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The Southern Cross, Page 2 Irish nun killed, 13 injured in ATTACK AT ST. LUCIA CATHEDRAL Washington (CNS) A ttackers killed an Irish nun and set worship pers and the presiding priest ablaze at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Castries, St. Lucia. The December 31 attack came at Communion during a 6 a.m. Mass. Monsignor Patrick Anthony, information officer for the Archdiocese of Castries, said in a telephone inter view January 2 that the attackers poured gasoline on worshippers and set them ablaze with torches placed on top of wooden staffs they were carrying. Police said worshippers seized one of the suspects, 20-year-old Kim John, and held him until police came, and the next day the other suspect, 34-year- old Francis Phillip, was captured in the suburb of Pave. Austin Bishop McCarthy resigns; COADJUTOR TO HEAD DIOCESE Washington (CNS) P ope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of Bishop John E. McCarthy of Austin, Texas. His coadjutor, Bishop Gregory M. Aymond, auto matically becomes head of the Austin Diocese. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States, announced the resignation January 2 in Washington. Bishop McCarthy, 70, has headed the Austin Diocese since 1985. Bishop Aymond, 51, a native of New Orleans and a former auxiliary bishop there, has been coadjutor bishop of Austin since last June. Bishop Aymond said that during Bishop McCarthy’s 15-year tenure, “The church in central Texas has grown enormously, ... not only in terms of new parishes and buildings, but also with a strong, positive spirit of spirituality and evangelization, and in relationships with other denominations and religions.” Priest killed in Philippines by suspected Muslim rebels Rome (CNS) S uspected Muslim rebels shot and killed a priest on the southern Philippine island of Jolo. News agencies reported that Oblate Father Benjamin Inocencio, the 42-year-old chancellor of the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo, was gunned down December 28 near Jolo town’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral. The Oblate headquarters in Rome confirmed Father Inocencio’s murder. UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, reported that one sniper shot Father Inocencio as he was sitting in a jeep, en route to buy Christmas gifts for a December 29 apostolic 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 Hojpscotcih vicariate staff party. Other news agencies said more than one gunman was involved. Three people were injured in the attack, including Father Inocencio’s driver. Russian Orthodox patriarch URGES RESOLUTION OF TENSIONS Washington (CNS) R ussian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II, reiterat ing his objections to a visit to Russia by Pope John Paul II, said Catholic-Orthodox tensions should be resolved so the churches can work together to benefit humanity. “Between the two churches there are still seripus problems that have arisen for reasons that are not at all the fault of Orthodox Christians,” the patriarch told the Russi an news agency Interfax. In his late-December interview, picked up by other news services, the patriarch said Eastern-rite Catholics are threatening the existence of Orthodox communities in Western Ukraine and that throughout the former Soviet Union Catholics use “the guise of social work” to try to win converts from the Orthodox Church. Vatican signs accord to adopt EURO AS OFFICIAL CURRENCY Vatican City (CNS) T he Vatican signed an agreement with Italy enabling the microstate to adopt the euro, the joint European currency, as its official currency and to mint its own euro coins. Archbishop Jean- Louis Tauran, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, signed the monetary accord with Italy’s foreign minister December 29. “This is an act con firming the Vatican’s decision to promote, also through monetary union, a Europe of solidarity,” Archbishop Tauran said. Under the accord, Italy will mint a limited number of euros on the Vati can’s behalf, as it has done in the past for Vatican lira coins. Congressional leaders, chaplain TO PRESENT POPE WITH GOLD MEDAL Rome (CNS) M ore than a dozen members of the U.S. Congress and the chaplain of the House of Representatives will present Pope John Paul II with the Congressional Gold Medal January 8 at the Vatican. The delegation will be led by Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., speaker of the House, and by Sen. Sam D. Brownback, R-Kan., Senate spon sor of the bill. It will include Republicans and Democrats, according to the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. Father Daniel P. Coughlin, the first Catholic appointed House chaplain, was scheduled to join the delegation flying to Italy aboard a U.S. Thursday, January 4, 2001 military aircraft. The House of Representatives approved the awarding of the medal to the pope in May, and the Senate followed suit in early July. President Bill Clinton signed the measure July 27. New York archbishop unharmed AFTER ATTEMPTED HANDCUFFING New York (CNS) A rchbishop Edward M. Egan of New York was unharmed after a man with a history of mental problems tried to handcuff the archbishop during the distribution of Communion at the 10:15 a.m. Mass on New Year’s Day. Timothy Byrne, 38, of Hoboken, N.J., was wrestled to the floor of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral after the handcuff attempt by two cathedral ushers who are also New York City police officers, police said, and shackled with his own cuffs. Byrne was charged with attempted unlawful imprisonment, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, disrupting a religious service, harassment and resisting arrest, and arraigned January 2. Bishops given report on dialogue WITH SCIENTISTS ON CLONING Washington (CNS) I n a dialogue on cloning, bishops and scientists found significant areas of common ground despite major differences in their approach to the issues, said a committee report sent to the U.S. Catholic bishops in December. It said dialogue par ticipants agreed that “the cloning of animals and of human genes and somatic cells—except from embryos—for research purposes is morally neu tral.” They differed on the cloning of human embryos for research. “Nearly all the scientist par ticipants support such work,” the report said, while the bishops held that “because the embryo is a human being, research that harms or destroys it is impermissible.” Name Address Phone (_ Parish ;;.V; The Southern Cross (USPS 505 680) Publisher: Most Rev. J. Kevin Boland, D.D. ^eMBs^ Director of Communications: /+'\ Mrs. Barbara D. King : cpa j yj? Editor: '*fss & Rev. 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 Deadline: All material for publication on Thursday must be received at the latest by noon on the previous Friday. 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