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The Southern Cross, Page 2
Pope says Vatican will pray
October 11 for victims of
TERRORISM
Vatican City (CNS)
P ope John Paul II said the Vatican is
joining in a prayer day October 11,
one month after a deadly wave of terror
ist hijackings in the United States. The
pope made the comments October 4 to
about 250 participants at a Synod of
Bishops, shortly after meeting in a pri
vate audience with former U.S. President
George H. W. Bush. The pope said he
had assured the elder Bush that “the en
tire synod assembly was feeling and liv
ing the suffering of the American people”
and that “October 11 will be a day of
prayer not only in the United States but
in the synod, too.” Officials announced
that Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New
York, synod recording secretary, would
return to his city to celebrate a memorial
Mass October 11.
Iran’s president phones pope
TO DISCUSS DIALOGUE
Vatican City (CNS)
I ran's President Mohammad Khatami
telephoned Pope John Paul II to dis
cuss the importance of Christian-Muslim
dialogue in bringing peace to the world.
Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, a Va
tican spokesman, said the Iranian leader
wanted to discuss with the pope the inter
national tensions following the Septem
ber 11 terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington. “In the course of the discus
sion, the importance and necessity of dia
logue as an instrument of collaboration
for building a world of peace and justice
was underlined,” the spokesman said.
At synod, bishops say church
NEEDS STRONG TEACHERS
Vatican City (CNS)
I n an age marked by skepticism, fear
and confusion, the Catholic Church
needs strong teachers on a universal level
and in dioceses, said members of the
Synod of Bishops. Belgian Cardinal
Godfried Danneels of Mechelen-Brussels
was one of several bishops Out. 8 to urge
his colleagues to be strong teachers of the
faith, but he also called for greater
Vatican recognition of the authority of
bishops on the local level and within the
synod. "We need both a strong pope and
a strong episfcopal college," he said. "We
have nothing to gain by promoting one to
the detriment of the other." The local
bishop "is not simply a moderator who
passes on teaching," the cardinal said; he
must announce the truth and make sure it
is accepted.
Thursday, October 11, 2001
Savannah Diocesan Council of Catholic
Women members who attended the
National C.C.W. convention: (front row)
Carmen Pulliam (president), Claire Kemp-
ton (Atlanta Province director), Jan
Schrum, Lucile Ussery; (back row) Rosalie
Sugrue, Eileen Morris, and Gail Johnson
(Savannah deanery president).
Lindy Boggs receives NCCW
Distinguished Service Award
Nashville, TN (CNS)
F ormer ambassador to the Vatican
Corinne “Lindy” Boggs, this year’s
recipient of the National Council of Ca
tholic Women’s Distinguished Service
Award, linked memories of service and of
conflict during her address at the group’s
September 27-30 convention in Nash
ville. “I had expected to just talk about a
great many things about my experiences,
but in the light of the present circumstan
ces (the September 11 terrorist attacks), I
feel obliged to go back to 1941,” Boggs
said. “We were a generation of people
who were the children of war veterans,
and we were mostly interested in peace
and understanding. We were very appre
hensive about military activities and so
on,” she said, comparing the currently
emerging crisis to the times surrounding
the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Wichita Bishop resigns;
COADJUTOR SUCCEEDS HIM
Washington (CNS)
P ope John Paul II has accepted the res
ignation of Bishop Eugene J. Gerber
of Wichita, Kansas. Coadjutor Bishop
Thomas J. Olmsted automatically suc
ceeds Bishop Gerber as head of the Wi
chita see. The announcement was made
in Washington October 4 by Archbishop
Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the
United States. Bishop Gerber, 70, had
been head of the Wichita Diocese since
1983. Bishop Olmsted was appointed co
adjutor bishop in 1999. Bishop Olmsted,
54, is a member of the U.S. bishops’
Committee on Consecrated Life and their
Committee on Priestly Formation. Bishop
Gerber also led the Diocese of Dodge
City, Kansas, from 1976 to 1982.
Irish government to hold
REFERENDUM ON ABORTION
Dublin (CNS)
T he Irish government announced it
will conduct a referendum proposing
to close a loophole in Irish law that
allows abortion in cases where a mother
threatens suicide. The referendum would
be on a proposed constitutional amend
ment that would outlaw abortion in most
cases but would allow it to protect the
life of the mother. The amendment would
not affect women’s ability to travel
abroad to procure abortions, but it would
redefine the legal definition of abortion
so that it does not include the morning-
after pill and intrauterine devices. If
approved by the Irish electorate, the
amendment would take effect only if spe
cific legislation, the Protection of Human
Life in Pregnancy Bill, were enacted
within 180 days of the referendum
vote—otherwise the amendment in its
entirety would be nullified.
Pope beatifies seven
Vatican City (CNS)
I n a liturgy that celebrated saintliness
around the world, Pope John Paul II
beatified seven people, including Sister
Emilie Tavernier Gamelin, the Canadian
founder of a religious order dedicated to
serving the sick and the poor. Others
beatified during the October 7 Mass
included two martyrs: Ignatius Maloyan,
an Armenian archbishop killed by Turks
in the early 1900s and Nicholas Gross, a
German journalist executed by the Nazis
in 1945. The non-martyrs beatified were
Sacred Heart Sister Eugenia Picco;
Father Tommaso Maria Fusco; Father
Alfonso Maria Fusco and Mercy Sister
Maria Euthymia Uffing.
Bishops question if church
GOVERNANCE REFLECTS COUNCIL
Vatican City (CNS)
A s more participants in a synod of the
world’s bishops took the micro
phone, a growing number questioned
whether modem church governance
achieves a co-responsibility model they
said was envisioned by the Second
Vatican Council. Several criticized the
functioning of the synod, saying it fell
short of the council’s definition as a
“privileged instrument of effective colle :
giality.” Others supported expanding the
competency of bishops’ conferences and
reducing the authority of Vatican agen
cies in local churches. The bishops were
among 14 who spoke October 2 during
the synod’s third session.
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