Sponsors Change Likely for Boston Health Care

BOSTON – The Archdiocese of Boston announced that it is in discussions with Ascension Health, a national Catholic health care system, about a change in sponsorship of the Caritas Christi Health Care system, which is sponsored by the archdiocese but is a separately incorporated entity.

The archdiocese and Ascension Health have a nonbinding agreement to discuss the transfer of sponsorship.

Caritas Christi announced last August that a strategic review committee would conduct a comprehensive analysis of the health system’s position in the New England health care market.

Despite poor financial performance in recent years, Caritas Christi turned a $26 million profit in fiscal year 2005.

Emergency Treatment Not Ideal But Acceptable

DENVER – Although it is not ideal, a bill that would require information about emergency contraception to be made available to rape victims in Colorado is something that “Catholics can accept and work with in good conscience,” according to the state’s Catholic bishops.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver and Bishops Arthur N. Tafoya of Pueblo and Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs said in a joint statement that the legislation “gives some flexibility to institutions in meeting the requirements of the law, thereby allowing Catholic medical facilities to cooperate without violating their Catholic character.”

The bill passed the House Feb. 14 by a 56-9 vote. It had been approved in the Senate two weeks earlier by a 25-10 vote, but the Senate now needs to consider a House amendment that would allow pharmacists to post a sign stating that they do not stock emergency contraception.

A conscience clause in the legislation allows other medical professionals to exclude themselves individually from providing emergency contraception, but the bishops had urged “including a similar conscience clause for institutions as a matter of justice.”

London Churches See Boost in Immigrants

LONDON – The size of the Catholic Church in the British capital is being boosted by waves of illegal immigrants, according to a new report.

Undocumented or irregular migrants now make up more than three-quarters of the congregations of at least three London parishes, said “The Ground of Justice: The Report of a Pastoral Research Inquiry Into the Needs of Migrants in London’s Catholic Community.”

Many migrants live in abject poverty and fear of deportation, said the report by the Von Hugel Institute of St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge.

The report, commissioned last year by the London dioceses of Westminster, Southwark and Brentwood, said that about one in six Catholic migrants in the capital – about 25,000 out of an estimated total of 150,000 – was there illegally.

It said they often were exploited cruelly because of their irregular status.

Christian Movements Liven European Church

ROME – Europe may not be as obviously Christian as it once was, but vibrant new movements and communities have been born among Catholic, Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches, said members of those movements.

Representatives from several of the larger movements met in Rome in mid-February to finalize preparations for “Together for Europe,” a May 10-11 meeting in Stuttgart, Germany, of at least 3,000 leaders from more than 170 groups representing a wide range of Christian denominations.

“We want to send a strong signal that Christianity remains alive in Europe and that diversity is valued, including among Christians,” said Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Catholic-founded Community of Sant’Egidio.

Italian Bill Proposes Rights For All Couples

VATICAN CITY – An Italian legislative proposal that would grant some legal rights to unwed couples – including same-sex partners – has set the stage for a major Church-state showdown.

On one side is a wide spectrum of Italian social and political forces, including many lay Catholics, who say the bill would end discrimination against unwed couples in areas of health care, pensions, housing and employment.

On the other side is the Italian bishops’ conference, which has argued that the law would undermine marriage and the traditional family.

Some bishops have warned Catholic legislators that they are duty-bound to vote against the proposal.

Canadian Archdiocese Prepares for Bird Flu

EDMONTON, Alberta – The Edmonton Archdiocese’s draft guidelines in preparation for an influenza pandemic include strict measures concerning the distribution of Communion.

If a pandemic hits, local Catholics will not receive Communion under the species of wine and will not be able to receive the Eucharist on their tongues, according to a draft of the Archdiocesan Influenza Pandemic Planning Guidelines.

The world is currently in a pandemic alert phase for the avian flu H5N1 virus.
The draft guidelines said people who handle hosts prior to Mass will be required to wear disposable gloves and masks, and eucharistic ministers will have to clean their hands with a hand sanitizer immediately before and after distributing Communion.

If the eucharistic minister accidentally touches a communicant, he or she will have to stop distributing Communion and sanitize again before resuming, the guidelines said.

No blessings will be given to people not receiving Communion, said the guidelines, many of which were based on similar guidelines in the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa.

Death Penalty Foes Hail Tennessee Moratorium

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Death penalty opponents in Tennessee are applauding Gov. Phil Bredesen’s decision to temporarily halt state executions to study the state’s protocol for carrying out death sentences, but they say it “doesn’t go nearly far enough.”

Alex Wiesendanger, associate director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing, called the move “a great first step,” but said “a full study of the entire system is needed” beyond the 90-day study of the state’s death penalty procedures.

The Tennessee Catholic Public Policy Commission is also among those pushing for a more wide-ranging moratorium.

Baltimore Group Wants More Men in Church

BALTIMORE – Having noticed that men have become a vast minority in Catholic parishes in northeast Baltimore, St. Anthony of Padua parishioner Paul Gerhardt and a group of his friends decided to unite with a mission to lure members of their gender back to church.

So was born the Northeast Catholic Brotherhood a little more than a year ago, and with about 25 men from three area faith communities participating, the group has ignited a movement that inspires religious and community involvement.

Each month the group meets in the rectory kitchen at St. Anthony of Padua for a casual dinner and to plan its outreach programs, ministries and how to get male Catholics – especially younger men – involved with area parishes.

Pope Concerned Over Nukes in North Korea

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI told South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun that he shares that nation’s concerns about a nuclear arms race in the region.

With the aid of interpreters, the pope and president spoke privately for 25 minutes Feb. 15 before Pope Benedict handed the president a letter expressing his concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program and about the continued separation of families on either side of the border.

Roh’s visit to the Vatican came just two days after North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States reached a tentative agreement to put a stop to the development of new nuclear weapons by North Korea.

Argentine Bishops Issue Sex Ed for Catholic Schools

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The Argentine bishops’ conference has published a sex education manual for Catholic schools, where the subject has become mandatory for the new academic year.

The 160-page manual, “Education for Love,” will be available to parents and teachers and will teach the Church’s position on sex education for use in the classroom when the new academic year begins in March.

Last year Argentina passed a federal law making sex education compulsory for students as young as age five.

The law outlines certain issues that must be raised in class – such as discrimination against women, sexuality, homosexuality, contraceptive methods and abortion – which the Church considers “dangerous,” said Father Ruben Revello, coordinator of the Institute of Bioethics at the Catholic University of Argentina.

However, in the case of controversial issues such as contraception, church schools could teach “from a Christian standpoint,” said Father Revello.

Cardinal Zen: China, Vatican Must Work on Ordinations

HONG KONG – Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong has reiterated the need for negotiations to resolve the issue of Catholic bishops’ ordinations in mainland China and to find a bilaterally acceptable way of normalizing relations.

Cardinal Zen said illegitimate episcopal ordinations have created new obstacles for the dialogue between China and the Vatican and the normalization of their relations, and he called for an approach acceptable to both sides.

However, Anthony Liu Bainian, vice president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, said that the Church in China will continue to elect and ordain its own bishops as it has done in the past 50 years.

Currently, Liu said, China is examining applications for episcopal ordinations in the Guangzhou, Guizhou and Yichang dioceses.

U.S.-Born Priest Named Auxiliary in Puerto Rico

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has named Msgr. Daniel Fernandez Torres, a U.S.-born priest who is a pastor in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, to be an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Bishop-designate Fernandez, born in Chicago, had been pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Arecibo, the diocese for which he was ordained Jan. 7, 1995.

His episcopal ordination was set for April 21 – six days before his 43rd birthday – at the cathedral in San Juan.