WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Sworn in Aug. 8 to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor becomes the first Hispanic member of the high court.

In a ceremony at the court building, Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office while the newest justice's mother, Celina, held the Bible on which her daughter placed her hand. It was the first time the oath had been administered on live television.

Sotomayor will be formally invested in the court Sept. 8, the afternoon before the court convenes to hear a campaign finance case in an unusual session being held prior to the beginning of the court term Oct. 3.

Sotomayor, 55, was confirmed by the Senate Aug. 6 by a 68-31 vote. She is the sixth Catholic on the nine-member court, the most ever at one time. A New York native and daughter of Puerto Ricans who struggled to be sure their two children were well-educated, Sotomayor is President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee. She will take the place of Justice David Souter, who retired at the end of the term in June.

Priests Pension Board names new members
LOS ANGELES --- The Priests Pension Board of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has added two members to replace members whose terms had been completed. Father Paul Spellman and Father Paul Fitzpatrick have been named to five-year terms. They succeed Msgr. David O'Connell and Auxiliary Bishop Alexander Salazar.

Cuban-American confirmed as ninth U.S. ambassador to the Vatican
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Catholic theologian Miguel Diaz was confirmed by the U.S. Senate Aug. 4 as the ninth U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. A professor of theology at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., and St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., Diaz is the first Hispanic to serve in the post. Diaz issued a statement through St. John's University Aug. 5, saying he was grateful to President Barack Obama "for the confidence he has invested in me" and to the Senate for its vote. "I am honored to be given the responsibility of representing the people of the United States to the Holy See," he said in the statement posted on the Web site of St. John's University. "I very much appreciate the support of all those who have reached out to me and to my family with their prayers and best wishes during this process." He also said he planned to move his family to Rome and present his credentials to Pope Benedict XVI as soon as possible. His wife, Marian, directs Companions on a Journey and CORAD: Heart Speaks to Heart at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University. The couple have four children.

Taiwanese Catholics help typhoon victims with food, shelter
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Catholic bishops in Taiwan asked their people to pray for the victims of Typhoon Morakot, which dumped more than 80 inches of rain on the island the second weekend in August. Catholics and others in disaster-stricken areas were helping victims with food and shelter, and the Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference in Taiwan planned further action, Father Otfriend Chan, secretary-general of the conference, wrote in an e-mail to Catholic News Service. Father Chan said Caritas and the Taiwan Catholic Mission Foundation, two local Catholic organizations, were collecting donations. He said the bishops made an official appeal in the local Catholic newspaper, asking people to pray for the victims and their families by holding vigils or attending Mass. Morakot left 21 people dead in the Philippines, then moved on to Taiwan and eastern China. A mudslide in a Taiwanese mountain village may have buried up to 600 people, according to The Associated Press. Typhoon Etau hit western Japan Aug. 10, killing at least 12 people. The two storms displaced nearly 9 million people, and hundreds were feared dead, according to news reports.

Senate bill would reauthorize District of Columbia voucher program
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Many low-income children in the District of Columbia would continue attending the school of their choice if a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program passes in Congress. "This legislation has put the district's most at-risk children first," said Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, who said he hopes for quick passage of the bill. "It is difficult to envision what advantage anyone could find that would outweigh the futures and hopes of the young people in this city." Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and five other senators introduced the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act of 2009 in late July. The bill would extend for the next five years a federal voucher program that enables 1,700 low-income district children to receive an education at a participating school in the city. The legislation would increase the program's funding to account for inflation over the past five years, and it would give scholarship priority to the siblings of students currently in the program. It also would call for new requirements for certificates of occupancy and teacher qualifications. Last year, 879 of the scholars attended Catholic schools in the district.

Church leaders seek U.S. action in wake of Jerusalem evictions
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- U.S. Catholic leaders have joined leaders of other faiths in expressing concern about the early August evictions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem. In an Aug. 7 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the leaders sought the immediate reversal of the evictions and the restoration of houses to former residents. A U.S. response must go beyond official protests, they wrote in the letter, released by Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition of 23 Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox national church bodies and organizations. Club-wielding Israeli riot police evicted two Palestinian families --- more than 50 people --- from their homes in the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Aug. 2, according to The Associated Press. Police later allowed Jewish settlers to move into the homes where the families had lived for more than 50 years. In their letter, the U.S. religious leaders said the evictions raised significant international political issues because it occurred close to the 1949 armistice line or Green Line, which separates Israel and the Palestinian territories. The Catholic signers of the letter represented the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Franciscan Action Network.

Head of Knights says Our Lady of Guadalupe can inspire, unite people
PHOENIX (CNS) --- Mary's appearance to St. Juan Diego near what is today Mexico City was "an event that served as a pivotal moment in the history of faith for an entire hemisphere," Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said Aug. 6. "It also serves as a continuing source of inspiration and unity for all who live in the Americas today," he said in an address at the Knights' first International Marian Congress honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. He cautioned the audience, made up mainly of Knights and their families, against viewing Our Lady of Guadalupe and her miraculous appearance to St. Juan Diego as a historical relic. The Aug. 6-8 congress, an event that will be held annually, featured lectures by Guadalupe experts, art exhibits and public prayer. It followed the Knights' 127th supreme convention, held Aug. 4-6. Anderson described the event as a "gathering to discuss the history, meaning and continued relevance of (Mary's) message."

Traditional family vital for modern society, Vatican official says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- A Vatican official sharply criticized a sentence by Italy's highest court that said there was no substantial legal difference between a family founded on marriage and a family resulting from a cohabiting couple. The sentence by the Court of Cassation cited an "evolution" in thinking about the forms that a family takes in modern society. The ruling, which concerned a case of theft between an ex-cohabiting couple, was described as "a serious attack on the family" by Giuseppe Dalla Torre, a Catholic legal expert interviewed by Vatican Radio Aug. 8. Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told Vatican Radio that the traditional family was needed more than ever today -- for family members and for society as a whole. "I view with concern this progressive slide toward a further privatization of the family, as if the family were irrelevant for society," Cardinal Antonelli said.

Low confession numbers prompt creative outreach by dioceses, churches
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Statistics show decreasing numbers of Catholics going to confession, but rather than discouraging churches those numbers are only encouraging them to be more creative in their outreach. A 2008 study conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington revealed three-quarters of Catholics reported they never participate in the sacrament of reconciliation or they do so less than once a year. The Diocese of Colorado Springs, Colo., has taken an innovative approach to remedy this: Go to where the people are --- the shopping mall. Located on the upper level of the Citadel Mall in Colorado Springs, between the Burlington Coat Factory and Dillard's department stores, the Catholic Center, which offers Mass and the sacrament of reconciliation, is a place shoppers can find solace away from crowds. "Some people are hesitant to stop into an organized church, but the Catholic Center offers a 'no strings attached' approach," Msgr. Robert E. Jaeger, vicar general of the diocese, told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview.

Nairobi cardinal lifts suspension of archdiocesan charismatics
NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) --- Nairobi Cardinal John Njue has lifted a suspension he had imposed on the activities of the Catholic charismatic renewal movement in his archdiocese. The cardinal made the announcement July 31 after a special meeting with the members of the movement at Nairobi's Holy Family Basilica. Cardinal Njue, who suspended the movement's activities in February, said it could continue under the strict supervision of parish priests. "As the shepherd here, if there are some activities that are contrary to the doctrine of the church, I have the right to stop that. There are some things that I cannot just say 'It does not matter.' That is why I told them to hold on," he said, explaining his decision to suspend the movement. He expressed concern that some of the Catholic movement's songs and prayers were heavily borrowed from other churches and were not truly Catholic. "The movement concentrates more on superficial matters instead of spiritual enhancement," he added, urging its members to take time to reflect on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Mexican government apologizes for federal police drug raid during Mass
MEXICO CITY (CNS) --- The Mexican government apologized after federal police burst into a parish and interrupted Mass in the western state of Michoacan to apprehend a drug-cartel suspect. An Aug. 4 statement from the Secretariat of Public Security apologized to the Mexican bishops' conference, Bishop Miguel Patino Velazquez of Apatzingan, and the faithful "for the circumstances in which the operation had to be carried out." The statement said that the raid in an Apatzingan parish was undertaken to avoid gunfire and a "violent incident." The Aug. 1 raid resulted in the arrests of 33 alleged members of a cartel known as La Familia Michoacana and the seizure of cash, weapons, fragment grenades and luxury vehicles. The detainees include Miguel Beraza Villa -- known as "La Troca" (the Truck) -- a cartel lieutenant that Mexican and U.S. authorities allege was responsible for transporting tractor-trailers full of synthetic drugs such as "ice" and "crystal" from the cartel's clandestine laboratories to the United States via Tijuana, Mexico. The bishops' conference had criticized the raid as a show of disrespect for the sanctity of Mass.