CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: MON. AUG. 17,2009

Catholic world news: Mon. Aug. 17, 2009: headlines:
VATICAN: PAPAL APPOINTMENTS:
ASIA: INDIA CHRISTIANS ATTACKED IN KARNATAKA:
AFRICA: NIGERIA: 3, 500 SECT MEMBERS EVICTED:
AMERICA: CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OPENS GRAD SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY:
EUROPE: ENGLAND: ARCHBISHOP CALLS CATHOLICS TO PREVENT UNJUST LAWS:
AUSTRALIA: SCHOOLS FIGHT CHANGES TO LAWS ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITY:
TODAY'S SAINT: ST. HYACINTH







RENUNCIATION OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF DAEGU (KOREA)Pope Benedict XVI accepted the surrender of the pastoral Government of the Archdiocese of Daegu (Korea), presented by Mons. John Choi Young-soo, in accordance with 401 § 2 of the code of Canon law.[01206-01.01]
APPOINTMENT OF THE BISHOP OF KOTIDO (UGANDA)
The Pope has appointed Bishop of Kotido (Uganda), the Rev.do p. Giuseppe Filippi, M.C.C.J., superior provincial of the Comboni missionaries in Uganda.Rev.do p. Giuseppe Filippi, M.C.C.J.The Rev.do p. Giuseppe Filippi, M.C.C.J., 17 March 1945 and Baselga Bondone, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Trento (Italy) was born. He studied philosophy and theology at the national higher seminar of Ggaba in Uganda. He holds a diploma in pastoral and religious studies (1974-1978). He delivered the perpetual profession on 28 April 1977 and was ordained a priest on 26 June 1978.After ordering has done the following posts: 1978-1980: vocations Director of the province of the Comboni missionaries in Uganda, Assistant in the parish of Morulem, Roman Catholic Diocese of Moroto, Director and vocations promoter for the diocese; same 1980-1991: Deputy Director, spiritual director, Professor, Dean of studies and then Director of the seminar diocesan minor Moroto Nadiket; 1982: General Secretary of the Synod the Diocesan Moroto; 1990: Secretary-General of the II Diocesan Synod of Moroto; 1991-1997: Assistant General of the Comboni, Rome; 1997-1999: pastor of the parish of Morulem, Roman Catholic Diocese of Kotido; 1999-2004: master of the novitiate of the Comboni missionaries in Zambia.2004 Is provincial superior of the Comboni missionaries in Uganda.[01207-01.01]

APPOINTMENT OF VENEZUELA IN APOSTOLIC NUNCIO

The Pope has appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Venezuela Rev.do Mons. By Peter Parolin, so far Sotto-Segretario of the Chamber for relations with the States of the Secretariat of State, raising it while the holder seat of Acquapendente, with dignity of Archbishop.Rev.do Mons. Peter ParolinRev.do Mons. Peter Parolin was born in Schiavon (Vicenza) on 17 January 1955.He was ordained a priest on 27 April 1980 and was in the Diocese of Vicenza.It is graduated in Canon law.Entered into the diplomatic service of the Holy see on 1 July 1986, has paid his work at the representations Pontifical Mission in Nigeria and Mexico and at the Chamber for relations with the States of the Secretariat of State.I appointed the reports section Sotto-Segretario with the States of the Secretariat of State on 30 November 2002.In addition to the Italian knows the French, English and Spanish.[01208-01.01]

APPOINTMENT OF THE SOTTO-SEGRETARIO SECTION FOR RELATIONS WITH STATES OF THE SECRETARIAT OF STATE

The Pope has appointed Sotto-Segretario of the Chamber for relations with the States of the Secretariat of State Rev.do Mons. Ettore Balestrero, Director Nunciature at the same section for relations with States.Rev.do Mons. Ettore BalestreroRev.do Mons. Ettore Balestrero was born in Genoa on 21 December 1966.After attending the Faculty of law, is entered at the College Capranica Almo for the Diocese of Rome and was ordained a priest on 18 September 1993.It has achieved the license in theology and the PhD in Canon law.Having exercised the Pastoral Ministry at the parish Santa Maria Mater Ecclesiae to Torrino in Rome, was the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy students.Entered into the diplomatic service of the Holy see on 1 July 1996, was assigned to the Apostolic Nunciatures in Korea and Mongolia (1996-1998) and the Netherlands (1998-2001).Since 2001 lends his service at the Chamber for relations with the States of the Secretariat of State, where until now was Director of Nunciature.In addition to the Italian knows English, French, Spanish, German and Dutch.[01209-01.01]












ASIA
INDIA CHRISTIANS ATTACKED IN KARNATAKA


UCAN reports that Hindu radicals have apparently attacked a teachers’ training camp organized by a Christian group in Karnataka, southern India, the scene of waves of anti-Christian violence last year.
Protestant pastors being taken to prison after their arrest-- photo courtesy of Global Council of Indian Christians
Members of the Rama Sene (Ram’s army) and Bajrang Dal (party of the strong and stout) groups attacked the camp’s organizers and participants around midnight on Aug. 11, according to Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).
The attackers accused the Christian group of training people for religious conversions.
George told UCA News that when police were called, they sided with the Hindus, stopped the camp and detained the organizers.
The Aug. 11-14 residential camp of 50 men and 24 women at Annigere, a village in Dharwad district, was organized by Seva Bharath Mission India, a Christian service organization. The camp was to train teachers for a literacy campaign.
George said the Hindu radicals verbally abused and manhandled the women, aged 17-23.
“They created terror in the camp” and “beat up sleeping participants,” George said. “All their Bibles and mobile phones were confiscated during the attack that lasted for around 90 minutes.”
Seva Bharath Mission India, a faith-based NGO headed by an inter-denominational council, works in rural development and has been active in Karnataka’s northern region for nine years. It conducts literacy classes for adults and provides tuition for street children as well as formal educational programs.
According to GCIC sources, four pastors were seriously injured in the attack. Some later lodged a complaint at the Annigere police station. The Hindu radicals also detained camp participants, while police later arrested eight pastors who were at the camp.
George said the attackers also detained local people and pastors who visited the scene but released them later. Such detention, he said, is a serious human rights violation.
George accused Karnataka’s pro-Hindu government of conspiring with the radical groups.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people’s party) has ruled the state since May 2008. The party is considered the political arm of groups that want to establish a Hindu theocratic state in India.
The GCIC has lodged a complaint to the Karnataka governor, the federal home minister and the National Human Rights Commission over the incident.
Father Faustin Lobo, secretary of the Karnataka Regional Catholic Bishops’ Council, has condemned the incident as an “inhuman attack on humanity.” The Catholic Church is deeply pained to see recurring attacks on Christians in Karnataka, the priest told UCA News.
(SOURCE: http://www.ucanews.com/2009/08/17/christians-attacked-again-in-karnataka/

AFRICA
NIGERIA: 3, 500 SECT MEMBERS EVICTED

AllAfrica reports that the following the warning by the Niger State Government to the Federal Government of a base in Mokwa for Islamic sect, 3, 500 members of the sect most of whom are from neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon, among others, were yesterday evicted from the camp by the police. The women covered themselves with black veils, while the men were in white clothes.
It took over 1,500 combined team of armed policemen from the Niger State Command and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
THISDAY gathered that the policemen from the two commands invaded the area together with immigration officials acting on the directive from the Presidency.
The Presidency, it was also gathered, took the decision to avoid a similar problem with that of the religious crisis of the Boko Haram in some northern states which resulted into loss of lives of hundreds of Nigerians.
The combined team of Immigrations officers who were there to collate data and asertain the foreigners among them while the police searched and evacuated men, women and children from the place.
THISDAY also gathered that the team of policemen commenced the operation at about 4 am with eight lorries. The fundamentalists were relocated to Government Technical College, Mokwa for their initial camping pending government's next line of action.
Speaking in an interview, the Commissioner of Police for the Niger State Command, Mr. Mike Zuokumor, described the raid as successful without any casualty recorded on both sides.
He disclosed that the immigration officers who had already commenced the screening of the members to determine those who are Nigerians would ensure that the illegal aliens among them are repatriated.
According to him, "We have received series of report about the activities of the sect from the neighbouing communities, the local government and the emirate. Most people have been expressing apprehension concerning the activities of the group and it is our duty to ensure law and order.
"Some people have said their family members are forcefully held by the sect and wives are forcefully exchanged and that the people act without recourse to constituted authority."
He disclosed that the police would conduct its investigations and charged the people to court if needs be.
He regretted what he described as poor medical healthcare of especially the children in the camp and high mortality rate particularly as according to him; the sect is against the immunisation against the five child killer diseases.
Zuokumor also disclosed that no weapon was found on them when a house to house search was conducted, but maintained that the police had to expedite action following complaints by members of the community in which the sect reside.
The leader of the sect, Amrul Bashir Abdullahi, while speaking in an interview with THISDAY at the camp, disclosed that he had been living in the area before the police invasion since the past 17 years.
He denied the allegations that the sect never believed in Western education or Western medicine.(SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200908170647.html


AMERICA
CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OPENS GRAD SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY


CNA reports a local Catholic university is responding to one of the Church’s greatest needs by opening a graduate school of biblical theology. The new graduate school at John Paul the Great Catholic University will open in September.
Before beginning their graduate-level studies, students will first complete a series of prerequisite courses in philosophy, theology and Scripture; by January 2010, they will begin working toward a master’s in biblical theology.
"The Church teaches that the Bible needs to be the soul of theology, but in a lot of places, you can get a degree in theology and only take one or two courses in Scripture," said Michael Barber, who serves as the university’s professor of theology, Scripture and Catholic thought.
What makes the curriculum at the new school so unique, he explained, is that it will teach dogmatic, moral and liturgical theology with a "heavy scriptural emphasis" and require students to study the various books of the Bible in depth.
Founded in 2003, John Paul the Great Catholic University welcomed its first undergraduate students in September 2006 and currently offers bachelor’s degrees in communications media, business and technology. Starting this fall, it will also offer an MBA with an emphasis in entrepreneurial business.
University president Derry Connolly said there were initially no plans to establish a graduate school of theology when the university first opened. But in August 2007, a conversation with Catholic author and theologian Scott Hahn convinced him that "there’s no greater need in Catholic higher education."
Connolly said plans for the graduate school proceeded with the full awareness of Bishop Robert H. Brom and the Diocese of San Diego.
The graduate school curriculum will be "authentically Catholic" and faithful to the magisterium of the Church, Barber said.
Bishop Brom has granted Barber the mandatum, an official ecclesiastical recognition that a professor teaches in communion with the Church; the mandatum will be a requirement for all faculty members who teach theology at the school.
The program will not only prepare students for careers in "the world of academia," but it will also teach them how to make scriptural theology accessible to regular, church-going Catholics. Students will take two practicum classes, which will allow them to teach Bible studies or other parish-level courses and receive constructive criticism on their efforts.
The program has been designed so that students can work at their own pace, taking as long as needed to complete their studies and making use of independent study and other educational options.
Some students with careers and families cannot attend weekday classes, Barber said, but "we still want to work with them; we want to help them." He added that being a theologian is "a vocation" and the school wants "to assist people in finding God’s will for their lives."
Since 2006, John Paul the Great Catholic University has accomplished much, Barber said, despite having less than 100 students and being housed on a temporary campus with limited facilities.
"I think God is able to do things through our students and through this university that far surpass even our wildest expectations, and I would expect that to … continue with the graduate school of theology," he said. "Anybody who would want to discount [the university] … should recall that it was David who [slew] Goliath. And he wasn’t able to do it because he was a great military hero; he did it because he really did have that great trust in the Lord."
For more information, visit www.jpcatholic.com.
(SOURCE: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16862


EUROPE
ENGLAND: ARCHBISHOP CALLS CATHOLICS TO PREVENT UNJUST LAWS

A senior archbishop has called on Catholics to do their utmost to try to prevent the laws forbidding assisted suicide from being watered down. Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff said sick and disabled people would come under pressure to kill themselves if the law on assisted suicide was relaxed following a landmark House of Lords ruling.He said he had “serious concerns” about the implications of a demand by five Law Lords for a clarification of the law on assisted suicide. “There is a danger of subtle pressure being felt by those who are vulnerable that they are unwanted or a burden to others – those with disabilities and chronic illness especially,” said Archbishop Smith, the vice-president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and chairman of the bishops’ Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship.He said it was vital that Catholics made a full contribution to a consultation process planned for the autumn ahead of the publication of clear rules on helping people to travel abroad to kill themselves.His comments came after Debbie Purdy, 46, a multiple sclerosis sufferer from Bradford, West Yorkshire, persuaded the Law Lords to clarify whether her husband, Omar Puente, would be prosecuted under the 1961 Suicide Act if he accompanied her to the Dignitas death clinic in Switzerland. More than 100 Britons have killed themselves there but no one has been prosecuted for helping them although aiding a suicide is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.The Law Lords decided that the right to respect for private life, enshrined within Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, also covered a person’s choice to end his or her life. Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, will now have to spell out exactly how the law will be interpreted in future.The churches are vehemently opposed to the euthanasia and assisted suicide because they represent a direct violation of the divine commandment not to kill, but Archbishop Smith said the ruling raised serious public safety as well as moral issues. “From a moral perspective all are equal in dignity and the protection of the lives of citizens, especially the most vulnerable, has to remain the foundation of the law,” he said. “It is important that those of us concerned about where this guidance could lead should contribute fully to the consultation. We need to try in particular to ensure that there is no suggestion that certain classes of people have lives that are less worth living or less deserving of the full protection of the law.”He added: “In coming years our society will have a growing number of older people dependent on others. These demographic changes raise profound and complex social, economic and moral questions. As a society we urgently need to recover respect for the lives of older people and make the necessary investment in their care, including palliative care at the end of life so that no one feels impelled to seek assistance in suicide through feelings of worthlessness or fears of unbearable suffering. “It will be important that all those concerned for the common good, including the Catholic community, not only take part in the consultation on the DPP’s guidance, but also work for a change of mind and heart in our society so that our quality of care for those who are disabled, old and vulnerable is greatly improved.”The ruling by the Law Lords has been hailed as a victory for campaigners seeking to change British laws prohibiting euthanasia and assisted suicide.Some campaigners have openly supported involuntary euthanasia, with the medical ethicist Baroness Warnock stating publicly last year that she believed people who were mentally incapacitated have a “duty to die”. (SOURCE: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000614.shtml




AUSTRALIA
SCHOOLS FIGHT CHANGES TO LAWS ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Christian schools say losing their right to refuse to hire staff of a different faith would represent an erosion of religious freedoms.
Proposals have been made to the review of the exemptions under Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act to remove the rights of schools to exclude job hunters on the basis of religion.
Stephen O'Doherty, chief executive of Christian Schools Australia, said the proposed changes were an attack on religious freedoms.
"It's not just political correctness gone wrong, it is an abuse of human rights," he said.
Mr O'Doherty said he had never heard of a case in which a staff member at a religious school was discriminated against because of their lack of belief.
"Teachers are employed on the basis that they share the belief of the school community," he said.
The Association of Independent Schools Victoria, which covers schools of Muslim, Christian and Jewish denominations, warned changes to the Act could harm religious schools.
Melbourne Catholic Education director Stephen Elder said parents who chose a Catholic school expected staff to uphold the Catholic tradition.
A report on the review of the Act's exemptions is expected in October. (SOURCE: http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=15792


TODAY'S SAINT


St. Hyacinth
DOMINICAN MISSIONARY
Feast Day:
August 17
Born:
1185 at Lanka Castle, Kamin, Silesia, Poland
Died:
15 August 1257 at Krakow, Poland
Canonized:
17 April 1594 by Pope Clement VIII
Patron of:
Poland

Dominican, called the Apostle of the North, son of Eustachius Konski of the noble family of Odrowaz; born 1185 at the castle of Lanka, at Kamin, in Silesia, Poland (now Prussia); died 15 August, 1257, at Cracow. Feast, 16 Aug. A near relative of Saint Ceslaus, he made his studies at Cracow, Prague, and Bologna, and at the latter place merited the title of Doctor of Law and Divinity. On his return to Poland he was given a prebend at Sandomir. He subsequently accompanied his uncle Ivo Konski, the Bishop of Cracow, to Rome, where he met St. Dominic, and was one of the first to receive at his hands (at Santa Sabina, 1220) the habit of the newly established Order of Friars Preachers. After his novitiate he made his religious profession, and was made superior of the little band of missionaries sent to Poland to preach. On the way he was able to establish a convent of his order at Friesach in Carinthia. In Poland the new preachers were favourably received and their sermons were productive of much good. Hyacinth founded communities at Sandomir, Cracow, and at Plocko on the Vistula in Moravia. He extended his missionary work through Prussia, Pomerania, and Lithuania; then crossing the Baltic Sea he preached in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. He came into Lower or Red Russia, establishing a community at Lemberg and at Haletz on the Mester; proceeded into Muscovy, and founded a convent at Dieff, and came as far as the shores of the Black Sea. He then returned to Cracow, which he had made the centre of his operations. On the morning of 15 August he attended Matins and Mass, received the last sacraments, and died a saintly death. God glorified His servant by numberless miracles, the record of which fills many folio pages of the Acta SS., August, III, 309. He was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1594. A portion of his relics is at the Dominican church in Paris.(Edited from http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/H/sthyacinth.asp

TODAY'S GOSPEL


Matthew 19: 16 - 22
16
And behold, one came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?"
17
And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments."
18
He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
19
Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
20
The young man said to him, "All these I have observed; what do I still lack?"
21
Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
22
When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.