Weekend news roundup

December 01, 2008

A sampling of other headline stories from the holiday weekend:

• The National Museum of Funeral History in Houston has opened what the Houston Chronicle called ‘the only permanent exhibit of papal artifacts outside of the Vatican.’ The exhibit includes the funeral vestments made for Pope John Paul II.
• The International Institute for Family Policy notes that abortion is now the leading cause of death in Spain, where the practice is virtually unrestricted. About 1 in 5 Spanish pregnancies now ends in abortion.
• Islamic militants in Cairo, Egypt, attacked a church in the city's suburbs, forcing Christians to seek refuge inside the building that they had recently bought and refurbish. Coptic Pope Shenouda has asked Christians to avoid further conflicts by discontinuing use of the building.
• Ireland's President Mary McAleese has made an unprecedented visit to a lodge of the Orange Order, a Protestant group that has been associated in the past with militant anti-Catholic activity in Northern Ireland. The Irish leader commented on "how wonderfully transformed all our lives would be if we were all made as welcome in each others' home as I have been made welcome here."
• The annual report of the International Planned Parenthood Federation touts the group's advocacy for legal abortion in countries that have traditionally barred the practice, particularly in (mostly Catholic) Latin America and (mostly Islamic) Arabic lands.
• Damaged in a 2001 fire, the Episcopal Diocese of New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the world’s largest Gothic-style church, was rededicated on November 30. Cardinal Edward Egan, Sen. Hilary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Charles Schumer, and other dignitaries were in attendance.
• The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, continuing to break new ground, has published its first Islamic essayist, Khaled Fouad Allam, whose views on the limits of inter-religious dialogue complement those of Pope Benedict.
• The number of Catholic men’s conferences in the US has grown from seven in 2003 to 55 last year, according to Bill Moyer, executive director of National Fellowship of Catholic Men. The Cincinnati men’s conference has drawn nearly 20,000 participants, and the Detroit conference has attracted nearly 10,000.
• The newly installed commandant of the Swiss Guard has denied charges that he violated the rights of suspects during a police raid he led on illegal immigrants in Switzerland. The charges against Commandant Daniel Anrig, filed by Amnesty International after the incident in 2003, ended with a court finding that the immigration raid had been aggressive but "not intended to harm anyone."

 

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Further information:

• Celebrating the lives and deaths of the popes (Houston Chronicle)
• Abortion Now Number One Cause of Death in Spain (LifeSiteNews)
• www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13869&size=A
• Coptic leader looks to avoid clashes with Muslims in Cairo (CWN, Nov. 25)
• Irish president makes 1st Orange Order lodge visit (AP)
• New IPPF Report Boasts ?of Abortion Advocacy in?Traditionally Pro-Life Regions (C-Fam; scroll down))
• NYC Anglican cathedral damaged in 2001 fire rededicated (AP)
• For the First Time, a Muslim Writes for the Pope's Newspaper (Chiesa
• Men’s Groups Come of Age (National Catholic Register)
• New commander of Pope's bodyguard denies sex humiliation claims (Times online)