US Bishops Praise Illegal Immigrant Bill

This article comes from the HeadlineBistro blog.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Bishops Support Route to Legal Citizenship

 

A bill that would help integrate immigrant children into the United States by granting them legal status made it through the House of Representatives last week. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors act, or the DREAM Act, has been a goal for some legislators for the past decade, and as it just cleared the House by a vote of 216 to 198, it awaits a vote from the Senate later this month.

“We can give them a chance to serve,” Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the lead supported of the bill, told the New York Times last Wednesday about the undocumented immigrants who would benefit from the bill. “We can put them on a road where it will be difficult but no more difficult than what they’ve gone through in their lives. Or we can say, no, wait for another day.”

If passed, the DREAM Act would give undocumented immigrants who meet certain criteria a six-year window of temporary immigration status to complete two years of college or the same amount of military service. Criteria to participate require that applicants prove that they entered the United States before they were 16 years old; prove that they have lived in the U.S. for the past five years; are between 12 and 30 years old when the bill passes; have graduated from an American high school, received a GED or are accepted into college; and be of “good moral character.” If they complete the two years of either college or military in the six-year period, they are granted permanent residency status, which would help them achieve citizenship.

People are taking their usual sides on the bill -- some deriding it as amnesty and others clearly convinced of its value for children who were brought to the U.S. by parents at a young age -- and a number of bishops are openly supporting the bill calling it the right thing to do.

Some critics of the bill see it as another amnesty measure, while others look at the long-term demographic impact of legalizing a large number of Latinos, which they say would bolster the Democratic voting base. One cable news network called the bill a nightmare for Republicans while it flashed a string of clips of young Latino men climbing a fence in the dark of night.

Nearly four of every five Americans agree that immigration reform can both secure the borders and protect the rights of immigrants, according to a Knights of Columbus/Marist College poll in July 2010.

The Catholic Church in the United States is largely Hispanic, about 39 percent, and at least 44 percent of Catholics under 10 years old are Hispanic. Also, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 71 percent of growth of the U.S. Catholic population since 1960 has been because of the increase in the overall Hispanic population.

The migration office of the United States Catholic Bishops fully supports the bill, and sees it as a way to ensure the future of “talented, intelligent, and dedicated young persons” who were brought to the United States.

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, chairman of the USCCB migration committee, wrote a letter to Congress expressing the bishops’ support of the bill. “It is important to note that these young persons entered the United States with their parents at a young age, and therefore did not enter without inspection on their own volition,” he wrote.

“We would all do the same thing in a similar situation. The United States is the only country that they know.  They have incredible talent and energy and are awaiting a chance to fully contribute their talents to our nation. We would be foolhardy to deny them that chance.”

Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph similarly wrote a letter to Senator Claire McCaskill in support of the bill. In his letter to Senator McCaskill, who should vote on the DREAM act in the coming month, Bishop Finn wrote: “Simply put, it is the right thing to do.” He noted that he and fellow bishops weren’t able to support past attempts to pass the DREAM act because they were packaged with less favorable bills that, for example, supported abortion in military hospitals, but since the act is being introduced alone, he and the other bishops are able to throw their support behind the measure.

- Brian Dowling

Analyst Dissects Vatican WikiLeaks Fallout

This article comes from the National Catholic Reporter.

----------------------------------------------------

Sex abuse crisis, Vatican PR woes figure in WikiLeaks scoops

By John L. Allen, Jr.

Secret diplomatic cables revealed this morning as part of the WikiLeaks releases confirm that while the Vatican was appalled by revelations of clerical sexual abuse in Ireland in 2009 and 2010, it was also offended by demands that the papal ambassador participate in a government-sponsored probe, seeing it as an insult to the Vatican’s sovereign immunity under international law.

 

That stance, according to the cable, came off in Ireland as “pettily procedural” while failing to confront the reality of clerical abuse, and thereby made the crisis worse.

The cables also contain critical diplomatic assessments of Pope Benedict XVI’s recent decision to create new structures to welcome disgruntled Anglicans, as well as the perceived technological illiteracy and communications ineptitude of some senior Vatican officials.

PR woes in the Vatican, according to one cable, have lowered the volume on the pope’s “moral megaphone.”

Newly disclosed cables also indicate that:

• The Vatican has expressed desire to resist the influence of Venezuelan Socialist strongman Hugo Chavez across Latin America;

• It agreed to quietly encourage countries to support the Copenhagen accord on climate change, even though the Holy See does not officially take positions on draft agreements;

• It hoped that Poland would act as a bulwark against radical secularism within the European Union, especially by “holding the line” on life and family issues;

• Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger opposed Turkey’s entry into the European Union, but as pope, Benedict XVI has taken an official neutral stance, while continuing to emphasize the importance of Europe’s Christian roots.

While the cables unveiled this morning don’t really contain any surprises about the Vatican itself, they do lift the veil on how American diplomats and their colleagues have viewed various moves by Rome in recent years.

The revelations come mostly in cables from the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See back to the State Department in Washington, often expressing information gleaned from conversations either with church sources or with other diplomats in Rome.

The cables were unveiled in the Dec. 11 issue of the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper.

One 2009 cable, titled “Sex abuse scandal strains Irish-Vatican relations, shakes up Irish church, and poses challenges for the Holy See,” reports on a conversation between Julieta Valls Noyes, the number two official at the U.S. embassy to the Vatican, and her counterparts in the Irish embassy to the Holy See.

Noyes writes that while the Vatican’s first concern was for the victims of abuse, it also felt that requests for its ambassador in Ireland to cooperate with the “Murphy Commission” probe threatened its sovereignty under international law.

The cable reports that the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, ultimately wrote to the Irish Embassy to the Holy See to insist that any requests for information should come through proper diplomatic channels.

That stance, Noyes wrote, produced backlash in Ireland: “Much of the Irish public views the Vatican protests as pettily procedural and failing to confront the real issue of horrific abuse and cover-up by Church officials,” she wrote.

As the Irish situation developed in late 2009 and early 2010, Noyes went on to say, “the normally cautious Vatican moved with uncharacteristic speed to address the internal church crisis,” pointing to a meeting between Pope Benedict and Irish bishops in February 2010, but she also says that contacts both in Ireland and the Vatican expect the crisis “to be protracted over several years.”

In another 2009 cable, Noyes describes a conversation with Francis Campbell, the ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Holy See, about the pope’s decision to create new structures, called “personal ordinariates,” to welcome traditionalist Anglicans upset with liberalizing moves such as the ordination of women and openly gay bishops, and the blessing of same-sex unions.

The move put the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in an “impossible situation,” according to Campbell, and potentially constituted “the worst crisis in 150 years” in Anglican-Catholic relations.

According to Noyes’ description of the conversation, Campbell warned that the move could unleash latent anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom, and even provoke acts of violence in isolated cases.

The cable from the U.S. diplomats expressed doubt about “whether the damage to inter-Christian relations was worth it,” especially, it said, “since the number of disaffected Anglicans that will convert is likely to be a trickle rather than a wave.”

Another cable from January 2009 from Noyes, written in the wake of a global controversy provoked by Pope Benedict’s decision to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist Catholic bishops, including one who is a Holocaust denier, said the case revealed a serious “communications gap” in the Vatican.

That gap, according to the cable, leads to “muddled, reactive messaging that reduces the volume of the moral megaphone the Vatican uses to advance its objectives.”

The Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, is the only senior papal aide to use a Blackberry, according to the cable, and most senior Vatican officials don’t even use e-mail accounts.

Because senior Vatican officials typically do not understand the nature of modern communications, the cable asserted, they often speak in “coded” language impossible for the outside world to decipher. Noyes cited an example from the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, who said he had been given a letter from the Vatican which supposedly contained a positive message for his country, but it was “so veiled he missed it, even when told it was there.”

Part of the communications problem, the cable asserted, is structural: Lombardi is not part of the pope’s inner circle, so he “is the deliverer, rather than a shaper, of the message,” and he is “terribly overworked.”

In the wider Catholic world, the cable added, there are communications success stories – pointing in particular to the way the Catholic group Opus Dei responded to the frenzy created by the novel and movie “The Da Vinci Code.”

In general, the cable reported there's ferment in the Vatican about the need for better communications strategies, but little concrete sense of what to do about it.

“Our Vatican contacts seem to be talking about nothing but the need for better internal coordination on decisions and planned public messages,” it said. “But if or when change will come remains an open question.”

For the moment, it doesn't seem that today's disclosures are likely to create a diplomatic crisis, especially given that the Vatican announced preemptively that it did not want the WikiLeaks revelations to disrupt U.S./Vatican ties.

For one thing, Vatican officials realize that at least some of the critical assessments expressed in the leaked cables, especially on the PR front, are widely shared inside the Vatican itself. In addition, the Obama White House has tried to send reassuring signals to Rome, including the recent appointment of a presidential delegation to attend the Nov. 20 consistory for the creation of 24 new cardinals. It was the first time a U.S. president sent an official delegation to a consistory, and it was seen in the Vatican as a diplomatic way of expressing respect.

At mid-morning, Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, released a statement in both Italian and English on the WikiLeaks disclosures.

"Without venturing to evaluate the extreme seriousness of publishing such a large amount of secret and confidential material, and its possible consequences" the statement read, "the Holy See Press Office observes that part of the documents published recently by Wikileaks concerns reports sent to the U.S. State Department by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See."

"Naturally these reports reflect the perceptions and opinions of the people who wrote them," the statement said, "and cannot be considered as expressions of the Holy See itself, nor as exact quotations of the words of its officials. Their reliability must, then, be evaluated carefully and with great prudence, bearing this circumstance in mind."

U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Miguel Diaz likewise issued a statement, condemning the leaks "in the strongest possible terms" while declining to comment on their authenticity.

The United States and the Holy See are working together on multiple fronts, Diaz said, from fixing the global economy to human rights, climate change and interfaith dialogue, and those partnerships "will withstand this challenge."

Vatican Announces "Middle East Media Center"

This article comes from Zenit.

---------------------------------------------------

Catholic Media Center Proposed for Mideast

Plans Announced at Synod of Bishops

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 26, 2010 (Zenit.org).- A new Catholic media center in the Middle East will house two Catholic television stations, three radio stations, a newspaper and a magazine, the Vatican announced.

During the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, which concluded Sunday, the Vatican press office highlighted the project, which is a joint effort of two major Middle Eastern Catholic television networks: Tele Lumiere (TV of Light), and its satellite television counterpart, NourSat.

The future Catholic media center will be the new home of both networks as well as three radio stations, both a newspaper and a magazine, and will be the headquarters for several Internet Web sites.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on Oct. 1, 2008, in the Fatka region of Lebanon, and was attended by the Eastern Patriarchs. The new structure will be built on 27 square kilometers (approximately 10.5 square miles) of land donated by the Maronite Church.  

The proposed project will consist of three structures. The first, a large Church serving all Christian denominations, will be located in the center of the compound. A second building will accommodate all media aspects of the organization, including eight television studios, a 700-seat theater, three conference halls, six multipurpose halls, a music institute and a recording studio.

Three satellite television studios accommodating NourSat and two new channels -- Nour al-Shabab and Nour al-Shaq -- will also be located in the building. Other components of the building will be centers for both theological research and spiritual exercises, as well as facilities for employees and visitors.

A third building will provide 155 of the most technologically advanced offices in the region for the “Patriarchates, the diocese, the parishes and humanitarian institutions.”

Both Tele Lumiere and NourSat broadcast in Arabic, the language of Middle Eastern Catholics. However, in order to appeal to the growing demographic of Catholics in the region, a new project is under way to begin incorporating other languages into their broadcast spectrum. These include English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Syriac and Greek.

Both Tele Lumiere and NourSat are non-profit organizations started in the late 1990s by a group of Catholic laypeople committed to serving the Church.

Vatican Hosts Conference on Catholic Media

This article comes from the Catholic News Service.
---------------------------------------------------


Vatican meeting looks at mission of Catholic press

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Budget crunches, the availability of free information from the Internet and suspicion about the Catholic Church in the wake of the clerical sex abuse crisis have all combined to present a serious challenge to the future of the Catholic press, said speakers at a Vatican conference.

But the importance of information in Catholics' daily lives and the need for the church to communicate and to help people grow in responsibility and holiness also combine to encourage the Catholic press to find ways to stay afloat, they said.

The "difficult and painful" cases of abuse must lead "the entire believing community to a greater commitment to following the Lord and placing itself at the service of humanity with an even greater witness of life capable of demonstrating what we bear in our hearts," said Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

Archbishop Celli's office sponsored a Catholic Press Congress Oct. 4-7 to discuss the present and future role and challenges facing Catholic journalism. Representatives from 83 countries gathered at the Vatican for the congress.

The archbishop told the journalists and communications directors that the Catholic press must have a clear idea of its mission and role within the church and society, and must look at how it can help people face their worries and desires in a truly Catholic way.

"Of no less importance," he said, is "the role that the Catholic press has within the church because it can be a privileged instrument in the not easy task of promoting and nourishing an intellectual understanding of the faith."

Greg Erlandson, president of Our Sunday Visitor Publishing in the United States, told the conference that the Catholic press faces the financial pressures all newspapers are facing. But, additionally, he said, the Catholic press suffers because Catholics know less about their faith, there is "a growing distrust of institutions" and, consequently, there is "a resulting decline in Catholic identity."

At the same time, he wrote in remarks prepared for the meeting, the Internet allows Catholic media to reach different audiences in different ways at a relatively low cost.

Erlandson also said the sex abuse crisis is, or should be, forcing the church to change the way it communicates.

"Church leaders have become increasingly aware that most of their flock gets its news about its own church from the secular media and that media is often an unreliable source," he said.

He told the congress he hoped the experience would help church leaders understand the value of the Catholic press and the fact that if they allow Catholic newspapers to be "transparent and honest, they will gain in credibility over the long haul."

Amy Mitchell, vice director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, presented statistics on the decline in U.S. secular newspaper subscriptions and their plummeting advertising revenues, as well as on the fact that people are increasingly "news grazers," getting their news and information from an average of two to five media platforms each day.

In the new media environment, she said, "journalism is not a product, but a service" that gives people verified information.

By serving as a credible eyewitness and pulling together information from reliable sources, she said, journalists help people make sense of the news and empower them to act.

Even as outlets offering free information mushroom, the church -- like society in general -- needs trained journalists able to present accurate news and ask the right questions to help people understand what is going on around them, she told Catholic News Service.

Although the world of journalism has changed enormously over the past 20 years, "the principles of journalism haven't changed. The ideas of verification, authentication, of being transparent with your readers or listeners about the information you know, the information you don't know, about where you're coming from, the influences you have -- all of those remain constant," she said.

"Covering important events from the perspective of a Catholic point of view still involves solid reporting," she said, and Pew surveys have shown that people "really do understand the differences" between the various outlets they access for information. They go to different places for analysis and "sense-making," than for quick takes or entertaining debate, she said.

Michael Pruller, vice director of the Die Presse newspaper company in Austria, was a bit more optimistic about the future of printed news because, he said, "to have something printed in black and white on paper still matters."

While encouraging the Catholic press to look at new opportunities to create revenue with digital products, he said it would be stupid to kill off a Catholic paper "just because you are afraid it's dying."

Although newspapers are making less of a profit than they were 10 years ago, "it's still easier to make money in print than online," he said.

Pruller told the journalists one thing they still have going for them is "the irresistible force of curiosity," which makes people wonder what is in each issue delivered to their home. "Your job is to make your customers curious about what is in each issue," he said.

Catholic Journalists Launching African News Service

This article comes from Spero News.

----------------------------------------

Catholic journalists discuss formation of African news service

Catholic journalists gathered last week in Nairobi, Kenya, for a three-day workshop sponsored by the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). An aide from the Vatican, Father Janvier Yameogo, a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, was among those who lamented a lack of networking and synergy among initiatives in Africa.

"As a church we need to share our stories through networking," Father Yameogo stated.

In a final communiqué from the workshop, the Catholic media personnel affirmed that their expertise will be put at the service of a "Catholic Continental News Agency for Africa in order to make the authentic African voice be heard."

The group has set up working committees to bring the initiative to fruition.

Initial planning foresees that the agency's services will be free and designed primarily for the Catholic faithful, available in three primary languages: Portuguese, English and French.

A central working group of three people, including two priests, was formed, as well as regional groups. The core group has the commission of setting in place a framework of activities within 30 days.

A fundraising committee was also established.

The final communiqué states that there will be efforts to "bring the whole of Africa on board to help set up successfully the proposed agency."

US Bishops Want "New Social Contract"

This article comes from the National Catholic Reporter.

-------------------------

Labor Day: Bishops call for new "social contract"

WASHINGTON – "Workers need a new 'social contract,'" says the 2010 Labor Day statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

It compares the massive changes in today's global economy with the social upheavals of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution that led to Pope Leo XIII's famous 1891 social encyclical, Rerum Novarum, on capital and labor.

It suggests that Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, Caritas in Veritate ("Charity in Truth") offers a similar 21st-century response to the challenges of globalization, putting the life and dignity of the worker at the center of economic renewal.

The millions of long-term unemployed and underemployed mark "a pervasive failure of our economy today," it says.

Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, wrote this year's statement, which was released two weeks before Labor Day. The five-page statement is titled "A New 'Social Contract' for Today's 'New Things'" – a reference to the Latin title of the 1891 encyclical.

Murphy said many believe "that this is a crucial moment in American history in which America is undergoing a rare economic transformation, shedding jobs and testing safety nets as the nation searches for new ways to govern and grow our economy."

In the 19th century, he said, Pope Leo found the ideologies of capitalism and socialism inadequate, and instead "insisted on the value and dignity of the worker as a human being endowed with rights and responsibilities. He commended free association or unions as legitimate and he insisted on a family wage that corresponded to the needs of the worker and family. He opened the way to humanize the Industrial Revolution" through Catholic principles about the person in society.

"That encyclical provided moral, and even spiritual, guidance for many of the great social reforms of the last century, including advances in public health, the banking system, public education, living wages, unions and income security" he said.

"Then as today, the church was concerned about the balance between capital and labor, between owners and workers, when new technologies … disrupt the balance and put economic justice and the social contract up for renegotiation," he said.

He said Pope Benedict's encyclical reminds people "that a key, perhaps the key, to overcoming the current economic situation is to unleash the creative forces of men and women. People, not things, must be at the center."

He quoted from the encyclical: "Unemployment today provokes new forms of economic marginalization, and the current crisis can only make this situation worse. Being out of work or dependent on public or private assistance for a prolonged period undermines the freedom and creativity of the person and his family and social relationships. … I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity."

"Pope Benedict links three interrelated components of society in a way that offers a hint at a new way or renewed way to think about a better future," Murphy said. "They are the market, the state, and civil society."

While most of the focus in today's economy is placed on the roles of government and the market, he said, "perhaps the most undervalued and overlooked sector in this framework is that of civil society."

"Could a reawakening and new development of the roles of intermediary institutions, including voluntary associations and unions, be a force to call the market to greater understanding of the centrality of the worker?" he asked. "Could they be a means to restrain, mediate or hold accountable both the state and the marketplace?"

"Pope Benedict believes this," he said. "He suggests that the various components of civil society can work, along with those in the market and the state, to introduce elements in favor of an economy of gift and gratuitousness." 

Murphy explained that in introducing "the spirit of gift" into the equation of economic life, the pope was articulating "a Christian understanding that the world and all of creation is a gift from God" and suggesting that this "theological concept" should have a role in shaping deliberations about life in the marketplace.

He quoted from the encyclical: "Economic life undoubtedly requires contracts, in order to regulate relations of exchange between goods of equivalent value. But it also needs just laws and forms of redistribution governed by politics, and what is more, it needs works redolent of the spirit of gift."

The pope, Murphy said, regards economic life as a "multilayered phenomenon" and "believes that introducing a sense of fraternity and gift can become a humanizing and civilizing force for the common good and for greater justice and peace."

Murphy suggested that wage fairness might be a good starting point for a new social contract.

"In too many places across America, workers are not being fully paid for their labor," he said. He cited reports of factory workers whose time starts not when they arrive at work, but when the conveyor belt starts, waiters whose employers do not give them their tips, retail workers who have to clock out and then stay on to restock shelves or take inventory. 

"Families struggling to make ends meet cannot have wage earners shortchanged on overtime or not get paid for all the hours they work," he said.

A new social contract for the common good of all humanity "begins by honoring work and workers," he said.

[Jerry Filteau is NCR Washington correspondent.]

South African Bishops Challenge Proposed Media Bill

This article comes from the Catholic News Agency.

---------------------------------

South Africa's Catholic bishops voice 'grave misgivings' about proposed media restrictions

Pretoria, South Africa, Sep 1, 2010 / 01:05 am (CNA).- Media restrictions proposed with the stated intention of protecting the public good are causes for “serious concerns,” the Southern African Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has commented. Warning that the proposed law is so broad that it threatens the free press, the bishops called for its complete redrafting.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party has backed a bill which would punish reporters for “irresponsible and misleading reporting.”  It defended the proposal as necessary to protect the national interest.

The proposed law defines “national interest” to include “all matters relating to the advancement of public good,” the Christian Science Monitor reports. It also protects the trade secrets of the state including “profits, losses or expenditures of any person.”

Exposure of such secrets is punishable by jail terms of three to five years.

“In whatever we do, there is no interest on the part of the ANC to limit the freedom that all of us enjoy, including the press,” commented ANC chief spokesman Jackson Mthembu, claiming the media reaction was out of step with “ordinary people.”

According to the Monitor, South Africa President Jacob Zuma in his weekly letter to ANC members said that the media has “put itself on the pedestal of being the guardian.”

“We therefore have the right to ask, who is guarding the guardian?”

In a Tuesday statement from the SACBC, conference spokesman Cardinal Wilfrid Napier noted “serious concerns about the wisdom and the constitutionality of the Protection of Information Bill” and also of the creation of a Media Appeals Tribunal.

Aligning itself with “numerous” civil society groups and constitutional experts, the SACBC said the bill threatens the right to receive and impart information, the right to a free press and media and the right of access to information held by the state.

“Furthermore, we believe that the Bill violates the spirit of openness and accountability that is so necessary to underpin the Constitution’s provisions on good governance, essential for a healthy democracy,” Cardinal Wilfrid explained.

Among the bishops’ concerns are that unaccountable officials may classify almost any information as secret and that the definitions of national interest and national security are “so broad” they could be used to keep secret what ought to be accessible to the public.

They also charged that there is “practically no right of appeal” because any appeal would be “processed by the very people who made the original ruling.” According to the bishops, there is already an effective media ombudsman and there is merit in strengthening media self-regulation.

“We certainly do not want government to take us back to the oppressive practices of yesteryear, against which our common struggle was launched,” the SACBC commented, alluding to press restrictions under apartheid.

Acknowledging the necessity of some restriction of information, they voiced “grave misgivings” about the bill’s implementation.

“We, therefore, strongly urge government to withdraw the bill for complete redrafting to ensure … the openness and transparency required by the Constitution,” their statement concluded.

Karin Karlekar, managing editor of the Freedom of the Press report for the New York-based think tank Freedom House, told the Christian Science Monitor that the government’s proposal is “part of a broader trend” in the country and is “very worrying.”

The think tank’s annual report has downgraded South Africa to “partly free” for reasons including increasing restrictions on media and harsher rhetoric toward journalists by high-ranking government officials.

Catholic Propaganda on the Front Lines

This video comes from Rome Reports.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The Vatican and Chinese Episcopal Appointments

This article comes from Chiesa.

-----------------------------------------------------------

China.  Seven New Bishops Do Not a Summer Make

By Sandro Magister

ROME, July 26, 2010 – Twice in the span of a few days, "L'Osservatore Romano" has given extensive coverage to two new episcopal consecrations that took place in China, the first on July 10 and the second on July 15.

The texts of both new stories, because of their delicacy from a diplomatic point of view, were not composed in the newsroom but directly in the offices of the Vatican secretariat of state.

Both, in fact, demonstrate a shift in the sequence of episcopal ordinations in that country.

In recent years, episcopal ordinations in China have seen fluctuating fortunes, between openness and rigidity on the part of the communist government. In 2005, all the new bishops were ordained with the approval of both the pope and the Chinese authorities. In 2006, however, in reaction to the nomination as cardinal of Hong Kong bishop Joseph Zen Zekiun – a nomination seen as hostile by Beijing – the Chinese government resumed ordaining bishops without the pope's mandate. In 2007, the year of Benedict XVI's letter to the Catholics of China, the bishops were again consecrated with the approval of Rome. The new bishop of Beijing was also installed with the agreement of the pope.

But starting in December of 2007, everything came to a halt. For more than two years there was not a single new ordination, in spite of the fact that a very high number of dioceses in China are vacant, or headed by very elderly bishops.

The impasse was broken on April 18 of this year, when in Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia, 47-year-old priest Paul Meng Quinglu was consecrated bishop.

Since then, new ordinations have resumed at a brisk pace. And always with the approval of both Rome and the Chinese authorities.

On April 21, Joseph Shen Bin, age 40, was ordained bishop of Haimen, in the province of Jiangsu. On May 8, Joseph Cai Bingrui, age 44, was ordained bishop of Xiamen, in the province of Fujian. On June 24, Joseph Han Yingjin, age 52, was ordained bishop of Sanyuan, in the province of Shaanxi.

Moreover, on April 8, another bishop ordained in 2004 with the sole mandate of the Holy See, Matthias Du Jiang, was installed as head of the diocese of Bameng, in Inner Mongolia, with the official reco.

The Vatican made no public announcement of the four appointments and official installations listed so far here. It preferred to wait for further developments. But the news did not escape observers. The latest issue of the international magazine "30 Days," printed in Rome and required reading for both Vatican diplomats and Chinese authorities in the field, dedicated an entire article to precisely this "change of pace" in relations between the Holy See and Beijing. "30 Days" pointed out, among other things, that for the first time in the history of the People's Republic of China, one of the participants in the ordination on May 8 was a bishop from Taiwan, Joseph Cheng Tsai-fa.

For the other two episcopal nominations that took place in July, however, the Holy See provided ample publicity, evidence that it believes the new course is in a consolidation phase.

In both of these cases, the news published in "L'Osservatore Romano" specified not only that the new bishops enjoy the twofold approval of Rome and Beijing, but also that this was the condition of all of the bishops who participated in the consecration, listed one by one.

The bishop ordained on July 10 in Taizhou, in the province of Zhejiang, is Anthony Xu Jiwei, age 75. From 1960 to 1985, he spent much of his time in prison and forced labor. In recent years, he spent periods of study in South Korea and Europe. The diocese in which he assumed leadership had been vacant for 48 years.

The bishop ordained on July 15 in Yan'an, in the province of Shaanxi, is John Baptist Yang Xiaoting, age 46. His is coadjutor with right of succession to the elderly and ill bishop of the diocese. He has an unusual educational background. From 1993 to 1999, he studied in Rome, at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, receiving his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in theology. In 2002, he also received a master's in sociology of religion from the Catholic University of America in Washington. After returning to China, he founded a center for formation and research. He is dean of studies at the seminary in Xi'an, where he continues to teach. His episcopal ordination was attended by more than six thousand faithful, with 110 priests and 80 sisters.

*

At the Vatican there is a cautiously optimistic view of this batch of episcopal appointments made with the twofold approval of Rome and Beijing.

Naturally, Vatican diplomats know that new strictures on the part of China are always lying in wait. Above all, they know that this kind of solution is not at all optimal, neither for the Church nor for religious freedom in general. In the world today, it is only in Vietnam that the requirement of the state "placet" for every new bishop is suffered by the Church in obedience to written accords with the regime. There is no accord of this kind in China, and none is expected anytime soon, but it is exactly what is now happening in practice. While for the bishops still not recognized by the government, life is miserable, full of arrests and harassment. Just as the activities of the officially recognized bishops, and of their respective dioceses, is subjected to asphyxiating control.

But the prevalent impression, at the Vatican, is that the idea that prevails today among the Chinese authorities is to leave behind the religious policy of the past, which required Chinese Catholics to break off relations with Rome and join a sort of "patriotic" Church, with bishops appointed solely by the government.

In the view of Vatican diplomats, the factors that led the Chinese authorities to this change of stance are pragmatic in nature. They were illustrated early this year in "30 Days," in an interview with the influential scholar Ren Yanli, a member of the Chinese academy of social sciences and of the institute of research on world religions, who for decades has followed the affairs of the Chinese Church and relations between China and the Vatican.

After pointing out that "the faithful will never listen to pastors who are elected and consecrated autonomously, without the pope's consent," and that "the latest bishops appointed without pontifical mandate remain isolated, and no one wants to receive the Eucharist from their hands, during Mass," Ren Yanli continued:

"The government has realized that if it wants the bishops to be pastors who are esteemed and followed by the faithful, and not viewed as isolated functionaries imposed from the outside, appointment by the pope and full communion with him are indispensable elements, which cannot be omitted. This means that, in fact, the idea of imposing on the Chinese Church an independence involving separation from the pope and from the universal Church is being set aside. The process that leads to an increasingly explicit affirmation of the communion of the Chinese bishops with the pope – and of everything that this involves – is irreversible. There can be no turning back on this road."

*

But the cautious optimism of the Vatican diplomats is contrasted by the more pessimistic view of other churchmen who are closely following the evolution of the Chinese situation.

One of these is Cardinal Zen, a Salesian like Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of state and therefore head of Vatican diplomacy, but who has often found himself in disagreement with him.

The differences between Bertone and Zen are in many ways the same that divide two international media outlets that are very informed about and dedicated to the Chinese question: on one side, the magazine "30 Days," closely aligned with Vatican diplomacy, and on the other "Asia News," the online agency directed by Fr. Bernardo Cervellera of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

In a commentary for "Asia News" on July 23, released in Chinese as well, Fr. Cervellera presented the reasons that might lead one to doubt China's real willingness to open up a future of freedom for the Catholics of that country.

Not only the "clandestine" bishops, in fact, but also the bishops who have the twofold approval of Rome and Beijing are not free to exercise their ministry. In fact, the bishops have two authorities they must obey, that of the Church and that of the state: a state, however, that reserves for itself the power to decide in matters that should belong exclusively to the Church. Often, therefore, the two forms of obedience show themselves to be incompatible for reasons of faith. And those who refuse to join the Patriotic Association, the government agency that controls the Church, can pay dearly for this decision.

At the beginning of this July, the ministry for religious affairs brought dozens of bishops to Beijing for four days of indoctrination on the government's religious policies. The communist authorities are working to make one of their puppet bishops – Ma Yinling of the diocese of Kunming, one of the very few Chinese bishops who do not have the pope's recognition – the president of the two bodies with the most control over the Church, the Patriotic Association and the Council of Chinese Bishops, an imitation episcopal conference, both of which have been left vacant by the death of the two puppet bishops who headed them.

All of this is keeping the tension high between the two components of Chinese Catholicism: the "underground" communities and the officially recognized ones. The letter that Benedict XVI wrote to Chinese Catholics in 2007 to show them how to restore unity clashes with the desire of the Chinese authorities to keep these divisions alive and exploit them for their own advantage. And in fact, the papal letter is still forbidden in that country, and is circulating with difficulty.

So while at the Vatican the latest diplomatic moves are studied and every word is carefully chosen, in the "underground" Chinese communities many are complaining that they feel "forgotten" by the Church of Rome.

The Vatican rarely raises its voice to ask for the liberation of the Chinese Catholics in prison. Two "underground" bishops have not been heard from for years: James Su Zhimin, of Baoding, and Cosmas Shi Enxiang, of Yixian.

Last July 7, Jia Zhiguo, the "underground" bishop of Zhengding, was liberated after being held captive by the police for fifteen months. Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the congregation for the evangelization of peoples, wrote him a "welcome back to service" message.

Fr. Cervellera comments:

"Maybe Cardinal Dias thought that it was not yet time to also include the word 'prison' or 'isolation' to make the world understand that the bishop had not returned from a vacation, but a period of abolition of his rights."

Vatican Unveils Radio Station Plans in Israel

This article comes from Zenit.

-----------------------------------------------------------

1st Holy Land Christian Radio Station to Air Soon

Aims to Build Interreligious Bridges

JERUSALEM, JULY 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The first Christian radio station from the Holy Land will soon be on air, with the aim of becoming a bridge between people of different faiths in that region.

Father Raed Abu Sahliye, a parish priest in the small Christian community of Palestine, expressed the hope that the radio station will be "a bridge between different churches and religions."

The priest serves the parish in Taybeh, a West Bank Christian village that counts less than 1,500 inhabitants, and is identified with the Biblical town of "Ephriam," which hosted Christ before he was crucified in Jerusalem, after he raised Lazarus from the dead.

Father Sahliye expressed the hope that this radio initiative will be a "Christian voice to the Christians of the Holy Land."

He visited Rome and told Vatican Radio workers, "We need the voice of Christians in the Holy Land. [...] We need to give a voice to the Holy Land Christians."

"There are many radio and television stations in the region," the priest said, "but we do not have any one of them." 

Father Sahliye noted that he hopes the Christian radio station in the Holy Land, which will be launched in collaboration with Vatican Radio, will be up and running by Christmas Eve.

Voice for peace

"It will be a Christian voice, but it certainly will be a different kind of voice: a voice for peace and hope, dialogue and reconciliation," the priest affirmed.

He continued: "We will be open to everyone and to all the churches in the Holy Land.

"We will give space and time for news and celebrations of various churches and we will be open also to other religions: Judaism, Islam."

Father Sahliye said, "We will try to be a bridge, because the Christian who is not a bridge, is not a real Christian."

Bishop Finds Vatican Lacking on Social Teaching

This article comes from the National Catholic Reporter.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Catholic social teaching finds church leadership lacking

By Bishop Kevin Dowling

Following is a talk by Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, South Africa. Dowling told NCR in a telephone interview today that he gave the talk June 1 to a group of "influential lay Catholics" who meet periodically for lunch in Cape Town. The group, Dowling said, had asked him to speak "on how I view the current state of the church."

"In subsequent conversations, it became clear to me that the group of well-informed Catholic lay leaders wanted an analysis that would be open and very honest," Dowling said July 8. 

"Given the fact that it would be a select group with no media present, I decided I would be open and honest in my views to initiate debate and discussion."

A reporter, however, was present and what Dowling meant as an "off the record" conversation with lay leaders became local news. Dowling subsequently sent copies of his talk to his fellow South African bishops. NCR received a copy of the document and contacted Dowling to verify its authenticity. 

Dowling sent NCR an original copy of the talk and gave us permission to post it online. Following is the text of Dowling's June 1 talk to lay Catholic leaders in South Africa.

Dowling began the talk by reading an account by NCR Washington correspondent Jerry Filteau about a Latin Mass celebrated in April at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Tulsa Bishop Edward Slattery celebrated the Mass, which featured, in Filteau's words, "the cappa magna, the 20-yard-long brilliant red train behind a bishop or cardinal that has come to be one of the symbols of the revival of the Tridentine Mass. "

* * * * * * * * * *

The Southern Cross [South Africa's weekly Catholic newspaper] about 3 or 4 weeks ago published a picture of Bishop Slattery with his "cappa magna". For me, such a display of what amounts to triumphalism in a church torn apart by the sexual abuse scandal, is most unfortunate. What happened there bore the marks of a medieval royal court, not the humble, servant leadership modeled by Jesus. But it seems to me that this is also a symbol of what has been happening in the church especially since pope John Paul II became the Bishop of Rome and up till today -- and that is "restorationism," the carefully planned dismantling of the theology, ecclesiology, pastoral vision, indeed the "opening of the windows" of Vatican II -- in order to "restore" a previous, or more controllable model of church through an increasingly centralized power structure; a structure which now controls everything in the life of the church through a network of Vatican congregations led by cardinals who ensure strict compliance with what is deemed by them to be "orthodox." Those who do not comply face censure and punishment, e.g. theologians who are forbidden to teach in Catholic faculties.

Lest we do not highlight sufficiently this important fact. Vatican II was an ecumenical council, i.e., a solemn exercise of the magisterium of the church, i.e. the college of bishops gathered together with the bishop of Rome and exercising a teaching function for the whole church. In other words, its vision, its principles and the direction it gave are to be followed and implemented by all, from the pope to the peasant farmer in the fields of Honduras. 

Since Vatican II there has been no such similar exercise of teaching authority by the magisterium. Instead, a series of decrees, pronouncements and decisions which have been given various "labels" stating, for example, that they must be firmly held to with "internal assent" by the Catholic faithful, but in reality are simply the theological or pastoral interpretations or opinions of those who have power at the centre of the church. They have not been solemnly defined as belonging to the "deposit of the faith" to be believed and followed, therefore, by all Catholics, as with other solemnly proclaimed dogmas. For example, the issues of celibacy for the priesthood and the ordination of women, withdrawn even from the realm of discussion. Therefore, such pronouncements are open to scrutiny -- to discern whether they are in accord, for example, with the fundamental theological vision of Vatican II, or whether there is indeed a case to be made for a different interpretation or opinion.

When I worked internationally from my religious congregation's base in Rome from 1985 to 1990 [Dowling is a Redemptorist] before I came back here as bishop of Rustenburg, one of my responsibilities was the building up of young adult ministry with our communities in the countries of Europe where so many of the young people were alienated from the church. I developed relationships with many hundreds of sincere, searching Catholic young adults, very open to issues of injustice, poverty and misery in the world, aware of structural injustice in the political and economic systems which dominated the world, but who increasingly felt that the "official" church was not only out of touch with reality, but a counter-witness to the aspirations of thinking and aware Catholics who sought a different experience of church. In other words, an experience which enabled them to believe that the church they belonged to had something relevant to say and to witness to in the very challenging world in which they lived. Many, many of these young adults have since left the church entirely.

On the other hand, it has to be recognized that for a significant number of young Catholics, adult Catholics, priests and religious around the world, the "restorationist" model of church which has been implemented over the past 30-40 years is sought after and valued; it meets a need in them; it gives them a feeling of belonging to something with very clear parameters and guidelines for living, thus giving them a sense of security and clarity about what is truth and what is morally right or wrong, because there is a clear and strong authority structure which decides definitively on all such questions, and which they trust absolutely as being of divine origin. 

The rise of conservative groups and organizations in the church over the past 40 years and more, which attract significant numbers of adherents, has led to a phenomenon which I find difficult to deal with, viz. an inward looking church, fearful of if not antagonistic towards a secularist world with its concomitant danger of relativism especially in terms of truth and morality -- frequently referred to by pope Benedict XVI; a church which gives an impression of "retreating behind the wagons," and relying on a strong central authority to ensure unity through uniformity in belief and praxis in the face of such dangers. The fear is that without such supervision and control, and that if any freedom in decision-making is allowed, even in less important matters, this will open the door to division and a breakdown in the unity of the church.

This is all about a fundamentally different "vision" in the church and "vision" of the church. Where today can we find the great theological leaders and thinkers of the past, like Cardinal [Joseph] Frings of Cologne, Germany] and [Bernard Jan ] Alfrink [Utrecht, Netherlands] in Europe, and the great prophetic bishops whose voice and witness was a clarion call to justice, human rights and a global community of equitable sharing -- the witness of Archbishop [Oscar] Romero of El Salvador, the voices of Cardinals [Paulo Evaristo] Arns and [Aloísio Leo Arlindo ] Lorscheider, and Bishops [Dom] Helder Camara and [Pedro] Casadaliga of Brazil? Again, who in today's world "out there" even listens to, much less appreciates and allows themselves to be challenged by the leadership of the church at the present time? I think the moral authority of the church's leadership today has never been weaker. It is, therefore, important in my view that church leadership, instead of giving an impression of its power, privilege and prestige, should rather be experienced as a humble, searching ministry together with its people in order to discern the most appropriate or viable responses which can be made to complex ethical and moral questions -- a leadership, therefore, which does not presume to have all the answers all the time.

But to change focus a bit. One of the truly significant contributions of the church to the building up of a world in which people and communities can live in peace and dignity, with a quality of life which befits those made in God's image, has been the body of what has been called "Catholic Social Teaching", a compendium of which has been released during the past few years. These social teaching principles are: The Common Good, Solidarity, The Option for the Poor, Subsidiarity, The Common Destiny of Goods, The Integrity of Creation, and People-Centerdness -- all based on and flowing out of the values of the Gospel. Here we have very relevant principles and guidelines to engage with complex social, economic, cultural and political realities, especially as these affect the poorest and most vulnerable members of societies everywhere. These principles should enable us, as church, to critique constructively all socio-political-economic systems and policies - and especially from that viewpoint, viz. their effect on the poorest and most vulnerable in society. 

However, if church leadership anywhere presumes to criticize or critique socio-political-economic policies and policy makers, or governments, it must also allow itself to be critiqued in the same way in terms of its policies, its internal life, and especially its modus operandi. A democratic culture and praxis, with its focus on the participation of citizens and holding accountable those who are elected to govern, is increasingly appreciated in spite of inevitable human shortcomings. When thinking people of all persuasions look at church leadership, they raise questions about, for example, real participation of the membership in its governance and how in fact church leadership is to be held accountable, and to whom. If the church, and its leadership, professes to follow the values of the Gospel and the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, then its internal life, its methods of governing and its use of authority will be scrutinized on the basis of what we profess. Let us take one social teaching principle, vitally important for ensuring participative democracy in the socio-political domain, viz. subsidiarity.

I worked with the [South African] bishops' conference Justice and Peace Department for 17 years. After our political liberation in 1994, we discerned that political liberation in itself would have little relevance to the reality of the poor and marginalized unless it resulted in their economic emancipation. We therefore decided that a fundamental issue for post-1994 South Africa was economic justice. After a great deal of discussion at all levels we issued a Pastoral Statement in 1999, which we entitled "Economic Justice in South Africa". Its primary focus was necessarily on the economy. Among other things, it dealt with each of the Catholic Social Teaching principles, and I give a quotation now from part of its treatment of subsidiarity:

"The principle of subsidiarity protects the rights of individuals and groups in the face of the powerful, especially the state. It holds that those things which can be done or decided at a lower level of society should not be taken over by a higher level. As such, it reaffirms our right and our capacity to decide for ourselves how to organise our relationships and how to enter into agreements with others. … We can and should take steps to encourage decision-making at lower levels of the economy, and to empower the greatest number of people to participate as fully as possible in economic life." (Economic Justice in South Africa, page 14).

Applied to the church, the principle of subsidiarity requires of its leadership to actively promote and encourage participation, personal responsibility and effective engagement by everyone in terms of their particular calling and ministry in the church and world according to their opportunities and gifts.

However, I think that today we have a leadership in the church which actually undermines the very notion of subsidiarity; where the minutiae of church life and praxis "at the lower level" are subject to examination and authentication being given by the "higher level," in fact the highest level, e.g., the approval of liturgical language and texts; where one of the key Vatican II principles, collegiality in decision-making, is virtually non-existent. The eminent emeritus Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Franz König, wrote the following in 1999 -- almost 35 years after Vatican II: "In fact, however, de facto and not de jure, intentionally or unintentionally, the curial authorities working in conjunction with the pope have appropriated the tasks of the episcopal college. It is they who now carry out almost all of them" ("My Vision of the church of the Future", The Tablet, March 27, 1999, p. 434).

What compounds this, for me, is the mystique which has in increasing measure surrounded the person of the pope in the last 30 years, such that any hint of critique or questioning of his policies, his way of thinking, his exercise of authority etc. is equated with disloyalty. There is more than a perception, because of this mystique, that unquestioning obedience by the faithful to the pope is required and is a sign of the ethos and fidelity of a true Catholic. When the pope's authority is then intentionally extended to the Vatican curia, there exists a real possibility that unquestioning obedience to very human decisions about a whole range of issues by the curial departments and cardinals also becomes a mark of one's fidelity as a Catholic, and anything less is interpreted as being disloyal to the pope who is charged with steering the bark of Peter.

It has become more and more difficult over the past years, therefore, for the College of Bishops as a whole, or in a particular territory, to exercise their theologically-based servant leadership to discern appropriate responses to their particular socio-economic, cultural, liturgical, spiritual and other pastoral realities and needs; much less to disagree with or seek alternatives to policies and decisions taken in Rome. And what appears to be more and more the policy of appointing "safe", unquestionably orthodox and even very conservative bishops to fill vacant dioceses over the past 30 years, only makes it less and less likely that the College of Bishops -- even in powerful conferences like the United States -- will question what comes out of Rome, and certainly not publicly. Instead, there will be every effort to try and find an accommodation with those in power, which means that the Roman position will prevail in the end. And, taking this further, when an individual bishop takes issue with something, especially in public, the impression or judgment will be that he is "breaking ranks" with the other bishops and will only cause confusion to the lay faithful -- so it is said - because it will appear that the bishops are not united in their teaching and leadership role. 

The pressure, therefore, to conform.

What we should have, in my view, is a church where the leadership recognizes and empowers decision-making at the appropriate levels in the local church; where local leadership listens to and discerns with the people of God of that area what "the Spirit is saying to the church" and then articulates that as a consensus of the believing, praying, serving community. It needs faith in God and trust in the people of God to take what may seem to some or many as a risk. 

The church could be enriched as a result through a diversity which truly integrates socio-cultural values and insights into a living and developing faith, together with a discernment of how such diversity can promote unity in the church -- and not, therefore, require uniformity to be truly authentic.

Diversity in living and praxis, as an expression of the principle of subsidiarity, has been taken away from the local churches everywhere by the centralization of decision-making at the level of the Vatican. In addition, orthodoxy is more and more identified with conservative opinions and outlook, with the corresponding judgment that what is perceived to be "liberal" is both suspect and not orthodox, and therefore to be rejected as a danger to the faith of the people.

Is there a way forward? I have grappled with this question especially in the light of the apparent division of aspiration and vision in the church. How do you reconcile such very different visions of church, or models of church? I do not have the answer, except that somewhere we must find an attitude of respect and reverence for difference and diversity as we search for a living unity in the church; that people be allowed, indeed enabled, to find or create the type of community which is expressive of their faith and aspirations concerning their Christian and Catholic lives and engagement in church and world, and which strives to hold in legitimate and constructive tension the uncertainties and ambiguities that all this will bring, trusting in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

At the heart of this is the question of conscience. As Catholics, we need to be trusted enough to make informed decisions about our life, our witness, our expressions of faith, spirituality, prayer, and involvement in the world -- on the basis of a developed conscience. And, as an invitation to an appreciation of conscience and conscientious decisions about life and participation in what is a very human church, I close with the formulation or understanding given by none other than the theologian, Fr. Josef Ratzinger, now pope, when he was a peritus, or expert, at Vatican II:

 

"Over the pope as expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there stands one's own conscience which must be obeyed before all else, even if necessary against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority. This emphasis on the individual, whose conscience confronts him with a supreme and ultimate tribunal, and one which in the last resort is beyond the claim of external social groups, even the official church, also establishes a principle in opposition to increasing totalitarianism".
(Joseph Ratzinger in: Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II ,Vol. V., pg. 134 (Ed) H. Vorgrimler, New York, Herder and Herder, 1967).

Bishop Kevin Dowling C.Ss.R.
Cape Town, June 1, 2010