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Here’s news, on the hour, from Catholic Information Radio.
I’m Bryan Douglas in Philadelphia, and at this hour….
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Lead:
An international coalition of pro-life activists and Catholic scholars has joined in a statement of support for Bishop Thomas Olmstead of Phoenix, who has drawn the predictable heavy secular press criticism for his condemnation of an abortion performed at a Catholic hospital. The group noted that they are also aware of the hostility toward Bishop Olmsted created by a media dedicated to watering down Catholic teaching, praising the prelate for his defense of truth and life.

The statement came as a liberal New York Times columnist blasted Bishop Olmsted in particular, and the Catholic Church in general, for being what he said was "moral obtuseness" in the case. The columnist cited several supporters of Sister Margaret McBride, an ethicist at the hospital who incurred automatic excommunication by approving the abortion. The Times columnist did not bother to include the views of any Catholic who upheld the Church teaching that the deliberate killing of a human being can never be justified. Instead he quoted a doctor who defended the operation.

Signatories of the International Declaration of Support featured multiple members of the Pontifical Academy for Life and other signatories included Austin Ruse, president of Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute; Steven Mosher, president of Population Research Institute, and Dr. Jan Hemstad, president-elect of Catholic Medical Association.

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey has renewed his complaint that the Obama administration is illegally funding a campaign in favor of a new proposed constitution for Kenya. The Obama administration has committed $2 million to support efforts to obtain ratification of the Kenyan document. But US federal law stipulates that no foreign-aid funds "may be used to lobby for or against abortion," and the acceptance of abortion is a key point in dispute over ratification of the Kenyan constitution. The Catholic bishops of Kenya have said the proposed constitution is “fundamentally flawed” because it paves the way for abortion on demand and also specially recognizes Muslim civil courts. At present Kenyan law allows abortion only to save the life of the mother.

Story 3:
An Islamic scholar in India has said that the issuance of dozens of fatwas by militant Muslim clerics-- including many aimed at women who do not wear the prescribed veils, reflects an outdated understanding of the Qu'ran. Ashgar Ali Engineer of the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism said that a "cultural and religious revolution" is needed to change popular perceptions of Islam.

Story 4:
In an interview with Chicago Public Radio, Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry recounted the discrimination suffered by Father Augustus Tolton (1854-97), the first African-American diocesan priest in the United States. Bishop Perry said that 1,500 people, 1,000 of them white, attended Father Tolton’s first Mass in Quincy, Illinois. After a white priest became jealous of his popularity, however, Father Tolton was transferred to Chicago, where he was put in charge of a parish for African-Americans.

Story 5:
Two canon lawyers have weighed in on an attempt to sue the Vatican for sexual abuse by a priest, saying it misconstrues the nature of the Catholic Church and the relationship between the Pope and other Catholic bishops. It is based on the misperception of the Church as a “monolithic” structure, one said. The lawsuit, named Doe v. Holy See, was filed in 2002 on behalf of a man who claimed he was sexually abused by a priest in Oregon in the mid-1960s. The priest had previously been accused of abusing children in Ireland and Chicago.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
The president of Italy's episcopal conference says the two most important problems facing the nation are the "demographic winter" and unemployment. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa, said this Tuesday when he opened the conference's plenary assembly. He warned about a "slow demographic suicide to which Italy is headed." More than 50% of Italian families today do not have children and among those that do, almost half have only one child, the rest have two. Only 5.1% of families have three or more children. "Because of this, an urgent policy is needed that is oriented to children, which is geared henceforth to a balanced generational change-over," the prelate stressed.

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