National Catholic Reporter back issues from May 2003:
Traditionalists deny rumors of reconciliation. (World).(Society of St. Pius X)
May 02, 2003; ... Rumors over Easter weekend concerning a "reconciliation" with the church of three of the four bishops ordained illicitly by traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988 and the Vatican are false, according to two of the bishops. Lefebvre's Society of St. Pius X rejects the ...
Abuse suit filed by parents of man who committed suicide. (Nation).(Richard Lukasiewicz )(Brief Article)
May 02, 2003; ... Sexual abuse suits against Southern California dioceses continued to mount at the end of April. The plaintiffs in one case are the parents of a 36 year-old man they say hanged himself last year after years of attempting to deal with abuse that occurred when he was between the ages of 11 ...
Catholic campus ministers urged to step up staffing. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 02, 2003; ... Catholic campus ministry too often has been pushed to the fringes of both the church and the university. It needs to be brought back to the center, according to campus ministers at Chicago's Northwestern University to attend their 2003 National Advancement Forum April 4. To ...
U.S. bishops ask Cuba to release dissidents. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 02, 2003; ... The U.S. bishops asked the Cuban government to release scores of dissidents arrested during a March crackdown. The arrests took place after the Cuban government accused a U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana of increasing its contacts with dissidents and offering opposition groups places to ...
Report finds crisis in education of Hispanics. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 02, 2003; ... The final report of a presidential commission examining the status of U.S. schooling for Hispanics said there currently is a "crisis in the education of Hispanic children and youth." Hispanic students are far below national averages on educational achievement, said the report by President ...
War was like a `punch' to citizens, archbishop says. (World).(Brief Article)
May 02, 2003; ... IRAQ: The war in Iraq was like a "punch" to the country's people and could lead to greater influence by extremist groups, said Latin-rite Archbishop Jean Sleiman of Baghdad, Iraq. Sleiman said it was wrong to try to impose democracy through force on a people who do not yet fully understand ...
Churches unite in effort to end female genital mutilation. (World).(Brief Article)
May 02, 2003; ... KENYA: The Kenyan bishops have joined other faith groups in forming a committee to help end the practice of female genital mutilation. The new committee, formed after a workshop on female genital mutilation in Nairobi in mid-March, represents one of the latest attempts to eradicate the ...
Peace push pervades at Easter: experts reflect on legacy of pope's stand against Iraq war. (World).
May 02, 2003; ... Fallout from the Iraq war lent an unusually political subtext to Holy Week in Rome, with fresh declarations on the conflict from Pope John Paul II, and continuing reflection on just what the legacy of his peace initiative will be. The pope rarely missed an opportunity to signal ...
Protest ordinations neglect community. (Column).(women priests)
May 02, 2003; ... At a recent Call to Action conference in Northern California I was asked about how I thought women's ordination would happen. I made my usual joke about not wanting any bishops to "lay hands" on me. More seriously, I suggested that the very lack of adequate numbers and quality of priests ...
We're not a Christian country. (Viewpoint).
May 02, 2003; ... Mark Twain was poking fun at religion with his "War Prayer." "O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the ...
A year later, sex abuse storm could bring changes. (Editorials).
May 02, 2003 ... A year ago, the country's attention was riveted on the Catholic bishops, the plight of the victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy and the plans to deal with the crisis at an upcoming meeting in Dallas. The meeting was a media madhouse, the cameras catching the bishops trying ...
Education. (Summer Listings 1).(Directory)
May 02, 2003 ... CALIFORNIA PLACE: Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA TIME: July 7-10, 2003 DESCRIPTION: LMU's "Ethics Week" features four courses available for one unit of graduate credit or for audit/enrichment. Courses include: "Contemporary Topics in ...
Graduate studies. (Summer Listings 2).(Directory)
May 02, 2003 ... CALIFORNIA PLACE: Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA TIME: May 19-June 27 and July 7-17, 2003 DESCRIPTION: Three-unit graduate theology courses in scripture, ethics, and spirituality (May 19-June 27)--"Foundations of New Testament Theology," Dr ....
The God of flesh and fingers. (Starting Point).(mothers and daughters)
May 09, 2003; ... Was there anything more comforting, more indulging than my mother's every-other-day ritual of sudsing and rinsing my hair when I was a little girl? I remember perching on a stool, my head bobbing up from a basin filled with tepid water, her hands massaging my scalp with a mixture of ...
Los Angeles priest among protesters serving jail terms. (Nation).(Fr. Christopher Ponnet)(Brief Article)
May 09, 2003; ... Catholics and others, including a priest, who engaged in civil disobedience in Los Angeles to protest the war in Iraq are now serving jail sentences. "International law is the appropriate place to resolve conflicts," said Fr. Christopher Ponnet, who began serving a 45-day jail sentence ...
Vietnamese-born priest named auxiliary for Orange, Calif. (Nation).(Dominic Dinh Mai Luong)(Brief Article)
May 09, 2003; ... A Vietnamese-born priest from New Orleans has been named auxiliary bishop of Orange, Calif. He will be the nation's second Asian-American bishop and the first of Vietnamese origin. He is to be ordained June 11 in a ceremony at St. Columban Church in Garden Grove, Calif. ...
Parishes observe Holy Week for the first time in 40 years. (World).(Vietnam)(Brief Article)
May 09, 2003; ... VIETNAM: Signaling a greater tolerance by the nation's government for religious practices, Catholics in four remote northern Vietnam parishes celebrated Holy Week and Easter liturgies for the first time in 40 years. Joseph Tran Thai Phong, head of the Vinh Quang parish council, said ...
Grief after explosion. (World).(Iraq)(Brief Article)
May 09, 2003; ... An Iraqi woman grieves as five coffins are brought Into a home in the Baghdad suburb of Zaafaraniya alter the explosion of a nearby arms dump April 26. At Mst 12 people died after rockets flew into houses over a wide ...
Catholic workers arrested at airport during protest. (World).(Shannon Airport in Ireland)(Brief Article)
May 09, 2003; ... IRELAND: Two members of the Catholic Worker movement were arrested at Shannon Airport April 18 during an antiwar protest and charged with damaging the airport's perimeter fence. As part of their protest, Jenny Hannon, 20, of Dublin, and Martin McGowan, 42, of Sligo, constructed a shrine to ...
The lost heritage of Iraq: Baghdad looting destroys archeological connections to cradle of civilization, Old Testament and early Christian history. .(Cover Story)
May 09, 2003; ... The transition from war to emerging peace in Iraq has been in some respects a disaster. Important parts of the country's heritage were plundered or destroyed in the chaos that followed the collapse of the Baathist regime in Baghdad April 9, and the destruction of cultural ...
Santorum's remarks draw both affirmation, criticism from Catholics. (Nation).(comments on homosexual acts)
May 09, 2003; ... Comments by Republican Sen. Rick Santorum linking "homosexual acts" with incest, adultery, bigamy and polygamy have divided some elements of the Republican Party,and led leading Democrats to call for Santorum to step down as chairman of the Republican Conference, one of the three highest ...
South Africa's historic commission sets model for national healing. (Column).
May 09, 2003; ... On March 21 Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he chaired ended their work of more than seven years by presenting their findings and recommendations to South African President Thabo Mbeki. This monumental development in international law has been replicated ...
A school is looted, a song of peace lingers. (Viewpoint).
May 09, 2003; ... On a recent morning, as nurses dug graves in front of the A1 Mansour Hospital, Baghdad University lay in ruins and the Red Cross warned that the city's medical system was collapsing, two musicians from this wounded city came to our hotel room. Majid Al-Ghazali and Hisham Sharaf ...
Unfortunately, Santorum, Vatican in step. (Editorials).(legal rights of homosexuals)
May 09, 2003 ... Some defenders of Sen. Rick Santorum--the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights and National Review's Kate O'Beirne among them--argue that the Pennsylvania senator's provocative comments on the legal rights of gays mirror authoritative Catholic teaching. Regrettably, ...
Neighborhood scarred by missing parents.(children of prisoners in Treme, New Orleans)
May 16, 2003 ... Parents in prison: far from an abstract problem Students attending Craig Elementary School in the New Orleans neighborhood of Treme, the site of many workshop sessions at Critical Resistance South, can look across the street every day and see the landscaped hills and paths of ...
Church rejects anti-Islam take on beatification. (World).(Capuchin priest Marco d'Aviano)
May 16, 2003; ... Despite Vatican fears of rising Islamic-Christian tension related to the Iraq war, John Paul II on April 27 beatified a 17th-century Capuchin priest famed as a preacher of crusades against the Islamic armies of the Ottoman Turks. Marco d'Aviano, known as a fiery orator, ...
Mothers, kids fare best in Sweden, worst in Niger. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 16, 2003 ... Save the Children's annual "Mothers' Index" finds that mothers and children fare best in Sweden and worst in Niger. The fourth annual index, released May 6, ranks the status of mothers' well-being in 117 countries. "The index confirms what 70 years of experience have taught ...
Encourage students' prayers for peace, activist says. (Nation).(James McGinnis)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2003 ... A peace activist urged Catholic educators April 22 to find ways both to help their students get along in the classroom and to seek peace in the world, particularly in times of war. "In dire times, we need to look to the words of the pope and other prophets" who urge peace, said James ...
Coalition launches defense fund for accused terrorists. (Nation).(American Muslim Council)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2003 ... A coalition of Muslim civil rights groups has formed a legal defense fund to help represent Muslims who are accused of having links to terrorism. The National Liberty Fund, sponsored by the American Muslim Council, will "focus its initial attention" on the case of Sami Al-Arian, a former ...
British report cites state collusion in violence. (World).(Northern Ireland)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2003 ... NORTHERN IRELAND: A report by Britain's most senior police officer revealed that the British army colluded with loyalists in Northern Ireland to murder civilians. The 3,000-page report by Sir John Stevens, metropolitan police commissioner, said senior police and military officers were ...
Legislation on homosexuality elicits varying responses. (World).(South Korea)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2003 ... SOUTH KOREA: Christian leaders in South Korea have expressed conflicting views on homosexuality after the Natural Human Rights Commission called for a youth protection act to remove exposure to homosexuality from a list of harmful situations. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea ...
Deaths.(Franciscan Sr. Dulce de Guzman and Cardinal G. Emmett Carter )(Obituary)
May 16, 2003; ... Toronto Cardinal G. Emmett Carter Helped institute reforms of Vatican II Canadian Cardinal G. Emmett Carter, former archbishop of Toronto and a participant in the Second Vatican Council, died April 6 after a brief illness. He was 91. The cardinal headed the Toronto archdiocese ...
America through European eyes: a professor traveling in Italy is startled to discover the change in the U.S. image.(Critical Essay)
May 16, 2003; ... I was watching Italian TV and seeing something I had never expected to see in Italy: a Catholic priest leading a group of antiwar protesters surrounded by banners identifying some of the activists as communists and other left-oriented party members, as well as students and pacifists. They ...
Guatemalan bishop's dream no longer deferred.(Bishop Juan Gerardi)(Cover Story)
May 16, 2003; ... When the followers of Bishop Juan Gerardi gathered April 26 with candles and songs outside the parish residence where the human rights champion was brutally murdered five years ago, the atmosphere had subtly changed in comparison to anniversaries past. Though a deep sense of loss still ...
Malpractice verdict affect abuse cases in Boston: Brooklyn diocese lifts ban on lay group; Newark prelate rebukes head of child protection office. (Church In Crisis).
May 16, 2003; ... In a case closely watched by church officials, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts threw out a $4.1 million malpractice verdict against a Boston hospital, invoking a state law that no charitable institution can be sued for more than $20,000. The Boston archdiocese has ...
Forgiveness from sin, but not pardon for crime: redemption defense in sex abuse cases is defective.(Catholic Church)
May 16, 2003; ... Various U.S. Catholic bishops have been excoriated during the past year, not only in the media but by their own laity, for having transferred sexually abusive priests from parish to parish without apparent regard for the safety of other potential victims. When sued for their ...
Two responses to Santorum ruckus: his extreme views are out of step with most U.S. Catholics.(Rick Santorum United States)
May 16, 2003; ... Georgetown theologian Chester Gillis got it half right when he told The Washington Post in April that Sen. Rick Santorum had been "listening to the bishops or maybe the pope" before his tirade against gays and lesbians. Gillis should have continued, "when it comes to the regulation of ...
Brooklyn bishop takes the time to listen. .(Thomas Daily)(Editorial)
May 16, 2003 ... Bishop Thomas Daily of Brooklyn, N.Y., provided a rare bright spot in the ongoing sex abuse crisis when he announced in an April 29 letter that he had lifted his ban on the use of church property for meetings of Voice of the Faithful. Any bishop has the right within his diocese ...
'We have not been honest with ourselves'.(the United States in Guatemala)(Editorial)
May 16, 2003 ... The travails of Guatemala may seem insignificant compared to events in Iraq and the Middle East. It is a Central American country, heavily Roman Catholic, that not many take notice of, but it has endured hideous violence at the hands of a string of vicious military rulers. The ...
Public life, public dissent: bishops seek to bring pro-choice Catholic politicians in line. (Analysis)(Cover Story).
May 23, 2003; ... Frustrated that their antiabortion message is consistently ignored by scores of their most influential and high-profile members, Catholic church leaders are sending an unmistakable message: Personally opposed but publicly supportive is simply not acceptable for elected officials who call ...
Paths differ for politicians grappling with faith's demands. (Cover Story).
May 23, 2003; ... Depression-era born and post-war New York City bred, Denis Dillon and Mario Cuomo come from the same world, though they ended up in very different places. An Irish boy from the South Bronx and an Italian kid from Queens--smart, tough, ambitious, devout. The two burst on New ...
Interfaith group urges focus on rebuilding Iraq: U.S. must draw back from unilateralism, statement says. (Nation).
May 23, 2003; ... At the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the post-Sept. 11 war in Afghanistan, many Americans turned their attention to other issues once fighting stopped. But with President Bush announcing an end to the war in Iraq, some interfaith leaders are trying to keep focus on the rebuilding of ...
Bishops' approval numbers slip among U.S. Catholics. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 23, 2003; ... The number of American Catholics who think their bishops are doing a "good job" has fallen nearly 25 percentage points in the past 18 months, according to a new poll. Fifty-nine percent of Catholics said bishops are doing a good job leading the U.S. church, but that figure is down from 84 ...
Immigrants protest unfair work conditions. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 23, 2003; ... On May 1 more than 3,000 workers and labor activists participated in the third annual May Day march and rally in downtown Los Angeles. Sponsored by the Multiethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network, the event called for a stop to immigrant bashing, detention and deportation, and amnesty ...
Rally for immigrants. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 23, 2003; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Immigrant workers and labor activists numbering more than 3,000 ...
Muslim group offers guide to Islam for police. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 23, 2003; ... In an attempt to stave off the profiling and unfair treatment of Muslims by law enforcement officials, a national Muslim group has published a booklet aiming to educate the law enforcement community about Islam. "A Law Enforcement Official's Guide to the Muslim Community" was released May ...
Embracing infinity and the light. (Columns).
May 23, 2003; ... Recently my 5-year-old nephew, Benjamin, announced, "You know what? Infinity never ends." He smiled his goofy smile. "Where did you learn that?" I asked. "My daddy told me," he said. The boy is my godson. It was Good Friday. I saw a teaching moment. "Well guess what? Jesus never ends," I ...
Resigned priests told to give God no rest. (Columns).(Brief Article)
May 23, 2003; ... I have always had a bit of trouble with that "once a priest, always a priest" cant. At first, it was simply that I could not spell "Melchizedek," which was written under the soupy drawing of a skinny, hopped-up looking priest in the old Baltimore Catechism. He was kneeling ...
A message to America's bishops: listen to Yogi. (Viewpoint).
May 23, 2003; ... American bishops probably don't read the scholarly literature in organizational science. But an issue of the distinguished journal Organizational Science titled, "Trust as an Organizing Principle," is a "must read" insofar as it describes "accumulating evidence" of the pivotal role of ...
One-issue agenda sidelines Catholics.(Bishops and politics)(Editorial)
May 23, 2003 ... It is maddening to some, and understandably so, when a bishop singles out a Catholic politician and publicly chastises the elected official by name for being pro-choice on abortion. What about war? What about the death penalty? What about the poor? Why doesn't Bishop So-and-So ...
Flawed prison system hurts us all. .(United States)(Editorial)
May 23, 2003 ... The figures are staggering. In the United States, 6.6 million people--one in every 32 U.S. residents--is in jail, on probation or on parole; 3,692 are on death row; 2 million are in U.S. prisons. That's 25 percent of the world's prison population. We have more ...
Inside NCR. (Openers).(National Catholic Reporter)
May 30, 2003; ... The themes of the debate over health care in this country echo for me like a bad dream that can't get beyond a certain point of indecision. You keep waking up in the middle of the quicksand scene that won't end. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I covered health care in several ...
Crisis in health care: 41 million have none. .(Health Beat United States)(Cover Story)
May 30, 2003; ... The United States has two health care crises--plus the freest medicine in the world for those who can afford it. The first crisis haunts the 41 million Americans who have no medical coverage at all. This, in the words of the Robert Wood Johnston Foundation's Stuart Schear, is a ...
Health Beat: NCR delves into the issues. .(National Catholic Reporter)(Cover Story)
May 30, 2003 ... The National Catholic Reporter firmly believes that access to decent health care is a social justice issue. That belief is an element of Catholic social teaching. The U.S. Catholic bishops have declared access to health care a right co-equal to the right to decent housing, education and ...
Renewed violence assures rocky start for road map to Middle East peace. (World).(terrorist bombing in Jerusalem)
May 30, 2003; ... In a part of the world where peace plans are notorious for their rocky starts, it's difficult to imagine a more harrowing opening sequence than that faced by the new road map to Middle East peace. On May 17, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his newly appointed Palestinian ...
The American-Vatican divide: abuse crisis, war on Iraq revive historical distance between divergent cultures. (Analysis).(International)
May 30, 2003; ... Although the shooting in Iraq may be over, the war of words between Rome and Washington continues, as the Vatican has once again criticized American policy in remarkably strong terms. As things turn out, the "clash of culture" most exacerbated by the Iraq war may not be between ...
Catholic Relief Services faces $16 million budget shortfall. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 30, 2003; ... A $16 million shortfall in revenue is forcing Catholic Relief Services to reduce programs and staff, the agency said. CRS offered a buyout package to its 630 employees, who have until May 30 to accept, said David Piraino, director of human resources. Baltimore-based CRS, the U.S. bishops' ...
Inhumane border policy killed migrants in trailer, bishop says. (Nation).(Brief Article)
May 30, 2003; ... A "flawed and inhumane" border policy is at fault in the May 14 deaths of 18 illegal immigrants found in a trailer in Texas, according to the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration. "It is time for our elected officials to acknowledge that the border blockade strategy our ...
Students help return salmon to Vermont river waters. (Nation).(St. Michael's School, Brattleboro)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2003; ... A project aimed at teaching seventh- and eighth-grade students at St. Michael's School in Brattleboro, Vt., about Atlantic salmon has spawned their interest in biodiversity, habitats and water quality. The students are helping to return the fish to local waters. From February to ...
Addenda.
May 30, 2003; ... CRISTO REY JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL of Chicago, which serves low-income and minority youth using a formula of rigorous coursework, an innovative work-study program and high expectations for all students, is being used as a model to create 12 new small college-preparatory high schools across the ...
Church must end 'culture of secrecy,' Brooklyn bishop says. (Nation).(Joseph M. Sullivan)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2003; ... Auxiliary Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan of Brooklyn said in a May 18 address that the church should deal with the sex abuse scandal by ending the "culture of secrecy" and giving a greater role to the laity in finances and in the selection of priests and bishops. The laity should be not only be ...
Traveling relic. (Nation).(Tilma of Tepeyac Tour United States)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2003; ... A relic of St. Juan Diego is displayed on a 17th-century statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The statue and relic, a small bit of cloth from the tilma that bears the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, will be on ...
Supreme Court to hear religious scholarship case. (Nation).(student Joshua Davey, Washington)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2003; ... The Supreme Court said May 19 it will hear the case of Washington state student Joshua Davey who lost a $1,125 state scholarship to attend Northwest College, which is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, when state officials revoked Davey's scholarship after they learned he was majoring ...
Poll shows strong ties in religious families. (Nation).(National Study of Youth and Religion, University of North Carolina)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2003; ... Teens who are members of religiously involved families are likely to have stronger family relationships than teens in families that are not religiously active, according to a report from the National Study of Youth and Religion, a four-year research project based at the University of North ...
New initiative seeks to rehabilitate child soldiers. (Nation).(United States Department of Labor is funding World Vision)(Brief Article)
May 30, 2003; ... The U.S. Department of Labor is funding a $13 million initiative through the global Christian aid agency World Vision to offer education and rehabilitation for former child soldiers. "The plight of child soldiers offends the world's sense of decency and the code of conduct of civilized ...