News

Gaza priest: Death of young parishioner is loss to whole community

Kevin Clarke — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:58:25 -0800

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- The death of a 21-year-old member of Holy Family Parish in Gaza is a loss to the entire Gazan community, said the parish pastor.

"His mother is weeping like a slave," said Msgr. Manuel Musallam, noting that the youth's parents, Manerza and Salameh Sabbah, are dedicated members of the parish.

Finance must serve 'great slice' of society, says Vatican's UN nuncio

Kevin Clarke — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:57:15 -0800

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- Put the reeling global economy on a moral footing and give more financial trust to those who are not rich and their faith-based allies, said the Vatican's representative to the United Nations.

Bishop warns activist to stay clear or face arrest, sanctions

Kevin Clarke — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:54:02 -0800

PORTLAND, Maine (CNS) -- The bishop of Portland has warned an advocate for abuse victims to stay away from him and the cathedral or risk being arrested and losing the right to participate in the church's sacraments.

Bishop Richard J. Malone said in an article posted on the diocesan Web site that after years of harassment by Paul Kendrick, he felt it necessary to seek the assistance and protection of the Portland Police Department, and as bishop to caution Kendrick about possible ecclesial repercussions.

Pope calls for Gaza peace talks, deplores violence in Congo

Kevin Clarke — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:34:14 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As fighting continued in the Gaza Strip, Pope Benedict XVI urged Israelis and Palestinians to end the violent, armed clashes and start peace talks.

"Hatred and the rejection of dialogue bring nothing but war," he said after reciting the Angelus January 6 with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"Today I would like to encourage the initiatives and efforts of all those who, having a heart of peace, are trying to help Israelis and Palestinians agree to sit down together and talk," he said.

Missionaries of Charity say they'll stay in Gaza with women, children

Kevin Clarke — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:32:12 -0800

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Despite the bombings and Israeli ground-force incursion into the Gaza Strip, the six Missionaries of Charity working in Gaza City say life has some normalcy and they plan to remain.

But for other Gazans, life has changed dramatically since Israeli airstrikes began Dec. 27 in an effort to stop Palestinian militants from launching rockets into Israel's southern region. Since then, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed. Israel also launched a ground invasion Jan. 3.

Migrant farmworkers come and go daily to Arizona fields

Kevin Clarke — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:29:48 -0800

YUMA, Ariz. (CNS) -- In the wee hours of the morning, in the chilly darkness, they head for work.

Starting as early as 1 or 2 am, they walk or catch rides to the border and cross—often a time-consuming ordeal—and then climb into buses that carry them to the produce fields, where they labor all day, returning home after dark.

The next day, they do it all over again.

U.S. Jews, Muslims need new playbook

Kevin Clarke — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:54:36 -0800

A special commentary from Eboo Patel, courtesy of Newsweek's On Faith blog. Patel was interviewed in the July 2008 issue of U.S. Catholic: "Have faith in our youth."

U.S. couple in Israel using tub to protect kids against Hamas missiles

Kevin Clarke — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:47:24 -0800

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Americans Robin and Matthew Umberger, both 32, have been putting their three children to sleep each night in the bathtub of their home in Beersheba, Israel, to protect them against incoming Palestinian missiles.

As the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip expanded, the militant Islamic group Hamas' resolve to hit Israeli targets continued and expanded, and for the first time Beersheba, Israel's fourth-largest city, became a target for incoming rockets, mortars and missiles.

Gaza priest's message at Mass for peace: 'We cry and nobody hears us'

Kevin Clarke — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:42:55 -0800

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- The pastor of the Catholic parish in Gaza City described Gaza as "drowning in blood" as hospitals overflowed with patients.

As casualties rise in Gaza, pope makes new appeal for peace

Kevin Clarke — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:41:40 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As Israel continued its ground and air assault on Gaza, Pope Benedict XVI renewed his appeal for an immediate end to hostilities and offered prayers for the numerous victims.

"The dramatic news arriving from Gaza demonstrates how the refusal of dialogue can lead to situations of untold suffering for populations that are once again the victims of hatred and war," the pope said at his noon blessing at the Vatican Jan. 4.

100-day campaign will remind Obama of pledge to close Guantanamo

Kevin Clarke — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:39:26 -0800

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Closure of the military prison at the U.S. Army base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be getting renewed attention during a 100-day campaign designed to hold President-elect Barack Obama to his campaign pledge to close the compound.

USCCB urges against to stop Gaza violence

Kevin Clarke — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:36:20 -0800

WASHINGTON-Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), called on Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to urge President George W. Bush to "take immediate action to help end the escalation of violence between Hamas and Israel" in a December 30 letter. Bishop Hubbard requested that President Bush "send a high level personal representative to the region immediately to help negotiate a ceasefire and make provision for humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza."

Coalition pushes debt relief for poor countries as economic stimulus

Kevin Clarke — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:13:40 -0800

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With all that President-elect Barack Obama has facing his new administration regarding the economy, a coalition of religious, human rights and labor advocates hopes that one concern won't be relegated to the bottom of the list: debt relief for the world's poorest countries.

Father Neuhaus, First Things editor, hospitalized with cancer

Kevin Clarke — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:12:02 -0800

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Father Richard Neuhaus, founder and editor in chief of the journal First Things, has been hospitalized with "a serious cancer," the publication announced December 31.

A message sent to e-mail contacts and posted on the magazine's Web site said Father Neuhaus is in a New York hospital after being diagnosed with cancer in late November.

Violating human dignity is root of all conflict, says Vatican official

Kevin Clarke — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:10:34 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Not respecting human dignity lies at the root of all conflict, including the renewed violence in the Gaza Strip, said a top Vatican official and longtime diplomat.

Religious tensions play a minor role in fueling world conflicts; rather, countless economic and social injustices are what foment violence, said Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Church officials say Gazans urgently need humanitarian corridor

Kevin Clarke — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:46:28 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Gazans are in need of urgent medical care and a humanitarian corridor, Catholic Church officials told Vatican Radio.

"Many have lost hands or legs and need immediate care. Their situation is very difficult: They cannot go to Israel, to Egypt or to Jordan and they can't even leave their homes," Claudette Habesch, secretary-general of Caritas Jerusalem, told Vatican Radio Dec. 29. Caritas Jerusalem is the local affiliate of the Catholic umbrella group of aid agencies, Caritas Internationalis.

Caritas reports Christmas Day massacre in Congo by Ugandan rebels

Kevin Clarke — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:21:57 -0800

Caritas staff have confirmed shocking reports of a series of massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo carried out by Ugandan rebels on Christmas Day and the days following.

Caritas Internationalis, the confederation of 162 national Catholic charities, says it has received disturbing reports from the field of a killing spree carried out by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group.

Gazan Catholics in West Bank say inability to leave is mixed blessing

Kevin Clarke — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:17:44 -0800

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- For some Gazan Catholics, it was a mixed blessing being stuck in the West Bank as Israel attacked the Gaza Strip.

Several members of Gaza's Holy Family Parish, who asked not to be named, were given exit permits to spend the Christmas holiday in the West Bank with relatives days before the attack began December 27.

For those who had permits for the entire family, it is a blessing they are all together. But for the others who had family left in Gaza, it is a troublesome time.

Religious leaders urge Palestinians, Israelis to end violence in Gaza

Kevin Clarke — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:16:08 -0800

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Religious leaders in Jerusalem urged Palestinians and Israelis to "return to their senses" and end the violence that has engulfed the Gaza Strip and southern Israel.

They denounced the hostilities in Gaza and "all forms of violence and killings from all parties" and called for Jan. 4 to be marked as a day of justice and peace in "the land of peace."

Catholic journalist who blogged about fight with cancer dies at 40

Kevin Clarke — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:05:18 -0800

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic journalist Emilie M. Lemmons died Christmas Eve of complications of sarcoma cancer, but her blog and final column for The Catholic Spirit newspaper continued to inspire readers in the days following her death at the age of 40.

"Thank you for sharing your words of insight," a reader of her last column wrote on the Web site of The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, December 27, three days after Lemmons died. "So, here, even after you are gone, you will continue to touch new lives."