Copyright (c) 2010 The Georgia Bulletin http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world Catholic news happening around the world from the The Georgia Bulletin 30507 8 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/08/us-1/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has denounced a Maryland-based organization for its criticism of Catholic efforts to defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman and said it does not offer "an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching." Cardinal Francis E.... 30508 8 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/08/world-1/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Adequate food supply is a fundamental right for all people, said Pope Benedict XVI. Working to ensure proper nutrition for all means bringing dignity to human lives and should be a top priority, he said in a speech Feb. 6 welcoming Alfonso Roberto Matta Fahsen, Guatemala's... 30509 8 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/08/world-2/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite the deplorable behavior of a few priests, the Catholic Church continues to be a leading promoter of the rights of children and of their well being and education, Pope Benedict XVI said. "The harsh words of Jesus against those who would scandalize one of the... 30510 8 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/08/world-3/?s= PETIONVILLE, Haiti (CNS) -- Radio Soleil, Catholic radio in Haiti, is on the air -- broadcasting from the back of an immobilized van. Except when staffers enter the crowded compact studio in the van, all work is conducted outdoors. The van is parked in a courtyard of an office building... 30511 8 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/08/world-4/?s= PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- A pregnant Germaine Sylace struggled to get control of the two tarps, a plastic bin of nails and 100 feet of nylon rope. Nothing was going to stop her from making sure her family of five would be sleeping under something better than a couple of... 30512 8 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/08/world-5/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The heads of five Catholic agencies that work with Haitian earthquake victims have outlined steps they say the U.S. government should take to protect children left alone after the Jan. 12 earthquake. In a Feb. 4 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security Secretary Janet... 30513 8 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/08/people-1/?s= METUCHEN, N.J. (CNS) -- The sainthood cause has formally opened for Maria Esperanza Medrano de Bianchini, a Venezuelan woman believed to have seen 31 apparitions of Mary, who spread worldwide a message of family reconciliation and fraternal unity that she said Mary relayed to her. "We gather together as a... 30514 8 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/08/people-2/?s= SAN SALVADOR (CNS) -- As the 30th anniversary of the murder of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero approaches, El Salvador's bishops have agreed to write a letter to the Vatican supporting Romero's canonization. "As church, it is our great desire that Archbishop Romero be canonized as soon as possible," San Salvador... 30498 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/us-1/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In an address to the Feb. 4 National Prayer Breakfast, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recalled how her relationship with Mother Teresa began with conversations during the 1994 breakfast, when the founder of the Missionaries of Charity was keynote speaker and Clinton attended as first lady. That... 30499 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/us-2/?s= NEW YORK (CNS) -- The last surviving Catholic general hospital in New York is enmeshed in a struggle to keep its doors open and fulfill its mandate to serve the sick poor. St. Vincent's Hospital, a 160-year-old fixture of Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood, is the flagship operation of debt-burdened St.... 30500 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/us-3/?s= WATERTOWN, Mass. (CNS) -- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is back on television, 30 years after his death. Excerpts from his Emmy Award-winning television program, "Life Is Worth Living," began airing in January on CatholicTV, a national television network streaming a live feed 24 hours a day at www.CatholicTV.com. "Life Is... 30501 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/world-1/?s= SARTHE, Haiti (CNS) -- There's no high-tech telemetry unit or interior lights on the ambulance based at St. Camillus Hospital. In place of such equipment that is standard in almost every American ambulance is a crew with basic medical supplies and a desire to make sure the most seriously injured... 30502 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/world-2/?s= BERLIN, Germany (CNS) -- German church leaders have criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing Christian Democratic Union for moving away from its Christian ethos. In an interview with Germany's Rheinische Post in late January, Bishop Gerhard Muller of Regensburg said having the word "Christian" in a name should mean "something concrete."... 30503 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/world-3/?s= SAO PAULO, Brazil (CNS) -- The Brazilian bishops' conference said the government has agreed to change wording on abortion in its human rights plan. A statement from the bishops' conference said Human Rights Secretary Paulo de Tarso Vannuchi agreed to the change after an early February meeting with Auxiliary Bishop... 30504 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/world-4/?s= ROME (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Great Britain later this year, he will be greeted by lords and ladies and dignitaries of all kind, including Queen Elizabeth II and the British prime minister. There was a time, though, in 16th-century England, when a priest arriving from Rome... 30505 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/people-1/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishops who work closely with John Carr, who oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, say new claims against him and the agency are false and "totally ridiculous." Bishops William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y.; Roger P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss.; and Howard J. Hubbard of... 30506 5 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/05/people-2/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church has a positive vision of human life, marriage and family which must not be presented as a list of things the church opposes, Pope Benedict XVI told the bishops of Scotland. The church's "positive and inspiring vision of human life, the beauty of... 30488 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/us-1/?s= BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The path to the elimination of nuclear weapons will be "long and treacherous," but humanity "must walk this path with both care and courage in order to build a future free of the nuclear threat," Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien said. Speaking Feb. 3 to 200 international... 30489 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/us-2/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A new study finds Catholic students at Catholic colleges are less likely than Catholics attending public colleges to move away from the church's teachings on a variety of issues. However, on the issue of same-sex marriage in particular, newly released research from the Center for Applied Research... 30490 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/us-3/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishops who work closely with John Carr, who oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, say new claims against him and the agency are false and "totally ridiculous." Bishops William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and Roger P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss., spoke with Catholic News... 30491 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/us-4/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) --- The pain suffered by Haitian Catholics from the Jan. 12 earthquake resonates with the members of hundreds of U.S. churches that have twinning or sister-parish relationships with Haitian parishes. Parishes that have raised money and donated supplies to their sister communities in Haiti are scrambling to raise... 30492 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/us-5/?s= ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) -- It will take a few courageous people to get the ball rolling on a new needle-exchange program instituted by Catholic Charities of the Albany Diocese, according to the agency's AIDS Services director. Just one intravenous drug user entered the white, unmarked van parked in an Albany... 30493 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/world-1/?s= LONDON (CNS) -- The excessive sedation of dying patients should be avoided because it denies them the opportunity of a "good death," said a draft document issued by the Catholic bishops of England and Wales. The document, "A Practical Guide to the Spiritual Care of the Dying Person," said it... 30494 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/world-2/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said he hopes the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, will bring more than gold to everyone involved in the event. Sports can contribute to "peaceful understanding between peoples and to establishing the new civilization of love," the pope said in a... 30495 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/world-3/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Conversion to Christ gives people the strength to break the bonds of selfishness and work for justice in the world, Pope Benedict XVI said in his message for Lent 2010. "The Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies where all receive what is necessary... 30496 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/world-4/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices. Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said... 30497 4 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/04/people-1/?s= SAN JUAN, Texas (CNS) -- Parents, grandparents and other relatives must spend time with young people, "giving them the good counsel that comes from a life of familiarity with the Gospel," the new bishop of Brownsville told the congregation at his Feb. 2 installation Mass. "Parents and grandparents, uncles and... 30457 3 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/03/us-1/?s= TUCSON, Ariz. (CNS) -- The University of Notre Dame and the Diocese of Tucson have agreed to designate three parish schools in Tucson as the nation's first Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education Academy Schools. Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas and Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education officials announced the plan... 30458 3 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/03/us-2/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- St. Damien of Molokai is a hero in his native Belgium and in the United States -- which has adopted him as its newest saint -- because of his heroic service to those with Hansen's disease in Hawaii in the late 1800s. He was honored with a... 30459 3 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/03/world-1/?s= PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Not much remains of St. Gerard Church, located on a steep hill in Port-au-Prince, but Redemptorist Father Abellard Thomas says it's his parish, and he wants to keep it functioning as much as possible. The church is little more than a pile of bricks and metal,... 30460 3 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/03/world-2/?s= PARIS (CNS) -- A free Catholic magazine has been launched in France in what editors describe as an attempt to "meet the great spiritual expectations" in contemporary society. "At a time when religion is more than ever relegated to the private sphere, we hope to give the Christian faith a... 30461 3 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/03/world-3/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As Vatican officials and leaders of the Oriental Orthodox churches reviewed a major document outlining agreements on key areas of faith, members of their dialogue team continued studying the way Christians expressed their unity in the first five centuries after Christ. "Until the middle of the... 30462 3 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/03/people-1/?s= ROME (CNS) -- The tragic destruction of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas is an opportunity for Haiti and the world to rebuild a nation free from poverty and prejudice and based on justice and compassion, said the president of Caritas Haiti. Bishop Pierre Andre Dumas of Anse-a-Veau et Miragoane also appealed... 30463 3 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/03/people-2/?s= WHISTLER, British Columbia (CNS) -- When Salesian Father Bernhard Maier was ordained, he had no idea that his parish would one day cover all of Austria, serving some of the highest-level athletes in Austria. Father Maier is the headmaster at Don Bosco Catholic School in a small town outside of... 30451 2 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/02/us-1/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- St. Damien of Molokai -- a hero in his native Belgium and in his adopted United States after his heroic service to those with Hansen's disease in Hawaii in the late 1800s -- was honored with a Jan. 31 Mass of thanksgiving at the Basilica of the... 30452 2 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/02/world-1/?s= PETIONVILLE, Haiti (CNS) -- Hundreds of people lined up in the center of Petionville early Feb. 1 as the U.N. food distribution system began making its way into the neighborhoods and suburbs of Port-au-Prince. Nearly three weeks after the Jan. 12 earthquake destroyed large portions of the metropolitan area and... 30453 2 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/02/world-2/?s= PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Nerlande Majeur is beginning to wonder when the help will arrive. Among an estimated 2,000 people crowded into a field on the grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in the Cite Militaire neighborhood, Majeur said no aid -- except a few dozen tents the church's... 30454 2 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/02/world-3/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholics enter religious orders or consecrate themselves as virgins because the love of God is so great that it is worth giving everything for, Pope Benedict XVI said. Adoring the Eucharist and celebrating evening prayer with religious Feb. 2, the feast of the Presentation of the... 30455 2 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/02/world-4/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Organizers of the 2011 World Youth Day celebration in Spain launched an English-language Web page offering registration information, schedules and social networks to help spread word about the event. The Web site, www.madridwyd2011.com, created by and for young people, opened its English page Jan. 29. It... 30456 2 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/02/world-5/?s= VANCOUVER, British Columbia (CNS) -- During the 2010 Winter Olympics, most ski runs on the Whistler Blackcomb venue will remain open, and Msgr. Jerry Desmond from Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church in Whistler plans to take advantage of the opportunity. An avid skier, Msgr. Desmond said he does... 30443 1 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/01/us-1/?s= SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- Closing arguments were expected around the beginning of March in the federal trial challenging the constitutionality of California's ban on same-sex marriage. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, presiding at the nonjury trial, said Jan. 27 that he will set a date for closing arguments after... 30444 1 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/01/us-2/?s= NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Retired Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans said "it would be tremendous" if his city's team, the Saints, beat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV Feb. 7 in Miami. "As a matter of fact, if it happens, the downtown parish of the city will... 30445 1 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/01/us-3/?s= WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After a year of public clashes between bishops and some Catholic colleges, U.S. Catholic university presidents were urged to forge stronger relationships with their local bishop. During his plenary address Jan. 31 at the annual meeting of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Washington, Cardinal... 30446 1 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/01/world-1/?s= PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- In what remains of St. Francis de Sales Hospital, the doctors work under a pall of death. Even as teams of foreign doctors met with Haitian staffers to develop treatment plans and organize medical supplies in late January, up to 100 bodies remained in the collapsed... 30447 1 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/01/world-2/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI marked World Leprosy Day by remembering St. Damien de Veuster, the 19th-century Belgian missionary who ministered to people with leprosy in Hawaii before dying of the disease. St. Damien, whom the pope canonized at the Vatican last October, "gave his life for his... 30448 1 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/01/world-3/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholic teaching and the truths of the Gospel have a right to be heard in public debate, especially in a country where so many people claim to be Christian, Pope Benedict XVI told the bishops of England and Wales. However, the church must recognize dissent within... 30449 1 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/01/world-4/?s= VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments is pulling together the final version of the English translation of the complete Roman Missal, the book of prayers used at Mass. The Vox Clara Committee, an international group of bishops established to advise the congregation about the... 30450 1 Feb 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/02/01/world-5/?s= PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- With words of praise to God in a melodic song that carried over the din of thousands of people, Dolce Rochelle let it be known to anyone who cared that no matter the challenge, she was doing just fine. One of an estimated 50,000 people living... 30439 29 Jan 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/01/29/us-1/?s= BETHESDA, Md. (CNS) -- When third-grader Katya Shmorhun heard her father was being deployed to Haiti on a medical mission, she didn't want him to leave, but also realized it was a great opportunity to help Haitian children who lost everything in the earthquake. She told her father, Capt. Daniel... 30440 29 Jan 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/01/29/us-2/?s= HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (CNS) -- A round-table discussion produced by Family Theater Productions will bring together professional Catholic athletes to discuss how they live out their faith in the public arena of professional sports and what challenges to family life they face. The half-hour discussion, called Faith Bowl III, will air...