Same-Sex Couple’s Divorce Raises Host of Questions

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Can a lesbian couple married under Massachusetts law allowing gay unions obtain a divorce in Rhode Island?

That’s the issue before the state Supreme Court, and the decision will be significant enough that the court, in a rare act, invited arguments on specific questions.

Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin welcomed the invitation, and in his name attorneys have filed an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief in the case of Margaret Chambers and Cassandra Ormiston.

They were married in Fall River, Mass., in May 2004, soon after Massachusetts legalized same-sex unions, which are not legal in Rhode Island.

Now the couple have filed for divorce in Rhode Island, and the case is being watched around the country.

The bishop’s 15-page brief asserts that, far from being a “simple ‘divorce’ case,” it raises “profound questions about human nature and fundamental questions about the nature and extent of representative democracy.”

The brief argues two specific points: The U.S. Constitution provides that an issue of such substance can only be decided by individual state legislatures or the citizens of a particular state; and that the federal Defense of Marriage Act passed by Congress is an affirmation of constitutional guarantees for self-government by states.

Bishop Joins Utah in Prayers for Trapped Miners

HUNTINGTON, Utah – Although he said “fear, anxiety and anger are common human emotions” during the long wait for word on the fate of six miners trapped in the Crandall Canyon Mine outside Huntington, Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City urged the miners’ families, colleagues and rescuers Aug. 9 to place themselves “in God’s presence.”

“God will answer our prayers either with the safe return of the six miners to us, or the grace to see us through our loss,” he said during a Mass in the tiny mission church of San Rafael in Huntington.

Two holes were drilled more than 1,800 feet into the cavern where they were believed to be trapped in hopes of finding evidence they were still alive.

A microphone lowered through the first hole picked up no sounds from the miners, and a video camera lowered through the second hole yielded few images but did show a “survivable space,” according to The Associated Press.

Stories About Bishop’s Fall Are Tough on His Staff

WASHINGTON – The chancellor for the Diocese of Gallup, N.M., said despite

speculation that Bishop Donald E. Pelotte might have been assaulted he believes his boss and close friend was hurt falling down the stairs of his house, as the bishop said.

Deacon Timoteo Lujan told Catholic News Service that it has been very distressing to all the employees at the Gallup chancery to have a debate play out in the local and national news about whether Bishop Pelotte was attacked in his home.

“There are just 14 of us who work in the pastoral center, including me, the bishop, the janitor and the receptionist,” Deacon Lujan said. “We’re like a family.”

Bishop Pelotte, 62, has been hospitalized since July 23 with extensive injuries including head trauma and severe bruises to a shoulder and his arms, legs, hands and knuckles.

Catholic University Removes Bishop’s Name from Library

DAVENPORT, Iowa – St. Ambrose University honored the request of a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and removed the name of the late Bishop Gerald F. O’Keefe of Davenport from the university’s 11-year-old library.

The Catholic university’s board of directors made the decision in hopes of bringing about healing, said Davenport Bishop Martin J. Amos, the board’s president.

Shortly after the board announced its decision, two workers in a crane removed the letters spelling out “O’KEEFE” from the front of the building.

The word “LIBRARY” remained.

The Rev. Mark Powell of Indianapolis, the survivor, requested the change because he said Bishop O’Keefe failed to take the necessary precautions to protect children from abuse during his 26-year tenure as head of the diocese.

In his own case, he was abused after he came to the Davenport Diocese in the late ’70s as a teenager to join an order of religious brothers, and reported it to the bishop, who did nothing, he said.

Montreal Cardinal Calls for End to Cemetery Dispute

OTTAWA – Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal has called for an end to a 12-week labor dispute at Canada’s largest cemetery.

The dispute at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery in Montreal has left about 500 bodies unburied, and the grounds on Mount Royal’s western slope have not been maintained.

Bodies have been stacked in coffins inside the cemetery’s refrigerated vault, but dozens more arrive each week.

The cemetery manager has said he has enough room to store additional bodies until October.

Following a meeting with a group representing families of the deceased, Cardinal Turcotte told a news conference that the families’ situation was intolerable and that it was necessary to end the dispute as soon as possible.

Catholics Welcome Planned Summit for Korean Leaders

SEOUL, South Korea – Catholic officials have welcomed the planned summit between the leaders of North and South Korea and expressed hope the meeting will further relations between the two estranged neighbors.

Noting that both countries had “experienced ups and downs,” Father Peter Pai Young-ho, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, expressed hope the summit will “encourage smooth communications between the two Koreas.”

He added that he also hopes “the summit will be a good chance for a mutual exchange between religions in the North and South.”