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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Atlanta Archdiocese relocates
refugees; director resigns
Atlanta (CNS)
T he 21 -year veteran director of the refugee
resettlement program of the Atlanta Arch
diocese has resigned after church officials were
informed his wife is a co-owner of property where
the agency has placed refugees. In addition, reports
on shabby living conditions at another facility
where refugees were being housed has prompted
the archdiocese to relocate some refugee families
and review the resettlement program’s policies and
procedures. Bui Van Tam, director of Catholic
Social Services refugee resettlement programs
since 1979, resigned October 2 after the archdio
cese learned his wife, Anh Le, is a co-owner of
property where refugees have been placed by his
office. “That is a conflict of interest for the direc
tor to be placing refugees in property owned by his
spouse,” said Matthew Coles, general counsel for
the archdiocese. Coles said Tam’s wife has been a
co-owner of the property since about 1994. A pre
liminary audit by the archdiocese October 3 shows
$19,635 was paid by Catholic Social Services
since 1994 for the use of that property for the
refugees, but nothing was paid directly to Tam’s
wife. Tam and his family were among the first
Vietnamese families to come to Atlanta in 1975.
Pope canonizes Mother Drexel,
CALLS HER EXAMPLE OF GENEROSITY
Vatican City (CNS)
P ope John Paul II canonized the second U.S.-
bom saint, Mother Katharine Drexel, and said
her use of a family fortune to educate the poor was
a shining example of American generosity. At a
jubilee Mass October 1, the pope praised Mother
Drexel, a Philadelphia heiress, for recognizing the
dangers of racism in U.S. society, then giving all
she had—spiritually and materially—to fight it.
She eventually founded more than 60 schools for
African-Americans and Native Americans. “Her
apostolate helped bring about a growing awareness
of the need to combat all forms of racism through
education and social services,” the pope said.
Pope asks forgiveness, says China
BIASED ABOUT MARTYRS’ HISTORY
Vatican City (CNS)
P ope John Paul II said Chinese government
accusations about some of the 120 martyrs can
onized October 1 resulted from a biased reading of
history, but he also asked forgiveness for any sins
the martyrs may have committed. “A partial and
nonobjective reading of history” has led some peo-
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pie to see “only limits and errors” in the work and
lives of the 33 foreign missionaries in China who
were among the 120 canonized, the pope said
October 2. “If there were some (errors) — is man
ever free from defects? — we ask forgiveness,”
Pope John Paul said as he met with pilgrims who
had come to the Vatican to celebrate the new
saints.
Detroit newspaper cartoon
CALLED ‘BLATANTLY ANTI-CATHOLIC’
Detroit (CNS)
T he head of the Michigan Catholic Conference
and a Detroit archdiocesan spokesman have
demanded an apology from the Detroit Free Press
for its September 26 editorial cartoon, which they
described as anti-Catholic. The six-panel cartoon
by Mike Thompson blasted a school voucher pro
posal on this fall’s ballot in Michigan. The cartoon
was drawn as an ad for “the amazing Vouch-O-
Matic,” a school vouchers machine that “slices,
dices, chops and shreds cherished constitutional
principles,” sucks “millions (of dollars) out of pub
lic education” and “blows enough smoke to blind
thousands of voters.” Its final panel says, “To
order, rush your tax dollars to: The Roman
Catholic Church c/o Kids First! Yes! ORDER
NOW!” “Kids First! Yes!” is the name of the
coalition that led the petition campaign to get the
voucher proposal on the ballot.
Rebels murder Italian missionary
IN NORTHERN UGANDA, MISNA SAYS
Jerusalem (CNS)
R ebels murdered an Italian missionary in north
ern Uganda, said MISNA, the Rome-based
missionary news agency. Members of the Lord’s
Resistance Army shot and killed Comboni Father
Raffaele Di Bari October 1 as the priest was travel
ing by car from his mission in Pajule to the small
village of Acholi bur, where he was to celebrate
Mass and baptize several children, MISNA report
ed. The agency said that a nun and a catechist who
were also in the car escaped unharmed. Father Di
Bari, 71, had been working in Uganda since 1959
and had often spoken out against the Lord’s
Resistance Army, said MISNA.
Jerusalem patriarch calls for
RETURN TO NEGOTIATING TABLE
Jerusalem (CNS)
L atin-rite Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem
called for a return to the negotiating table as
the worst violence in four years raged in Israel and
the Palestinian Territories. Patriarch Sabbah said
the only way to regain calm is to restart peace talks
Thursday, October 5, 2000
and negotiate an agreement that would ensure pro
tection of the holy sites, establish a just peace and
create a Palestinian state. “The way of quieting the
situation is to understand that holy places cannot
be touched and cannot be the subject of any bar
gaining,” he said in a pastoral letter to parishes
issued October 2.
Priest faces charges stemming
FROM ABORTION CLINIC ATTACK
Rockford, Illinois (CNS)
A Rockford priest was expected to be arraigned
October 9 on charges of burglary and criminal
trespass in connection with his alleged entry into a
Rockford abortion clinic September 30. Father
John Earl, pastor of Saint Patrick Parish in
Rochelle, was released on $10,000 bond following
an incident at the Northern Illinois Women’s
Center in which he is alleged to have driven his
Saturn automobile into a closed garage door to
gain entry, and then used an ax to open other doors
and move about inside the building.
Cardinal Law, GOP leaders call
FOR END TO CUBA SANCTIONS
Washington (CNS)
T he chairman of the U.S. bishops’ International
Policy Committee has called for an end to sanc
tions on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba. A
group of prominent Republican leaders are also urg
ing Congress to allow food and medicine sales as
well as to end restrictions on travel by Americans to
the island. “It is time to leave aside a policy that,
whatever moral justification it may once have had,
has clearly outlived its purpose,” Boston Cardinal
Bernard F. Law said September 27.
Maine Catholics urged to reject
PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE
Portland, Maine (CNS)
T he head of Maine’s only Catholic diocese is
warning that “life as we know it is under
attack in the state” because of efforts to legalize
physician-assisted suicide. Bishop Joseph J. Gerry
of Portland urged Catholics to educate themselves
about the proposed physician-assisted suicide ini
tiative, to be voted on November 7. “This deadly
legislation (is) filled with dangerous loopholes,
putting each of us and our loved ones at risk,” he
said. Question 1 on the Maine ballot asks: “Should
a terminally ill adult who is of sound mind be
allowed to ask for and receive a doctor’s help to
die?” In a letter to Maine Catholics, Bishop Gerry
said, “Please don’t be fooled by this question. ...
Question 1 is about giving doctors the power to
prescribe lethal drugs for suicide.”
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