Advertisements ad

News Digest

Issue of June 7 – June 20, 2009The following items are condensed. For the complete articles, please read the print edition of The Catholic New World. To subscribe, call (312) 534-7777.

News Update

Luncheon for black fathers

The Black Catholic Deacons of Chicago will host a Father's Day revival luncheon 11 a.m.-3 p.m. June 20 at the Parkway Ballroom, 4455 S. Martin Luther King Drive. Cost is $40 a person.

For information, contact Deacon LeRoy T.Gill Jr. at (773) 933-0027 or [email protected].

Priest's decision hurts relations

Archbishop John Favalora of Miami expressed disappointment May 28 at both Father Alberto Cutie's decision to join the Episcopal Church and the public way he was received into his new church.

"This truly is a serious setback for ecumenical relations and cooperation" between the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami and the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, the archbishop said in a statement that also warned Catholics not to request the sacraments from Cutie nor attend Masses celebrated by him.

Cutie, who was suspended from his parish and Catholic radio posts after photos of him with a woman were released by a tabloid magazine, joined the Episcopal Church May 28 at a ceremony at Miami's Trinity Cathedral.

News Digest

Meeting children, popeshares early memories, says being pope is hard

Pope Benedict XVI offered a rare glimpse into his private feelings, telling a group of children that as a boy he never dreamed of becoming pope and that he still sometimes worries he is not up to the job.

The pope answered questions and described growing up in a small German village during an audience May 30 at the Vatican with 7,000 children from the Holy Childhood Association, a group affiliated with the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Bin there, done that

Surrounded by a city that just started a pilot recycling program in one small neighborhood, the Vatican's efforts to separate and recycle its garbage reportedly are making great strides.

"It is new, but it is moving forward seriously," said Bishop Renato Boccardo, secretary of the office governing Vatican City State. "It has been difficult because it is a matter of education and of a certain culture and we were starting from zero," he said in late May, about 18 months after the Vatican started systematically sorting its trash and just three months after the city of Rome began doing so in the Trastevere neighborhood.

Pope John Paul's beatification delayed, Italian newspapers say

The beatification of Pope John Paul II may be delayed as the Vatican seeks more documentation regarding his almost 27 years as pope, Italian newspapers reported in late May.

According to the newspaper La Stampa, the chief holdup regards hundreds of letters he wrote before and after his election to Wanda Poltawska, a longtime friend and adviser to the pope.

New push for conscience clauses

The president of the U.S. bishops' conference and two members of Congress have called on President Barack Obama to make good on something he said in his May 17 speech to University of Notre Dame graduates, namely that he wished to "honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion."

In a May 22 statement, Cardinal George said he was grateful for Obama's promise to support conscience clauses.