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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Headlim® H©psc©t€lh
Thursday, August 31, 2000
Vatican condemns use of embryos
FOR STEM-CELL RESEARCH .
Vatican City (CNS)
ailing it immoral and unnecessary, the Vatican
condemned the production and use of human
embryos for stem-cell research, despite its humani
tarian aims. In a seven-page statement released
August 24, the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for
Life encouraged adult stem-cell research, which
does not pose ethical problems and which has seen
recent published successes. The Vatican’s state
ment followed an August 23 decision by the U.S.
government to release federal funds for embryonic
stem-cell research projects. An official of the U.S.
Catholic bishops, as well as a number of U.S. pro
life organizations, have condemned the federal
funding of research on human embryonic stem
cells as immoral and illegal, and unnecessary for
medical progress. Richard Doerflinger, associate
director for policy development in the U.S. bish
ops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, said that
under the guidelines, the U.S. government “for the
first time in history ... will promote research in
which developing human embryos are destroyed.”
Hungarian church welcomes
Orthodox recognition of Saint
Budapest (CNS)
ungarian church leaders welcomed the recog
nition of their country’s patron, Saint Stephen,
as an Orthodox saint, during the country’s biggest
ecumenical festivities. “This is the first time a
Western saint has been formally accepted by
Orthodox churches,” said a spokesman for Cardinal
Laszlo Paskai of Esztergom-Budapest. “Saint
Stephen was a great leader of his nation and church
before the division between Western and Eastern
Christianity. This gesture will clearly have wider
benefits for Catholic-Orthodox relations,” he said.
Document stresses Catholic
Church’s unique identity
Vatican City (CNS)
ddressing what it called common misuses of
the phrase “sister churches” in ecumenical
dialogue, the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation
issued a document stressing the Catholic Church’s
unique identity as “mother” of all local churches.
The document said clarification was necessary
because an ambiguous use of the phrase, putting
the Catholic Church on equal footing with other
churches, had become “prevalent in contemporary
writings on ecumenism.” The four-page document,
accompanied by a letter from Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, was signed June 30 and dis
tributed to the heads of bishops’ conferences.
Catholic News Service obtained a copy of the let
ter and the document August 23. The document
said the expression “sister churches” could only be
properly used as a way of describing the relation
ship between local Catholic churches, like “the
church of Rome,” and non-Catholic churches.
Voucher trial improved public,
PRIVATE SCHOOLS, STUDY SAYS
Albany, NY (CNS)
he results of a local, privately funded voucher
initiative seem to indicate that school choice
does improve public schools. A study by educators
from Seton Hall University in New Jersey of the A
Better Choice Scholarship program, also known as
ABC, concluded that schools do improve as a
result of competition. Mel Shay, acting provost of
Seton Hall and former dean of the university’s
College of Education and Human Services, and
Richard Ognibene, acting dean of the College of
Education and Human Services, conducted the
study, which took over a year to complete.
Contraceptive coverage suit in
California to be heard
Sacramento, CA (CNS)
he California attorney general’s office has been
granted a continuance to prepare its defense in
a lawsuit filed by Catholic Charities of Sacramento
over mandated contraceptive coverage. The
Catholic agency is seeking to block a state law that
includes most religious institutions in a require
ment that employers pay for contraceptives in pre
scription insurance plans. James F. Sweeney, legal
counsel for Catholic Charities of Sacramento, said
a ruling on the motion for a preliminary injunction
barring the law’s enforcement has been postponed
until September 27, when it will be heard before
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Joe Gray.
Boys Town changes name to
Girls and Boys Town
Washington (CNS)
he Nebraska-based organization dedicated to
helping troubled youths changed its name from
Boys Town to Girls and Boys Town August 24 to
more accurately reflect that its clientele is now
about 50 percent girls. “It’s absolutely marvelous,
absolutely marvelous,” said Girls and Boys Town
executive director Father Val Peter of the name
change voted on by the children themselves, who
number more than 33,000 in 18 programs across
the country. The Girls and Boys Town name will
apply to national programs and locations. The vil
lage of Boys Town, Nebraska, and its buildings
will retain the Boys Town name.
Retired Bishop Hogan of
Rochester dies at 84
Rochester, NY (CNS)
funeral Mass for retired Bishop Joseph L. Ho
gan of Rochester was to be celebrated August
31 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester. The bi
shop, 84, died August 27 of natural causes while
en route by car from a family dinner in Lima to his
home at the Sisters of Saint Joseph Motherhouse in
Pittsford. Serving as the seventh bishop of Roches
ter from 1969 to 1978, Bishop Hogan implemented
many Second Vatican Council reforms, including
liturgical changes and greater lay participation in
church governance.
German church denies abuse
OF WWII LABORERS,
OFFERS COMPENSATION
Cologne, Germany (CNS)
he German Catholic Church denied it mistreat
ed foreign forced laborers during World War
II, but offered millions of dollars in compensation
to those who may have suffered. The church made
a commitment to give 5 million deutsche marks
(US $2.3 million) in compensation. The president
of the bishops’ conference, Bishop Karl Lehmann
of Mainz, said in an August 29 statement at the
end of a bishops’ meeting that the church and
church organizations had employed foreign forced
labor because so many staff—including priests,
monks and nuns—were serving as conscripts in the
armed forces.
U.S. PRIEST MURDERED IN KENYA
WAS ADVOCATE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Rome (CNS)
U.S. missionary in Kenya whose outspoken
advocacy for human rights nearly led to his
expulsion from the country last year was found shot
dead, his Rome-based order said. Mill Hill Missi
onary Father John A. Kaiser’s body was found Au
gust 24 close to his car near the town of Naivasha,
about 50 miles northwest of the capital, Nairobi.
The 67-year-old priest had worked in Kenya for 36
years. The government ordered Father Kaiser’s
deportation last November, but revoked the deci
sion after an outcry in Kenyan media and appeals
from the country’s Catholic bishops. Father Kaiser
had drawn the ire of some members of government
after testifying against two Cabinet ministers in an
inquiry on tribal clashes.
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