Philippine Priest Is Running For Office Out of Desperation

BETIS, Philippines – A diocesan priest said his campaign to become governor of Pampanga province is an act of desperation.

Corruption, illegal gambling and abuse of power have brought the government of his northern Philippine province to rock bottom, Father Eddie Panlilio said.

He said the provincial government, based in San Fernando City, is in an “emergency state,” and that the two major gubernatorial candidates in the coming elections are linked to all the problems and there was no alternative to them on the ballot.

Father Panlilio, 53, the pastor of St. James the Apostle Church in Betis, is now on the campaign trail.

He requested and received a suspension from priestly duties to run for office.
Though Archbishop Paciano Aniceto of San Fernando did not openly support the priest’s candidacy, he noted that Father Panlilio “is a very, very exemplary priest who has served the social action ministry with great dedication and love for the poor.”

Some of his own confreres oppose his candidacy, mainly because they believe a priest should not run in political elections, as stated in canon law.

Ukrainian Cardinal Defends His Support for President

KIEV, Ukraine – The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has defended his decision to support President Viktor Yushchenko’s recent dismissal of parliament, which some argue has deepened a constitutional crisis.

“Our declaration didn’t back any party – it merely recalled that the church has not forgotten people, nor has God,” said Cardinal Lubomyr Husar of Kiev-Halych.
“Matters have advanced so far that there’s now a need for urgent consultations with the nation,” he said.

“There appears to be no contact at all between the nation and its rulers.”

Yushchenko issued a decree dissolving the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, April 2. He claimed political deadlock was preventing reforms agreed upon after Ukraine’s December 2004 Orange Revolution. Supporters of Ukraine’s pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich rejected the president’s decision.

Although the Constitutional Court is set to rule on the dispute, its neutrality and effectiveness have been questioned widely. Elections for parliament currently are set for June 24.

U.S. Hispanics Are Drawn to Charismatic Churches

WASHINGTON – The Church familiar to and preferred by Hispanic Catholics in the United States is a livelier, more charismatic place than the one most American Catholics are used to, finds a new survey on Latinos and religion.

A detailed survey by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life says about a third of U.S. Catholics are Latinos and that they are bringing a more evangelical style of faith into the broader Church as their numbers grow.

Despite an overall drop in the percentage of U.S. Hispanics who are Catholic – due largely to those who joined evangelical and Pentecostal churches – Latinos will continue to
Total recorded inclusive membership in 2005 was 165,878,323, up more than 2.4 million from the previous year, the yearbook said.

The 439-page yearbook is an annual publication of the New York-based National Council of Churches. This year’s book is the council’s 75th edition.

It lists U.S. and Canadian church bodies, with a brief description of each and its national headquarters, officers, periodicals and major agencies or boards.

It also includes directories of U.S. and Canadian seminaries, religious periodicals, ecumenical organizations, cooperative religious organizations, institutions engaged in religious research and a selective directory of non-Christian religious organizations.

U.S. Christian Church Membership Is Rising

WASHINGTON – Total membership in U.S. Christian churches continued to rise in 2005, despite ongoing declines in some of the country’s largest mainline Protestant churches, according to the 2007 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

Total recorded inclusive membership in 2005 was 165,878,323, up more than 2.4 million from the previous year, the yearbook said.

The 439-page yearbook is an annual publication of the New York-based National Council of Churches. This year’s book is the council’s 75th edition.

It lists U.S. and Canadian church bodies, with a brief description of each and its national headquarters, officers, periodicals and major agencies or boards.

It also includes directories of U.S. and Canadian seminaries, religious periodicals, ecumenical organizations, cooperative religious organizations, institutions engaged in religious research and a selective directory of non-Christian religious organizations.

Kissinger to Participate in Vatican Meeting on Charity

VATICAN CITY – Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was to participate in a Vatican meeting on charity and justice and was to stay at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican residence where the cardinals stayed during the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Mary Ann Glendon, a U.S. law professor and president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, invited Kissinger to speak at the academy’s April 27-May 1 plenary session.

The academy, which advises the Vatican on social issues, was to focus on “Charity and Justice in the Relations Among Peoples and Nations.”

The meeting was to be the last in a series – held over the past 13 years – focusing on economic, social and legal issues tied to the theme of globalization.

Glendon told reporters that Kissinger was invited after he was included on an academy members’ list of “experts, some with scholarly expertise, some with practical experience with the problems” the academy faces.

Catholic Universities Study Security after Virginia Tech

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – In the wake of the tragic shooting spree that left 33 people dead April 16 at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., universities nationwide have been re-evaluating their crisis procedures.

Three Catholic universities based in the Diocese of Joliet – Lewis University in Romeoville, the University of St. Francis in Joliet and Benedictine University in Lisle – immediately reviewed their communications and security procedures involving staff and students.

Joe Falese, vice president of student services at Lewis and a member of the crisis response committee, said the Virginia Tech tragedy “affects all of us.”

He said he anticipates an avalanche of questions about campus security from parents and students, especially in the fall.