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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Catholic high school shooting
CALLED SHOCKING
Williamsport, PA (CNS)
A Scranton diocesan spokeswoman called the
March 7 student shooting at Bishop Neumann
High School in Williamsport a “sad and shocking”
reminder that violence can occur anywhere. An
eighth-grade girl suffered a bullet wound in the
upper arm. The alleged shooter, who was in police
custody, was also an eighth-grade girl. Maria Or-
zel, diocesan communications director, told Catho
lic News Service that Bishop James C. Timlin of
Scranton, who is a pilot, left Scranton immediately
to fly out to Williamsport, about 75 miles west.
Bishop Neumann, one of nine Catholic high
schools in the Scranton Diocese, has about 230 stu
dents in grades 7-12.
Greek Orthodox bishops approve
INVITATION TO POPE FOR VISIT
Athens, Greece (CNS)
T he Greek Orthodox Church formally approved
a government invitation to Pope John Paul II,
clearing the way for a possible papal visit. The
decision came March 7 in a unanimous vote of the
79 bishops of the church’s Holy Synod, or central
governing body, reported ANSA, an Italian news
agency. Archbishop Paul Fouad Tabet, the pope’s
diplomatic representative to Greece, welcomed the
decision as “a great historic moment” and said it
represented “a choice in favor of ecumenism and
Christian unity.” He said it was too early to specify
a date for a papal trip.
Ohio group helps Salvadoran sis
ter PARISH IN QUAKE RECOVERY
Columbus, OH City (CNS)
A delegation of Catholics from a Columbus
parish who traveled to El Salvador to help
with earthquake recovery found the experience
“very gratifying and rewarding,” said a priest who
made the trip. Father Justin Reis, pastor of Saint
Bernadette Parish in Lancaster, and seven others
from his church visited the Diocese of Sonsonate,
which was badly hit by a January 13 earthquake,
the first of three powerful temblors that left about
1,300 dead and more than 1 million people home
less. The Columbus group, led by parishioner Dr.
Fernando Valdez, went to help a sister parish, San
Juan Bautista in the city of Nahuizalco, which is
about 60 miles south of San Salvador and has a
population of 40,000. Father Reis noted that Saint
Bernadette Parish has already sent $ 19,000 to San
Juan and plans to send another $11,000.
IKteadlto© Hopscotch
Most U.S. dioceses now observe
Ascension on Sunday
Washington (CNS)
L ess than two years after they got approval to
decide province by province, most U.S. dioce
ses and archdioceses have switched to observing
the feast of the Ascension on Sunday. Dioceses in
most East Coast states, including Georgia, and
Nebraska continue to observe the feast on Thurs
day, however. Catholic News Service checked on
current practice around the country after the bish
ops of the Saint Louis province, covering the state
of Missouri, announced that Ascension will be
observed on Sunday from now on in all their
churches. Archbishop Justin F. Rigali of Saint
Louis said it is a “sad fact” that when the feast is
observed on its traditional date “many Catholics
are unable to participate in the Mass of the
Ascension.”
In L.A. VOCATIONS MARATHON, they
ALL RUN THE GOOD RACE
Los Angeles (CNS)
T he annual Run for Vocations, part of the 16th
Los Angeles Marathon March 4, aims to pro
mote religious life. Participants raise awareness for
vocations through a prayer drive. Whereas runners
usually ask for pledges—to finance a charity, for
example—those who signed up for the Run for
Vocations asked for prayers instead. This year the
run, which was started 14 years ago, drew 77
priests, nuns, brothers, seminarians and parishio
ners as participants. Frank Ebiner, a 41-year-old
member of Saint John the Baptist Parish in Bald
win Park, was the first of the 77 to cross the finish
line. He made it in 3:13:39. Ebiner and the rest fol
lowed the 26.2-mile marathon trail that took them
through the heart of downtown Los Angeles, up to
Hollywood, and back.
Southern African bishops decry
ATTEMPTS TO BLOCK CHEAP AIDS
DRUGS
Cape Town (CNS)
T he Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Confe
rence criticized a bid by pharmaceutical com
panies to stop the South African government from
making cheaper generic drugs available to people
with the AIDS virus. It is “indefensible to prevent
the provision of cheap or free anti-retroviral treat
ment and treatment for opportunistic diseases relat
ed to AIDS by insisting on patent rights,” Cardinal
Wilfrid F. Napier of Durban, president of the con
ference, said in a statement. South Africa’s medi-
Thursday, March 15, 2001
cines legislation came under the spotlight in the
Pretoria High Court March 6 as about 40 pharma
ceutical companies challenged the court to uphold
drug patents and ban the use of cheaper alterna
tives by the government.
Pope beatifies Spanish martyrs,
URGES END TO BASQUE TERRORISM
Vatican City (CNS)
P ope John Paul II beatified 233 martyrs of reli
gious persecution in 1930s Spain, entrusting to
their intercession an end to the country’s modern-
day scourge of Basque terrorism. As 30,000 mostly
Spanish pilgrims in Saint Peter’s Square interrupt
ed him with sustained applause March 11, the pope
said terrorism is “the enemy of humanity” and an
inherently losing tactic. “Terrorism is bom of hate
and in turn feeds it; it is radically unjust and in
creases the situations of injustice; and it seriously
offends against God and the dignity and rights of
persons,” he said. Basque terrorists in northern
Spain have killed some 800 people in their three-
decade campaign for a separate homeland.
Regis Philbin donates $2.75
million to Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN (CNS)
T elevision personality Regis Philbin, a 1953
University of Notre Dame graduate, has given
his alma mater $2.75 million for the creation of a
100-seat studio theater in the Marie P. DeBartolo
Center for the Performing Arts. The Regis Philbin
Studio Theater will be home for lab and perform
ance art productions in Notre Dame’s department
of film, television and theater. Philbin and his wife,
Joy, have two daughters—Jennifer, a 1996 graduate
of the university, and Joanna, a second-year student
in the Notre Dame Law School. The University of
Notre Dame also received the Corporation for
National Service’s Higher Education Award for
Leadership in National Service for its Alliance for
Catholic Education, a master’s in education pro
gram that trains young college graduates as teach
ers while also providing assistance to understaffed
Catholic elementary and secondary schools nation
wide.
On
Ave Maria
pRJerry Brehm^
Sings Cfiurcfi and CeCtic
14 of the most beautiful songs ever written. *
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