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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Bishops launch new dialogue
WITH PHILOSOPHERS, THEOLOGIANS
Notre Dame, IN (CNS)
committee of bishops, scientists and theolo
gians met February 2-4 at the University of
Notre Dame to launch a dialogue on the implica
tions of modem science for Catholic theology and
philosophy. The U.S. bishops’ Committee on
Science and Human Values is working to develop
a perspective on the moral and pastoral meaning of
such fast-growing fields as brain research. The
new topic complements the committee’s earlier
dialogues—held annually since 1993—on
bioethics. The first meeting of the new track,
“Brain, Mind, Spirit,” explored the question of
human consciousness, which can have an impact
on the theology of human freedom and on the
ethics of harvesting organs from “brain-dead”
patients.
Church leaders meet Bush, share
CONCERNS ON FAITH-BASED INITIATIVE
Washington (CNS)
ishops, nuns and directors of Catholic charita
ble programs large and small met with Presi
dent Bush January 31 to hear his plans and tell him
what they want from his faith-based initiatives pro
gram. From the archbishops of New York, Denver
and Miami and the director of Catholic Relief Ser
vices to the president of a small Milwaukee high
school and the superior of a 40-member order of
nuns, dozens of leaders of Catholic institutions
expressed their interests in the initiative Bush
introduced earlier in the week and voiced their
concerns about how it will work. The session at
the Old Executive Office Building adjacent to the
White House was one of a series of meetings Bush
was holding to hear ideas and build support for his
plan to encourage charitable giving and make it
easier for faith-based institutions to get federal
funding for their social service programs.
Pope: ‘Incapacity for consent’
TO MARRIAGE MUST BE UNDERSTOOD
Vatican City (CNS)
ope John Paul II warned church marriage tri
bunals to avoid an overly loose interpretation
of a provision allowing annulments because of
either spouse’s “incapacity for consent” to a mar
riage. Speaking Feb. 1 to members of the Roman
Rota, a Vatican tribunal that handles appeals of
marriage annulment cases, the pope said a related
danger for church courts was imposing higher
standards for the validity of the marriage sacra
ment than for nonchurch marriages. The capacity
HeadMim© Hojpsco.itdh
of a person to get married is rooted in human
nature, the pope said. “No interpretation of the
norms regarding the incapacity for consent can be
correct if it in practice renders this principle use
less,” he said.
Bishops to consult with women in
TOP DIOCESAN POSTS
Washington (CNS)
The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Women in
Society and in the Church will consult with more
than 100 women who hold leadership positions in
dioceses around the country March 11-13 in
Chicago. The invitation-only consultation will have
both “an inward focus and an outward focus,” said
Sheila Garcia, assistant director of the bishops’
Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth,
who is organizing the meeting. The women, nomi
nated by their bishops, will attend workshops on
such “inward” issues as justice in the workplace,
recruitment and the implications of working with
fewer priests, but also will share their views on
“outward” topics such as evangelization of younger
women, ways to bring about unity in the church and
the impact of violence and economic injustice on
women. Ideas generated at the meeting on the latter
topics will be passed along to the appropriate com
mittees of the bishops’ conference, Garcia said.
Schools closing, consolidating in
ONE AREA OF SAGINAW DlOCESE
Saginaw, MI (CNS)
n the Diocese of Saginaw, declining enrollment,
rising educational costs and deteriorating facili
ties have prompted the closure of two Catholic ele
mentary schools and the relocation of a middle
school in the Bay City area. The changes are a
result of the consolidation of six elementary
schools into four. The plan, to take effect during
the next school year, is expected to save the school
system several hundred thousand dollars in build
ing maintenance and will increase the minimum
teaching salary. The measures are designed to
strengthen the system, make better use of the facil
ities and make Catholic education more affordable
for all parents, said Father Bill Rutkowski, vicar of
the Bay Area Catholic Schools system and pastor
of St. Stanislaus Church in Bay City.
British pro-lifers denounce over-
the-counter SALE OF PILL
Manchester, England (CNS)
ro-lifers criticized the over-the-counter sale of
morning-after pills in Britain, saying it will
increase teen-age promiscuity and abortions. The
House of Lords, Britain’s second chamber, rejected
Thursday, February 8, 2001
proposals from pro-family campaigner Baroness
Young that would have halted the sales of the pills,
which pro-lifers have condemned as abortifacients.
Sales began across the United Kingdom in early
January following a series of pilot programs during
2000 aimed at reducing unwanted teen pregnan
cies. The Society for the Protection of Unborn
Children announced its members would be distrib
uting leaflets outside pharmacies warning women
of the dangers of the drug.
NO GOOD CAN COME FROM CLONING
PLANS, PRO-LIFE OFFICIAL SAYS
Washington (CNS)
he announcement that a pair of U.S. and Italian
scientists plan to proceed with the cloning of a
human being strikes fear—and disgust—in the
heart of Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. bishops’
Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. “This is awful if
it does work,” said Doerflinger, associate director
for policy development in the pro-life office, in a
January 31 interview with Catholic News Service.
“And it’s worse that it will often fail and lead to
the destruction of a great deal of innocent life,” he
added. Panayiotis M. Zavos, professor of reproduc
tive physiology at the University of Kentucky, and
Dr. Severino Antinori, director of a Rome-based
artificial insemination clinic, announced January
25 in Lexington, Kentucky, that they planned to
begin cloning human beings for couples who have
not been able to bear children.
Theology professor removed at
Duquesne after ordination as
Episcopal priest
Pittsburgh (CNS)
uquesne University President John Murray
has relieved a theology professor of her teach
ing duties in the wake of her recent ordination as
an Episcopal priest. Moni McIntyre was relieved
of her teaching duties in the Catholic university’s
theology department in early January. Murray said
it was problematic for a Catholic who is teaching
in the department of theology to then become an
Episcopal priest. “The perception as well as the
reality, is that you now have someone who is taking
a position that is not in conformity with church
doctrine in your theology department,” Murray
said. It is possible for McIntyre, a former nun, to
teach elsewhere in the university, Murray said. She
has continued to be paid her salary since she was
relieved of her teaching duties January 8.
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