News Briefs

Catholic bishops in Taiwan asked their people to pray for the victims of Typhoon Morakot, which dumped more than 80 inches of rain on the island the second weekend in August. Workers in disaster-stricken areas were helping victims with food and shelter, and the Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference in Taiwan planned further action. • Many low-income children in the District of Columbia would continue attending the school of their choice if a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program passes in Congress. "This legislation has put the district's most at-risk children first," said Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl. • Although amendments to a House health care reform bill made some "helpful improvements" in protecting life and conscience, some "unacceptable features" remain that must be removed, said Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, the chairman of the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee at a congressional hearing on Aug. 11. • Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died Aug. 11, was "a woman of ardent faith and generous public service" in her work with the developmentally and physically disabled, said Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. •  Nearly 22,000 people packed Jobing.com Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale for an Aug. 8 festival honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe and featuring a special relic--a small piece of St. Juan Diego's famed cloak. The event was hosted by the Knights of Columbus.