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TUESDAY May 2, 2000 vol. 11, no. 85 SECTION THREESee why so many consider the Daily CATHOLIC as the "USA Today for CATHOLICS!"
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WORLDWIDE NEWS & VIEWS with a CATHOLIC slant continued:
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This Jubilee Year the month of May is expected to bring an estimated 2.7 million pilgrims to Rome. The editor and his family will be among that number from May 9th to the 14th. Not only is the weather the most favorable for pilgrims, but the May schedule of events highlights this month dedicated to Mary to whom the Pope has a special devotion, evident in his motto Totus Tuus. Except for May 12th and 13th when the Holy Father is in Fatima to beatify the Fatima Shepherds Jacinta and Francisco Marto, he will be at the Vatican all month including May 18th when he celebrates his 80th Birthday coinciding with the Jubilee Celebration for all priests. The month will conclude with the Jubilee for the Diocese of Rome itself on May 28th. continued inside.
VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The city of Rome is expecting 2.7 million visitors
during May 2000-- making that month the busiest month of the Jubilee
year.
May is regarded as an ideal month for visits to Rome from the standpoint of
the favorable weather. But the special events of the Jubilee year have added
considerably to the city's appeal. May 1 marks the special Jubilee for
workers; May 18 will be the Jubilee for priests (as well as the Pope's 80th
birthday); the Jubilee of the Rome diocese itself will be celebrated on May
28.
Much more sadness permeates the souther region of the Philippines as Abu Sayyaf rebels have now hidden their Catholic hostages in the tunnels which undermine the hills of the region, and have also taken new hostages from the island of Jolo. This now includes three Germans, two Frenchmen, two South Africans, two Finns, a Lebanese and a Filipino. The government, meanwhile, is searching inch by inch for the hostages, but the progress is slow due to the terrain, the many tunnels present, the traps set and the fear that the closer they get, the more the hostages' lives are in peril by the mad Islamic terrorists.continued inside.
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (CWNews.com) - Philippine soldiers
on Monday searched a mountainous region in the south of the
country for 27 Catholic hostages after they overran a Muslim
rebel camp and did not find them there.
The Abu Sayyaf rebel group has been holding the hostages,
most of them children, for more than a month as they
demanded the release of terrorists jailed in the US and the
Philippines. After they beheaded two of their captives --
two male teachers -- two weeks ago, the army launched a
major offensive against the rebels' mountain stronghold.
"At present, we are scouring the area inch-by-inch but
there is no more exchange of fire," Colonel Hajma Hailil,
an army spokesman, told Reuters. "They have found three
tunnels ... that's the problem, we don't know where the
hostages are," he said, adding troops were being very
careful because "there may still be landmines there."
Hailil said the soldiers had not yet searched the main
tunnel at the base, high up on the mountain.
Meanwhile, the same Muslim rebel group has separately
kidnapped 21 people from the nearby Malaysian tourist
island of Jolo. The group includes 10 foreign tourists,
including three Germans, two Frenchmen, two South Africans,
two Finns, one Lebanese, and a Filipina. Hostage negotiators
report that many of the captives are ill and in need of
medical attention.
For once a book on the Holocaust has come out that does not lambast poor Pope Pius XII. This time the book "The Response of Orthodox Jewry in the U.S. Holocaust" contends that ultra-Orthodox elements of the Jewish Community in America were more interested in saving a few Talmudic scholars, thus ignoring the cries for help from millions of Jews being persecuted. The author, himself a Jew, evidences in his book how these Orthodox Jews channeled scarce funds to these Talmudic scholars weven when they were safe, thus hindering further efforts to rescue Jews under the Nazi regime. The author does not blame Jews per se, but points directly to Nazism as the sole cause of the Holocaust with no finger pointing at Piux XII. continued inside.
NEW YORK, APR 30 (ZENIT).- A new book, "The Response of Orthodox Jewry
in the United States to the Holocaust," contends that the ultra-Orthodox
elements of the Jewish community in the U.S. were so concerned with
saving the lives of a small group of Talmudic scholars that they ignored
the cries for help of millions of other Jews.
The rabbis of the Rescue Committee feared that if this tiny group of
Polish scholars were lost, the Jewish religion would have vanished with
them. Holocaust historian Efraim Zuroff claims in the book that the
rabbis worked at cross purposes to other Jewish groups, which sought to
influence American politicians to save as many Jews as possible.
Members of the Orthodox branch of Judaism, like Rabbi Menahem Porush,
defend the actions of their predecessors, who were only trying to rescue
those close to them. "No one has to teach us, who live according to the
Torah, the meaning of 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' " he
said.
Zuroff shows in his book how the rabbis funneled scarce funds to the
scholars even after they were safely in exile. The funds were used to
support their full-time studies, even as other Jews were being executed
in the camps. The author claims that these funds were extorted from
mainstream groups and transfered to Europe by shady means.
The author does not, however, blame the Rescue Committee for the deaths
of Jews. "What actually cost the lives of Jews was that Nazis and their
collaborators murdered them," he explained to the Associated Press.
However, he contended that their "tunnel vision" had hindered rescue
efforts.
The book will be officially released this Tuesday to coincide with
Israel's Holocaust Memorial Day.
ZE00043021
The secular media in Britain and the U.S. are having a field day over remarks made by the new Archbishop of Westminster Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, he said that celibacy within the priesthood is a solid teaching of the Church, but is also open to change, considering that many married Anglican priests have been accepted into the Roman Catholic priesthood. His remarks have, as usual, been taken out of context.continued inside.
LONDON (CWNews.com) - Secular media in Britain and the US
highlighted the newly-installed Archbishop of Westminster's
comments on celibacy on the priesthood as controversial on
Monday although he did not deviate from constant Church
teaching.
Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, who succeeded the late
Cardinal Basil Hume as the leader of Catholics in England
and Wales, told the Guardian newspaper that celibacy for
priests is a discipline that could be changed. Pointing out
that the Church has already accepted married Anglican clergy
who have left the Church of England, Archbishop
Murphy-O'Connor said: "Disciplines can change. When a
priest accepts celibacy when he is ordained that rule
should be kept. But is it (marriage) incompatible with
priesthood? The answer is obviously no. I would not rule it
out."
Asked about the controversy over the repeal of a law
prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality in schools, the
archbishop said Catholics should concentrate on teaching
chastity to their children, in marriage and outside of it.
"People should try to understand what the Church is
saying," he said. "Society can't divorce sex from marriage
and children. I am not going to make a judgment about a
couple, that is not my job and ... I would encourage
tolerance, but if people are in a relationship outside
marriage, heterosexual or homosexual, that is not right."
"If you want happiness and a stable society you must
provide real encouragement to marriage. Stability for
children is crucial," he added. "It is unfair to put all
the responsibility of the law on teachers and tell them
they have to do all the work. They should be backed up by
parents and the culture."
Archbishop Murphy-O'Connor also said he did not believe
traditional Christian faiths had become irrelevant to
people today. "I don't think these are particularly bad
times for the Church in this country. People are going to
be Christians these days because they really believe, not
because their parents were," he said.
He said the Church and her clergy must adapt to changing
cultural conditions and look at them as opportunities. "The
Church must always reform and there is always room for
development but there is a heritage handed down which the
Church must always be sensitive to. It has to relate its
faith to changing conditions, times and cultures. It cannot
be static or fundamentalist, nor liberal, but must be
faithful as it marches on its pilgrim way. It has to teach
truths in different circumstances."
For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and the Dossiers, features and Daily Dispatches from ZENIT International News Agency CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC, but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.
