Pope Benedict XVI set to meet Bush

VATICAN CITY – U.S. President George W. Bush is coming to the Vatican for his first formal audience with Pope Benedict XVI, a meeting seen on both sides as immensely important.

Vatican officials said the June 9 encounter would give the pope and the president a chance to sit down for a survey of dramatic situations around the world, including Iraq, where thousands of Christians have been forced to flee.

The Bush administration believes the audience will highlight the shared values and common objectives of the Vatican and the United States.

In an interview June 1 with Catholic News Service, the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Francis Rooney, said the meeting was “a hugely important reflection” of the president’s respect for the role of the pope and Vatican agencies around the world.

“It opens up opportunities for doing good in the world … by leveraging our mutual values and interests in promoting human dignity and religious liberty and for broadening all freedoms,” Rooney said.

One specific area of common concern is global terrorism, Rooney said. “Certainly, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the use of religion as an excuse for terror are areas the Holy Father has spoken clearly about,” he said.

Vatican officials said one sure topic would be the fate of Iraqi Christians, who have faced increasing violence and discrimination since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003 and the overthrow of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Rooney said the Bush administration is also troubled that thousands of Christians have left Iraq.

“The whole reason we’re in Iraq is to try to build a country in which all the people of Iraq can lead a peaceful life,” Rooney said.

As for the pope’s recent comment that “nothing positive” was coming from Iraq, the ambassador said that should not be read as a blanket criticism of U.S. operations there.

“I don’t think the Holy Father was indicting the nation-building, democracy- and freedom-building and institutional development aspects of the coalition’s work,” Rooney said.

“I think he was rightly – and how can you argue? – reflecting on the sadness of the continued violence being perpetrated by the few against the many,” he said.

Global economics could also be an important topic during Bush’s meeting with the pope and in separate talks with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Bush will come to Rome immediately after participating in a G-8 summit in Germany, where the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations were to discuss, among other things, proposals to increase aid to developing countries.

Pope Benedict has strongly encouraged countries to implement the Millennium Development Goals, a plan that aims to cut global poverty in half by 2015. To accomplish this, richer countries have been asked to increase development aid to 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product. The Bush administration has endorsed the goals but balked at supporting numerical aid targets.

Rooney said that position was based on the principle that “you can’t necessarily apply a rigid mathematical formula to economies and circumstances that are radically different in scale and type.”

“You’ve got to factor in the private charities, NGOs and things like that, where the United States is far and away the world leader,” he said.

“The United States is the world leader in private charity and generosity to underprivileged and disadvantaged people. No country gives more,” Rooney said.

The ambassador noted that Bush recently had asked Congress for $30 billion toward fighting the global AIDS crisis, a doubling of the previous U.S. commitment. That’s an area Rooney said the Vatican and the Bush administration were working on “parallel tracks” to arrive at the same goal – alleviating the suffering of the sick, particularly in Africa.

Perhaps to underline his appreciation for faith-based private charity, the president will pay a visit to the Rome headquarters of the Sant’Egidio Community. The community has been one of the church’s most active humanitarian agencies, running soup kitchens and immigrant assistance programs in Rome and sponsoring a major anti-AIDS project in Africa.

“These are all important things, and they are the kinds of things that are important to the president, too,” Rooney said.

The success of a pope-president meeting cannot always be measured by official statements or speeches on the day of the encounter. Weeks of planning go into such an encounter, accompanied by a proliferation of U.S.-Vatican contacts and exchange of briefing papers on important topics.

When diplomacy is put in motion, related projects are sometimes given a boost. Some believe the pope-president encounter could favor the chances for a papal visit to the United Nations and the United States sometime next year.

Vatican officials, who spoke off the record, said there were no burning U.S.-Vatican issues on the agenda for the papal audience. At least the public part of the meeting, they said, would probably focus on areas of shared concerns and shared values.

Privately, the situation of Christians in various parts of the world, including China, may also come up in the talks, but the Vatican does not want to encourage a public criticism of China at this delicate moment, when a papal letter on the church in China is expected to be released soon. Anti-smoking campaign earns awards for students at 20 Catholic schools

As 12-year-old St. Bernardine Catholic School, Baltimore, seventh grader Katrina Freeman developed her award-winning Tobacco Use Prevention Contest entry, she prayed her efforts would free her father from his decades-long cigarette habit.

Though her mega-watt smile sparkled as she was given a $50 gift certificate May 30 in the parish center at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland, for winning first place at her school, the Edmonson Village resident said her crusade to persuade her father to quit smoking will persist.

“It’s almost like suicide and that’s a mortal sin,” said Katrina, a St. Bernardine, Baltimore, parishioner, during a joint Archdiocese of Baltimore and Baltimore City Health Department luncheon honoring 40 first- and second-place winners from 20 catholic schools.

Her flyer “Better Things To Do,” provides statistics about the negative health risks posed by cigarette smoking and lists healthier activities as an alternative.

Armed with a $26,000 grant from the city’s health department, the archdiocese education system invited seventh graders in all of its schools to develop anti- smoking campaigns as part of its Tobacco Use Prevention curriculum, said Dr. Kirk Gaddy, principal of Queen of Peace Cluster: St. Katharine School, Baltimore, and coordinator of the competition. In addition to a certificate of award, each first-place winner received a $50 gift card from Barnes & Noble and second-place winners took home a $25 gift card from the same bookstore chain, Dr. Gaddy said.

“I think this is a terrific contest, because it’s most effective when kids are educating other kids,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, health commissioner for Baltimore City. “Ninety percent of today’s smokers started smoking before the age of 18. All of the students here have started to fight back.”

Winning campaigns displayed throughout the Cathedral parish center came in many forms – from posters to poems.

When Anna Hiser, 12, of School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, was developing her second-place “Smoking Stinks” poster, the Towson resident thought of the repulsive odor she says emanates from burning tobacco products.

Anna’s classmate, William Casey, 14, of Cedarcroft, drew skull and crossbones to drive home the point of his first-place “Smoking Kills, So Why Start?” campaign.

“The image kind of popped into my head when I was working on it,” William said. “The picture really says it all.”

He may post it near his mother, who quit smoking last year, but occasionally sneaks a puff during times of stress. Bishop Denis J. Madden, urban vicar for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said the contest delivered some unique anti-smoking campaigns he believed will educate students, their friends and family members.

“You also have to educate yourself,” he told the competition winners. “Your body is a precious gift from God.”

Bishop Dudick of Byzantine diocese dies

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. – Retired Bishop Michael J. Dudick of the Byzantine Diocese of Passaic, N.J., died May 30 at the Rest Haven nursing facility in Schuylkill Haven. He was 91.

He had previously been in residence at Holy Annunciation Monastery in Sugarloaf. Prior to his retirement in 1995, he had been the bishop of Passaic for 27 years.

A Divine Liturgy with the office of Christian burial was scheduled for June 5 at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Passiac. The liturgy was to be concelebrated by Byzantine Archbishop Basil M. Schott of Pittsburgh, Bishop Andrew Pataki, the current bishop of Passaic, and several other bishops and clergy. Interment was set for June 6 at Mount St. Macrina Cemetery in Uniontown. A native of St. Clair, Bishop Dudick was born Feb. 24, 1916, and ordained Nov. 13, 1945, after studies at St. Procopius Seminary in Lisle, Ill. When the Passaic Diocese was formed in 1963, he was its first chancellor. He was appointed by Pope Paul VI to be its second bishop Aug. 21, 1968.

The Diocese of Passaic has 88 parishes and four missions. It encompasses 15 states along the East Coast from Maine to Florida, plus eastern Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

During his tenure as bishop, 32 new parishes and missions were established and several men were ordained to the priesthood and diaconate. New monasteries were established, including a monastery for the Basilian Fathers of Mariapoch in Matawan, N.J., and a monastery for Carmelite nuns in Sugarloaf.

Always a supporter of the spiritual growth of the faithful, Bishop Dudick launched annual pilgrimages in his diocese, and helped establish the Carpathian Village renewal and retreat center and St. Nicholas Shrine in the Poconos.

He was a strong advocate of the development of priests. Before retiring he arranged and supported the Emmaus Program for priests and worked to develop study days for clergy.

Over the years Bishop Dudick was a familiar figure at the annual March for Life activities in Washington in January. He usually celebrated a Divine Liturgy at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to close the nearly 24- hour vigil that takes place at the shrine prior to the pro-life march.

The bishop worked on several commissions and committees. He was a member of the Vatican Congregation for Eastern Churches for two five-year terms; consultor for the codification of Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches; and was on a visiting committee for the board of overseers of Harvard University for three two-year terms.

Among other positions he held, he was a consultor for the U.S. bishops’ ecumenical and interreligious affairs committee; a member of the seven-bishop committee in dialogue with the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops; a member of the board of regents of Seton Hall University; former secretary, treasurer and vice president of the Coalition of Religious Leaders of New Jersey; president of the Eastern Catholic Bishops Association; and a member of the Policy Committee of the Catholic bishops of New Jersey.

In the years after his retirement, Bishop Dudick continued offering pastoral care to the faithful.

Bishop Dudick is survived by a brother, John, and sisters Mary O’Brien and Elizabeth Gursky, all of St. Clair; another sister, Dorothy Keffer of Harrisburg, Pa.; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by brothers George and Joseph and sisters Irene Giemza and Anna Tizekker.

British cardinals remind politicians voting for abortion unacceptable

LONDON – Britain’s two cardinals reminded Catholic politicians that it is unacceptable for them to vote for abortion rights.

Cardinals Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, and Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster, England, denounced the 1967 Abortion Act May 31 as the act approaches its 40th anniversary.

“I remind them to avoid cooperating in the unspeakable crime of abortion, and the barrier such cooperation erects to receiving holy Communion,” said Cardinal O’Brien, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, during a homily at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, to mark the church in Scotland’s Day for Life.

“I speak most especially to those who claim to be Catholic,” he said. “I ask them to examine their consciences and discern if they are playing any part in sustaining this social evil.”

Cardinal O’Brien said Catholics must be “unwilling to give our vote” to politicians who supported abortion.

He urged Catholics to hold their elected representatives accountable and called upon “politicians to have no truck with the evil trade of abortion.”

“For those at Westminster, this means finding means of overthrowing the legislation, which makes the killing possible,” he said.

Noting that 7 million unborn children have been aborted in Great Britain since the act was passed, Cardinal O’Brien said, “The scale of the killing is beyond our grasp.”

The cardinal compared the rate of abortion in Scotland to the equivalent of a classroom of children dying every day.

The Day For Life will be marked in England and Wales July 1. In a May 31 statement, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, president of the English and Welsh bishops’ conference, urged “all Catholics, especially those who hold positions of public responsibility, to educate themselves about the teaching of the church and to seek pastoral advice so that they can make informed decisions with consistency and integrity.”

He added, “The longstanding tradition of the church teaches that anyone who freely and knowingly commits a serious wrong should approach the Eucharist only after receiving faithfully the sacrament of penance.”

The abortion act was among the powers reserved by the London-based British Parliament when the Scottish Parliament was established in 1998. It permits abortion with the written consent of two doctors in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy except in cases of “severe fetal abnormality,” when abortion is permitted up to birth.

Ninety-five percent of the 198,070 abortions carried out in 2005 in England, Wales and Scotland were performed under the part of the act that permits abortion if the “physical or mental health” of the woman requires it.

Pro-life campaigners have argued that the liberal interpretation of the clause in effect allows abortion on demand.

The rate of abortion in Britain is continuing to rise although the government has sought to reduce the rate of conception by making contraceptives and the morning- after pill available more easily.

Pope urges nations to protect religious freedom, family, environment

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI urged nations to protect religious freedom, the environment and the family in a speech to five new ambassadors to the Vatican.

The pope welcomed the diplomats from Sudan, Burundi, Pakistan, Estonia and Iceland June 1 as they presented him with their credentials.

While Catholics are a minority in the countries the ambassadors represent, the pope said the church promotes a “spirit of fraternal collaboration” among all people and is “anxious to pay witness to the Gospel.”

People must never be discriminated against or marginalized because of their beliefs or religious traditions, he said, emphasizing that the freedom of religion is one of humanity’s “essential rights” that needs to be protected.

True religious beliefs “cannot be a source of division or violence,” he said. On the contrary, they are “the foundation of a conscience that (regards) all people (as) brothers and sisters to protect and help thrive,” said the pope.

The pope appealed to nations to not exploit the resources of poorer countries “with impunity” and asked that poorer countries be able to “have their share of world growth.”

Wealthier nations are especially called to help work for a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources, he said.

In his address to Iceland’s ambassador to the Vatican, Stefan Larus Stefansson, the pope praised the country for making significant contributions to peace and development around the world. He said protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development would have a positive impact on creating peace among peoples.

While “the world’s resources are limited … the duty to implement policies to prevent the destruction of that natural capital is not always observed,” he said.

“Any irresponsible exploitation” and hoarding of resources “reflect an inhumane concept of development,” said the pope.

In his address to Juri Seilenthal, the new Estonian ambassador to the Vatican, the pope reminded him that the health of a community “depends in no small measure on the health of its families.”

He said governments need to support families because it is in the family that “the young are trained in goodness, generosity, forgiveness and fraternal concern for others, and given a sense of personal responsibility for building a world of freedom, solidarity and hope.”

Speaking to Burundi’s new ambassador to the Vatican, Domitille Barancira, the pope honored the life of the late Archbishop Michael A. Courtney, the Vatican nuncio assassinated in her country in December 2003.

The pope expressed his hopes that authorities would be able to “shed light on the assassination” and bring those responsible for the killing to justice. Burundi is slowly emerging from the aftermath of deadly ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi factions, and the pope praised the country’s attempts “to cure the wounds of war with the balm of forgiveness” based on justice.

In his address to Ahmed Hamid Elfaki Hamid of Sudan, the pope urged the African nation to end its military campaign against the region of Darfur and implement a political solution that respects the country’s minorities.

He said “the force of weapons” could not put an end to “this deadly conflict.”

The only “viable solution” that would bring peace is one based on justice, dialogue and negotiation “in order to arrive at a political solution to the conflict in respect of cultural, ethnic and religious minorities,” the pope said.

In his address to Ayesha Riyaz, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s new ambassador to the Vatican, the pope praised Pakistan’s multilateral efforts aimed at bringing “greater stability to your region and to protect innocent lives from the threats of terrorism and violence.”

Democracy guarantees the freedom to publicly express different political views but in such a way that “civil order is maintained and social harmony protected and fostered,” the pope said.

He noted Pakistan’s recent electoral reforms “aimed at facilitating the full participation of all citizens,” including minorities, and he praised recent legislation “aimed at eliminating unjust forms of prejudice and discrimination against women.”

“During an era in which threats against religious freedom are becoming more ominous throughout the world,” the pope urged Pakistan to protect the rights of minorities “to live, worship and perform works of charity,” and to safeguard them from intimidation and “acts of violence.” Philippine bishops call for post- election political killings to stop

MANILA, Philippines – As votes for the May 14 midterm election are tabulated, Philippine bishops have called for the political killings to stop. Archbishop Paciano Aniceto of San Fernando said May 30 the election, “perceived as generally peaceful, orderly and credible,” was “shattered by the recent spate of violence and political killings.” UCA News, an Asian church news agency, obtained the appeal called, “Am I My Brother’s Keeper.”

The grief and loss of widows and orphaned children is “our grief” and “our loss,” said Archbishop Aniceto, adding that “their cry for justice is our cry for justice.”

The archbishop, chairman of the bishops’ Commission on Family and Life, urged everyone “to respect, value and protect God’s gift of life.” Citing the Gospel of Matthew, he asked perpetrators to “put the sword back in its place” and warned that “all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

Archbishop Aniceto also appealed to law enforcement officials for justice. Addressing mass media, he called for respect for “the sensitivities” of people in forming public opinion and urged politicians to use legal means to resolve conflicts at all times. He advised Catholics to “continue praying for peace and reconciliation.”

“How is it that in a nation that prides itself on a rich Christian heritage, life is cheap?” he asked.

The Philippines has the biggest Catholic population in Asia, roughly 81 percent of the country’s more than 88 million people.

The day after the election, national police recorded 217 election-related violent incidents. During the last two legislative elections in 2004 and 2001, there were, respectively, 249 and 269 such cases. Church officials elsewhere also addressed the issue of post-election violence.

In Abra province, north of Manila, Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian of Bangued issued a message May 20 after successive election-related killings.

“We strongly condemn the political harassments and election-related violence, particularly the killings that are being reported as still happening in our province,” the bishop said.

St. Ursula student excels in fitness

All the bar graphs on 10-year-old Anna Borkowski’s “Fitness Gram” are filled in solidly. And on the Pacer Test – the cardiovascular endurance portion of her school’s fitness test – the St. Ursula, Parkville, student broke the fifth-grade girls’ record.

“She’s amazing,” said running coach and physical education teacher Kim Altenburger, noting that the record has been in place during her 17 years at St. Ursula.

“Anna is very driven and motivated,” she said, explaining that the student is on the school’s cross country and track teams, plays soccer, and is a black belt member of a Taekwondo team. “She tries to excel. She has an inborn competitive spirit.”

When asked what motivates her, the lanky, dark blond student responded, “my heart.” The martial art pushes her to get better, she said, and she likes attending different tournaments and meeting different people. She enjoys running cross country because her dad, Marc Borkowski, ran. And she likes winning first place with the top-ranked Baltimore Bays U10 girls’ club soccer team.

Anna was selected from a pool of 250 girls who tried out for the U13 squad in the Maryland Youth Soccer Association’s Olympic Development Program. Mr. Borkowski will accompany his daughter to Greensboro, N.C., in July for the AAU Taekwondo Nationals where Anna will compete against 600 young people from all over the world. California will be the next stop a week later for the USAT Junior Olympics. Because of Anna’s intense involvement in Taekwondo, the Borkowskis have traveled to Croatia, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri.

On Team Xtreme, an elite competition team from Baltimore, Anna competed at the April Korean Consul Championship in Gaithersburg, winning gold for both forms of Olympic sparring and the grand championship in sparring. She began Taekwondo at age 5 and practices five hours weekly.

Qualifying for soccer and Taekwondo in the Olympics is the young girl’s dream. “I want to show everyone what I can do,” said the Joppatowne resident who transferred to St. Ursula for the 2006-07 school year after attending St. Clement Mary Hofbauer School, Rosedale, since kindergarten.

“She has limitless hunger and passion for her sports and life,” said her mother, Beatriz Borkowski.

More U.S. Catholics preparing for diaconate, lay ministry

WASHINGTON – The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate reports that in 2006-07 it identified more permanent deacon candidates and more students in U.S. lay ecclesial ministry programs than in the previous year.

The number of seminarians in graduate theological studies during this past academic year was down slightly. While enrollment was up in college seminaries, it was down in high school seminaries.

The biggest change was in the number of people working toward degrees or certificates for lay ecclesial ministry – 20,240, or 25 percent higher than reported in 2005-06.

CARA, based at Georgetown University in Washington, has been tracking U.S. seminary enrollments for 40 years. In more recent years it also has conducted annual surveys of enrollment in deacon and lay ministry formation programs across the country.

The results of the latest studies appear in the 2007 edition of the “CARA Catholic Ministry Formation Directory,” due out in early June. CARA provided Catholic News Service with an advance copy of the directory’s statistical overviews of each type of ministry formation May 30.

The directory, a hardbound book of more than 425 pages, includes the program, enrollment and contact information on all the U.S. formation programs for priests, deacons or lay ministry that responded to CARA’s surveys. CARA releases its statistical data every year but publishes the full directory only every other year.

On seminary enrollment, CARA reported that in 2006-07:

– Theology enrollment was 3,274, down 32 from the previous year. Of these, 2,410 were preparing for diocesan priesthood and 864 were studying for priesthood in religious orders.

– Seminarians in undergraduate college programs numbered 1,365, up 68 from the previous year.

– High school seminaries had 729 students, down 34 from the previous year. In its theology student figures, CARA includes pre-theology students – men with college degrees who still need about two years of additional academic studies in philosophy and related studies to qualify for graduate theological studies. More than half of those men do their additional preparatory studies at theological seminaries, while a minority do them in college seminary settings.

In 2006-07, pre-theology students made up 623, or 19 percent, of those counted as theology students. That group, which formed only 4 percent of theology students in the early 1980s, rose rapidly in the early ‘90s and has fluctuated between 17 percent and 20 percent for the past decade.

Whites still made up 64 percent of theology students in 2006-07, but the racial/ethnic diversity has increased significantly since CARA first started collecting seminarians’ racial and ethnic data in 1993; at that time 79 percent were white. This past year Hispanics formed 15 percent of those in theology, Asians 11 percent, blacks 4 percent and other minorities 6 percent.

Just over half the theology students were between the ages of 25 and 34 and one- third were 35 or older, including 6 percent who were 50 or older. Only 16 percent were under 25.

One-fourth of the theology students in 2006-07 were foreign-born, slightly up from the 23 percent in 2005-06.

Tracking seminary retention rates from the first year of theology to the fourth year, CARA found that the class of 2007 dropped from 727 students in its first year, 2003-04, to 555 students at the start of the final year, for a retention rate of 76 percent.

This was better than the 67 percent retention rate in the class of 2006 and the 72 percent rate in the classes of 2005 and 2004, but worse than the 85 percent retention rate for the class of 2003.

CARA said it received reports from 142 permanent diaconate programs and found 2,044 candidates among the 111 programs that had candidates in 2006-07. This was up 5 percent from the 1,942 candidates in 113 active programs reported the year before.

New U.S. norms for permanent deacon formation that took effect in 2005 set up a new “aspirant path,” a time of discernment and reflection before a prospective permanent deacon can enroll in a formation program as a candidate. There were 1,080 aspirants in 2005-06 and 978 in 2006-07.

In the spring issue of its quarterly newsletter, The CARA Report, CARA reported data on retired and active permanent deacons for the first time. Of the nearly 15,000 permanent deacons in the United States, CARA said its research indicates that 77 percent are still in active ministry.

Mary L. Gautier, CARA senior research associate, told CNS that according to the most recent data available on diocesan priests, 71 percent of them are still in active ministry.

Formation for lay ecclesial ministry has been the most rapidly growing area of education for ministry in the past two decades.

The first year CARA surveyed U.S. programs for lay ministry, in the 1985-86 academic year, it found 10,500 students in 206 programs. A decade later the number of students had swelled to more than 20,000, and by 2002-03 it had grown to more than 36,000.

In 2004-05, CARA narrowed its definition of students for lay ecclesial ministry to include only those who were in degree or certification programs – thus eliminating the thousands of Catholic adults enrolled in courses in those programs just for their personal faith enrichment.

As a result of the narrower definition, the number of students CARA counted in 2004-05 dropped to just under 19,000. The next year it dropped to 16,000. This past year it rose to 20,240. Of those, two-thirds, 13,523, were working toward a certificate in ministry and one-third, 6,717, were working for a graduate degree in ministry.

The 2007 edition of the “CARA Catholic Ministry Directory” costs $75 plus $4.95 postage and handling. It can be ordered online at: http://cara.georgetown.edu; by telephone at: 202-687-8080; or by e-mail to: [email protected]. Venezuelan church criticizes government shutdown of TV station

CARACAS, Venezuela – A Venezuelan archbishop and Catholic institutions have joined the nation’s political opposition in criticizing the government’s shutdown of an independent television station.

Archbishop Roberto Luckert Leon of Coro, vice president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, called the decision to close Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, “the gravest political error” committed by the Venezuelan government.

Archbishop Luckert said that the station, transmitted over Channel 2, would be missed in all parts of Venezuela because of its popularity. He also said the closure had no legal basis.

“It occurred to the president to close Channel 2, he announced it and he shut it, and then afterward came the legalisms to try to justify the unjustifiable,” the archbishop said May 29.

Archbishop Luckert also harshly criticized the Supreme Tribunal of Justice’s ruling permitting the new government station to take over use of RCTV’s antennas, transmitters and other equipment.

“That demonstrated that (the justices) are at the service of the regime, of whatever the president says,” he added.

Archbishop Luckert said RCTV’s closure “doesn’t hurt only the oligarchy, but also the people.”

The Venezuelan bishops’ conference issued a statement calling on people protesting RCTV’s closure to act peacefully; the statement urged the government to respect human rights.

“The rights to peaceful demonstration, to work, to free expression of ideas, to information, to hold meetings, to private property and any other human rights cannot, under any pretext, be curtailed,” the statement said.

RCTV, Venezuela’s oldest and most popular private television station, stopped transmitting in late May after the government refused to renew its broadcast license. The government’s decision, which leaves most of the nation’s television airwaves in the hands of broadcasters controlled by or allied with the government, was widely criticized by international observers, including the U.S. government.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a socialist and harsh critic of the United States, is a close ally of communist Cuba, where no independent media are allowed and religious practices are restricted.

The popular television station’s demise triggered widespread protests, some of them violent, by university and high school students across much of the country. Opposition politicians accused the police of violating protesters’ rights.

While the student protests were led by public university students, students from private universities also participated. The council of Caracas’s Catholic University Andres Bello issued a statement May 30 “repudiating the disproportionate use of public forces to repress peaceful demonstrations.” The statement also offered the services of the university’s human rights center, as well as the use of university facilities, “for dialogue and reflection.”

Since the RCTV shutdown, Chavez announced that the government is investigating Time Warner Inc.’s Cable News Network and local television station Globovision for allegedly advocating violence toward Chavez and lying.

The Catholic Church and the Chavez government have clashed repeatedly since Chavez was first elected president in 1998. Church leaders repeatedly have accused Chavez of restricting human rights and concentrating unreasonable powers in the president’s hands. Chavez has called the Catholic Church hierarchy elitist. Benedictines open cause for 36 North Korean martyrs

SEOUL, South Korea – The largest Benedictine abbey in Asia has opened the canonization cause for three dozen 20th-century martyrs of the Benedictine mission in North Korea.

Abbot Simon Petro Ri Hyeong-u of the Order of St. Benedict Waegwan Abbey said the order is setting up a tribunal for the cause, so the community can “honor the faith witness of our predecessors.”

The martyrs include a bishop, 18 priests, 13 brothers, three nuns and a laywoman. They died in prison or in detention camps between 1949 and 1952 at the hands of North Korea’s communist regime “due to hostility against Christianity,” said Abbot Ri. His remarks were reported by UCA News, an Asian church news agency, May 31.

The Benedictines, who arrived in northern Korea in 1909, set up an abbey in Tokwon and administered two church jurisdictions. The Korean peninsula was partitioned in 1945, and during the 1950-53 Korean War the Benedictines fled to South Korea and re-established themselves in Waegwan.

Abbot Ri, the apostolic administrator of Tokwon, appointed Benedictine Father Eduardo Lopez-Tello Garcia of St. Ottilien Archabbey as postulator for the cause. The priest teaches at the Pontifical University of St. Anselm in Rome.

Benedictine Father Sabbas Ri Song-gun, vice postulator for the cause, told UCA News May 29, “Although most of (the martyrs) died outside the jurisdiction of Tokwon Territorial Abbey, they are all linked to Tokwon Abbey, and we are trying to proceed with their beatification in a single case.”

Beatification, through which a candidate for sainthood is declared blessed, precedes canonization, the proclamation of a new saint.

Since the Korean War, no hierarchical structures have existed and no Catholic priest has resided in North Korea, so the office for the cause will be located in the South Korean Archdiocese of Kawngju.

Pope John Paul II canonized 103 Korean martyrs in 1984, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Catholicism in Korea. Those martyrs died in the 19th century. In June 2002, the Korean bishops opened canonization proceedings for another 124 early martyrs.

Since last November, they have been proceeding with the cause of Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop separately.

Raising money through golf

Golfers will be teeing off June 18 to raise money for St. Agnes HealthCare, Baltimore, in the 29th Annual St. Agnes Foundation/Crothall Healthcare Golf Classic. The tournament will be held at Turf Valley and Waverly Woods Golf Courses.

The event will feature golf contests such as putting, hole-in-one, closest to the pin and longest drive. A silent and live auction will take place as well. After playing 18 holes, golfers are invited to the awards ceremony and reception at Turf Valley where they can relax and network with business leaders from around the area.

Registration at Waverly Woods states at 7:15 a.m. and registration at Turf Valley begins at 7:45 a.m.. Registration fees begin at $275 for individual golfers. For more information visit www.stagnes.org or call 410-368-3155. Family gatherings important

Good for the Lipinski family (CR, May 31). I’m really glad that 23 of their clan make a point of getting together once each year for a week to enjoy family fun. My wife and I agree with them. There is nothing more important than family gatherings.

Our situation is somewhat different though. Without counting any of our siblings, their spouses, or any of their kids and grandkids, my wife and I think our clan qualifies as “large” with current count at 54. This includes eight daughters, two sons, eight son-in-laws, one daughter-in-law, 18 grandsons, and 15 granddaughters. Instead of a mandatory gathering of everyone once a year for a week, we have our gatherings frequently throughout the year for an afternoon or evening with whoever can make it in attendance. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter are the major events, but there are plenty of first Communions, confirmations, graduations and other miscellaneous reasons for togetherness. We sort of gave up on birthdays since we average just over one per week. Only six of our family members live out of the area, so there is never a shortage of people around for a party. When the out-of-towners are in town we have a party to celebrate their being in town.

What we really enjoy in these gatherings is watching the grandchildren relate. The priest at our wedding prayed that we would live to see our children’s children, and how blessed we are that his prayer was answered.