In the Jan. 16 Catholic Telegraph
Preparations are underway locally and nationally to mark the somber anniversary of Roe v Wade
An American bishop travels to Gaza to bring a message of hope and comfort to minority Christians
The debate continues on why the numbers of U.S. religious continue to decline
The Catholic world
MADRID, Spain (CNS) -- Catholic and religious leaders have denounced slogans questioning the existence of God planned for buses in Barcelona and other Spanish cities. The message, "Probably, God does not exist. Stop worrying and enjoy life," were to be placed on buses in Barcelona by Jan. 12. The advertisement campaign, organized by the Madrid Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and Atheists of Catalonia, will arrive in the capital city of Madrid by Jan. 26, Madrid Vice Mayor Manuel Cobo announced Jan. 8. Ads in Valencia, Bilbao, Zaragoza and Seville are set to follow, organizers said. In a Jan. 2 statement, Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona said that "faith is not a reason for worry, nor an obstacle to enjoy life honestly, but a solid foundation to live life with an attitude of solidarity, peace and a sense of transcendence." There have been similar ad campaigns in Great Britain and the United States.
JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Violence may seem like an easy solution to complex problems, but it is not the answer, said Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem. "Violence no matter where it comes from and whatever form it takes must be condemned," the patriarch told several hundred Catholic Palestinian children participating in the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation's fifth annual Journey to Bethlehem, in the West Bank, Jan. 11. Accompanied by bishops and church leaders of the Coordination of Episcopal Conferences in Support of the Church of the Holy Land, Patriarch Twal called on religious and political leaders to show "compassion, wisdom and mercy." Addressing the crowd, Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool, England, vice president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said the religious leaders had come not only to show solidarity with the local church but also to "pray for a greater and safer future for ... the many children that live in the Holy Land."
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) -- Meeting the priests, religious, staff and faithful of the Knoxville Diocese Jan. 12, Bishop-designate Richard F. Stika acknowledged the diocese's lengthy vacancy, created when then-Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz was named the Archbishop of Louisville, Ky., in June 2007. "I know you have waited for this moment for some time, and I pledge to you that with the help of God, I will not disappoint you," he said during a press conference at the chancery office in Knoxville. Appointed that day by Pope Benedict XVI to head the Knoxville diocese, the 51-year-old bishop-designate said he knows "bishops wear the zucchetto during Mass and (carry) the miter. That's going to take some getting used to. But I've discovered something unique and special about east Tennessee -- there's another vestment the bishop has to wear," he said. To laughter and applause, he donned a cap bearing the orange and white colors of the University of Tennessee Vols athletic teams. The new bishop will be ordained and installed at the Knoxville Convention Center March 19, the feast of St. Joseph.
Around the archdiocese
Bulletin!
Content of popular Catholic Web site out in book form
WASHINGTON (CNS) — In the 10 years since Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., began offering ministry guidance and aids on its Web site, the technology has exploded and so has the audience of the Catholic Web site, which received more than 21 million hits in the past year. The site has become so popular that a Catholic publishing house in Chicago has published some of the content in book form and sent a copy to every Catholic parish in the U.S. The book, Praying Lent: Renewing Our Lives on the Lenten Journey, is a guide for Catholics about how to celebrate an often misunderstood season. Father Alexander and Maureen Waldron — staff members of the Jesuit-run university's Collaborative Ministry Office — set up the Creighton University Web site in 1998 to provide daily reflections for the faculty and staff to help them understand the school's mission. As they added faculty and staff to their roster of daily reflection writers, they also started hearing from more people from all corners of the planet. With little technical savvy or computer training 10 years ago, Father Alexander, now 60, and Waldron, now 55, learned the ins and outs of Web-site design and maneuvering using the trial-and-error method. Over the years they have added online translations of spiritual exercises from St. Ignatius, established interactive retreats, posted Lenten recipes, installed audio downloads, provided Advent instructions for Catholics, given advice for dealing with grief and created a weekly guide for daily prayer, Father Alexander said. Loyola Press would also like to see pastors all over the U.S. use this book as an instructional guide for members of their congregation, and the company has sent every parish in the country a complimentary copy along with order deals. A second book containing information from Creighton University's online ministry site, which can be found at www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html, is planned for the near future, most likely as a guide for Advent, Halm said.
Gallup: Americans says religion's influence on the decline
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Two-thirds of Americans see religion as having a declining influence on U.S. society, mark-ing one of the lowest ratings in the five decades since the Gal-lup Poll first began asking the question. The 67 percent of U.S. adults who said "religion as a whole" was losing its influence on American life in a poll rel-eased Dec. 23 was exceeded only by the 75 percent who saw a de-clining influence in 1970, at the height of the Vietnam War, and the 69 percent who saw such a decline in 1994, during the first term of President Bill Clinton. "After a long period of doubt about the influence of religion during the Vietnam War era -- from 1965 through 1975 -- a De-cember 1976 Gallup Poll found nearly as many Americans say-ing religion was increasing in in-fluence, as disagreed (44 percent vs. 45 percent)," said a report on the survey by Lydia Saad, Gallup Poll senior editor. "This relative high point for perceptions that religion was on the rise could have been associated with the election a month earlier of Jim-my Carter as president, an avowed born-again Christian," she added. The high point for those who said religion was increasing its influence came in December 2001, three months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Wash-ington and Pennsylvania, when 71 percent of Americans saw a rise in religion's influence.
Palestinian children in the West Bank city of Jenin take part in a Jan. 13 protest against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. More than 900 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive against Hamas since it began Dec. 27. Thirteen Israelis have been killed. Israel has said its goal is to stop rockets from being fired into Israel from the Hamas-ruled territory.
CNS photo/Mohamad Torokman, Reuters
How to help in Gaza . . . .
CNEWA (Catholic Near East Welfare Association) reports that a family health clinic it supports in Gaza was bombed on Jan. 11, leaving more than 10,000 families, including 31,828 children, without care. More information on CNEWA's longtime work in the region is available at http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/mag-images/magimages-33-1/GazaJan07/GazaJan07.html. To make an immediate gift, visit www.cnewa.org or send your check by mail to CNEWA, 1011 First Avenue, New York, NY, 10022-4195, or call toll free at 1-800-442-6392. Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' overseas relief organization, is working closely with the United Nations, other international organizations and local partners to ensure a fast and efficient response to the most vulnerable families during these windows of time. CRS' office in Cairo is also monitoring the situation and is ready to respond. "We are on standby to provide relief if there are Palestinian refugees from Gaza who are allowed to come to Egypt," says Luc Picard, country representative for CRS Egypt.
CRS’ regular programs in Gaza are temporarily on hold because its staff and partners have largely been confined to their homes as a result of the fighting. Once security allows, CRS will resume programs that give impoverished women jobs, train youth in nonviolence and conflict resolution, distribute food, and provide psychosocial counseling for traumatized women and children. For more information on offering assistance, go to www.crs.org