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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Judges uphold dismissal of suit
OVER FIRST-GRADER’S BIBLE STORY
Philadelphia (CNS)
B y a tie vote, a federal appeals court has let
stand a ruling that the New Jersey first-grader
who was stopped from reading a Bible story to his
class four years ago did not have his constitutional
rights violated. Carol Hood, the mother of Zachary
Hood, plans to appeal the decision by the
Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the
3rd Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kevin
Hasson, general counsel for The Becket Fund for
Religious Liberty that represented Zachary, who is
now in fifth grade, said the court’s decision
“reflects both the complexity and the importance
of issues involving children’s rights of religious
expression during the school day.”
Catholic colleges again ranked
AMONG BEST IN NATION
Washington (CNS)
C atholic colleges and universities once again
made it into U.S. News & World Report’s
annual ranking of the nation’s best colleges. As in
past years, Catholic schools fared best in the rank
ings of regional universities, topping the lists in the
North and Midwest, with Villanova University in
Pennsylvania and Creighton University in Omaha,
Nebraska, respectively. In the national ranking,
three Catholic colleges made the top 50, including
the University of Notre Dame in Indiana (19th),
Georgetown University in Washington (23rd) and
Boston College (38th). The College of the Holy
Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, was 29th
among national liberal arts colleges.
Pope performs exorcism over
TEEN-AGE ITALIAN GIRL
Vatican City (CNS)
P ope John Paul II performed an impromptu
exorcism on a teen-age girl who flew into a
possessed rage at the end of an audience in St.
Peter’s Square, said the chief exorcist for the
Diocese of Rome. The Rome exorcist, Pauline
Father Gabriele Amorth, told Catholic News
Service September 11 that the pope spent more
than half an hour praying over the girl and order
ing a demon to leave her, but failed to fully cure
her. The girl, identified as a 19-year-old Italian
with a history of possession, was in the front row
at the pope’s weekly general audience September
6. As the pope prepared to leave, she began
screaming incomprehensibly and speaking in a
“cavernous voice,” Father Amorth said.
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Legislator says pope’s views
CHANGED HIS MIND ON DEATH PENALTY
Jefferson City, MO (CNS)
E ven a state legislator can change his mind.
Democratic state Rep. Chris Liese of Maryland
Heights said at a workshop on the death penalty
during the annual Missouri Catholic Conference
Assembly September 2 that he was in favor of the
death penalty until Pope John Paul II’s visit to St.
Louis in January 1999. He said that Gov. Mel
Carnahan had just been told by a Vatican-based
cardinal that the pope would personally ask the
governor to spare the life of convicted killer Darrel
Mease. Liese, who accompanied Carnahan to St.
Louis that day, said the governor turned to him and
said, “You’re Catholic. What do I tell him?” Liese
recalled. “I told him, ‘Governor, this is not an ordi
nary pope. If I were you, I’d listen to him,”’ Liese
said. “From that moment on, I knew I had to
change my position. I couldn’t be in favor of the
death penalty.”
U.S. CHURCH LEADERS URGE
Clinton to support sharing of
Jerusalem
Washington (CNS)
L eaders of U.S. Christian churches, including
the head of the Catholic bishops’ conference,
have urged President Clinton to promote a sharing
of Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians and
among the Jews, Muslims and Christians who con
sider the city sacred. In a joint letter September 6,
the 15 leaders wrote: “The churches’ campaign to
promote the principle of sharing Jerusalem
between the two peoples and three religions is
based on our steadfast commitment to an equitable
solution for Jerusalem that respects the human and
political rights of Israelis and Palestinians as well
as the three religious communities. The churches’
interest extends to the living communities of
believers as well as to the holy sites.”
School choice will benefit all,
CARDINAL SAYS AT MISSOURI
Capitol
Jefferson City, MO (CNS)
D etroit’s Cardinal Adam J. Maida believes the
fight for school choice isn’t just for Catholics.
“Educational reform and broadening educational
choice is a matter of justice, especially for those
who do not have equal access to educational
opportunities,” Cardinal Maida said September 2
in a keynote address to about 700 people at the
Missouri Catholic Conference’s annual assembly at
Thursday, September 14, 2000
the state Capitol. From the rostrum of the ornate
House chamber, Cardinal Maida noted that
Catholic schools serve 3 million U.S. children—
many of them poor and not Catholic. Placing all
these children in public schools would cost the
nation about $34 billion in taxes, he said.
State Department report finds
WORLDWIDE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
Washington (CNS)
R eligious freedoms are in grave danger in sev
eral countries around the world, according to a
State Department report released September 5
naming Sudan and China as among the world’s
worst offenders. “Much of the world’s population
lives in countries in which the right to religious
freedom is restricted or prohibited,” said the sec
ond annual report commissioned by the
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. This
year’s report includes information on 194 countries
and territories.
Congressional medal for pope
APPROVED WITH LITTLE FANFARE
Washington (CNS)
L ittle noticed as Congress rushed to adjourn for
the summer, a bill awarding a Congressional
Gold Medal to Pope John Paul II was quietly passed
and signed into law in late July. The award, the high
est civilian honor Congress can bestow, was
approved for the pope “in recognition of his many
and enduring contributions to peace and religious
understanding,” according to the text of the bill. On
July 13, the Senate signed off on a House bill author
izing a gold medal for the pope. The action by
“unanimous consent” means there was no formal
recorded vote. Two weeks later, on July 27,
President Clinton signed the House version of the
bill into law.
Women theologians meet in
Rome, seek more visibility
Rome (CNS)
A mong the 59 conferences scheduled in con
junction with the September 9-10 Jubilee for
Universities, one focused on a uniquely female per
spective. “Women Theologians in Rome: A Long
Tradition,” held September 6-8 at Rome’s
Marianum institute, marked a historic gathering of
female theology professors and students mostly
from Europe and Latin America. About 60 people
attended the conference-—all women save for
Marianum’s president, Servite Father Ignacio
Calabuig, and a handful of other men.
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