3 Minute Roundup

No disagreement between CHA, bishops on health reform
WASHINGTON — Despite a New York Times report to the contrary, the Catholic Health Association and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are working together to achieve health reform legislation that does not expand federal funding of abortion, according to the CHA president and CEO.
Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity, told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview Dec. 28 that her organization has never wavered in its commitment to health care that protects “from conception to natural death,” as outlined in the CHA document, Our Vision for U.S. Health Care. She disputed a report in The New York Times Dec. 26 that a recent CHA statement on Senate negotiations over abortion funding in health reform legislation represented a split with the bishops.
“There is not a shred of disagreement between CHA and the bishops,” Sister Carol said. “We believe there is a great possibility and probability that in conference committee we can work toward a solution that will prevent federal funding of abortion.”
She said the CHA, which represents more than 600 Catholic hospitals in the U.S., “brings a lot of expertise with funding structures in the marketplace” to the debate and hopes to “bring that to bear” during the conference committee’s work.
Shortly before the Senate approved its version of health reform legislation early Dec. 24, the chairmen of three USCCB committees said the bill should not be approved “without incorporating essential changes to ensure” that it “truly protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all.” (CNS)
 
Aid workers fear disease in overcrowded volcano shelters
LEGAZPI, Philippines — Church aid workers trying to bring relief to evacuees from the danger zone around the Mayon volcano feared outbreaks of disease as evacuation centers surpassed their limits.
Workers told the Asian church news agency UCA News there was a need for portable toilets, tents and building materials.
“We now have 502 families — 2,288 people — in our school. Of course our classrooms can’t accommodate all of them,” Adelia Vibar, principal of the primary school in the town of San Jose, told UCA News. “I have only five toilets for all these people. If we are to avoid epidemics we need more, urgently,” Vibar said.
In all, nearly 10,000 families, more than 47,000 people from 32 villages, have been evacuated from their homes around the volcano, which has been spouting ash and rumbling. The government warned an eruption was imminent. (CNS)
 
Survey: Catholics in China not keeping pace with population
SHIJIAZHUANG, China — A new survey of the Catholic Church in mainland China indicates that the Catholic population might not have kept pace with overall population growth.
The results of the study, conducted by the Faith Institute for Cultural Studies, a church-run organization based in Shijiazhuang, were published Dec. 18 and reported by the Asian church news agency UCA News Dec. 23. The survey found that about 5.71 million Catholics live in mainland China, served by nearly 3,400 bishops, priests and deacons. Nearly 3,300 priests serve in more than 100 dioceses.
The statistics did not distinguish between Catholic communities registered with the government and those that operate clandestinely. The report said figures for the latter may not be entirely accurate due to the difficulties involved in getting information.
The Faith Institute for Cultural Studies spent three months gathering information through e-mails, phone calls, faxes and personal interviews. (CNS)
 
Plight of Palestinian Christians should concern all Christians Print
Written by Father Eugene Hemrick   
Sunday, 22 November 2009 00:00

“Why aren’t priests in this country doing more to help Arab Christian Palestinians?”

As we sat down for dinner at the 2009 awards banquet sponsored by the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, the question caught me by surprise. I had been invited by chance, but in all honesty I knew very little about the organization.

Thanks to that question, however, I now know much more about why all Christians should be deeply concerned about today’s Christian Palestinians.

There should always be a solidarity among Christians, regardless of where we live. As such, when one of us suffers, we all suffer.

Palestine is where Christ lived, worked and died. While there are Christian Palestinians today, they are suffering and becoming practically extinct in their own homeland.

In a study conducted in 2001 by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, it was determined that 53 percent of Christian residents of Beit Sahour (a predominately Christian town adjacent to Bethlehem) had taken steps within the previous year to acquire emigration visas.

In 1948, the Christian population of the Holy Land was more than 18 percent; today it is less than 2 percent.

Christians face violence daily. Their homes are often confiscated or demolished, and they are rarely issued permits to build new ones. Jobs are scarce, medical assistance is sparse and water is routinely cut off.

How can we respond to this crisis? Study is the first imperative because it moves us out of our provincialism, prompting us to enter into the lives of others.

One project sponsored by the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation promotes the exchange of letters between children in the United States and Palestinian territories. This project is aimed at countering provincialism by educating and heightening awareness.

The organization also hosts local conferences and presentations by experts on the Holy Land. It also publishes a newsletter, Living Stones: The Voice of the Holy Land Christians (www.hcef.org).

As the Christmas season approaches, one way to enter into it more fully would be to study the Holy Land and the special role it fulfills in our Christian lives. Here is where the most wonderful promise ever made was fulfilled: Christ came among us.

When we are touched with sacredness, awe follows.

In today’s world, barbarism is found in much of our daily existence, so much so that we tend to take it for granted.

But we don’t have to. Opportunities exist for us to counter this acceptance, and learning more about what we can do to help Christian Palestinians is one of them.

Father Hemrick is director of the Washington-based National Institute for the Renewal of the Priesthood.
 
Diocese of Springfield