Cardinal Defends Wording Of Tridentine Prayer for Jews

VATICAN CITY – A Vatican cardinal defended Pope Benedict XVI’s reformulation of a prayer for the conversion of Jews and said he hopes it will not become an obstacle in Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, who heads the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews, said the Catholic Church cannot hide its belief that Jesus Christ is the savior of all peoples, including the Jews.

But that does not mean the Church is launching a missionary effort among the Jewish people, he told Vatican Radio.

Cardinal Kasper was responding to Jewish criticism of the pope’s new Good Friday prayer for Jews in the 1962 Roman Missal, known as the Tridentine rite, which can be used with greater freedom under new norms issued last year.

The pope removed language that spoke of the “blindness” of the Jews, which Cardinal Kasper said was “a little offensive.”

“The Holy Father wanted to remove this point, but he also wanted to underline the specific difference that exists between us and Judaism,” the cardinal said. That difference is that for Christians Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God, he said.

Cardinal to Host Muslims on Next Step in Dialogue

VATICAN CITY – Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, will host a meeting with Muslim representatives in early March to plan a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI and the next step in their dialogue.

Sohail Nakhooda, editor in chief of Islamica Magazine in Jordan, said the meeting with Cardinal Tauran was scheduled for March 3-4.

Nakhooda was one of the 138 Muslim scholars who wrote to Pope Benedict and other Christian leaders in October proposing new efforts at Christian-Muslim dialogue based on the shared belief in the existence of one God, in God’s love for humanity and in people’s obligation to love one another.

Pope Benedict responded in November by inviting a group of the Muslim scholars to meet with him and to hold a broader working session with the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and with representatives of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies and the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Five of the 138 scholars, including Nakhooda, will participate.

Davenport Diocese Files Plan in Bankruptcy Court

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Fifteen months after the Diocese of Davenport filed for bankruptcy, it submitted a reorganization plan with the committee that represents most of its creditors – 156 survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

The proposal, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Iowa after months of arduous negotiations, could be confirmed later this spring, said Dick Davidson, the diocese’s bankruptcy attorney.

At a March 5 hearing, Judge Lee Jackwig will consider approval of the diocese’s disclosure statement.

The 73-page document provides a summary of the 84-page reorganization plan, which outlines the process for distributing a $37 million settlement among creditors and identifies 17 nonmonetary measures the diocese will take to foster healing and to prevent abuse in the future.

In a letter read at Masses Feb. 2-3 throughout the diocese, Davenport Bishop Martin J. Amos observed: “This part of our journey will take place during Lent and Easter ... and I believe that together we will emerge strengthened by the celebration of the joy of the risen Lord.”

Irish Bishop: Rich Countries Must Pay for Global Warming

DUBLIN, Ireland – Carbon taxes in the world’s richest countries should be used to ameliorate the effects of global warming in the world’s poorest countries, said an Irish bishop.

“Climate change is undermining the fight against poverty,” said Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert, chairman of the Irish bishops’ overseas aid agency, Trocaire.

“Developing countries haven’t caused global warming, but the world’s poorest people are left to cope with the consequences for three reasons: They live in areas that are seeing the biggest impact of global warming, they depend heavily on the weather for their livelihoods, and they are already living in poverty, therefore they are less able to cope with the impacts of these climate changes.”

At a press conference launching Trocaire’s Lenten fundraising campaign, Bishop Kirby said he wants a significant share of carbon-tax revenues to go to the newly developed U.N. Adaptation Fund, created to help poorer countries adapt to climate-change threats.

Snowstorm Cancels Ash Wednesday in Illinois

ANTIOCH, Ill. – A major snowstorm that hit Illinois Feb. 6 not only made roads treacherous, kept people indoors and stranded hundreds of travelers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, it also forced the cancellation of Ash Wednesday services for some Catholics.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the season that calls Christians to prayer, fasting, repentance and charity.

So at least one Catholic pastor, Father John Jamnicky, decided to distribute ashes after all Masses the weekend of Feb. 9-10 to help those parishioners who missed out.

Father Jamnicky, pastor of St. Raphael the Archangel Church in Antioch, in the Chicago Archdiocese, reported that his parish “received many calls from disappointed parishioners who look forward to attending Mass on Ash Wednesday to help them prepare for the season.”

One woman called to inform him that this year “marked the first time she has ever missed an Ash Wednesday Mass or service,” he said.

Archbishop to Use Tridentine Rite for Ordinations in Rome

VATICAN CITY – A former Vatican official will ordain four seminarians in a Tridentine Mass celebrated in the cathedral of Rome, church officials said.

The Feb. 23 ordination Mass in the Basilica of St. John Lateran will be the most prominent celebration of the old rite in Rome since Pope Benedict XVI relaxed restrictions on its use last year.

The Mass, to be celebrated by Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, will follow the 1962 Roman Missal, known commonly as the Tridentine rite.