News

More 'disgusting' N.Y. art
Brooklyn Museum exhibition does it again
The Brooklyn Museum of Art provoked controversy with its exhibit "Committed to the image: Contemporary Black Photographers." Bishop V. Daily was "disturbed" by its religious themes and found it "another display of insensitivity toward religion by the Brooklyn Museum."

The photographic work by Renee Cox titled "Yo Mama's Last Supper" was the focus of the controversy.

New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Catholic from Brooklyn, called the work disgusting, outrageous and anti-Catholic and vowed to establish a commission to set “decency standards” for museums that received city funds.

Read Tom Sheridan : Cashing in on 'art'

Parish, schools, agencies work together to cut energy costs
Gas and electric utility costs are the second-largest expense for a parish after labor costs, the archdiocese has been working together to save money in this area for years.

Since 1987, all parishes, schools, seminaries and archdiocesan agencies have joined together to buy gas. The combined purchasing power allows gas to be purchased more cheaply than any parish could alone. Two years ago the archdiocese renegotiated their gas-purchasing agreement with Enron, after comparing their terms with other suppliers.

The group purchase of gas protects the archdiocese from some of the largest spikes in gas prices by making purchases on the futures market and locking in prices. While this allows us to lessen the impact of price swings, we are still paying prices that are significantly higher than last year. Read more...

Grass-roots fight on human cloning urged
Experts opposed to human cloning on moral and ethical grounds said the recently announced cloning project by two human reproduction experts poses a difficult challenge.
Panayiotis M. Zavos, director of the Andrology Institute of America and a professor of reproductive physiology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, announced Jan. 25 that he and Italian fertility specialist Dr. Severino Antinori will collaborate on producing cloned offspring for 10 infertile couples.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a former abortionist who is now a pro-life advocate told a Los Angeles archdiocersan newspaper, Zavos’ project signals that the world is on the brink of human cloning, he said, adding, “It must be stopped, and now, before the horse is out of the barn.’ (CNS)

America's bishops eye migration
Bishops from the Americas pledged greater cooperation on migration issues and asked government leaders to solve economic problems that cause massive migrations.

More than 20 bishops representing the Latin American bishops’ council, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the U.S. National Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Clearwater, Fla., Feb. 12-14 to talk about migration in the Americas.

The bishops discussed illegal migration, the drain of human resources from Latin America because of migration to the wealthier North, economic globalization, respect for human rights and promotion of economic development in the South. (CNS)

The Statue of Our Lady of the New Millennium will remain at Sacred Heart Parish, 8245 W. 111th St., Palos Hills, through March 31.

The 33-foot stainless steel statue, which was sculpted by Charles Cooper Parks of Wilmington, Del., was commissioned by the late Carl Demma of Chicago.

The statue was blessed by Pope John Paul II during his visit to St. Louis in 1999.

During the jubilee year 2000, the statue traveled from parish to parish on on flatbed truck retrofitted with hydraulic lifts and leather straps for positioning. It was present at both the Field of Faith celebration at Soldier Field in June and the Way of Faith at Mundelein Seminary in September.

The schedule for the statue after March 31 have yet to be determined.