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The Southern Cross, Page 2 Catholic, Muslim leaders URGE UNITY Washington (CNS) atholic and Muslim leaders, at a large interreli gious gathering November 12 in Washington, said unity is more important than peoples’ differ ences. At least 3,000 Catholics and African-Ameri can Muslims attended the final session of the “Faith Communities Together” weekend at the Washington Convention Center. “May our love continue to bring all people together in unity, as it has us Christians and you Muslims today,” said Chiara Lubich, founder of the worldwide Catholic Focolare movement, a co-sponsor of the gathering. “Today we are not ‘us’ and ‘you’; we are ‘we’.” “Creation is one continuous whole, one creation with one God and Lord,” said Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, leader of the Muslim American Society, the gathering’s other co-sponsor. Pope tells scientists ethical GUIDELINES ARE NO ‘IMPOSITION’ Vatican City (CNS) eeting with eminent world scientists, Pope John Paul II said that the ethical guidelines governing science, far from being an “imposition,” spring naturally from science itself as a human activity. Rather than reducing science’s human aspects to ethical rules, a need for objectivity or interdisciplinary cooperation, scientists should see their work as an activity which not only makes them more human, but also puts them at humani ty’s service, he said. The pope made his remarks in a speech November 13 to some 85 members and invited experts of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Among the members of the academy are more than a dozen Nobel Prize winners. Catholic leaders hail assisted SUICIDE DEFEAT IN MAINE Washington (CNS) ocal and national Catholic officials hailed the repudiation of physician-assisted suicide by Maine’s voters November 7. Gail Quinn, executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro- Life Activities, called the vote “an encouraging sign for efforts to respect the life and dignity of vulnerable people.” Father Michael D. Place, presi dent of the Catholic Health Association, said, “This vote marks another victory for human digni ty and the integrity of the physician-patient rela tionship.” Marc R. Mutty, public affairs director of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, called the cam paign to defeat the proposal “a very hard-fought battle” that took “a tremendous educational effort.” Headline Hopscotch French bishops strongly condemn PEDOPHILIA BY PRIESTS Lourdes, France (CNS) he French bishops condemned pedophilia, say ing priests who sexually exploit minors repre sent a “double betrayal.” “Not only does an adult impose his urges on a minor, but these aggressions contradict the Gospel that he announces,” the bish ops said in a declaration released November 9 dur ing their November 4-10 plenary assembly in Lourdes. Calling their responsibility “clear and delicate,” the bishops said they “cannot and do not want to remain passive, much less cover up crimi nal acts.” Cardinal: Pope hopes to meet Russian Orthodox patriarch Vatican City (CNS) ope John Paul II’s plan to visit predominantly Orthodox Ukraine in June does not indicate the pope has given up hopes of meeting the Russian Orthodox patriarch, a top Vatican official said. “The Holy Father remains open and very ready for a meeting with the patriarch should the situation arise,” Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told Catholic News Service. Although the Orthodox community in Ukraine has split into three separate groups, the largest is under the juris diction of Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow. Sisters of Mercy sue TV station AFTER PROGRAM ALLEGES ABUSE Dublin, Ireland (CNS) he Sisters of Mercy are taking legal action against an Irish television station after a pro gram alleged members of the order assisted in ritu al sexual assault on a child in their care during the 1960s. The nuns are suing TV3 in the High Court under the 1988 Radio and Television Act on the grounds that the program’s producers failed in their statutory duties to be fair and objective. “The program essentially consists of one person making outrageous claims against members of the congre gation, some living, some dead,” said the order’s provincial, Sister Helena O’Donoghue. Pius XII defender decries commis sion’s report on Vatican’s role Rome (CNS) vocal defender of Pope Pius XII criticized a Catholic-Jewish commission’s report about the Vatican’s role during World War II, saying it posed “leading and loaded questions” while over looking obvious answers. Jesuit Father Peter Thursday, November 16, 2000 Gumpel, the relator for Pope Pius XII’s sainthood cause, said the commission’s request for wider access to Vatican archives was a pointless exercise stemming from “patent ignorance” of already pub lished materials. He spoke in an interview November 8. The “preliminary report” prepared by three Catholic and three Jewish scholars was based on a study of 11 volumes of published Vatican documents. Christian leaders in Jerusalem CALL FOR END TO VIOLENCE Jerusalem (CNS) he heads of the 13 Christian churches of Jerusalem called for an end to the current cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence. In a statement released in English November 10, they said that they looked with “extreme pain and sadness” on all the deaths and injuries the violence has incurred. “The church believes that it is the right as much as the duty of an occupied people to struggle against injustice in order to gain their freedom, although it also believes that nonviolent means of struggle remains stronger and far more efficient,” said the Christian leaders. Armenian Orthodox leader PRAISES POPE’S RETURN OF RELIC Vatican City (CNS) R eceiving a relic of his church’s patron saint from Pope John Paul II, the patriarch of the Armenian Oriental Orthodox Church said the return of the relic is a symbol of ecumenical progress. “In restoring this relic to the Armenians, the Catholic Church bears witness to the brother hood between our two ancient churches,” said Catholicos Karekin II of Etchmiadzin, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Pope John Paul told Catholicos Karekin during a November 9 evening meeting, “Let our prayer together be that the com munion which we are experiencing today will open new ways to peace and reconciliation between us.” Pope names Puerto Rican AUXILIARY TO HEAD DIOCESE Vatican City (CNS) ope John Paul II has named Auxiliary Bishop Ricardo Surinach Carreras of Ponce, Puerto Rico, to be the new head of the diocese. The nomi nation was announced at the Vatican November 10, along with news of the pope’s acceptance of the resignation of Ponce Bishop Juan Torres Oliver, who reached the retirement age of 75 in October. Bishop Surinach, 72, was bom in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and attended the seminary in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. To Subscribe Send this in to your parish, together with your check for $15, made out to the parish. 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