws ban
ning partial-birth abortions but upheld a South
Carolina law regulating abortion providers. The
New Jersey Supreme Court declared that state’s
parental notification law unconstitutional. In a 4-2
ruling Aug. 15 the New Jersey court struck down
the notification law, which required doctors to wait
at least 48 hours after parents were notified before
performing an abortion on a girl under the age of
18. Federal appeals courts struck down the laws
banning partial-birth abortion bans in Virginia and
New Jersey but upheld South Carolina’s law
requiring licensing and basic medical standards for
abortion providers.
Labor Day statement focuses on
GLOBALIZATION, IMMIGRANTS
Washington (CNS)
oday's good times of economic prosperity “can
mask the growing gap between rich and poor,”
the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Domestic Policy
Committee warned in a message for Labor Day
2000. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles
said the jubilee year observance of the U.S. holi
day, celebrated September 4 this year, “is a good
time to reflect on the progress and problems of the
American economy and how it can serve all of
God’s children.” Among the issues raised in his
two-page message were: the need for a “Catholic
conversation on economic globalization”; the
responsibility of Catholic voters to “raise the ethi
cal and moral questions surrounding the dignity of
work and the rights of workers” during the 2000
campaign; and the obligation to seriously consider
“a general amnesty for those workers who come to
the U.S. fleeing oppression and destitution and
who make significant contributions to our society.”
South Korean official says
North willing to invite cardinal
Seoul (CNS)
eoul’s retired Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan
and Archbishop Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of
Seoul “can soon visit” North Korea, a South
Korean government official said upon returning
from Pyongyang. Culture and Tourism Minister
Park Jie-won told media Aug. 14 in Seoul that
North Korean government officials responded posi
tively to the possibility of a visit by the two South
Korean Catholic prelates, reported UCA News, an
Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Park,
a Catholic, and 46 heads of South Korean news
media visited North Korea August 5-12, upon the
invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Casey tribute at convention:
BITTERSWEET MOMENT FOR FAMILY
Los Angeles (CNS)
n a bittersweet moment on the closing day of the
Democratic National Convention, two sons of
the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey got the
chance to make his points about the sanctity of life
from the podium. Robert Casey Jr., the Pennsyl
vania auditor general, and brother Pat, a candidate
for the U.S. House, on Augusta 17 introduced a
five-minute film tribute to their father, who died in
May at age 68. About a dozen family members
were on the floor of the Staples Center for the trib
ute as it began filling up for the final program.
Archbishop: Catholic Democrats
OBLIGATED TO FIGHT ABORTION
Omaha (CNS)
atholic Democrats have an “obligation in con
science to do everything they can to reverse
the pro-abortion policy of their party and to sup
port candidates who will protect human life in the
womb,” said Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss of
Omaha. He commented in his column published in
the August 18 issue of The Catholic Voice,
Omaha’s archdiocesan newspaper, with the head
line: “It is not a liberal cause to support abortion: It
is anti-life and anti-church.” Archbishop Curtiss
said abortion is “a serious issue for anyone who
embraces the church’s teaching regarding the
sacredness of human life from conception to natu
ral death.”
Prosecution ordered for
DESTRUCTION OF EVIDENCE
Cochin, India (CNS)
n Indian state has authorized prosecution of
five present and former officials accused of
destroying evidence related to a nun’s mysterious
death eight years ago. The government of the
southern state of Kerala said in its mid-August
order that the officials’ actions forced investigative
agencies to close the case of Saint Joseph Sister
Abhaya, who died in March 1992, reported UCA
News, an Asian church news agency based in
Thailand. The nun, then 21, was found dead inside
her Pius X Convent’s well in Kottayam, some
1,640 miles south of New Delhi; five years later
police declared her death a suicide. Public protests
from the Sister Abhaya Action Council and other
groups forced the police to transfer the case to the
Central Bureau of Investigation in 1997.
N.Y. PRIEST NAMED DEPUTY CHIEF OF
CHAPLAINS FOR NAVY
Washington (CNS)
ranciscan Father Louis V. Iasiello, a native of
Staten Island, has been confirmed by the U.S.
Senate as chaplain of the Marine Corps and deputy
chief of chaplains for the Department of the Navy.
Currently director of the Naval Chaplain School in
Newport, Rhode Island, Father Iasiello was pro
moted to rear admiral in the Navy Chaplain Corps.
Following his ordination in 1978, Father Iasiello
served in Brazil; as assistant pastor of Holy Cross
Parish in the Bronx; and as chair of the modem
languages department at Bishop Timon High
School, Buffalo, New York.
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