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NEWS BRIEFS Nov-20-2009

By Catholic News Service

U.S.

Polls assess impact of abortion on health reform debate

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As the Senate prepared to begin discussing its version of health reform legislation, two national polls were assessing the impact of abortion on the debate. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Nov. 18 found that 61 percent of Americans oppose "using public funds for abortion when the woman cannot afford it," while only 37 percent support it. In response to another question, 51 percent said "women covered by private health insurance plans that are paid for by private individuals or employers" with no federal funds involved should "pay the complete costs of that abortion out of their own pockets," while 45 percent said the private health insurance plan "should cover some or all of the costs of an abortion." A separate survey released Nov. 19 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found 3 percent of those surveyed cited abortion as a reason for their opposition to health reform proposals currently before Congress. The top responses, at 27 percent each, were that it would be too expensive and it would increase government involvement in health care.

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Bipartisan support key to proposed expansion of low-power radio

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A bill that would reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission to grant licenses to low-power FM radio stations and implement recommendations from an FCC report on low-power FM service has gained bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. The Local Community Radio Act cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee Oct. 15 and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation debated the bill Nov. 19, accepted three amendments to the legislation and passed it on a voice vote. The U.S. Catholic bishops have long supported low-power radio. Many Catholic organizations, from dioceses to parish-based groups, have applied for low-power licenses. Low-power radio's growth has been stymied for much of the decade because of broadcaster concerns that the signals of low-power stations would interfere with their own signals. But a $2.2 million study mandated by Congress showed that interference would be negligible. Some members of Congress who had sided with the broadcasters nine years ago in calling for the study now are Local Community Radio Act co-sponsors. Religious broadcasters could use low-power FM to air the material they choose. Civic and community groups could broadcast public-service programming.

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U.S. bishops gather at national shrine in Washington for jubilee Mass

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception -- the largest Catholic church in the United States and one of the largest Catholic churches in the world -- is celebrating its 50th anniversary but it is still a work in progress, as are the people who worship there, said a West Virginia bishop who was once the shrine's rector. "Even as it still looks to the construction of this major dome over us this evening and countless other physical projects to make this an ever more beautiful building, these stones would speak about how this church and every church in Christendom is a 'work in progress,'" said Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va. "As faithful as we try to be and are, we are not perfect," he added, which is "why we come to this building to worship" and to be inspired by the Gospel. Bishop Bransfield, who was the shrine's rector for 18 years, was the homilist for an anniversary Mass Nov. 19 for the U.S. bishops, who concluded their annual four-day fall general meeting in Baltimore earlier that day.

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New McGinley professor to focus on fostering interfaith understanding

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Fordham University's new Laurence J. McGinley professor of religion and society said he hoped to devote his tenure to "seeking common ground on which we Jews and Christians and Muslims can recognize each other as men and women of faith in the Holy One." Wearing the large medallion that signifies his new position, Jesuit Father Patrick Ryan delivered his first lecture as McGinley professor Nov. 18. He follows in the footsteps of Cardinal Avery Dulles, who held the chair from its creation in 1988 until his death in December 2008. The priest said the similarities and differences in Jewish, Christian and Muslim understandings of faith offer hope for a future of mutual understanding. "For Christians the expression of their faith has often entailed the elaboration of creeds, organized statements of the content of faith or beliefs," he said. "But liturgy, sacred music, mysticism, asceticism and heroic charity have also played important roles as expressions of faith within the cumulative tradition of Christianity." He said theology is more central to Christian faith than it is to Jews and Muslims and that Christians often misunderstand "the cumulative traditions and law-centered lives of observant Jews and Muslims."

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Panel on faith in a secular age launches major philosophy project

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A major research project studying faith in a secular age was launched at The Catholic University of America Nov. 19 with a forum featuring Templeton Prize winner Charles Taylor and Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George discussing the challenges posed by the topic. In introducing the program, Oblate Father George F. McLean, president of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy and director of Catholic University's Center for the Study of Culture and Values, said there's international and interfaith scholarly interest in the 15-month research project on the meaning of faith and the challenges and opportunities of evolving human awareness. The "Faith in a Secular Age" research project will involve scholars from around the United States. So far, two teams have been established with particular topics on which to focus. Jesuit Father John Haughey of Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center will lead a team studying the interior search for meaning. William Barbieri, professor in Catholic University's School of Theology and Religious Studies, will lead a team looking at the role of belief in the sociopolitical order of the global society.

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WORLD

Glass half full: Anglican leader, Vatican official assess ecumenism

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, said the ecumenical situation really is that of a "glass half full," and he held his water glass up to emphasize the point. In the wake of Pope Benedict XVI's special provisions for Anglicans who want to leave Archbishop Williams' flock and join the Roman Catholic Church, his assessment of Catholic-Anglican relations seemed to surprise some people in the audience when he spoke in Rome Nov. 19. But people seemed less surprised when his remarks about what the next steps in ecumenical dialogue should be included several blunt challenges to the Catholic leadership and its theologians. Anglicans and Roman Catholics really need to ask themselves if the doctrines and practices still dividing them are anywhere near as important as the essential dogmas they share, he said. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, also spoke Nov. 19 and affirmed the Catholic Church's commitment to continuing the search for full unity. "Ecumenism has a future, not because we want it, but because Jesus Christ wants it and because his spirit helps us in our commitment," he said.

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Some South Korean Catholic priests become Anglican so they can marry

SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) -- The Catholic Church in South Korea has lost four priests to the Anglicans in recent years, with marriage cited as the most important reason. "They want to marry and at the same time serve as pastors," Anglican Father Peter Lee Kyong-nae, a former Catholic seminarian, told the Asian church news agency UCA News. Two more Catholic priests are currently preparing to become Anglican priests, he added. While the buzz in the Catholic Church around the world concerns Pope Benedict XVI's decision to make it easier for Anglicans to become Catholics, in Korea there is some movement in the opposite direction. "The priests made an honest and courageous decision to leave the Catholic Church in order to build a family, and they gave up all the privileges they enjoyed in the Catholic Church," Father Lee said. Father Abraham Kim Gwang-joon, secretary-general of the provincial office of the Anglican Church of Korea, confirmed that the Catholic Church's requirement of celibacy was a major factor in the priests' decision. "There are various personal reasons, but marriage is the most important," he said.

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Pope urges support for deaf, including access to health care

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI lamented the serious lack of public programs and measures to address the needs of deaf people and a lack of even basic health care, which often can prevent hearing impairment. He spoke Nov. 20 to some 400 people attending a Vatican conference addressing the role of the deaf in the church. A handful of interpreters signed the pope's words to deaf participants during the audience in the Clementine Hall of the papal palace. The Nov. 19-21conference was organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry and was dedicated to "The Deaf Person in the Life of the Church." The pope said it is impossible to forget "the grave situation in which (the deaf) still live today in developing countries, both for the lack of adequate policies and legislation and for the difficulty in gaining access to basic health care." Deafness "is often the consequence of easily preventable diseases," he added. The pope also lamented the ongoing prejudice and discrimination against the deaf, calling it "deplorable and unjustifiable."

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Canadian bishop joins others seeking dialogue over refugee treatment

OTTAWA (CNS) -- The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has joined other faith leaders in requesting a dialogue with the prime minister over the treatment of refugees. "We know that you are concerned about the current state of Canada's refugee determination system, and we share your concern," said the Nov. 12 letter sent on the letterhead of the Anglican Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. "However, references by representatives of your government to 'bogus' refugee claimants undermine Canada's obligations to refugee protection and question the credibility of refugees fleeing persecution and seeking to have their rights recognized within the border of Canada," the letter said. "They also foster hostility toward refugees and fuel xenophobia in general." Bishop Pierre Morissette of Saint-Jerome, Quebec, president of the bishops' conference, and 11 other faith leaders signed the letter. The letter stressed the churches' experience in refugee protection, sponsorship and resettlement. The leaders offered to host a dialogue or attend a meeting in the prime minister's office.

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Bishops: Britain's chief prosecutor encouraging criminal behavior

LONDON (CNS) -- The bishops of England and Wales said Britain's chief prosecutor is encouraging people to break the country's suicide laws. The bishops said Keir Starmer, director of public prosecutions, was creating categories of people whose lives would be legally considered less worthy of protection than other members of society. They said his "interim policy for prosecutors" in cases of assisted suicide stigmatized the disabled, the terminally ill, the depressed and the aged and "could encourage criminal behavior" by sending the message that it was acceptable to help such people to kill themselves. They made their remarks Nov. 20 in a submission to a public consultation on a clarification of Britain's assisted suicide law. They criticized Starmer, head of the Crown Prosecution Service -- the organization that decides if criminal charges are to proceed to trial -- for exceeding his powers by ignoring the will of Parliament, which has twice in 18 months rejected attempts to change the law on assisted suicide and euthanasia. "The inclusion in the guidance of the categories of terminal and generative illness and incurable disability as conditions that weigh against prosecution oversteps the role of the director of public prosecutions," the bishops said.

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PEOPLE

Music can bring world's voices together, Catholic jazz icon says

CINCINNATI (CNS) -- Music can be the language to help bring people together, crossing any nation's boundary and driving freedom throughout the world, said jazz icon Dave Brubeck. Fifty years after the taping of his signature tune "Take Five," the musician will be honored Dec. 6 with a lifetime achievement award from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. In 1958, Brubeck led his Dave Brubeck Quartet on a 14-country "goodwill" tour through Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. "Jazz represents freedom, freedom musically and politically," he said. He noted that his 1958 tour targeted countries such as Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq and was meant to show "how important freedom is." Brubeck, 88, became Catholic after the 1980 premier of his composition of the Catholic Mass, "To Hope! A Celebration." Brubeck's Mass has been performed throughout the world, including in Russia in 1997 and before Pope John Paul II 10 years earlier in San Francisco during the pontiff's pilgrimage to the United States. Brubeck does not draw distinctions between his work as an orchestral and chorale composer and his performances as one of the world's most foremost jazz bandleaders. Jazz and the sacred, he said, "have always been close."

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