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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.

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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:
Cardinal Julian Herranz, the president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, expressed sadness this week over those who “vilify” priests by generalizing cases of sexual abuse among the clergy.

Speaking to journalists this week, Cardinal Herranz said that the cases are profoundly sad and are the most serious crimes that can be committed by a priest. It is this fact which causes great sorrow to the Holy Father, because it means a priest is betraying his vocation and bringing hurt to many souls.

Nevertheless, he pointed out, only a small number of priests are involved in such cases, statistics do not even equal one percent.” For this reason, he lamented those who seek to tarnish the image of the Catholic priesthood and who in part are succeeding with the help of many in the media.

The intention vilifies the other 99 percent of priests faithful to their vocation, who with great generosity and desire, do the best they can for souls.” They “are working throughout the world and helping so many people in need and those marginalized in society,” the cardinal noted.

He also pointed out the image of the priesthood and the Church must not be tarnished because of the “detestable crimes” of a few of her members.

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
The Pontifical Council for Culture has joined with an Italian biotech firm, NeoStem, in a joint effort to promote public recognition of the medical potential for use of adult stem cells. The initiative will "develop educational programs, publications and academic courses with an interdisciplinary approach. The joint effort is intended to encourage stem-cell research using stem cells taken from licit sources. At the same time, the Pontifical Council for Culture and NeoStem will seek to raise public awareness of the fact that the most promising developments in stem-cell research have involved tissues taken from adult sources.

Story 3:
A three-judge court in Kenya has ruled against official acceptance of the Islamic system of kadhi court. The kadhi courts, which are intended for use only by Muslims, apply the principles of shari'a law. The Kenyan judges ruled that the application of religious law to civil affairs is inappropriate in a secular country. The issue of Islamic courts has been a contentious point in the country's new proposed constitution. The Christian church in Kenya brought the case to court six years ago.

Story 4:
Responding to recent insinuations in the British press that Cardinal John Henry Newman was gay and was an intellectual forefather of today’s dissenters from Catholic teaching, Father Ian Ker, the author of the definitive biography of Newman, says that there is “irrefutable evidence of Newman’s heterosexuality.” The idea that Newman was a homosexual because of his friendship with Ambrose St. John comes from “the twentieth century, when the concept of friendship died.” Father Ker said.

Story 5:
Less than two weeks after Diocese of Burlington agreed to pay over $20 million to settle 29 lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of minors by priests, the diocese has agreed to sell its historic 32-acre headquarters to Burlington College for an undisclosed sum. The property was recently put up for sale for $12.5 million. The diocese, which also is advertising its 26.5-acre Camp Holy Cross along Colchester's Malletts Bay for $7.5 million, limited its response to a short written statement. The college, according to its web site, is an “independent, progressive, liberal arts college” with 180 students.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
In an historic meeting, representatives of the Catholic Church in Cuba spoke with President Raul Castro about the release of political prisoners, among other items. The archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, gave a press conference on Thursday in which he reported on the meeting with President Castro, the first of its kind since Raul replaced his brother Fidel as head of the Cuban government. The conclusions of the meeting, regarded as positive by the Church leaders, point to the eventual release of political prisoners. Relations between the Vatican and the Castro regime improved after John Paul II's visit to Cuba in 1998, when he held a meeting with the former head of state, Fidel Castro.

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

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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:
Pope Benedict XVI underlined the mutual interests of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches, and the need for ecumenical cooperation in Europe, in a brief address on May 20 after a concert of Russian music.

At the end of the concert, which was part of the initiative entitled Days of Russian Culture and Spirituality in the Vatican, the Holy Father listened to a message sent by Patriarch Kirill and was greeted by Archbishop Hilarion, president of the Department for External Church Affairs of the Patriarchate of Moscow and composer of one of the pieces played during the concert. The Pope then delivered a brief address, .touching on at first of the music, then more generally of the challenges that face the world's two largest Christian bodies.

He expressed the thought there is, in fact, a close and fundamental bond between Russian music and liturgical chant. It is in the liturgy and from the liturgy that a large part of the artistic creativity of Russian musicians is released and expressed, giving life to masterpieces which deserve to be better known in the West.

Echoing a theme that Russian Orthodox leaders have frequently explored, he called for all Christians, Catholic and Orthodox, to work together to restore European appreciation for its Christian cultural heritage.

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
Top Church officials have reacted cautiously to the announcement that a scientist has synthesized a living cell, using man-made DNA. The announcement by researcher J. Craig Venter has prompted discussions about man-made forms of life. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the president of the Italian bishops' conference, had a similar reaction. While welcoming any genuine scientific breakthrough, he said, the Church would insist that any advance must be "measured against the ethical dimension, which has at its heart the true dignity of every person."

Story 3:
Three Protestant churches and a pastor’s home were demolished on May 15 and 19 in Kano state in northern Nigeria after a local Shari’a court consented to their destruction. An official of Christian Solidarity Worldwide said that the demolitions violate Nigeria’s constitutional and international legal undertakings to uphold religious freedom and freedom of assembly. The Nigerian constitution stipulates that non-Muslims cannot be brought before Shari’a courts unless they have agreed to this in advance and in writing.

Story 4:
Having completed his term as president of the Catholic University of America, Msgr. David O'Connell met with Cardinal Zenon Gro she low ski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, to discuss his concerns about the loss of a distinctive Catholic identity in Church-sponsored institutions of higher learning in America. The focus of Msgr. O'Connell's concern was the "Land O Lakes statement," signed in 1967 by a group of Catholic university leaders, proclaiming their autonomy from the hierarchy.

Story 5:
The Family Research Council released a new study on Thursday, detailing how women who grow up without their biological parents are more likely to engage in homosexual conduct as adults versus women who were raised with both a father and a mother. The data for the study was drawn from 2002 statistics on 7,643 women between the ages of 14 and 44, provided by the National Survey of Family Growth, which was conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Analysis of the statistics was overseen by Dr. Fagan as well as Fr. Paul Sullins from the Department of Sociology at Catholic University.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
Brazilian Congresswoman Fatima Pelaes shared her personal testimony on the floor of the Brazilian House of Representatives during a vote on a measure that would protect the unborn from abortion. She told lawmakers that her mother was a victim of rape and decided to let her live rather than kill her through abortion. When she finished her remarks, the Defense of Life movement in Porto Allegre reported that “Everyone was moved and in tears. On Wednesday, Brazil’s House of Representatives passed the measure that grants legal protection to the unborn. It now will go before the Senate.

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

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Lead:
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has pulled out of the left-leaning Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition that lobbies against pro-life and pro-family legislation and boasts leading pro-abortion and homosexual groups among its members.

The break was confirmed in a release sent to LifeSiteNews by Sister Mary Ann Walsh, USCCB Director of Media Relations, on Wednesday afternoon.

The release stated that the bishops withdrew following the group's published support for the pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, which was pointed out earlier this week by Deal Hudson of Catholic Advocate magazine.

In withdrawing from the coalition, the USCCB reiterated its commitment to oppose discrimination based on race, religion, sex, ethnicity, disabling condition, or age, and said that these are grave injustices and affronts to human dignity.

Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre NY did not address the activities of the coalition, instead saying only that the bishops ended their relationship because in recent years the organization has joined others in advocating or opposing nominees for the Supreme Court, a practice which clearly contradicts USCCB policy and compromises the principled positions of the bishops.”

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
Pope Benedict XVI welcomed the first ambassador from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the Holy See on May 20, saying that the Vatican hopes for religious freedom especially for guest workers there. The Holy Father told the ambassador, Hissa al-Otaiba, that the UAE deserves credit for receiving many hundreds of thousands of foreigners coming to seek work and a more secure financial future for themselves and for their families, and saluted the UAE for allowing the construction of several Catholic churches to serve the foreign workers,

Story 3:
Australian senator Nick Xenophon has called on the Catholic Church to remove the sanctity of the confessional for child abuse cases. The senator said yesterday it was wrong, in light of complaints that the Archbishop of Adelaide, Phillip Wilson, mishandled and covered up alleged sexual abuse by clergymen in the 1970s and 80s, for the confessional to be exempt from mandatory reporting laws. Archbishop Wilson has not spoken publicly about allegations he was involved in a "conspiracy of silence" about the incidents in the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

Story 4:
Bishop J. Peter Sartain of Joliet has removed Father Jerry Simonelli from his pastorate because he engaged in homosexual activity. A 21-year-old man had accused Father Simonelli of inappropriate conduct that took place more than two years ago. The office of the DuPage County State's Attorney did not find enough evidence to warrant criminal charges. A separate diocesan investigation found that Father Simonelli had engaged in an additional homosexual relationship. Bishop Sartain’s executive assistant said Father Simonelli, whose parish numbered more than 9,000, quote “He was unfaithful to his vows on more than one occasion.” unquote

Story 5:
In response to the media firestorm over the Archdiocese of Boston contradicting the decision of a local Catholic elementary school to cancel the admission of the child of a same-sex couple, Cardinal Sean O'Malley condemned criticism of the school's priest who made the initial decision and outlined the need for the archdiocese to “formulate policies” with clearer guidelines. He explained the Archdiocese recognizes that, regardless of the circumstances involved, there is a responsibility to teach the truths of the faith, including those concerning sexual morality and marriage.”

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
The Vatican announced today that the Holy Father will visit and bless a restored statue of Mary that overlooks the city of Rome this summer. The Virgin, which was created in thanks for the city being peacefully liberated from the Nazis during World War II, was damaged in a storm last year. In 1953, the statue was placed on a hill near the Vatican in a part of Rome called Monte Mario to remember the intercession of the Virgin Mary in securing the peaceful liberation of the city from Nazi occupants during World War II. The statue was designed by a Jewish sculptor named Arrigo Minerbi, who was protected by the Church during the War.

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

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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:
A religious sister who was on a Catholic hospital panel that approved a direct abortion has excommunicated herself, the Diocese of Phoenix announced yesterday. While one of the hospital’s doctors has defended the sister, a Catholic ethicist says direct abortion is a “crime” against the unborn child who is killed.

The abortion took place late last year at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. The mother was 11 weeks pregnant and was seriously ill with pulmonary hypertension, a condition worsened by pregnancy, according to the Washington Post.

An ethics committee which included doctors and hospital administrator Sr. Margaret McBride ruled that the abortion was necessary. Sr. McBride has been reassigned from her job as vice president of the hospital.

The Catholic News Agency spoke with Dr. John Haas, president of the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center, who related that many physicians have told him that one “almost never” encounters a situation in modern medicine in which a life would have to be sacrificed to safe another. he explained there are always interventions possible to treat underlying illnesses or pathology that the mother is suffering, but one cannot justify or directly take the life of an innocent child.

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
As controversy swirls around the Archdiocese of Boston's decision to undermine a pastor who denied enrollment in a Catholic elementary school to a lesbian couple's child, Dale O'Leary, a noted Catholic author and international lecturer, is defending the Catholic Church's right to protect what she calls “the best interests of all the children.” O'Leary argues that the Catholic Church cannot and will not compromise on Church teachings or “hide the truth.” Because of this, she notes, an awkward and potentially harmful situation for same-sex couples seeking admission for their children in Catholic schools may emerge.

Story 3:
In response to an openly homosexual woman being named a bishop in the Episcopal Church last Saturday, Anglican leaders from around the world decried the action as gravely wrong, with some adding that the move has “hurt and alienated” many within the Episcopal community.

This recent move by the Episcopal church in the U.S. has caused tremendous controversy within the global Anglican church, prompting Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to issue a statement of caution when the announcement of Glasspool's selection was first made last year.

Story 4:
In an interview with L’Osservatore Romano, Italian physician Renato Buzzonetti, recounted his relationship and experiences with John Paul II as his personal physician from 1978 until his death. Among other things, he recalled details about the May 13, 1981 assassination attempt on the late Pope and his willingness to embrace suffering in the last moments of his life. Despite all of the pain, the doctor said, the Holy Father “never asked for sedatives, not even in his final stages.

Story 5:
On Sunday, the Holy Father was greeted by a crowd of 200 thousand in St. Peter’s Square for the Regina Coeli. Officials credited the enormous response up to a great love of the Pope and his commitment to ridding the Catholic Church of sin. After leading the Marian prayer from the window of his apartment above the crowd, the Holy Father told the faithful that we must quote "be strongly rooted in God, solid in the good, in love and in service to combat the sin within the Church and in the rest of the world” unquote.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
BP America, a subsidiary of the petroleum giant whose underwater well is leaking millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, has announced a combined $1 million donation to Catholic Charities in Louisiana to support emergency food assistance and financial aid for families affected by the environmental disaster. The Archdiocese of New Orleans said that the Catholic Church has been active in relief efforts through its Catholic Charities organization. Catholic Charities co-president Jim Kelly reported that the agency had committed a minimum of $300,000 in resources before BP’s offer.

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