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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Bishops Speyrer, Snyder resign;
OTHER BISHOPS NAMED
Washington (CNS)
P ope John Paul II has accepted the resignations
of Bishops Jude Speyrer of Lake Charles,
Louisiana, and John J. Snyder of Saint Augustine,
Florida. Auxiliary Bishop Edward K. Braxton of
Saint Louis, one of 12 active black Catholic bish
ops in the United States, was named to succeed
Bishop Speyrer in Lake Charles. No successor was
immediately named for Saint Augustine. Pope
John Paul also appointed Monsignor William F.
Malooly, vicar general of the Archdiocese of
Baltimore, as auxiliary bishop for Baltimore. The
appointments were announced in Washington
December 12 by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo,
apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop McHugh, pro-life leader,
DIES OF CANCER AT 68
Rockville Centre, NY (CNS)
B ishop James T. McHugh, who had headed the
Diocese of Rockville Centre since early
January, died of cancer December 10. He was 68.
A leader in the U.S. bishops’ pro-life efforts,
Bishop McHugh also had represented the Vatican
at international meetings and at the United Nations
on population and pro-life matters. His funeral
Mass was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. December 15 at
Saint Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, with
Cardinal Bernard F. Law of Boston as the chief
celebrant and homilist. Diagnosed with cancer in
August 1999, he died peacefully at his residence,
“surrounded by friends and family,” said Joanne C.
Novarro, director of public information for the
Rockville Centre Diocese.
Labor priest receives Pacem in
Terris Peace and Freedom Award
Davenport, Iowa (CNS)
A t 84, Monsignor George Higgins is no longer
the robust young cleric who came out of
Chicago 60 years ago to begin a ministry as
America’s “labor priest.” Though he is frail and
stooped, with hearing and sight problems, he still
has the strong, confident voice and keen mind that
he focused faithfully on the condition and needs of
ordinary working people in this country and
around the world. On December 3, Monsignor
Higgins received the 2000 Pacem in Terris Peace
and Freedom Award given by the Diocese of
Davenport and a consortium of area institutions to
people prominent in the work for justice and
peace. Davenport Bishop William E. Franklin pre
sented the award during an afternoon ceremony at
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Saint Ambrose University, with about 100 people
in attendance.
Mixed reaction greets call for
REPEAL OF ‘ANTI-CATHOLIC’ ACT
Manchester, England (CNS)
C atholics have given a mixed reaction to calls
from The Guardian newspaper for changes to
Britain’s 1701 Act of Settlement, which enshrines
anti-Catholic sentiment into British law. The law
requires that all future monarchs must be in com
munion with the Church of England—and forbids
them from marrying “papists.” Launching its cam
paign December 6, the newspaper said the act was
outdated and could be in breach of Britain’s obli
gations under European human rights law. But the
paper’s call was not universally welcomed by
Catholics. A spokesman for Archbishop Cormac
Murphy-0’Connor of Westminster told the paper:
“Changing the Act of Settlement would raise wider
constitutional issues that would need careful
thought and wide consultation.” John Wilkins, edi
tor of The Tablet, a London-based Catholic weekly
magazine, said in an interview with The Guardian
published December 7: “There is a clear infringe
ment of religious liberty. I think the act is a real
anachronism and frankly insulting.”
Catechists must be in harmony
WITH CHURCH TEACHING, POPE SAYS
Vatican City (CNS)
T o fulfill their mission in the Catholic Church,
catechists must live their faith and must pres
ent the faith to others in complete harmony with
official church teaching, Pope John Paul II said. “It
is not enough to have an intellectual knowledge of
Christ and his Gospel,” the pope said December 10
during a Mass concluding the two-day Jubilee for
Catechists and Religion Teachers. “To believe in
him means to follow him,” the pope told the 7,500
jubilee participants and thousands of others gath
ered for the Mass in Saint Peter’s Square.
Pope recognizes election of new
Melkite patriarch
Vatican City (CNS)
P ope John Paul II formally recognized the elec
tion of Melkite Archbishop Loutfi Laham of
Jerusalem as the new Melkite patriarch of Antioch,
Alexandria, Jerusalem and All the East. The new
patriarch, elected November 29 by the Melkite
synod, has taken the name Gregoire III. Upon his
election, Patriarch Gregoire sent a formal request
to Pope John Paul asking for “ecclesiastical com
munion,” a recognition of his election as head of
an Eastern Church in union with Rome. Pope John
Thursday, December 14, 2000
Paul accepted the patriarch’s request in a
December 5 letter, offering his prayers for Pat
riarch Gregoire’s new ministry, the Vatican said
December 9.
Vatican official meets Patriarch
Alexei II in Moscow, says agency
Vatican City (CNS)
A head of Pope John Paul II’s 2001 trip to
Ukraine, a senior Vatican official met with the
Orthodox patriarch of Moscow, said the Russian
news agency Itar-Tass. It reported that Cardinal
Roger Etchegaray, president of the Vatican’s
jubilee committee, and Patriarch Alexei II held
talks in Moscow December 8 at the cardinal’s
request. While neither party commented on the
meeting, the agency surmised that Catholic-Ortho
dox relations were on the agenda. On December
11, Cardinal Etchegaray and the Vatican press
office also declined to comment, or to confirm the
meeting.
Clinton delays federal execu
tion of Garza for six months
Washington (CNS)
I n a case watched closely by Catholic and other
death penalty opponents, President Clinton post
poned for six months what would have been the
first federal execution in 37 years. His decision
December 7 came just five days before Juan Raul
Garza, 44, was scheduled to be put to death by
lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute,
Indiana. Clinton said although he believes the
death penalty is appropriate for some crimes, he
thinks the Justice Department needs more time to
analyze information about racial and geographic
disparities in the Federal death penalty system.
Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic
LEADERS MEET ON EPISCOPAL
AUTHORITY
Arlington, VA (CNS)
E piscopal authority is a gift received through
God’s grace and should not be confused with
power, agreed the six bishops who took part in the
December 1-2 Lutheran-Anglican-Roman Catholic
conference in Arlington. “The all-too-commonly
accepted concept of authority as power is inade
quate,” said Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of
Mobile, Alabama, in one of his keynote addresses
to the gathering, known as LARC. “It is important
to see authority in a bishop, at least ideally, as a
gift coming from God through Christ leading an
individual to follow Christ more securely so that in
the end he or she is brought back to the Father
completely,” he said.
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