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The Southern Cross, Page 2 Jewish-Christian dialogue day POSTPONED AFTER JEWS WITHDRAW Vatican City (CNS) A Vatican-sponsored Day of Jewish-Christian Dialogue was postponed indefinitely after leaders of Rome’s Jewish community withdrew their participation. Rabbis Elio Toaff and Abramo Piatelli, who were scheduled to speak at the October 3 event, canceled after the early September publication of the Vatican declaration “Dominus Iesus” on “the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the church.” Neither rabbi was available for comment September 21. Dominican Father Remi Hoeckman, secretary of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, told Catholic News Service that a new date for the day of dialogue—part of the Vatican’s Holy Year calendar—had not been set. Vatican defends canonization after Chinese object Vatican City (CNS) T he Chinese foreign ministry and Vatican spokes men engaged in war of words as the October 1 canonization of 120 Catholics martyred in China approached. “Next Sunday’s ceremony has no polit ical motivation and is not directed against anyone,” Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said September 26. Sun Yuxi, the Chinese spokesman, told reporters in Beijing earlier in the day that most of the 120 martyrs were agents of Western imperial ism who deserved to die. The majority, he said, “were executed for violating Chinese law during the invasion of China by imperialists and colonialists,” Sun said. Their canonization “distorts truth and his tory, beautifies imperialism and slanders the peace- loving Chinese people.” Vatican official: People of another faith can’t LEAD PILGRIMAGES Jerusalem (CNS) A pilgrim’s “divine search for God” cannot be done under the spiritual guidance of people of another religion, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the World Tourism Organization told a group of tourism officials in Tel Aviv. “The church defines pilgrimages as ‘a personal or collective path toward a sacred place, aspiring to encounter the divine’,” said Monsignor Piero Monni at a September 19-21 WTO conference. “In other words, pilgrimage is a spiritual itinerary, the path of the faithful, the search for God. This search for the divine, for God, cannot be done under the guid ance of people of another religion.” Headline Hopscotch German, Asian reaction to ‘Dominus Iesus’ is negative Vatican City (CNS) A sian and German religious leaders have objected to the Vatican declaration on Christ and the church, “Dominus Iesus.” Among those who criticized it in Germany was a Vatican offi cial, German Bishop Walter Kasper, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. At a meeting in Freising he said he agreed with the basic principles in the document, but it lacked “the necessary sensitivity.” Several reports by UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, highlighted Asian views— Catholic and non-Catholic—that the document reflected a Western failure to understand religion and culture in Asia. Italian Cardinal Fagiolo, expert IN CHURCH LAW, DIES Vatican City (CNS) I talian Cardinal Vincenzo Fagiolo, an expert in church law who held several important Vatican positions, died in Rome at age 82. Pope John Paul II, in a telegram of condolences, called the cardinal a “good and faithful servant” who gave his talents gen erously to the church, first as an archbishop in cen tral Italy, then in Vatican departments dealing with religious orders and canon law. The pope was to cel ebrate the funeral Mass September 26 for the cardi nal, who died September 22 after a brief illness. British church officials voice CONCERN OVER RULING ON TWINS London (CNS) B ritish church officials expressed concern that a child’s right to life would be denied as a result of a court ruling allowing an operation to separate Siamese twin girls against the wishes of their Catholic parents. Supporting an earlier High Court ruling, three judges at London’s Court of Appeal voted unanimously September 22 to permit the separation, in which the weaker of the twins would die. In a statement that day, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham expressed dismay at the ruling, saying the judgment “amounts to the direct killing of a person, whose basic right to life will be denied.” Scottish nun found guilty on CHILD CRUELTY CHARGES Manchester, England (CNS) A Catholic nun was found guilty of four charges of cruelty against young girls at children’s homes in Scotland. The jury at Aberdeen Sheriff Thursday, September 28, 2000 Court, Scotland, found Sister Marie Docherty, a member of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth, guilty September 19. Three other charges of cruel and unnatural treatment were not proven. Father Danny McLoughlin, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, told Catholic News Service, Sept 20: “While legally this is a matter for the Sisters of Nazareth, as a church we are deeply ashamed that anyone entrusted to the care of any church person nel suffered in any way.” Some African youths stay in Rome after WYD Vatican City (CNS) O ne-fourth of the Senegalese and almost half of the Zambian youths who participated in World Youth Day in Rome apparently decided to remain in Italy illegally, a Vatican news agency reported. Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, reported September 23 that 60 of the 232 Senegalese youths and 45 of the 102 Zambians stayed behind when their peers returned home after the Aug. 15-20 event. “The situation should speak to the world and the govern ments of Africa about the desperate situation of disenchanted African youth without a future in Africa,” said Father Alphonse Seek, national direc tor of Senegal’s Catholic laity office. Pro-life official backs bill to PROTECT NEW-BORN INFANTS Washington (CNS) P assage of the Bom-Alive Infants Protection Act is needed to counteract an “appalling trend” in the U.S. courts toward approval of killing babies outside the womb, said the head of the U.S. bish ops’ pro-life office. Gail Quinn, executive director of the bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, made the remark in a September 21 letter to mem bers of Congress. A vote on the measure was expected in the House during the week of Septem ber 25. Quinn said the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 28 decision on partial-birth abortion in Stenberg vs. Carhart “extended its abortion jurispmdence to protect the killing of partly bom children—giving encouragement, however unwittingly, to those who would justify outright infanticide.” Johnnie Ganems Package Shop Complete Line of Imported and Domestic Wine & Beer Gaston and Habersham 912-233-3032 Savannah r To Subscribe Send this in to your parish, together with your check for $15, made out to the parish. For more information call The Southern Cross (912) 238-2320 Name Address Phone (_ Parish (USPS 505 680) Publisher: Most Rev. J. Kevin Boland, D.D. Director of Communications: Z+'X Mrs. Barbara D. King cpa)s Editor: fi *ess Rev. Douglas K. Clark, S.T.L. Editorial and Business Office: Catholic Pastoral Center 601 E. 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