Southern cross. (Savannah, Ga.) 1963-2021, December 21, 2000, Image 2

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The Southern Cross, Page 2 Headline Hopscotch Thursday, December 21, 2000 EEOC SAYS SOME HEALTH PLANS CAN’T EXCLUDE CONTRACEPTION Washington (CNS) n a decision that could have ramifications for Catholic employers throughout the country, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled December 13 that it is against the law for some health plans to exclude coverage of contraception. Employers “may not discriminate in their health insurance plan by denying benefits for prescription contraceptives when they provide benefits for comparable drugs and devices,” the EEOC deci sion said. Although the decision applies directly only to the two unnamed women—both registered nurses—who filed suit with the EEOC against their employer, it could have an effect on efforts in California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia and elsewhere to mandate coverage of contracep tion by all health insurers in those jurisdictions. CCHD makes $550,000 grant to EMPOWER IMMIGRANTS Washington (CNS) he Catholic Campaign for Human Develop ment has announced a special $550,000 grant to help empower community groups of low-in- come immigrants. “Our Catholic social teaching instructs that we not only ‘welcome the stranger’ but help newcomers assume their full rights and responsibilities in this country,” said Father Robert J. Vitillo, CCHD executive director. He said the Immigrant Empowerment Project will help low- income immigrant groups identify and overcome barriers to full participation in their adopted coun try. It will provide financial and technical assis tance. The three-year grant will be coordinated by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, known as CLINIC, in partnership with CCHD, the U.S. Catholic Conference’s Migration and Refugee Services, Catholic Charities USA, and the Jesuit Conference and Jesuit Refugee Service/USA. U.S. BISHOPS ESTABLISH SECRETARIAT, COMMISSION FOR EVANGELIZATION Washington (CNS) he U.S. bishops have established a Secretariat for Evangelization and a Commission on Catholic Evangelization. According to a December 14 announcement from the U.S. Catholic Con ference, the secretariat will be led by Paulist Father John Hurley, current head of the bishops’ Evan gelization Office, which has been operating on an ad hoc basis. The new secretariat, whose status becomes effective January 1, was formally ap proved by the U.S. bishops during their fall gener al meeting in Washington in November. The com mission was established by the bishops’ Commit tee on Evangelization. Both actions mark the 25th anniversary of Pope Paul Vi’s apostolic exhorta tion Evangelii Nuntiandi (“On Evangelization in the Modem World”), issued December 8, 1975. Protesters demonstrate near Vatican as Haider gives pope tree Vatican City (CNS) rotests threatened to overshadow the sparkling lights of the Vatican’s Christmas tree when it was presented by a controversial right-wing Aust rian politician. As Jorg Haider sat in Saint Peter’s Square December 16 with Vatican officials beneath the 89-foot fir, clashes between police and demon strators three blocks away left more than 50 people injured. Together with a 250-member delegation from the region, Haider, governor of Austria’s Carinthia province, which offered the tree, met ear lier in the day with Pope John Paul II. The Vatican downplayed the event, pointing out that the tree’s donation was arranged well before Haider was elected as Carinthia’s governor. The Vatican also said the audience was not of a political nature. Indian priest survives being STABBED 14 TIMES Panaji, India (CNS) Catholic priest survived an attack by two men who stabbed him 14 times in Port Blair, the capital of the Indian territory of Andaman and Ni cobar. Pilar Father John Peter, 33, was recuperating at a hospital in Port Blair, said Father Walter Fernandes, vicar general of Port Blair Diocese. Father Fernandes spoke to UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, by tele phone December 16. Port Blair Diocese covers the federally ruled union territory of Andaman and Nicobar that comprises some 350 islands in the Bay of Bengal. Father Peter “has several cuts all over the body and a very bad bmise at the throat, after he was strangulated. Now he can breath more comfortably,” Father Fernandes said. Father Peter is assistant at the cathedral parish in Port Blair and chaplain of the Tamil Catholic community. Italian prosecutors ask prison SENTENCE FOR NAPLES CARDINAL Naples (CNS) talian prosecutors requested a three-year prison sentence for the archbishop of Naples, on trial for alleged complicity in a loan-sharking operation and appropriation of church funds. Cardinal Michele Giordano stands accused of ftmneling more than $500,000 to a usury ring run by his brother and embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from archdiocesan bank accounts. He repeatedly has protested his innocence. He is the first cardinal ever to stand trial on criminal charges in Italy. Following the prosecution’s sentencing request December 16, the cardinal’s lawyers were to have two days to present a defense on the merits of the accusations. The court planned to issue a judgment December 22. “I expected it,” Cardinal Giordano said of the prosecution’s request. Speaking to reporters after Mass in a Naples parish December 17, he said he trusted in Italy’s justice system “with the confidence of him who knows his own innocence.” Maryland bishops seek help to END DEATH PENALTY Baltimore (CNS) aryland’s Catholic bishops reaffirmed their strong opposition to the death penalty in a December 13 statement calling on Gov. Parris N. Glendening to commute death sentences. They also called for public prosecutors not to seek such sen tences and for lawmakers to enact legislation that will lead to its abolition in the state. And, in what is considered to be the most definitive explanation of their position on the issue they have made to date, the bishops urged Catholics in Maryland to associate themselves with legislative and other actions that will lead to the elimination of capital punishment. Ukrainian Cardinal Lubachivsky DIES OF PNEUMONIA AT 86 Lviv, Ukraine(CNS) ardinal Myroslav I. Lubachivsky, who led the Ukrainian Catholic Church in exile and later re-established the church in Ukraine, died December 14 at the age of 86. The cardinal, who had been weak and suffering for years from severe rheumatism, died of pneumonia at his residence at Saint George’s Cathedral in Lviv. His death leaves the College of Cardinals with 141 members, 97 of whom are under age 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Ukrainian Catholic bishops from around the world were to gather at the Lviv cathedral for Cardinal Lubachiv- sky’s funeral the morning of December 20 and were to begin a synod that evening to elect a new head of their patriarchate. Ambrose Agency, Inc. Rental property for truck lines and/or container operators 5 Minutes from port (912) 754-4353 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 ij OSS wisr : ’ Address Phone (_ Parish (USPS 505 680) Deadline: All material for publication on Thursday Publisher: must be received at the latest by noon Most Rev. J. Kevin Boland, D.D. on the previous Friday. Director of Communications: ”T"\ Mrs. Barbara D. King Editor: 'fess ^ R ev . Douglas K. Clark, S.T.L. Editorial and Business Office: Catholic Pastoral Center 601 E. Liberty Street Savannah, GA 31401-5196 (912) 238-2320 FAX: (912) 238-2339 E-mail: DCIark5735@aol.com or Southerncross@ix.netcom.com Internet Home Page: http://www.diosav.org POSTMASTER: Send Change of Address to circulation office: Chalker Publishing Southern Cross Subscription Department P. O. Box 948 Waynesboro, GA 30830 Subscription Price: $ 15 per year Periodicals Postage Paid at Waynesboro, GA 30830 Published weekly except the second and last weeks in June, July and August and the last week in December. At 601 E. 6 th Street Waynesboro, GA 30830