c. 1996 Religion News Service
Top Vatican official deals with delicate diplomacy in Cuba
(RNS) Engaged in a delicate diplomatic waltz, a high-ranking Vatican official visiting Cuba has sharply criticized U.S. policies toward the island nation as”imperial,”while pressing Cuban leader Fidel Castro to give the Roman Catholic Church the”necessary spaces”it needs to carry out its mission.
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican’s top diplomatic official, arrived in Havana late Friday (Oct. 25) for a visit that could pave the way for a meeting between Castro and Pope John Paul II in Rome next month and a possible papal visit to Cuba in 1997. The pontiff has visited nearly every other Latin American nation except Cuba.
Tauran is the highest ranking Vatican official to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution that put Castro in power, which led to a long freeze between church and state in Cuba.
In recent years, however, both sides have sought to improve relations and Castro has allowed more freedom for many Christian churches. But Castro remains deeply suspicious of the Catholic Church because of its pre-revolution ties with the ruling elite.
On his arrival Friday, Tauran sharply criticized the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba, saying the Vatican does not support”imperial policies.””Isolation by blockades is not a method for international relations,”the French-born cardinal said.”We (the Vatican) have always been faithful to the principles of international law, of non-interference in the internal affairs of states and of solidarity between peoples.” During his visit, Tauran met with top Cuban foreign affairs officials and it was expected he would also meet with Castro.
While praising the strides that the government has made in recent years to improve church-state relations, he also made it clear there was still room for improvement.
On Sunday (Oct. 27), Tauran called on the government to allow the Roman Catholic Church to play a more public role that would go beyond the formal right to worship.
He said merely allowing worship was to”mutilate faith”and said there should be a”healthy cooperation”between church and state. For that, he added, the church”asks for the necessary spaces of freedom and service.” Tauran is pressing the government to allow more non-Cuban clergy into the country because of a shortage of Cuban priests and nuns and to allow the church-run charity, Caritas, to more effectively help the needy.
Tauran’s visit is considered to be laying the groundwork for a meeting between Castro and John Paul at next month’s World Food Summit in Rome, sponsored by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. The pope is scheduled to open the summit.
Diplomatic sources at the Vatican and in Cuba have said in recent months that if Castro and the pope meet in Rome it is expected that the Cuban leader would invite the pontiff to visit Cuba. John Paul has made no secret of his desire to do so.”If Castro comes to Rome for the World Food Summit, I believe he will meet with the pope,”Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino of Havana told reporters in Rome earlier this month.
Salvation Army, Catholic Charities among top charities in 1995
(RNS) Americans gave five percent more to the country’s largest charities in 1995 than in 1994, with the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities USA receiving some of the most generous donations, according to an annual survey by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
The Salvation Army, which collected $644.3 million from private sources, topped for the fourth year in a row the Philanthropy 400, a survey of the top 400 charities. This recognition came despite a drop in donations of 11.3 percent.
Catholic Charities ranked third, after the American Red Cross. The Catholic organization saw a 25 percent jump in donations, raising $419.4 million from private sources.
Both the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities are finding they have to market themselves in new ways because of the greater competition for donations among groups providing social services.
The Salvation Army has reached an agreement with Wal-Mart to place its red Christmas kettles outside the retail chain’s 2,268 stores. In the past, the charity negotiated with individual stores.”Marketing is a word that is a little bit difficult for us,”Robert A. Watson, national commander of the Salvation Army, told the Chronicle.”It’s not our style to do an ongoing, round-the-clock, slick marketing strategy.” Likewise, the Rev. Fred Kammer, president of Catholic Charities USA, said his group has been trying to make potential donors more aware of its work.”Most of our agencies had spent so little on fund raising,”he said.
Two years ago, only half of Catholic Charities’ affiliates included professional fund raisers as staff members. Now 85 percent of the affiliates have them.
A sluggish year for Bible sales
(RNS) The Bible, that perennial best seller, is having a sluggish year, with some chains sending unsold copies of the good book back to publishers.
The $200-million market for Bibles is flat, the New York Times reported.
Last summer, the Family Bookstore chain returned to publishers more than $200,000 worth of unsold King James versions. Three new Bible translations introduced this year have not improved the sales picture.
In June, traditionally a time when fancy volumes are given to college graduates and newlyweds, Bible sales fell sharply to $3.7 million, a 48 percent decrease compared to the same period last year. Sales increased some in July, but remained down 9 percent for the year.”I’ve never seen a time in which well-positioned and well-financed and well-done translations have entered the market with such horrible results,”said Hargis Thomas, sales and marketing director at Oxford University Press, one of the smaller Bible publishers.”I think that we’ve reached saturation point.” Some Christian booksellers and Bible publishers attribute the flat market to a glut of products. Several hundred versions of the Bible range from holy books for runners to study volumes for teen-agers and devotionals for couples and mothers.
Thomas Nelson Inc., the largest publicly held Bible publisher, reported a loss of almost $1.4 million in its fiscal first quarter that ended in June. The company said a drop of more than 6 percent in Bible revenue from the same period a year earlier was due to reduced sales and high returns from some Christian and general bookstore chains.
The publishers and booksellers in this market hope sales will pick up during the Christmas season or with a release of a new translation. But even Bill Anderson, president of the Christian Booksellers Association, has doubts.”I’m not sure that customers are holding off,”he said of the possibility that customers are waiting for a new translation before opening their wallets.”It’s not like the release of a mustang.”
Australian Parliament puts off decision on euthanasia law
(RNS) The Australian Parliament has declined for now to invalidate a Northern Territory law that permits medically assisted suicide.
On Monday (Oct. 28) the parliament decided to refer the issue to committee rather than than go ahead now with legislation that would invalidate the law.
The referral to committee is likely to leave the Northern Territory law in effect at least until next year, the Associated Press reported.
One man, cancer sufferer Bob Dent, has taken his life since the law took effect July 1. Since its passage, the law has come under persistent criticism, leading the federal parliament to consider overriding the Northern Territory’s decision.
The law is the world’s most permissive euthanasia legislation.
Quote of the Day: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on the right-to-die
(RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to take up the issue of physician-assisted suicide. Speaking at Catholic University in Washington Oct. 18, Justice Antonin Scalia indicated, as he has previously, that he does not believe the Constitution guarantees the right to die.
He said laws against suicide were accepted by American society at the time of the writing of the Constitution and the issue was not mentioned in the Constitution.
According to Legal Times, a Washington-based legal newspaper, Scalia said:
The right-to-die issue”doesn’t belong in court as a constitutional question. There’s no right to die. There are laws against suicide.”
MJP END RNS
