Monday thru Friday on the
CATHOLIC-INTERNET NETWORK at

http://www.catholic-internet.org

See why so many consider the
Daily CATHOLIC as the
"USA Today for CATHOLICS!"
e-mail: DailyCatholic@catholic-internet.org

WEDNESDAY      November 18, 1998      SECTION TWO       vol 9, no. 226

To print out entire text of Today's issue, print this section as well as SECTION ONE


LITURGY OF THE DAY

      Today is the Feast of the Dedication of two magnificent edifices - the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls of Rome. It is also the Feast of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, religious missionary to the United States, specifically the mid-section of the country. Tomorrow we return to Ordinary Time. For the readings, liturgies, meditations and vignettes on these feasts, click on LITURGY

Wednesday, November 18, 1998

Feast of the Dedication of Saints Peter and Paul Basilicas in Rome

Feast of Saint Rose Phillippine Duschesne , Virgin, Missionary and Religious

Thursday, November 19, 1998


PRAYER & DEVOTIONS


WORLDWIDE
NEWS & VIEWS
with a Catholic slant

provided by
Catholic World News Service

HEADLINES:

SWEDEN GAINS FIRST SWEDISH BISHOP IN CENTURIES

      STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II named a new bishop for Sweden, the first Swede to lead Catholics in the country since the Reformation.

      Bishop-elect Anders Arborelius will succeed German-born Bishop Hubertus Brandenburg as leader of the diocese of Stockholm which covers the entire country. The bishop-elect was born in Switzerland to Swedish parents and grew up in the Swedish city of Lund.

      After the Reformation in the 1500s and until 1860, no native Swedes were allowed to be Catholic. Today, only about 165,000 people -- about 2 percent of the population -- are Catholic and most priests are foreigners.


SIX PRIESTS AMONG DOZENS KILLED IN CONGO MASSACRE WHILE ITALIAN PRIEST KIDNAPPED IN SIERRA LEONE

      BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (CWNews.com) - Six priests were reported killed in a massacre of more than 50 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday as they gathered in a church to pray for peace.

      Representatives of the country's various faiths had gathered in the church to seek a peaceful resolution to violence that has plagued southern Congo, mainly perpetrated by fighting between government soldiers and a rebel group called the Ninjas. Three surviving priests said members of the Ninjas took the six priests and about 45 other people, including women and children, out of the church and shot them. An exact death toll has not been released.

      The priests were members of an ecumenical committee formed two weeks ago to mediate a resolution to violence in the region. Killings have escalated since three police officers were killed by rebels on August 29. The Ninja rebels are reportedly loyal to ousted Congo Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas. Survivors of Saturday's massacre say the priests were killed because the rebels believed the priests were associated with the government of Denis Sassou Nguesso.

      Meanwhile, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, an Italian priest was kidnapped by a rebel group in Sierra Leone, according to Catholic leaders in the country on Tuesday.

      Bishop George Biguzzi said that Father Mario Cuerro, 64, was abducted from his mission house in northern Sierra Leone on Sunday. A boy abducted along with the priest was then sent by the suspected rebels to a West African peacekeeping force to say that Father Cuerro was in good condition and safe. Bishop Biguzzi said the Church has not yet been contacted directly by the kidnappers.

      "We are appealing to the people who abducted Father Mario Cuerro from the Mission House in Kamalo on Sunday night to release him immediately," he told a news conference. "We assume the people who abducted the father are the people fighting the war in Sierra Leone."


POPE URGES "INTELLECTUAL CHARITY" FOR STUDENTS

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Pope John Paul II today visited the Free International University for Social Studies (LUISS), and urged students there to be "promoters of authentic social renewal."

      LUISS was founded in 1996 by a group of religious and lay people, specializing in business and finance. The school has 5,000 students, served by 700 professors and administrators.

      "Follow the path of intellectual charity with generosity," the Pope told the students. He urged them to show the strength to "oppose the forms of injustice which threaten men's lives."

      By calling for "intellectual charity," the Pope explained, he meant to imply "the knowledge and experience of scientific discovery, like artistic inspiration, should be gifts which communicate energy" to the surrounding society. That energy, he continued, gives each person the ability to develop and express his own identity, and to serve society through his professional work.

      The Holy Father cautioned against a relationship between academic and financial affairs which could be "formed by a purely pragmatic vision which, in the end, can be seen as sterile." Economic and professional needs should never obscure the goal of teaching, "which is always to create masters of life," he concluded.


LUTHERANS POSTPONE SIGNING JOINT DECLARATION

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- According to the Ecumenical News International agency, the World Lutheran Federation (LWF) is not prepared to sign a joint declaration with the Vatican on the question of justification, and is seeking to supplement and clarify the statement.

      Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, had already-- in June-- announced the successful completion of a statement which both parties could sign. But one Lutheran source indicated that subsequent statements had cast doubt on the Vatican's intentions to lift condemnations on Lutheran doctrines. As a result, the source said, Lutheran leaders might require clarifications in the joint statement, to ease their concerns.

      In a press conference held in Geneva on November 14, Ismael Noko, the secretary general of the LWF, announced a new set of consultations with the Catholic Church. Lutheran Bishop Christian Krause of Brunswick, German, the president of the LWF, reportedly said that the signing of the statement should be delayed, so that both parties can sure of their positions. "We are in the final phase of a 30- year dialogue," Bishop Krause said; "What is another six months?"


For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site. CWN is not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.


Click here to go to SECTION ONE or click here to return to the graphics front page of this issue.


November 18, 1998 volume 9, no. 226   DAILY CATHOLIC