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July 17, 2004 |
As part of its polling project to track American Catholics' views on issues, the latest findings from the Le Moyne College/Zogby International Contemporary Catholic Trends (CCT) found that since American Catholic registered voters were surveyed in the CCT's first poll in October 2001, President Bush's approval ratings have fallen, from 78 percent who gave him a rating of "excellent" or "good" to 44 percent.
While over 41 percent feel that Bush deserves reelection, 51 percent say it's time for change.
Bush's declining support, however, does not translate into strength for the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. While 31 percent think Kerry would make a "good" or "excellent" president, when asked how they would vote if the election were today, Bush continues to lead Kerry by a margin of 44 percent to 40 percent (8 percent were unsure and 3 percent would vote for Ralph Nader) among American Catholics.
"Although more Catholics are saying they don't want to vote for Bush, Kerry hasn't given them a reason to vote for him," said Susan Behuniak, professor of political science at Le Moyne. "Bush is losing support, but it isn't helping Kerry."
Of those surveyed, registered Democratic Catholics continue to outnumber Republican Catholics, 40 percent to 34 percent, while nearly 18 percent were independent or minor party, and 3 percent were not sure. [Source: Le Moyne College]
Denying Communion to Catholic politicians because of their views on abortion is a bad idea both pastorally and politically, but it would not violate the constitutional separation of church and state, said Fr Thomas J Reese SJ, editor of America magazine, during a discussion in Washington on "The Body Politic and the Body of Christ: Candidates, Communion and the Catholic Church."
Fr Reese said that although a "handful of bishops" have announced that they would deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support keeping abortion legal, "most bishops do not support this position."
In addition to being pastorally unwise, such a policy would present "practical problems, since churches do not have sin detectors," he added.
Politically, the denial of Communion "looks like an attack on the Democrats" and "helps to brand abortion as a Catholic issue rather than what it is, a human rights issue," Fr Reese said.
But he dismissed arguments that such an action by church leaders against Catholic politicians would violate the separation of church and state.
"Bishops and priests do not lose their constitutional right of free speech when they are ordained," he said. "No one objects when [the Rev] Jesse Jackson and [the Rev] Al Sharpton" speak out on political matters, he added.
Fr Reese said it is church law, not civil law, that forbids Catholic bishops and priests from endorsing candidates or running for political office. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
Jesuit Fr Luis Ugalde, who traveled to Europe and the United States in June as part of a three-member delegation representing the Venezuelan bishops' conference to inform church leaders about the sociopolitical situation in the country, said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government is losing support because it has worsened the economy rather than reducing poverty; a recall referendum on August 15 will determine Chavez's future.
"If the vote is free, it would go 2-1 against Chavez," said Fr Ugalde, rector of Andres Bello Catholic University in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
Since Chavez came to power, unemployment has increased from 13 percent to 20 percent, with a 27 percent drop in per capita income, Fr Ugalde said.
"All this during a time when oil prices have been high," he said, referring to Venezuela's status as one of the world's major petroleum exporters.
The delegation said Chavez initially had a significant following among Catholics working with the poor and among the university community because of his promises, but support has fallen as the promises have not been kept.
"The government is the greatest enemy of the poor, not for what it says but for what it does," Fr Ugalde said. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
As the number of African vocations increases, church officials face a growing challenge to care for their pastoral workers, said Fr Edward Brady SJ, a US priest who has worked in Africa since 1985.
Fr Brady, who works with the justice and peace task force of the Nairobi-based Sudan Catholic Bishops' Regional Conference, said the Church must also work at "breaking the culture of violence" in East Africa.
He said because of problems in their personal lives priests and nuns sometimes find it hard to fulfill their jobs. For instance, he talked to two priests in Nairobi whose mothers had been in refugee camps for 15 years.
Many Sudanese priests are "psychologically stressed" because of decades of civil war in their country, Fr Brady said. He added that violence between and among ethnic groups in East Africa continues to pose problems for church officials.
"The challenge to the Church is to build a ministry of reconciliation," said Fr Brady.
He said the 1994 ethnic genocide in Rwanda was one example in which people looked at themselves in a cultural light--as Hutu or Tutsi--rather than as Christians.
"The faith did not reach down to the hearts sufficiently" to prevent hundreds of thousands of people from being killed, he said, adding that there were "heroic stories of Hutu protecting Tutsi" in some instances. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
John Paul II has named Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop Gordon Bennett SJ bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica.
He made his first vows with the Jesuits in 1966 and was ordained a priest in June 1975. He holds master's degrees in theology and education. He was serving as president of Loyola High School in Los Angeles when he was named auxiliary bishop of Baltimore in December 1997. [Source: Zenit]
A new Jesuit liturgical association, the International Jungmann Society for Jesuits and Liturgy, was founded in June. The purpose of the organization is to promote liturgical renewal within the Jesuits and to assist that renewal within the wider church.
Over 65 Jesuits and colleagues from 22 countries met at the Archdiocese of Bangkok's Pastoral Training Center from June 21 to 25 on the topic of liturgical inculturation. Fr Keith Pecklers SJ was elected as the first president, and Br Pierre Faure was elected vice-president/president-elect. The group plans to meet next in Latin America in 2006. [Source: John Baldovin SJ <jbaldovin@wjst.edu>]
AIDS represents "the greatest threat to Africa since the slave trade," according to Jesuit Fr Michael Czerny SJ, coordinator of the African Jesuit AIDS Network, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Fr Czerny said poverty "is both a cause and a consequence of HIV and AIDS."
"Poverty reduces people's choices and capacities, and poverty is obviously an enormous obstacle, perhaps the principal one, to access to care and treatment," he said.
Fr Czerny said churches throughout Africa are "responding creatively and energetically" to the challenge of HIV/AIDS, even though Church leaders at times have lagged behind.
"In Africa, the Church is doing better than it is speaking," the priest said. "There is more AIDS ministry going on, of great quality and variety, than you would think from what the bishops are actually saying. The bishops are not leading with their statements, but the people of God are leading with their responses.
"Many bishops don't see clearly how to integrate AIDS ministry into the normal life and work of the Church," said Fr Czerny. "That's our current challenge: to integrate it, strengthen it, and make sure it reaches every corner of the region."
The lack of basic information about AIDS and how it is spread and prevented also remains a root cause of the pandemic, the priest said.
"If people have such information, even in a resource-poor setting, they can fight HIV and AIDS and many could live longer and better," he said.
The African Jesuit AIDS Network and Caritas Internationalis are producing a new manual for use in Africa. He said the manual, called "Rays of Hope," explains the virus, the medical treatment of HIV, the prevention and treatment of infections, and nutrition related to the disease. [Source: CNS. Do not repost electronically]
Maryland Province Launches New Website
http://www.mdsj.org/
The Maryland Province has launched a newly designed web site that features detailed information about the works, people, and parishes of the province. The new site features links to Jesuit institutions within the province, as well as Jesuit resources and a section that highlights publications by or about Jesuits. [Source: Maryland Province News]
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