NEW YORK (CNS) --- Efforts to revise or eliminate the statute of limitations for civil suits in child sex abuse cases are prejudicial to the Catholic Church and harmful to the cause of justice, said Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. He said that plaintiffs' attorneys and victims' groups in several states "often work together" to pressure lawmakers to relax the statute of limitations so that old cases can be reopened and new suits demanding huge damages can be filed. "Communities of faith have an obligation to generously help the people who have been hurt by their members, past or present," he said. "But they also have a right to maintain their mission of serving others and to be protected from predatory judgments designed to gut their resources and identity." The archbishop expressed his views in an article in the May issue of First Things, a monthly journal published in New York by the Institute on Religion and Public Life. The article came at a time when the Colorado Legislature was considering several bills to relax the state's statute of limitations for civil suits to allow the reopening of old cases.

Six schools slated for closure in New York Archdiocese to remain open
NEW YORK (CNS) --- Six Catholic schools in the New York Archdiocese that had been slated for possible closure at the end of the school year will now remain open. Nine schools will close and two will merge, according to an April 21 announcement from the New York Archdiocese. New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan announced in the March 16 edition of the archdiocesan newspaper, Catholic New York, that the 52-member Archdiocesan Realignment Advisory Panel had begun considering a proposal that could lead to the closing of up to two dozen parishes, half a dozen missions and 14 schools in Manhattan, the Bronx and other southern sections of the archdiocese. The decision to keep six of the schools open was made after a series of meetings with school communities. Proposals to close eight other schools were confirmed. One school that was recommended to merge with another school will instead close at the end of the school year, while another merger will proceed as recommended.

Knights leader urges letting Christian love guide immigration policy
NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) --- Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson of the Knights of Columbus in a newspaper commentary urged Americans to let "the light of Christian love" guide efforts to amend the U.S. immigration policy. In a column that appeared in the April 23-29 edition of the National Catholic Register, a weekly newspaper based in North Haven, Anderson observed that the Knights of Columbus was founded by immigrants and their sons, who "struggled long and hard to demonstrate to those who feared and hated us that we were just as fervent about being patriotic Americans as they were." The column appeared as the U.S. Senate prepared to resume consideration of immigration legislation, and advocacy groups around the country planned more efforts to rally immigrants. "If any group within American society ought to be able to weigh the issue with charity and understanding, it is the Catholic community," Anderson said. "Although nearly every American can trace his lineage to immigrants who came here from somewhere else, Catholics bore the brunt of some especially virulent nativist resistance to their arrival, which began early in the 19th century and continued well into the 20th."

Crowd packs Fall River cathedral for Mass welcoming cardinal
FALL RIVER, Mass. (CNS) --- Parishioners, clergy, religious and old friends of Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley jammed St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River to greet him April 18 at an afternoon Mass of thanksgiving. It was his first visit to the diocese he once headed since the March 24 consistory at which he received his red hat. Even with seating limited to four tickets per parish to allow a broader representation from across the diocese, the cathedral, which seats approximately 900, was filled to capacity and standing room was scarce. After Mass about 1,000 people attended a reception for the cardinal. Concelebrating the Mass were Fall River Bishop George W. Coleman and approximately 100 priests, active and retired, who had served then-Bishop O'Malley during his decade of leading the diocese, 1992 to 2002. Dozens of deacons from parishes across the diocese vested and attended the Mass. Bishop Coleman, who succeeded Bishop O'Malley, said he was privileged to welcome the cardinal back to a diocese he "guided for 10 years with the care of a loving shepherd."

No shared rooms for unmarried partners on school trips, school says
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) --- In an effort to "maintain the integrity of the university's Catholic nature," the University of St. Thomas will not allow faculty or staff who accompany students on trips off campus to share a room with an unmarried partner, the university's president announced April 19. Father Dennis Dease said in a column for Bulletin Today, a St. Thomas online publication, that the new policy "is not about the private lives or consciences of faculty and staff." "Rather, it is about the University of St. Thomas, in its institutional acts, being what it purports to be: a Catholic university," he wrote. "While the institution is committed to respect the right of individual members to hold values not in harmony with Catholic teaching, it also expects that those individuals will respect its right as a Catholic university to refrain from endorsing such values." The dispute at St. Thomas has revolved around what's more important: St. Thomas' right to uphold moral policies based on its identity as a Catholic institution, or its efforts to treat all people with tolerance and without discrimination.

Swiss bishops' group meets Christian, non-Christian leaders in Iran
ROME (CNS) --- No matter how the international dispute over Iran's nuclear program is resolved, the problem of religious rights for non-Muslims will remain, said the spokesman for the Swiss bishops' conference. Mario Galgano, the spokesman, was part of a 10-member delegation from the bishops' Islam Group invited by the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization to spend a week in Iran meeting politicians, Muslim leaders and representatives of the Christian and Zoroastrian minorities. Members of the Islam Group making the trip included bishops' conference employees, representatives of the Swiss Foreign Ministry and a Protestant minister. While Iran's nuclear program has been dominating the news, Galgano said, "For us it was very important to focus on religious issues." Speaking by telephone from Switzerland April 25, he said, "We could get lost in the political problems, but even if things are resolved in the best way, questions about the Christian minorities in Iran and Muslim minorities in Switzerland will remain."

Venezuelan bishops ask for more investigation into priest's death
CARACAS, Venezuela (CNS) --- The Venezuelan bishops' conference asked police to pursue an investigation into the apparent murder of a conference official. Father Jorge Pinango Mascareno, undersecretary of the bishops' conference, was found dead in a Caracas hotel early April 24, about 48 hours after he went missing. On April 21 the priest attended a celebration with relatives. Around midnight when the party ended, he said he was going to his residence at the headquarters of the bishops' conference, but he never arrived. Vicente Alamo, deputy director of police forensics, confirmed that an autopsy showed Father Pinango died from forced suffocation. Father Pinango was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, in 1959. He studied at the Pontifical University of St. Xavier in Colombia and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he majored in moral theology.

Sources say underground Chinese bishop released but closely watched
HONG KONG (CNS) --- An underground bishop in northern China was recently released from more than five months of detention but is being closely watched, said local Catholic sources. The sources told UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, that Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding was returned to his church in Wuqiu village, in Hebei province, at about 5:15 p.m. April 19. The sources said Bishop Jia's latest detention, since Nov. 8, was his longest in recent years, since each previous detention usually lasted only a few days. A local Catholic who met the 70-year-old prelate after his release told UCA News April 24 that two officials are stationed at the church and Bishop Jia is under 24-hour surveillance. The bishop, who has suffered from a shoulder problem, now appears to be thinner, the Catholic also said. The same source added that the bishop has some freedom within the church compound, but the two officials follow him whenever he goes outside to visit Catholic families.