National Catholic Reporter articles from September 2003

National Catholic Reporter archives from September 2003

Hoping for an elusive peace.(Inside NCR)(Arab-Israeli relations)
September 5, 2003... In her book Revenge: A Story of Hope, American journalist Laura Blumenfeld tells a deeply personal story of transformation in her quest for revenge against a Palestinian shooter who wounded her father, a rabbi from the United States, in one of...

Selling orthodoxy to Washington power brokers: Opus Dei priest brings conservatives to Catholicism.(Nation)
September 5, 2003... Fr. C. John McCloskey, director of the Washington archdiocese's Catholic Information Center, likens his current job to his pre-ordination experience hawking stocks on Wall Street. "I'm a salesman for the church," said the 49-year-old Opus...

South African priests issue apology to black nuns.(World)
September 5, 2003... Cultural attitudes that resist celibacy may underlie the problem of "unhealthy relationships" between African priests and nuns, according to a spokesperson for a group of black priests in South Africa that recently apologized to black nuns for...

Lessons from a 33-day pontificate: John Paul I's secretary reminisces on the man and his life.(World)(Interview)
September 5, 2003... As a campaign to beatify Pope John Paul I gets underway on the 25th anniversary of his election, his private secretary has rejected old rumors of foul play surrounding the pope's death after just 33 days. "How could three or four or five...

Irish incensed about holy smoke.(World)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... DUBLIN, Ireland -- An Irish junior cabinet minister has warned that incense poses a health hazard and altar servers need to be taught to minimize that risk. Jim McDaid, a medical doctor and junior minister in the Department of Transport, made...

Non-Muslims visit Temple Mount.(World)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... JERUSALEM -- For only the second time in three years, the Temple Mount, revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians, is open to visits by non-Muslims. Since Aug. 20, hundreds of Jews and Christians have visited and prayed on the Mount, which...

Saudi clerics condemn terrorism.(World)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... LONDON -- Leading Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia have issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, calling terror attacks by Islamic extremists "serious criminal acts," the BBC reported. The Council of Senior Clerics said, "These acts have nothing to...

Religious leaders reject extremism.(World--)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... PASAY, Philippines -- Asian religious leaders gathered in Pasay called for the rejection of extremism and for collaboration to resolve armed conflicts in the world. About 60 Catholics, Muslims and Protestants from other countries joined nearly...

African nuns pledge to fight AIDS.(World)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... NAIROBI, Kenya -- More than 100 nuns from 63 congregations in eight sub-Saharan African countries pledged to work together in the continent's fight against the AIDS pandemic. The meeting, which ended Aug. 19, was the first of the All Africa...

Mexico to drop election-related charges against church officials.(World)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... MEXICO CITY -- Charges have been dropped against six priests and five bishops accused of violating the constitution by meddling in politics, said Mexican Deputy Interior Minister Javier Moctezuma. But two of the priests have been warned not to...

Florida asked to stop execution of antiabortion murderer.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Although they reiterated their condemnation of convicted murderer Paul Hill's actions, the Catholic bishops of Florida asked Gov. Jeb Bush to stop Hill's scheduled Sept. 3 execution and commute his sentence to life in...

The Tablet.(People--Catherine Pepinster named editor of independent English Roman Catholic weekly review)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Catherine Pepinster, 44, has been named editor of The Tablet, the independent English Roman Catholic weekly review founded in 1840. Pepinstor, the first woman in the post, is to begin her duties at the start of the new year. Currently executive...

Michael Bland, a therapist noted for his groundbreaking work with those who have been sexually abused by Catholic Priests, is the winner of the 2003 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, from which he graduated in 2001.(People)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Michael Bland, a therapist noted for his groundbreaking work with those who have been sexually abused by Catholic Priests, is the winner of the 2003 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, from which he...

National Pastoral Life Center.(People-- Frank J. Macchiarol is new president, board of directors, National Pastoral Life Center, NY)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Frank J. Macchiarola, president of St. Francis College in Brooklyn, is the newly elected president of the board of directors of the National Pastoral Life Center in New York. He succeeds Msgr. Philip J. Murnion, cofounder and executive director...

Patty Furtaw and Janet Troppman both shelved fast-track business careers and potential six-figure salaries for work in St. Mary's Parish in Charlevoix, Mich.(People)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Patty Furtaw and Janet Troppman both shelved fast-track business careers and potential six-figure salaries for work in St. Mary's Parish in Charlevoix, Mich. Troppman left an 18-year career as a corporate executive to become principal of the...

Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor and California gubernatorial candidate, has donated $1,000 to help with the restoration and renovation of the Cathedral of Christ the King in Superior, Wis. Schwarzenegger, who is Catholic, earned a bachelor of arts degree through the University of Wisconsin-Superior's extended degree program in 1979, and made several visits to the campus to complete the degree requirements.(People)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor and California gubernatorial candidate, has donated $1,000 to help with the restoration and renovation of the Cathedral of Christ the King in Superior, Wis. Schwarzenegger, who is Catholic, earned a bachelor of arts...

Fr. George Arthur, 35, wears a collar and a badge, celebration Mass back home in Ghana for hundreds of police officers and their families and checking out crime scenes, making arrests and settling disputes when he's not in church.(People)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Fr. George Arthur, 35, wears a collar and a badge, celebration Mass back home in Ghana for hundreds of police officers and their families and checking out crime scenes, making arrests and setting disputes when he's not in church. Arthur, who...

Jesuit Fr. James Gill: psychiatrist.(Deaths)(Obituary)
September 5, 2003... Jesuit Fr. James J. Gill, 78, a psychiatrist who established the Christian Institute for the Study of Human Sexuality and founded Human Development magazine, died of cancer July 29 in Scottsdale, Ariz., after a lengthy illness. Gill specialized...

Dominican Fr. William Cenkner: pioneer in interreligious dialogue.(Deaths)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Dominican Fr. William Cenkner, 72, an expert in Eastern religions, pioneer in interreligious dialogue and former dean of the religious studies school of The Catholic University of America, died in Miami Aug. 8. Cenkner joined Catholic...

Archdiocese tries to recover from $25.7 million sex abuse settlement.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Property sales, cutbacks in high school tuition aid and higher parish assessments are part of a five-year financial plan the Louisville archdiocese has unveiled to get back on its feet following this summer's $25.7 million...

Refugee advocates mourned.(USA--bombing of U.N. headquarters in Iraq kills two advocates for refugee services)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... WASHINGTON -- The "horrific bombing" of the U.N. headquarters in Iraq deprived the world of two leading advocates for refugee services, said the head of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration, Coadjutor Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando,...

Farm workers Labor Day focus.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... WASHINGTON -- "How do we treat those who harvest and prepare our food?" asked Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Domestic Policy. He answered his own question by quoting Matthew's gospel in the...

Tribute to U.N. envoy.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Caption: An unidentified man holds an image of the late U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello during a memorial in his honor attended by East Timor Prime Minister Mad Alkatiri (left) and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo Aug. 23 in Dili. De Mello,...

Courage gay support group meets.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... ST. PAUL, Minn. -- While Courage, a Vatican-endorsed support group for gay and lesbian Catholics, held its annual conference here Aug. 7-10, another group of Catholics who challenge the church's teaching on homosexuality protested outside. ...

Law funds contraception.(Briefs)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Oregon Legislature approved a bill Aug. 18 that some fear could leave doctors open to lawsuits if they refuse to give free emergency contraception to rape victims who request it. The 23 to 4 vote in the state Senate halted...

CRS sends $1 million to Liberia.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... BALTIMORE -- Catholic Relief Services has committed $1 million for relief and reconstruction in Liberia. This includes $100,000 worth of emergency medical kits to be used by the Catholic church's network of clinics and hospitals. That quantity...

Bishops press for foreign aid.(USA)
September 5, 2003... WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Policy is pressing congressional leaders to fully fund programs to combat HIV/AIDS and support foreign economic development when House and Senate resume work after Labor...

Mixing prisons and the profit motive: Southern bishops criticize growing privatization.(Feature--includes comaprison of big 4 private prison operators in US; list of useful web sites)(Interview)
September 5, 2003... In the 17 years he's been in San Angelo, Texas, Bishop Michael Pfeifer has seen prison facilities in West Texas "grow like little anthills." In the San Angelo diocese there are 26 federal, state or private centers of incarceration--some of them...

Bishops buy into private prison 'myths,' says industry leader.(Feature)(Interview)
September 5, 2003... Louise Green is infuriated that Catholic bishops in 12 Southern states want an end to for-profit private prisons. They are misinformed and "speaking out of tune," she said. Green doubts that any bishop has ever visited a private prison....

Muted responses to brutal murder of pedophile priest.(Nation)
September 5, 2003... The brutal murder in prison of defrocked Boston priest John J. Geoghan, a serial child molester whose case sparked a national scandal and forced the U.S. church to adopt major policy changes, drew a muted response from victims, attorneys and...

Vatican official comments on Geoghan murder.(Nation)
September 5, 2003... Emphasis on pedophilia by priests in the United States seems like a means of "sullying the image of the church," as if "someone wants to take away its moral force," according to a senior Vatican official. The comments from Archbishop...

Up against the wall: Israel's 'separation fence' sabotages the road map to regional peace.
September 5, 2003... The road to peace in the Middle East runs into a wall just outside Shareef Omar Khaled's village. For years the 60-year-old farmer has ridden astride his slow-moving, rusting tractor down the stony path that leads from his village of Jayyous to...

Praise.(Poetry)(Poem)
September 5, 2003... Praise In the morning, after the burial, the willow leaning, sure of some whispering, some news from above, and I too thinking you might answer with rain. might flood the street with praise of all that is flowing ...

A Creation Lament (I Kings 19 updated).(Poetry)(Poem)
September 5, 2003... A Creation Lament (I Kings 19 updated) (For Hiroshima and Nagasaki) A modern man at a mountain of God... Man sent a nuclear bomb but God was not in the nuke then Man sent napalm but God was not...

Assumption.(Poetry)(Poem)
September 5, 2003... Assumption When I awoke this morning --a never before encountered dawn-- I found myself crowned with honey bees busily making a hive in my hair. On velvet wings I was carried --a most startling beginning to my...

It's About Power.(Poetry)(Poem)
September 5, 2003... It's About Power What is more political than mental illness, the overthrow of sense in a sovereign city? Responsible officials abdicate or are slain. Sue Dwyer Toledo, Ohio

The Mabon Madonna.(Poetry)(Poem)
September 5, 2003... (For the statue of Mary with the boy Jesus in the St. John's Abbey Church, donated by the Mary Frost Mabon) The Mabon Madonna Wisdom reigns upon a wooden throne with eyes alone for tribal mysteries, the Master lad upon her...

A stellar year for art: exhibits invite competitive praise, but vision is one of grand diversity.(Arts)
September 5, 2003... It all began last summer. First the Thomas Eakins exhibition came to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in late June. After opening to rapturous reviews at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the museum's 125th anniversary celebration, the...

Four Catholic writers who read their way to faith: a new book considers the life and work of America's outstanding Catholic writers.(The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage)(Book Review)
September 5, 2003... THE LIFE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN: AN AMERICAN PILGRIMAGE By Paul Elie Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 477 pages, $27 Paul Elie believes that good literature can change or even save us. To prove his point, he has written a hefty yet...

When power and vision collide: renewal and resistance profiled in tale of California IHMs' battle with cardinal.(Column--Immaculate Heart of Mary Sr. Anita Caspary's book Witness to Integrity)(Book Review)
September 5, 2003... Ovid, the Roman philosopher, wrote: "All things change, nothing perishes." In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, that lesson has gone largely unheeded. The notion lives on that changing a practice undermines the faith. As a result, the...

Life with a Shriver has made Arnold's story one of conversion.(Columns)
September 5, 2003... It's true, his films are mostly trashy orgies of violence. It's true, he's electorally inexperienced. It's true, he holds high the free-market theories of Milton Friedman. It's true, his early ambitions were egomaniacal: "When I was a small boy...

Study unmasks U.S. addiction to guns: with 200 million private firearms out there, curbing guns is an uphill struggle.(Columns)
September 5, 2003... Many Americans have almost given up on the possibility of cutting back on the carnage done by handguns. But a new 469-page study issued by the Brookings Institution offers a massive amount of information on the gun culture. "Evaluating Gun...

A Vatican II view could allow for gay, lesbian unions: but latest document hearkens back to Aquinas' view of relationship between law and morality.(Viewpoint)
September 5, 2003... Discussion of the recent document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (NCR, Aug. 15), which calls on Catholics to oppose legal recognition for gay and lesbian unions and calls for no formal cooperation by Catholics with the...

Homosexuality and the church.(Letters--four letters from readers)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... * I gnash my teeth in frustration every time some homophobic fundamentalist runs to hide behind the Old Testament condemnation, of homosexuality. They are practicing "cafeteria Bible." We ignore other Old Testament prohibitions and/or practices...

Turmoil in Texas.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... * Bravo for the Aug. 1 article "Turmoil in Texas" by Teresa Malcolm! I have been in ministry for 14 years and have witnessed unjust firings of church employees, but never because of union affiliations. Faithful ministers are at the hands of the...

Catholic credibility.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... * Your Aug. 1 issue included an article by Michael Shields headlined "Double standard in public life hurts Catholic credibility." He makes a good point that many conservative Catholics are too anxious to condemn other Catholics for their...

Sex and celibacy.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... * Let me comment on the article by Fr. Frank Cordaro (NCR, Aug. 15)--and I use the term "Father" deliberately. First of all, Cordaro says because he "can't be celibate" he has resigned from the priesthood. While I admire his candor in admitting...

NCR's sexual obsession.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... * I had to laugh at your "Vatican Disconnect" editorial (NCR, Aug. 15) when it claims the church is "fixated on sex." Looking at your Web page, I found not only your editorial, but a story on a priest resigning over celibacy, several stories on...

Unsupported statements.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... * The letter of James Asher (NCR, Aug. 15) is one of the most ignorant, racist and non-Christian items that I have seen recently. 1) How can the Palestinians be "anti-Semite," when they themselves are "Semites"? 2) Asher's statement that...

Catholic adoption policies.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... Between 1949 and 1972, 6 million single, white, middle-class women lost their babies to adoption. I was one of these women. Although we did not have Magdalene laundries (NCR, Aug. 15) here in the United States, we had homes for unwed mothers...

International Criminal Court.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... The decision to cut aid to over 30 countries is yet another example of the Bush administration's obsessive campaign to shield the United States from jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, demonstrating this president's disrespect for...

Child labor victims.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... * Pat Morrison introduced us to young victims of child labor in her potent July 18 "Perspectives" column, and it broke my heart. Such issues of social injustice sadly have taken a media back seat to the pressing crisis of clergy sexual...

Ten Commandments.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... * Murder, stealing, greed and adultery run rampant in our American culture. Does anyone really believe that posting the Ten Commandments everywhere will help curtail our penchant for sinning? Will God bless America more if the Ten Commandments...

Celebrating two 21st-century justice visions.(Editorials)(Editorial)
September 5, 2003... The NCR staff joins countless others in honoring two visionaries--one in death, the other in life--for decades of service in building a more just and peaceful world. United Nations envoy to Baghdad, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among at...

Iraq exposes limits of empire.(Editorials)(Editorial)
September 5, 2003... There is irony to the current state of U.S. involvement in Iraq. The Bush administration's world unilateralists went to war there to assert U.S. will and military might. Bush promised nothing less than to reshape the political maps of the...

Geoghan murder raises old questions.(prison murder of former priest convicted of pedophilia not an isolated case)(Editorial)
September 5, 2003... Geoghan's murder was news because of who he was--a serial priest predator whose crimes were treated as minor offenses by Boston archdiocese officials. Fr. Richard P. McBrien of the theology department at the University of Notre Dame,...

The questions won't go away.(Inside NCR--the issue of married priests )
September 12, 2003... Twenty-three years ago, the Vatican created a "pastoral provision" allowing the Catholic church to provide "special pastoral attention" to clergy and laity of the Episcopal church. Translated, that means that married Episcopal priests were...

Despite opposition, church groups win some on Capitol Hill.(Analysis)
September 12, 2003... Washington's church-based lobbies--losers in legislative fights over tax cuts and Iraq earlier this year--are poised to score some significant victories. With just two months remaining before the end of the congressional session, the...

Sisters spotlight eco-justice: noted cosmologist sparks discussion at gathering of religious leadership.(Nation--includes 3 related articles: Women religious honor pioneering past president; LCWR installs new leadership team; Leaders of men's orders examine vocation in shadow of crises)
September 12, 2003... In a conference center tucked inside the enormous General Motors World Headquarters complex in Detroit last month, nearly 1,000 U.S. Roman Catholic sisters talked for five days about the cosmos, ecological justice and the Catholic church. ...

Bishop: laity can do sacraments.(World)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... LONDON -- Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Malone of Liverpool, England, has suggested that Catholic laywomen should be allowed to administer the sacrament of reconciliation. He said there might be circumstances in which it was more appropriate for a...

Christian leaders deplore wall.(World)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... JERUSALEM -- The Israeli-built wall (NCR, Sept. 5) separating Israel and the Palestinian territories "constitutes a grave obstacle" to peace in the Middle East, said the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem. "For both nations, the wall...

Minority religions driven out.(World)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... WASHINGTON -- Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are being systematically driven out of Bangladesh by those who want a Taliban-style Islamic state, according to Rosaline Costa, a Bangladeshi Catholic who runs the human rights watchdog Hotline...

Missionary's book foretells death.(World--U.S. Mill Hill Fr. John Kaiser wrote If I Die)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... NAIROBI, Kenya -- U.S. Mill Hill Fr. John Kaiser, whose death in 2000 was ruled a suicide by the FBI and Kenyan government, wrote a book in which he warned readers that he had been threatened and had no plans to take his own life. The...

Translations to be discussed.(World)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... VATICAN CITY -- Church leaders from English-speaking countries will meet at the Vatican to discuss and clarify questions about the translation of liturgical texts. The Oct. 21 encounter will cover a wide range of topics, including the...

Dalai Lama warned against trip.(World)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... TIBET -- China's governor of Tibet warned that the Dalai Lama's planned September meetings with U.S. officials--including President George Bush--could jeopardize the exiled leader's chance of returning to Tibet. At the same time, Jampa...

Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.(People)(Rev. Samuel Kobia elected general secretary)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... The Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Methodist minister from Kenya, was elected Aug. 28 the general secretary of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, which represents 342 churches and Christian communities worldwide. Kobia said that...

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.(People)(Archbishop Charles Chaput named to panel that monitors religious liberty)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has been named to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a 10-member panel that monitors religious liberty worldwide and counsels Congress, the president and the secretary of state on how to...

Imam W. Deen Mohammed, a spiritual leader of African-American Muslims for three decades, announced Aug. 31 his resignation as leader of the American Society of Muslims.(People)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Imam W. Deen Mohammed, a spiritual leader of African-American Muslims for three decades, announced Aug. 31 his resignation as leader of the American Society of Muslims. Mohammed, who will turn 70 in October, plans to continue his ministry, The...

Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, a Missionhurst missionary from the Philippines, was installed as first bishop of Mongolia in Ulan Bator Aug. 29.(People)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, a Missionhurst missionary from the Philippines, was installed as first bishop of Mongolia in Ulan Bator Aug. 29. Pope John Paul II sent Vatican envoy Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the...

Thomas E. Blanton Jr. lost his appeal to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, which upheld the 2001 murder convictions of former the Klansman for his role in the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., that killed four girls.(People)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Thomas E. Blanton Jr. lost his appeal to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, which upheld the 2001 murder convictions of former the Klansman for his role in the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., that...

International Movement of Catholic Students.(People)(Kevin Ahern elected president)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Kevin Ahern of Valhalla, N.Y., a recent graduate of Fordham University, was elected Aug. 30 international president of the International Movement of Catholic Students of Pax Romana, an 80-year old movement of Catholic university students. Ahern...

Dr. Harold G. Koenig of Duke University says a small but growing number of physicians are taking patient "spiritual histories.".(People)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Dr. Harold G. Koenig of Duke University says a small but growing number of physicians are taking patient "spiritual histories." By collecting information about each patient's religious or spiritual beliefs, he believes doctors can make more...

James P. Shannon: bishop who left church over birth control.(Deaths)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
September 12, 2003... James P. Shannon, who resigned as auxiliary bishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis in 1968 because he could not accept Pope Paul VI's teaching on birth control, died Aug. 27 at age 82. Several years before his death, he had quietly reconciled with the...

Josephine Jacobsen: poet.(Deaths)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
September 12, 2003... Josephine Jacobsen, an internationally acclaimed poet and short story writer, died July 9 in Baltimore at the age of 94. Although Jacobsen didn't talk much about her Catholic faith, "I had the sense that it was the bedrock upon which she rested...

Laundry nuns deny secret burials.(World--journalist alleges Sisters of Our Lady of Charity buried bodies of women who died in their care )
September 12, 2003... DUBLIN, Ireland -- Claims that the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity secretly buried the bodies of women who died in their care are "preposterous and untrue," said Sr. Ann Marie Ryan, the order's provincial superior. Responding to a journalist's...

Waiting for judgment.(World--Nigerian Amina Lawal appealing death sentence for having child out of wedlock)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Nigerian Amina Lawal waits in an islamic courtroom in Katsina in northern Nigeria Aug. 27. She is appealing her sentence of death by stoning under sharia, or Islamic law, for having a child out of wedlock. A judgment on her appeal is expected...

Superiors urge end to wall.(USA--U.S. Conference of Religious Superiors of Men protest wall separating Israel and Palestinian territories )(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Conference of Religious Superiors of Men have written to President George W. Bush, urging that he insist Israel stop construction of a wall separating Israel and the Palestinian territories (NCR, Sept. 5). "This wall...

Missouri court commutes death sentence for convicted teen.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Christopher Simmons to life in prison without parole Aug. 26, ruling 4-3 that persons convicted of capital crimes committed before they were 18 cannot be executed. The court...

Golden jubilee for Weston Priory.(USA--Benedictine monks, known for liturgical music, marke 50th anniversary of monastic foundation)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... WESTON, Vt. -- The Benedictine monks of Weston Priory, nationally known for their liturgical music, marked the 50th anniversary of their monastic foundation with ceremonies Aug. 12 at the monastery, located on a bucolic hilltop on the edge of...

Catholic high school bars hijab.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... CLEVELAND -- Regina High School has barred a returning senior from wearing her Muslim headscarf, or hijab, because it violates the Catholic school's dress code. "I feel very bad about this situation. I've agonized over it," said Notre Dame...

Fashion Bible targets teen girls.(USA)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- To snare the interest of girls ages 12 to 17, Bible publishers Thomas Nelson have developed Revolve, the complete New Testament in a fashion magazine format, replete with images of stylish, smiling young women, quizzes and...

Catholic health takes on elderly housing: wellness, autonomy focus of Missouri, Pennsylvania projects.(Health Beat)
September 12, 2003... HEALTH AND HOUSING A THREE-PART SERIES * Part One: Rural poor make a home in California's grape growing desert. * Part Two: Catholic hospitals focus resources on housing nearby elderly. * Part Three: Rural elderly housing and...

Clarification.(Health Beat)(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
September 12, 2003... Some 78 percent--about 35,000 employees--of Trinity Health Care in Novi, Mich. (NCR, July 18) are covered by medical plans offered by Trinity. Almost 28 percent utilize Trinity Health's own HMO and PPO programs.

CAFTA unites unlikely opponents in New Orleans: from Louisiana fishermen to Pax Christi members, a motley mix turned out to protest a trade agreement they say will spell disaster stateside as well as in Central America.(Nation--Central American Free Trade Agreement negotiations between US, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras)
September 12, 2003... Managua resident Magda Lanuza used to enjoy drinking fresh milk produced on local Nicaraguan farms. "Not any more," says Lanuza sadly. "People in the cities are now drinking powdered milk produced by an Italian transnational company. The...