Today's political news concerning Catholics:
From the Baltimore Sun:
Keeler to boycott Loyola graduation:
Cardinal objects to views of keynote speaker Giuliani on abortion
Cardinal William H. Keeler told Loyola College of Maryland yesterday that he will not attend its commencement ceremony tomorrow because he disagrees with the keynote speaker, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who supports abortion rights.
The decision comes amid planned protests, led in part by a conservative Catholic group, outside tomorrow's ceremony at the 1st Mariner Arena in downtown Baltimore.
Loyola's interim president, David Haddad, received a strongly worded letter from the cardinal yesterday, saying Keeler would not attend - nor would any auxiliary bishops or any other representative of the archdiocese, college and archdiocese officials said.
Read the religious right's perspective from Life News.
More stories below the fold:
From the
UPI:
Scientists clone cells from human patients
Washington, DC, May. 19 (UPI) -- Korean scientists have used cloning techniques to generate for the first time human embryonic stem cell lines that are an identical genetic match to patients. This breakthrough moves researchers tantalizingly close to being able to use the cells to replace tissues damaged by disease or injury.
Congressional opposition to Bush's stem cell policy has gained steam in recent months. Some Republicans have broken with the White House and have called for the restrictions on stem cell research to be relaxed. Legislation in the House -- the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 -- could be voted on next week and would allow federal funding to be used for research using surplus embryos from fertilization clinics. It has the backing of some conservative congressmen.
The potential passage of the legislation prompted Cardinal William Keeler of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to write a letter to the House Tuesday urging lawmakers not to approve the bill.
"Government has no business forcing taxpayers to become complicit in the direct destruction of human life at any stage," Keeler wrote in the letter.
From the Lake County Record-Bee:
Assisted suicide foes protest outside Berg's office
EUREKA -- About 35 people gathered outside Assemblywoman Patty Berg's office on Wednesday to protest assisted suicide.
From the Observer Tribune:
Local victim in film about sexual abuse
MENDHAM TWP - A former township man who has become a leading figure in the fight to stop sexual abuse by clergy members is featured in an award-winning documentary to be shown tonight.
The former township man, Mark Seranno, 41, was sexually assaulted as a nine-year-old child by James Hanley, the former pastor at St. Joseph Church in Mendham who has since surrendered his clerical collar.
Serrano now lives in Virginia and will be featured in the documentary entitled "Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-up in the Catholic Church," which will premiere at 10 p.m., today, Thursday, on Showtime Network.
The 56-minute documentary examines the priest's sexual abuse scandal and the cover-up of the abuse by clergy.
From the North Jersey Herald:
Angela Bonavoglia won't let Catholic Church silence her
Angela Bonavoglia, the controversial speaker and author who was banned from speaking at the Catholic Jesuit Loyola Retreat in Morristown last week by Paterson Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, spoke before a packed audience at an alternate location instead - St. Mark Lutheran Church, also in Morristown.
Although clearly dismayed the bishop's decision ("They don't know me," she quipped), Bonavoglia gave her speech as planned on May 11 and talked about the "invisible" crime of sex abuse against females and the need for the church to reconsider its policies on female ordination and priest marriage. Both practices are banned under Catholic law.
"When the clergy sex abuse crisis exploded onto the scene in 2002, the abuse of girls by Catholic priests remained invisible or, at most, a footnote," she said. "Yet the crisis has never been only about the abuse of male minors."
From Reuters:
Patriarch denounces U.S. evangelicals in Iraq
PARIS, May 19 (Reuters) - The head of Iraq's largest Christian community denounced American evangelical missionaries in his country on Thursday for what he said were attempts to convert poor Muslims by flashing money and smart cars.
Patriarch Emmanuel Delly, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, told journalists that many Protestant activists had come to Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and set up what he called "boutiques" to attract converts.
Many Muslim countries consider Christian missionaries as part of a Western campaign against Islam and punish both the preacher and the apostate Muslim severely. Violent Iraqi groups killed at least five evangelical missionaries last year.
Here's a press release from American Life League, via U.S Newswire:
New Ad and Students' Message to Congress: You Can't Be Catholic and Pro-Abortion
Next Monday, May 23, American Life League will hold a press conference at the Krieble Center on Capitol Hill to introduce a full-page ad addressing the ongoing scandal of pro-abortion Catholic politicians. The ad will feature one of the most outspoken, pro-abortion Catholics in the United States Senate. The press event will also mark the launch of the Summer Crusade for Life walks in which more than 50 college students will cover over 6,000 miles across the United States proclaiming the direct message to Congress: You can't be both Catholic and pro-abortion.
From Arizona Republic, via AP:
Tucson diocese to auction properties Saturday to settle suits
TUCSON - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson will hold a public auction Saturday of 85 properties.
On the filibuster front, from CNN:
Senate Republicans see Brown as model for fight
When Kmiec introduced Brown to the graduating law students at Catholic University in 2003, he said she formulates opinions "in prayer and quiet study of the Bible." Brown then took the podium and criticized philosophers and scientists for trying to mold society "as if God did not exist."
The law, she said, is the "terrain on which Americans are struggling to decide what kind of people they are."
She defended her faith-based approach to the law again last month, telling a gathering of Roman Catholic legal professionals in Darien, Connecticut, that "these are perilous times for people of faith, not in the sense that we are going to lose our lives, but in the sense that it will cost you something if you are a person of faith who stands up for what you believe in and say those things out loud."