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MONDAY March 27, 2000 vol. 11, no. 61 SECTION THREESee why so many consider the Daily CATHOLIC as the "USA Today for CATHOLICS!"
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The Vatican has announced that on October 8th of this Jubilee Year, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be in Rome and on display at the Vatican. There, after a special celebratory Mass concelebrated by Bishops from around the world, the Holy Father will consecrate the Third Millennium to the Immaculate Heart of Mary to fulfill once and for all those who still insist that the Pope has not consecrated Russia or the world for that matter - to her Immaculate Heart as per her request at Fatima. It is only fitting that the "Fatima Pope" complete this wonderful act. continued inside
VATICAN CITY (ZENIT.org).- On October 8 John Paul II will
entrust the Third Millennium to Our Lady of Fatima. The news was
announced by Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, secretary general of the
Vatican Jubilee Committee. The statue of the Blessed Virgin will be
brought from Portugal to Rome for the occasion.
The consecration will take place at the very moment the Bishops from
around the world are meeting in Rome to celebrate their special Jubilee.
The idea of bringing the Fatima statue to Rome originated with the Pope
himself. The Bishop of the shrine was very pleased. Archbishop Sepe said
on Vatican Radio: "We are organizing the transport, but especially the
days during which the Virgin will be venerated in St. Peter's in the
Vatican. I think it will be one of the most moving Marian events of the
whole Jubilee."
The consecration will take place at the end of the Mass, which the Pope
will concelebrate with all the Bishops from around the world, who will
be celebrating their Jubilee in the Eternal City. "The statue of the
Virgin will arrive in Rome a few days before; therefore, we are
organizing it so that all the faithful who wish to venerate her may be
able to do so," Archbishop Sepe said.
For the time being, no plans have been made for the Fatima statute to
leave the Vatican. The Holy Father would have to approve such plans,
which will be published in the near future.
Archbishop Sepe also confirmed that John Paul II accepted the Bishop of
Fatima's invitation to beatify Francisco and Jacinta, the two visionary
children, in the Portuguese shrine itself on May 13. The Holy Father
will arrive in Portugal on Friday, May 12, and on the 13th he will
preside at the Beatification Mass which will be held in the fields near
the Fatima shrine.
ZE00032202
As announced a few days ago, the House of Representatives swore in the first Catholic priest in the history of congress and the choice, approved by Cardinal Francis E. George, OMI, is an excellent one which avoids the controversy and ill-feelings fostered by Archbishop Rembert Weakland, OSB over his promotion of his favorite liberal priest to get the nod. The archbishop can't say a thing now for a priest has been selected, but it's not his man. But he was Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert R-Il's choice and he won out. continued inside.
WASHINGTON ,DC (CWNews.com) - A Chicago priest was sworn in
as chaplain of the US House of Representatives on Thursday,
ending a four-month controversy over allegations of
anti-Catholic bias in the selection process.
Republican leaders had broken with precedent and asked a
bipartisan panel to select candidates from which House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, would choose a nominee
for the whole House to vote on. After, one of the three
nominees, a politically-active priest from Milwaukee, was
overlooked and claimed bias, four months of allegations
that the GOP leadership is anti-Catholic followed.
In a speech on Thursday castigating critics for
politicizing the selection of a pastoral minister for
congressmen, Hastert announced that his previous nominee,
the Rev. Charles Wright, a Presbyterian, had withdrawn his
name from consideration. Instead, Hastert asserted his
privilege and unilaterally named Father Daniel Coughlin,
65, as chaplain.
Father Coughlin, vicar for priests for the archdiocese of
Chicago, called the appointment "terribly unexpected."
Cardinal Francis George called him one of the archdiocese's
"most deeply respected priests." He added, "I pray that
Father Coughlin -- and the pastoral gifts he brings -- will
be well received by those who serve our nation in the House
of Representatives."
Fr. Coughlin, 65, who was ordained a priest on May 3, 1960, has been serving as the
vicar for priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago since 1995. The vicar for priests
assists active priests of the Archdiocese with their spiritual, professional and personal
needs.
Prior to that position, Fr. Coughlin served as director of the Cardinal Stritch Retreat
House in Mundelein, IL, from 1990 to 1995. He also has been pastor of St. Francis
Xavier Parish, LaGrange, IL (1985-1990), director of the archdiocesan Office for
Divine Worship (1969-1984), associate pastor of Holy Name Cathedral (1965-1969)
and associate pastor of St. Raymond Parish (1960-1965).
He took a one-year sabbatical in 1984-1985 to study east-west religions, serve with
missionaries in India and teach at the North American College in Vatican City.
A native of Chicago's northwest side, Fr. Coughlin attended St. Mary of the Lake
University, Mundelein, IL, where he received a degree in Sacred Theology. He also
holds a degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University, Chicago. In the 1970s he
served as chairperson of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commission, and was
a member of the national and international committees regarding prayer, spirituality
and liturgical renewal.
(A portion of this article was taken from the press release for the Archdiocese of Chicago).
The Philippine government has agreed to ban all executions this year, as the Catholic Bishops requested during this special Jubilee Year. While this bodes well, an Islamic terrorist group holding 50 Catholic schoolchildren hostage, are demanding that all Catholics withdraw from the southern island in order to proclaim it a sovereign state for Islam. Perhaps these Islamic terrorists haven't been paying attention to the Holy Father's peace overtures with the Moslims this week in the Holy Land. continued inside.
MANILA (CWNews.com) - Philippines' President Joseph Estrada
said today his government will hold a moratorium on all
executions this year as part of an agreement with the
country's Catholic bishops as part of Jubilee Year
observances.
Estrada said the ban will end next January and will
effectively commute the sentences of at least 18 death-row
inmates to life in prison. Filipino law requires an
execution to be carried out between one year and 18 months
after a death sentence has been declared final by the
Supreme Court. The 18 prisoners would be able to be
executed within the six-month period.
The death penalty was re-established in 1994 after it was
abolished in 1986 following the ouster of dictator
Ferdinand Marcos. More than 1,000 people have received
death penalties since 1994 and at least 80 have been upheld
by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile tensions mount in Sumisip in the southern part of
the Philippines for an Islamic rebel group
holding 50 Catholic schoolchildren hostage said on Thursday
that they demand all Catholics leave the southern island so
they can set up an Islamic state.
Reporters who went to the remote island and slipped past
military patrols to the camp of the Abu Sayyaf rebels said
they saw the hostages, including a priest, who were taken
from a Catholic high school earlier this week. Tensions
rose on Thursday after armed men retaliated with the
kidnapping of the wife and children of Abu Sayyaf's leader,
Khadaffi Janjalani.
"We will be forced to kill some of the hostages if the
relatives of Janjalani are not released," one of the rebels
said by telephone from the Abu Sayyaf camp on Friday. They
have demanded negotiations with a representative from the
Vatican, saying negotiations with the Filipino government
was useless, and said their aim was to ensure all Catholics
leave Basilan.
In the aftermath of the Holy Father's successful Papal Pilgrimage to the Holy Land and facing head on the Jewish controversy, several respected Jewish historians have declared that Pope Pius XII received more praise and expressions of gratitude from the Jewish people than any other Bishop of Rome in history. These historians have documented proof that Pius saved between 740,000 to 860,000 Jews, and that during Nazi occupation of Rome, more than 4,447 Jews were hidden in over 155 Catholic institutions. More proof that Pius was definitely not "Hitler's Pope" as he has been so badly maligned. continued inside.
JERUSALEM, MAR 24 (ZENIT.org).- No Pope ever used such strong words to
condemn anti-Semitism as John Paul II did yesterday at the Memorial to
the Holocaust in Jerusalem. "As Bishop of Rome and Successor of the
Apostle Peter, I assure the Jewish people that, motivated by the
evangelical law of truth and love and not by political considerations,
the Catholic Church is profoundly saddened by the hatred, acts of
persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by
Christians at any time and in any place."
And yet, leaders of the Jewish world have criticized the Pope for not
asking forgiveness for Pius XII's "silence" in face of the Holocaust.
The solemn petition for forgiveness that Pope Wojtyla pronounced on
March 12 is not enough for Grand Rabbi Meir Israel Lau, who spoke
yesterday on Italian television; the Pope must go a step further, he
asserted.
When John Paul II was asked by reporters on the airplane headed for
Nigeria a couple years ago what he thought of Pius XII, without
hesitation the Holy Father replied: "He was a great Pope." In spite of
their enormous difference in temperaments, Pacelli and Wojtyla have many
things in common, especially in regard to their teachings on moral
issues, their love for the Virgin Mary, their opening to the Church's
universality, and the latter's of government. Similarities that have
been acknowledged by John Cornwell himself, author of "Hitler's Pope,"
an attack on Pius XII.
However, in his lifetime, Pius XII received more praise and expressions
of gratitude from the Jewish people than any other Bishop of Rome in
history. According to several Jewish historians living in Italy, Pius
XII and the Church saved between 740,000 and 860,000 Jews from
extermination. In Rome alone, during the Nazi occupation 4,447 Jews were
hidden in over 155 Catholic houses, ecclesiastical institutions,
parishes and schools. In several churches in Rome there are Jewish
plaques thanking the Church for saving Jewish lives. This rescue work
was done at the express wish of the Pope.
In December of 1940, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to "Time" magazine
stating, "Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany
I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always
boasted of their devotion to the case of truth; but no, the universities
immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the
newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their
love of freedom. But they, like the universities, were silenced in a few
short weeks. Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's
campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the
Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because
the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for
intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess, that
what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly."
After the War, Moshe Sharrett, former Foreign Affairs Minister and Prime
Minister of Israel, went to see Pius XII "to thank the Catholic Church
for what it did to save the Jews in all parts of the world." Like
Sharrett, Rabbi Herzog of Jerusalem, as well as the Rabbis of the
Italian, U.S., Rumanian, and Hungarian Jewish communities came to Rome
or sent messages thanking Pope Pacelli for the way in which he mobilized
the Church in their behalf.
At least three of the volumes of the "Acts and Documents of the Holy See
Relating to the Second World War, are full of documents written by the
Jewish communities worldwide thanking Pius XII and the Catholic Church
for the assistance offered to persecuted Jews.
When Pius XII died, Golda Meir wrote: "During the Nazi terror, when our
people were subjected to a terrible martyrdom, the Pope's voice was
raised to condemn the persecutors and to offer mercy to their victims.
We mourn over the death of a great server of peace."
Jacob Philip Rudin, president of the Central Conference of American
Rabbis, said: "His sympathy for all, his wise social vision and his
extreme understanding made him a prophetic voice in the service of
justice everywhere. May his memory be a blessing for the life of the
Roman Catholic Church and the world."
On that same occasion, London's "Jewish Chronicle" recalled that
"before, during and after the Second World War, he tried to carry a
message of peace. Confronting the monstrous cruelties of Nazism, fascism
and communism, he continually proclaimed the virtues of humanity and
compassion."
The idea that Pacelli was a philo-Nazi from his time as nuncio in
Germany, one of Cornwell's theses in his book, doesn't match up with the
facts. When Pacelli was elected Pope, the "Berliner Morgenpost," a
pro-Nazi newspaper, stated that "the election of Cardinal Pacelli is not
of Germany's liking, as he has always been opposed to Nazism."
The international communist newspaper, "La Correspondance
Internationale," dedicated an article to Pope Pacelli's election, saying
it was a good election, because he was a man cleared opposed to Nazism.
Following Pius XII's 1942 Christmas radio message, the Gestapo wrote the
following in a report: "the Pope has rejected the new National Socialist
European Order. He has not attacked National Socialism directly, but he
has severely criticized everything we believe... He has spoken clearly
in favor of the Jews."
These documents explain the reasons why John Paul II has not asked for
pardon for Pius XII's conduct during the Second World War, as
forgiveness cannot be asked for faults that have not been committed.
These testimonies have also advanced Pope Pacelli's cause for
beatification.
ZE00032406
According to a British-born US resident Biblical scholar and archeologist who has been exploring the bottom of the Dead Sea, the ruins of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah have been found. How fitting were it to just lay in ruins because that is the plight of many cities throughout the world today who are far worse off than those ancient cities destroyed for their wickedness by Almighty God. One wonders just how long before our "modern tabernacles of desecration" go unpunished by an All-Powerful and Just God. continued inside.
LONDON, MAR 26 (ZENIT).- After leading the first expedition to explore
the bottom of the Dead Sea, Michael Sanders is convinced that he has
discovered the lost cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed
by God for their wickendess according to the Bible. The Biblical scholar
led an international team of researchers; they discovered what appear to
be the salt-encrusted remains of ancient settlements while studying the
seabed from a mini-submarine, according to the "Daily Telegraph."
Sanders, a Briton living in the United States, is planning a follow-up
expedition to cut through the salt to be able to study the ruins. He
says that he is "immensely excited." "The evidence cannot be ignored. I
predicted there must be something extraordinary there and, lo and
behold, there was. What we found matches exactly what the remains of an
ancient city might look like."
While some archeologists dismiss the Biblical story as a metaphor, many
others have theorized that the cities actually existed in the Dead Sea
region. Sanders, along with other experts, is convinced that the cities
were destroyed by an earthquake that threw up flaming pitch, about 5,000
years ago. Adding to the evidence are the mass graves discovered on a
peninsula in the Dead Sea in the 1960s, and the sulphur (brimstone)
deposits in the nearby mountains.
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