c. 1997 Religion News Service
Catholic anti-poverty agency announces welfare reform grants
(RNS) The Campaign for Human Development, the Roman Catholic bishops’ anti-poverty program, Tuesday (Aug. 26) announced $330,000 in grants to groups working to ease the impact of welfare reform on immigrants and the poor.
The grants, all in the $25,000-$55,000 range, are the second round of grants now totaling $500,000 awarded by the campaign to give the poor a voice in federal welfare reform legislation as it is implemented at the state and local levels.”Through these CHD grants, Catholics in the United States are putting the church’s social teaching into action,”said the Rev. Robert Vitillo.”Our faith tells us that we must respect and defend the life and dignity of all persons.”We have a special responsibility to assure the well-being of the poorest and most vulnerable members of society _ those who have been forced to depend on public assistance,”he added.
The new round of grants _ to nine organizations in eight states _ will fund such activities as the hiring of a full-time community organizer in San Francisco to work with immigrant communities in advocating for their rights under new welfare rules and supporting the work of the Springfield, Mass.-based New England Welfare Reform Initiative, in shaping welfare reform policies in five New England states.
Other grants will support efforts to monitor the impact of welfare reform, advocating for”corrective reform measures”at the state and local level and promoting”just wage and work opportunities.” In addition to the money for groups in California and Massachusetts, grants will go to organizations in Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi and New Jersey.
World Youth Days running a $5 million deficit
(RNS) Pope John Paul II may have drawn nearly 1 million to the concluding Mass of World Youth Days in Paris Sunday (Aug. 24), but too many of them, organizers say, failed to drop anything in the collection plate as it passed by.
Bishop Michel Dubost, who organized the French version of the event that is held in different countries every other year, said Monday (Aug. 25) this year’s World Youth Days is running a $5 million deficit.
At Sunday’s concluding Mass, participants donated just $333,000 _ about 33 cents a person, AP quoted the bishop as saying.
Overall, Dubost said the budget for World Youth Days was $42 million.”We wanted everyone to take part even if they didn’t pay because it seemed to us that to see the pope should not be a paying event if one can’t afford it,”Dubost said.
The event drew people from more than 100 nations, including some 12,000-13,000 from the United States. The turnout for the final Mass exceeded all expectations.”We were a bit the victims of our own success,”Dubost said.
Focus on the Family joins Disney boycott
(RNS) Focus on the Family, the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based conservative family advocacy group, has added its name to a growing list of religious organizations boycotting the Walt Disney Co. and its subsidiaries.”It has become clear that the Disney organization has utter disdain for those who hold traditional moral principles and conservative family values,”said James Dobson, president of Focus and host of its radio talkshow.”We won’t bankrupt Disney … and we may not even damage them financially,”Dobson added.”But we can certainly let our constituency know that Disney is no longer friendly to the family and call attention to the immoral material they are now producing.” Focus _ and others groups _ are upset with Disney and its subsidiaries for”deviating from the values of Walt Disney himself”by producing what they believe to be offensive, anti-family films, TV shows, books and recordings.
Some examples cited by Focus are: Hyperion Press’ children’s book”Growing Up Gay”; ABC-TV’s”Ellen,”which features a lesbian main character, and the upcoming drama”Nothing Sacred,”which features a Roman Catholic priest struggling with his spirituality and called”anti-Christian”by Focus; and Disney’s hosting of”Gay Days”at its theme parks, where”thousands of homosexual activists gather unbeknownst to vacationing families.” Focus on the Family joins other religious organizations and denominations already boycotting Disney, including the Southern Baptist Convention, the American Family Association, the Assemblies of God, the Free Will Baptists, the Presbyterian Church in America, Citizens for a Better America, and Concerned Women for America.
NOW launches harsh attack on Promise Keepers
(RNS) The National Organization for Women launched a harsh attack on the Promise Keepers men’s movement Monday (Aug. 25), saying it believes the goal of the popular evangelical organization is to repeal women’s rights.”We are here today to announce our `no surrender’ campaign,”Patricia Ireland, NOW’s president told a news conference.”When Promise Keepers talks about men taking responsibility, they really mean men taking control and women taking the back seat,”she added.
The campaign _ the distribution of a video and”special report”on the movement _ comes just a little more than a month before Promise Keepers’ planned”Stand in the Gap”national rally set for Washington, D.C. on Oct. 4.”It’s a plan, a political agenda,”Ireland said of the movement.
But a spokesman for the group dismissed the NOW charges, the Washington Times reported.”Promise Keepers is not some overnight sensation to which NOW can say they’ve just uncovered the real plot,”said Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for the group.
DeMoss also predicted that NOW”is going to be sorely disappointed in what they are going to see Oct. 4. They are going to see men on their knees in prayer.” Promise Keepers, founded by former football coach Bill McCartney, has drawn some 2.6 million men to 62 stadium rallies over the past several years. Participants make seven promises about their conduct and commitment relative to God, family, morality and churches. It has insisted from the beginning that it is non-political.
Australian cemetery sets aside Mecca-aligned graves for Muslims
(RNS) Officials in the Australian state of Tasmania say they have realigned some of their cemetery plots to permit Muslims to be buried in accord with Islamic requirements that their bodies be pointed toward Mecca.
According to the AP, plots at the Kingston Cemetery in Hobart were laid out the wrong way for Islamic graves, forcing Muslims to buy two plots each so they could be buried in the traditional manner.
Australia is a major destination for refugees, including Muslims from the Middle East and Asia and it has had a significant Muslim presence since the 19th century.
Malaysian Muslims ban body-building contests for men
(RNS) There’s one thing to be said for the new Muslim law in Malaysia that bans women from entering beauty contests: It’s no longer discriminatory.
Islamic religious leaders there have now issued a decree prohibiting men from entering body-building competitions after learning that three Muslims had entered a contest 430 miles southeast of Kuala Lumpur, the Associated Press reported.
Muslims convicted of disobeying the law face a $1,000 fine and two years in prison. No word yet if the three men would be prosecuted.
Under current religious laws in Malaysia _ where religion is considered a state matter and Muslim rules enforced by the government _ Muslim women may expose only their hands, face and feet. Men must be covered from waist to thigh, the AP said.
About half of Malaysia’s 20.5 million people are Muslim.
Quote of the day: Dr. Myles Sheehan, Loyola University medical school
(RNS) On Tuesday (Aug. 26), the National Institute for Healthcare Research and the John Templeton Foundation announced grants to a number of medical schools to fund courses on religious beliefs and the role of faith among the terminally ill. Dr. Myles Sheehan, a Jesuit priest and physician at the Loyola University medical school in Chicago, outlined what the program hoped to achieve among future doctors:”They might be great with surgical techniques and medicine, but unless they can understand the pain and confusion that the human spirit experiences, they are not going to be great doctors.”
MJP END RNS
