San Diego Diocese offers plan to settle abuse cases
SAN DIEGO (CNS) --- In a bankruptcy reorganization plan filed March 28, the San Diego Diocese proposed a $95 million pool to compensate 143 people who claim childhood sexual abuse by priests. Under the proposal 83 victims who say they were forced to have sexual intercourse could receive up to $800,000 each. Forty-four who claim they were touched sexually or forced to masturbate could receive between $176,000 and $575,000. Payments to 16 victims of abuse not involving touch, such as being asked to look at pornography or posing for indecent pictures, could range from $10,000 to $175,000. Besides the different levels of seriousness of the abuse, factors in determining the amount of each award would include such elements as the age of the victim and the duration and frequency of the abuse. In addition, the diocese proposed establishing a $3 million fund to settle any currently unknown claims that might be brought forward in coming years. Lead plaintiff's attorney Ray Boucher called the diocesan proposal "outrageous" and predicted "a long and expensive battle." Susan Boswell, bankruptcy attorney for the San Diego Diocese, said she considered the $95 million proposal realistic.
Archbishop: U.S. policy on Haitian migrants is 'immoral'
MIAMI (CNS) --- Calling U.S. immigration policy toward Haitians "totally immoral," Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami has urged "the powers that be" to grant temporary protected status to all Haitian migrants until the political and economic situation in their island nation stabilizes. He also pleaded for the immediate release from detention of 101 Haitians --- including 13 children --- whose homemade sailboat washed up on Hallandale Beach March 28. One man died during the trip, which the migrants said took 22 days at sea, the last 12 without food or water. A U.S. Coast Guard official estimated the trip took about 12 days. The migrants, some of them suffering from dehydration, are being held by the U.S. Border Patrol at several detention centers in south Florida. Refugee advocates and immigration attorneys fear they will be moved elsewhere, far from relatives and a network of attorneys who could help them with their asylum claims. "The church stands ready to make sure that these people have a place to go and people to take care of them while they make their claim," Archbishop Favalora said during a press conference at the archdiocesan Pastoral Center March 30.
In Aceh province, end to war means freedom to rebuild
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (CNS) --- Ever since the tsunami took away her house and 4-year old son, Suharni has felt that her whole life was washed away. Yet now she says she is counting the days until she moves into a new home being built by a U.S. Catholic agency. In May she'll abandon the cramped temporary barracks where she has lived for two years and, clutching a baby born since the giant waves swept over the low-lying shores of Indonesia's Aceh province in December 2004, she will return to her seaside village of Suak Sevmaseh. "Even though my new house will be exactly where my old house sat, it feels like a completely new place, a new start for our family, a new life for all of us," she said. Suharni, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, will be going home not just to a new house --- built by the U.S. bishops' Catholic Relief Services --- but also to a political landscape that has changed just as radically. Before the tsunami, a three-decade civil war raged throughout the province, pitting separatist insurgents against a central government that wanted at whatever cost to retain control of the resource-rich Aceh region. However, the tsunami washed away old tensions and pushed Aceh into a new opportunity to end the war and rebuild at the same time.
Salvadoran rights champion Maria Julia Hernandez dies
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Maria Julia Hernandez, who for more than two decades led the San Salvador Archdiocese's internationally recognized human rights efforts, died of a heart attack March 30 in El Salvador. She was 68. Hernandez, who reportedly had been hospitalized with heart problems since March 9, suffered a heart attack March 28 before the fatal attack. Hernandez worked alongside Archbishop Oscar A. Romero, who was killed in 1980. Two years later, when San Salvador Archbishop Arturo Rivera Damas reorganized the archdiocesan human rights agency and established its successor, Tutela Legal, Hernandez was placed in charge. Thomas Quigley, the U.S. bishops' adviser on Latin American affairs, called Hernandez "the most tireless, yet gentle, fighter for human rights in El Salvador" and noted that "she had worked more closely than almost anyone with Archbishop Romero. Like the Chilean Vicariate of Solidarity, Tutela became a model for human rights organizations throughout the hemisphere," Quigley said April 2. "While her death is a terrible loss for the still-urgent need for monitoring violations of basic rights in El Salvador, she is at last with her beloved Monsenor Romero."
Winners chosen in NPM hymn-writing contest
SILVER SPRING, Md. (CNS) --- The National Association of Pastoral Musicians has chosen two winners of its hymn completion, titled "That All May Be One," which is the theme of the association's national convention in Indianapolis in July. "Family of Faith," a new hymn text written by Steven Ottomanyi, director of liturgy and music at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Huntington Beach, Calif., will be sung at both the opening and closing events of the convention. With verses written to fit hymn tunes easily recognizable to English-speaking Christians, the song forms a prayer to Christ to bring about the change of heart required for genuine unity. "That All May Be One in Christ," a new Communion song written by Paulist Father Ricky Manalo, will be sung at Communion for the July 11 Mass at the convention. Father Manalo collaborated with Spanish and Vietnamese translators to create original verses that maintain the song's theme yet reflect each group's cultural perspective.
Archbishop says morale is high among chaplains, soldiers in Iraq
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) --- Morale is high among priests and soldiers serving in Iraq, Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services told Providence diocesan priests gathered March 21 at Our Lady of Providence Seminary. The archbishop noted that, while there has been a decline in the number of priests serving as chaplains throughout all branches of the military, there is a steady increase in the number of soldiers seeking the sacraments in combat and in families requesting the support of Catholic priests. "There is a rise in baptisms, and those seeking to return to the church," he added. Archbishop O'Brien presented an overview of the Middle Eastern conflict and the war in Iraq, stating that he is wrestling with some of the same questions the U.S. administration has as battles continue to be waged and the number of casualties escalates on a daily basis.
Laid-off GM workers share expertise with Catholic institutions
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CNS) --- When the General Motors assembly plant in Linden closed in 2004 because of lagging sales, longtime employees Vincent Garrote and Frank D'Arcio were among several hundred who had a lot of free time on their hands but nowhere to use their skills. However, thanks to the Jobs Bank program GM created with the United Auto Workers, both men were able to find places to keep busy, get paid and help others at the same time. As part of the contract, which expires in September, Garrote and D'Arcio may only work in company-approved activities, such as community service, and still get paid. D'Arcio, of Colonia, began working at St. Peter the Apostle High School in New Brunswick in March 2006 after telling Kathleen Joyce, the principal, about his situation. Both are members of St. John Vianney Parish, also in Colonia. "I told her, 'All you have to do is provide a signature. I provide 40 hours of labor a week and GM pays. You buy the parts and I can install whatever you want,'" D'Arcio said. Garrote, a GM employee for more than 30 years, does maintenance work five days a week at Emmaus House, a retreat and conference center operated by the Diocese of Metuchen near his home in Perth Amboy.
New archbishop of Warsaw pledges to work with laypeople, media
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) --- The new archbishop of Warsaw has pledged to work closely with laypeople and the media. Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz said during his installation Mass April 1 that the "laity's lively apostolic presence is essential" in leading God's people "in the secularized societies of Europe --- among which unfortunately we should gradually count Poland --- and especially in big urban centers" such as Warsaw. The archbishop said he had "great hope" in the media in proclaiming the Gospel and defending "non-negotiable values." He said, "I understand the significance and value of pluralism in the media, including the Catholic media, on the condition it honestly serves the truth and the good of humanity." Archbishop Nycz said, "Despite its impressive traditions, Christianity is always new, and we should remember this as we build a new Poland and a future for Europe. We must be ready for evangelical confrontation and even rejection for loss of popularity and contempt." |