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News, of the hour, on the hour, from Catholic Information Radio.
I’m Bryan Douglas in Philadelphia, and at this hour….
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Lead:
Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices aside from the drop in the numbers of religious men and women. The Cardinal also indicated the decline in the numbers of men and women religious became precipitous after the Second Vatican Council, which he described as a period rich in experimentation but poor in having a convincing and focused mission.

Faced with an aging membership and fewer vocations, many religious orders have turned to foreign vocations in places like Africa, India and the Philippines, the cardinal said. He said the orders need to remember that quality of vocations is more important than quantity. In any case, he said, "big numbers are not indispensable" for religious orders to prove their validity, but faithfulness to the Gospel message.

Cardinal Rode said it was undoubtedly more difficult today for all religious orders to find young people who are willing to break away from the superficial contemporary culture and show a capacity for commitment and sacrifice. Unless this is dealt with in formation programs, he said, religious orders will produce members who lack dedication and are likely to drift away.

The challenge, however, should not be seen strictly in negative terms, he said. The present moment, he said, can help religious orders better define themselves as alternatives to the dominant culture, which is a culture of death, of violence and of abuse,"and make it clear that their mission is to joyfully witness life and hope, in the example of Christ.
I’ll be back with more after this.

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Story 2:
Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of Anse-à-Veau, president of Caritas Haiti, told a press conference in Rome that last month’s earthquake has left 180,000 dead, 185,000 injured, and 200,000 missing. In addition, one out of six of Haiti’s 9 million people are refugees in their own country.

He plainly stated that education cannot take place because there are no schools, fifteen major churches in Port-au-Prince are gone, starting with the cathedral, as well as no housing for priests and religious who were in charge of these parishes. Besides the ruinous state of the country as a whole, there have arisen controversies and reports of interference from the government, which aid agencies have bypassed in delivering aid directly to the people mostaeffected.

Story 3:
The police chief of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is alleging that Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee spoke untruthfully to the state senate judiciary committee on January 12 about the Diocese of La Crosse’s abuse-reporting policy. Under the diocese’s policy, victims are asked to report incidents of alleged abuse to the diocese, which in turn reports them to civil authorities. For over a year, Police Chief Jerry Matysik asked the diocese to change its policy and urge victims to reports incidents directly to police. On January 12, Archbishop Listecki told the state senate’s judiciary committee that the policy had been changed.

Story 4:
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, and Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster offered Mass in the Three Kings Chapel in Rome, where John Henry Newman was ordained a priest in 1847. Referring the“constant call to conversion manifested in the life of Cardinal Newman, Archbishop Nichols spoke of the longing for a universal and infallible authority that led to Newman’s ordination.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 5:
Pope Benedict XVI said he hopes the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, will bring more than gold to everyone involved in the event. The pope offered his best wishes to Archbishop Miller of the diocese of Vancouver, Bishop David Monroe of the neighboring Diocese of Kamloops which is hosting some of the Olympic events, and to the athletes, organizers and community volunteers involved in the celebration of the games Feb. 12-28.

Story 6:
The Shroud of Turin, which many Christians believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus, goes on public display this spring, at a time when experts are debating new claims about the 14-foot-long piece of linen. The shroud's last showing was 10 years ago, when more than a million people lined up to see it in the cathedral of Turin in northern Italy. No one has ever been able to fully explain how the image was transferred to the linen cloth, although experts have put forward theories ranging from enzyme reaction to solar imaging. Strangely enough, none of those experts have ever mentioned the word “miracle”.

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And that’s top news of the hour.
I’m Bryan Douglas, CIR NEWS, for Catholic Information Radio.