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**National and World News

**U.K. bishops worry rules to protect gays could hurt adoption agencies

By Simon Caldwell, Catholic News Service
LONDON (CNS) -- Catholic adoption agencies in Britain could be forced to close if legislators pass regulations to give gays and lesbians more rights, said the bishops of England and Wales.
Church leaders are seeking exemptions to the British government's proposed sexual orientation regulations, designed to make discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation illegal in the same way as discrimination based on race or sex.
The regulations were drawn up after homosexual couples complained of being refused hotel rooms.
The bishops expressed concern that the exceptions envisaged in the proposals are "too limited" and that the church may find itself penalized by the courts. They expressed particular concern about their adoption agencies in the light of a 2003 Vatican document that said it would be "gravely immoral" to place children in the care of gay couples.
In a submission to the government, obtained by Catholic News Service July 12, the bishops said they sought an exemption based on Catholic teaching that "gay and lesbian couples cannot be assessed as prospective adopters."
"The impact of these regulations could mean, therefore, that, in the worst-case scenario, without an exception being granted, Catholic adoption and fostering agencies would close," they said.
"This would open a huge gap in service provision for many of the most vulnerable children in (Britain) and (would) be at variance with government policy to find placements for children ... who cannot live with their birth families," the bishops said.
Jim Richards, director of the Catholic Children's Society, one of 12 Catholic adoption agencies in England and Wales, told Catholic News Service July 12 that he hoped the government would see the value of the agencies and grant an exemption.
"We do place a considerable number of children with new families," he said. "For instance, in 2004 and 2005 local authorities placed 227 children with Catholic adoption agencies in England and Wales."
In their submission, the bishops also expressed concern about the implications of the regulations for Catholic schools, which they said would be limited in what they could teach children about the church's moral teaching.
The regulations also would force the church's marriage preparation and guidance agencies to cater to gay couples and would not allow parishes the right to refuse the use of their halls to groups at odds with church teaching. It could also become illegal for Catholic conference and retreat centers to refuse bookings from gay and lesbian groups, and the Catholic press would be unable to refuse certain advertisements, the bishops said.
They said they have "serious misgivings" about the regulations because they make no distinction between "homophobia" and a "conviction, based on religious belief and moral conscience, that homosexual practice is wrong."
"We do not believe they strike a reasonable balance between the right of people not to be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual conduct or lifestyle and the right of religious organizations to be able to act in conformity with their religious beliefs and identity," the bishops said.
"The church welcomes people into full participation in the Catholic community, whatever their sexual orientation, and condemns unjust discrimination, violence, harassment or abuse directed against people who are homosexual," they said.
"But homosexual acts, like all sexual acts outside of marriage, are morally wrong," the bishops added.

**Despite papal transition, Vatican shows $12 million surplus for 2005

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite the $8.9 million of extraordinary expenses related to the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican closed its 2005 budget with a surplus of more than $12 million, officials said.
Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, presented the 2005 consolidated budget figures at a July 12 press conference.
The cardinal did not provide figures for total Vatican income and total Vatican expenses at the press conference, but promised to provide the figures later.
Improved exchange rates and higher interest on Vatican investments helped give the Vatican its healthiest bottom line in eight years, the cardinal said. He said the Vatican's investment sector closed with a profit of $55 million compared to a profit of only $7.7 million in 2004.
Listed under "other income and expenses" in the 2005 budget were the $8.9 million in "costs sustained" during the papal transition.
Cardinal Sebastiani said a large part of the expense was the traditional extra pay given to Vatican employees on the occasion of a pope's death and again after the election of a new pope. In addition, the expenses included extra security, employee overtime and temporary modifications of the Sistine Chapel for the conclave.
However, he said, because of the millions of extra visitors, the papal transition had a positive impact on the budgets of the Vatican bookstore and printing press, the Vatican stamp and coin office and the Vatican Museums.
The budget figures were reviewed July 4 by members of the Council of Cardinals for the Study of the Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See.
The cardinals are given two separate budget reports: the budget of the Holy See, including the Roman Curia, Vatican diplomatic missions around the world, Vatican media outlets and Vatican investments; and the budget of Vatican City State, including the post office and Vatican Museums.
In addition, the cardinals were given the results of the 2005 Peter's Pence collection, which is not part of the budget since the money is used by the pope for charity, disaster relief and aid to churches in developing countries.
The 2005 collection brought in $59.4 million, an increase of $7.7 million over 2004.
Archbishop Franco Croci, secretary of the Vatican accounting office, said 29 percent of the collection came from Catholics in the United States. Catholics in Italy and Germany were the second- and third-largest donors.
The donations that are included in the Vatican budget figures are those made by bishops' conferences, dioceses, religious orders, organizations, foundations and individuals to offset the costs of running the Curia. In 2005, the donations totaling $93.3 million marked a slight decrease from the previous year.
Archbishop Croci said a full 33 percent of the donations came from dioceses, groups and individuals in the United States.
The list of the top 10 donor countries continues with Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, Canada, Korea, Mexico and Austria, he said.
One major jump in the Vatican expenses was in the sector of personnel costs, which rose from $129.3 million in 2004 to $154.3 million in 2005.
Paolo Trombetta, the Vatican's chief accountant, said the bulk of the increase is the result of a structured billing of individual Vatican offices for their portion of the Vatican's forecast pension debt.
The back payments to the Vatican pension fund, established by Pope John Paul II in 2004, will be spread out over 10 years, he said. Because the fund has its own administrative council and includes employee contributions, Trombetta said he could not say what the fund's current value is.
Vatican Radio, which accepts no advertising, and the Vatican newspaper, which accepts very little, are traditional drains on Vatican revenues.
One day after he was appointed director of the Vatican press office, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, who also serves as general director of Vatican Radio, told reporters the radio is working on reducing its deficit, which amounted to $29.9 million in 2005.
He said the radio was committed to reducing its staff from 395 employees to 335 by 2013, primarily by not replacing retiring workers whose jobs can be handled easily by others with the help of new technology.
As for advertising, he said the question was not only "ideological," but practical as well. Advertisers want to know how many people they will reach in a targeted geographic area, information Vatican Radio does not have for its programs broadcast in more than 40 languages around the world.

**Church official: Nun's beatification will help Hungarian church image

By Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News Service
OXFORD, England (CNS) -- The beatification of a nun killed for sheltering Jews during World War II will help the church's image in Hungary and strengthen Catholic-Jewish ties, said the Hungarian bishops' conference spokesman.
"The communist and liberal image of the church in our country is that of an institution which uses the resources of the state to live a good life while doing nothing," said Csongor Szerdahelyi. "This story firmly shows that the church was and remains on the side of the poor and helpless. The beatification will be a very important pastoral event."
Sister Sara Salkahazi of the Sisters of Social Service was shot and thrown in the Danube River in Budapest Dec. 27, 1944, by agents of Hungary's pro-Nazi Arrow Cross regime for sheltering Jewish women and children at her convent.
Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree for her beatification April 28; Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest was to preside at the beatification ceremony Sept. 17.
Szerdahelyi told Catholic News Service July 6 the beatification would be the first conducted in Hungary since the 1083 canonization of St. Stephen, recognized as the country's first king. The news drew attention about Catholic religious orders who had helped fugitive Jews during the Holocaust, and had been "welcomed with interest" by the country's surviving Jewish minority, he added.
"It's often said that the Catholic Church didn't do enough to help Jews, and this is largely true," Szerdahelyi said. "But it should also be remembered that virtually all congregations active in social work offered refuge to Jews here, as well as helping obtain false papers for them. This will be important for Catholic-Jewish relations."
The Sisters of Social Service also organized courses to expose Nazi doctrines and protested against Hungarian legislators' failure to prevent the unlawful seizure of Jewish property.
The order, founded in 1923 to help the working poor, rescued around 1,000 Jews in several towns. The order was suppressed in Eastern Europe after the postwar imposition of communist rule, but members currently are working in the U.S., Canada, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Szerdahelyi said survivors of the group of 140 that Sister Sara helped rescue would be attending the beatification, which is a major step toward sainthood.

**Never a dull moment: Pacific fleet chaplain has worldwide parish

By Kerry Myers, Catholic News Service
SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- Father Jim Danner says he has been shot at during Mass "probably more than most priests."
As a U.S. naval chaplain, the Memphis, Tenn.-born priest said his military career has been all that he expected -- he's seen the world, traveled constantly and has not been bored.
"As I tell my bishop, my parish is made up of 52 percent of the world -- from the Mississippi in the United States to the east coast of Africa," said the naval captain, referring to his two jobs as senior chaplain for the U.S. Pacific Area Command, which serves all four U.S. military branches, and senior chaplain for the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He works with 400 chaplains and 500 chaplain assistants of various denominations ministering to 310,000 military personnel and their families.
"I guess that's some parish," he said.
Father Danner, who has been in the Navy for 24 years, became aware of the dangers of his job early on. In Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks he had visited was blown up just days after he left it. While celebrating Mass during his time ashore in Beirut, he was shot at by Islamic militants. He was awarded the Combat V for his valor.
"I didn't get to finish Mass, but the people had a very religious experience by the time they got back to their foxholes," Father Danner told The Catholic Weekly in Sydney during a recent visit to Australia.
In 1989 he was serving aboard the USS Iowa when an explosion of undetermined cause ripped through the ship's 16-inch gun turret, killing 47 crewmen. Father Danner and the ship's surgeon had the task of identifying the dead "because we were the only two people who knew them all," he said.
"I've been to Rwanda during the cholera epidemic; Somalia; the Philippines for the coup; to Afghanistan; to Indonesia during the tsunami relief and recently in Iraq -- but that's the type of work we do as military chaplains," he said.
Father Danner said that as a chaplain, he does a lot of social work, and he deals with a lot of young people.
No matter what rank the soldiers are, they tend to reflect more on their faith when faced with battle and the prospect of death, he said, quoting the adage, "'There's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.'"
"I can go to a Catholic priest in Iraq and his Mass attendance is far greater than my Mass attendance would be in, say, San Diego," said Father Danner. "Similarly with sacraments such as reconciliation: It's something I may put off in an easy environment, but I'm not going to put it off in a challenging situation."
Father Danner said military personnel need reassurance, especially in morally challenging situations, such as when forced to kill another person.
"Is what you are doing ... a moral act in the sense that you are doing it for a greater good of trying to save other lives because of this or helping other people? ...This is where all the post-traumatic stress disorder comes into the picture; this is where we help them, too, in the aftercare or defusing, helping them deal with all the carnage and death," he said.
Military chaplains are trained and certified in post-traumatic stress debriefing, he said.
Father Danner said that after the explosion killed so many of his good friends on the USS Iowa, teams were brought on board to deal with the trauma of shipmates.
"I then had to become a victim rather than a provider," he said. "And that's what any priest needs to recognize in his ministry -- the danger of burnout and being affected by what he sees.
"A lot of priests who do not seek help think it is a weakness of faith or themselves, and it's a reason why some of them may turn to alcohol," he added. "Everybody needs someone they can go to and sort things out with."
Father Danner said the role of a chaplain fits the French concept of the worker-priest, rather than filling just a missionary role.
"We live, eat and work with the people we minister to, whereas the parish pastor may only see his flock on Sunday and sometimes during the week periodically," he said. "But I know these people because they live in the room next to me, I eat every meal with them, and I see them every day."

**Archbishop says bankruptcy possible for Milwaukee over abuse cases

By Catholic News Service
MILWAUKEE (CNS) -- Filing for bankruptcy protection is a possibility for the Milwaukee Archdiocese if a California court awards significant damages in 10 child sex abuse civil suits naming two former archdiocesan priests, said Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan.
Archdiocesan ministries "could be seriously curtailed if the resolution of these cases results in staggering financial consequences against us," said the archbishop.
He noted that three U.S. dioceses already have filed for bankruptcy and that he would make the same decision "only as a last resort."
"Bankruptcy is a significant and soul-searching decision, with wide-ranging consequences, and something which is usually looked at as only a last resort," he said.
Archbishop Dolan updated Catholics in the archdiocese about the situation in an article and column appearing in the July 6 issue of the Catholic Herald, archdiocesan newspaper. The article, column and further background information prepared by archdiocesan officials also was posted on the archdiocesan Web site.
A background article said that filing for bankruptcy "would only come after extensive consultation."
The California trial is scheduled to start Nov. 6.
In his July 6 column the archbishop noted that "the deep, infected wound" caused by the clergy sex abuse crisis "was beginning to heal, thanks to so many of you, but may once again be opened with this litigation in California. This, too, will be a part of the church's penance for past wrongs."
According to the archdiocesan information, nine of the cases in California involve the late Siegfried Widera, a former Milwaukee priest who served in four parishes in southeastern Wisconsin during the late 1960s and 1970s, before he moved to California, where he ministered in the Diocese of Orange. He was incardinated as a priest of that diocese in 1981. The diocese removed him from ministry in 1985.
In May 2003 Widera, 62, jumped to his death from a hotel balcony in Mazatlan, Mexico, as police were closing in to detain him for extradition to the United States to face more than 40 charges of child molestation.
The second former Milwaukee priest, named in the 10th suit, is Franklyn Becker, who is accused of having molested a 15-year-old boy when he was working in a parish in San Diego in 1977-78. He was formally barred from ministry in 2002 and has since been laicized. His case is part of a group of lawsuits filed in the Diocese of San Diego.
The archdiocese was named in the lawsuits under a much-debated law passed by the California Legislature in 2002, giving victims of sexual abuse cases a one-year window to sue dioceses for failure to report and discipline priests who committed the abuse, regardless of the statute of limitations.
"The lawsuit alleges our archdiocese bears responsibility for the abuse Widera committed in California because he was a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee" in the '60s and '70s, said Jerry Topczewski, Archbishop Dolan's chief of staff.
"Between now and the trial date, depositions will be taken and other pretrial activity will occur. During this period, we hope to work with the California victims/survivors to reach a fair and just settlement that will help them find some sense of resolution," said Topczewski.
At the end of 2004, the Orange Diocese reached legal settlements totaling $100 million that included Widera's victims, but the Milwaukee Archdiocese was not part of the settlement.
Prior to publication of his column, Archbishop Dolan met with several archdiocesan consultative bodies, including the pastoral council, the finance council and the priests' council, and explained what could happen as a result of the trial in California.
"What we can do financially is limited because the archdiocese has limited resources," Archbishop Dolan said in the Catholic Herald.
"We have been energetically offering those resources during the past four years in mediation and to seek resolution with any victim/survivor of clergy sexual abuse. So far, we have reached such resolution with more than 100 victims/survivors," he said.
"We intend to offer those same resources to victims/survivors in the cases in California. Yet, we must face the fact that we are seriously limited in our ability to pay the monetary awards these decisions or settlements may demand," the archbishop said.
In his column he noted that more than $11 million had been spent by the archdiocese to deal with sexual abuse by clergy. Most of that money has gone directly to the victims/survivors for help, compensation, and counseling, he said.
Contributing to this story was Brian T. Olszewski.

**Most U.S. Catholic figures show decline


By Jerry Filteau, Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Catholic population apparently rose by more than a million last year according to figures in the 2006 Official Catholic Directory, but it actually may have fallen once a correction is made for the plainly erroneous figures for the Boston Archdiocese.
The 2006 figures are also skewed by a lack of any data from the New Orleans Archdiocese, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina last Aug. 29 and unable to provide statistical data for this year's directory.
Even with adjustments to account for lack of data from New Orleans, the U.S. church clearly registered declines in Catholic school enrollments and in almost every area of sacramental practice between 2005 and 2006, according to the directory.
The 2,043-page tome, also known as the Kenedy Directory after its New Jersey publishers' imprint, came out at the end of June.
It lists all ordained U.S. Catholic clergy, parishes, missions, schools, hospitals and other institutions. It also gives statistical data on the church by diocese and nationally. Its national figures include data from Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, and U.S. territories overseas such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam.
Based on annual reports submitted by each diocese, the directory is supposed to be a snapshot of what the church looked like on Jan. 1, 2006.
The directory reported a net increase in the Catholic population of about 1.3 million last year, to 69,135,254, but that figure was based on counting the Boston Archdiocese as having 3,974,846 Catholics in a total population of 1,845,846 -- a reversal of figures that gave the archdiocese some 2.1 million more Catholics than it has.
With the correct Boston number, the total figure is 67,006,254 Catholics. Last year's figure was 67,820,833.
Even if the nearly 500,000 Catholics New Orleans reported in 2005 are added to the 2006 total, the correction of the Boston figures would lead to a net decline nationwide of about 300,000 Catholics between 2005 and 2006.
The new directory shows significant declines in Catholic education and sacramental practice, well beyond what could be accounted for by the lack of data from New Orleans.
The number of students in Catholic high schools dropped to just under 680,000, a decline of 13,000. Elementary schools enrolled 1.76 million children, almost 84,000 fewer than the year before.
The number of teachers in Catholic schools dropped by nearly 8,000, to just under 173,000.
There were some 729,000 high school students enrolled in parish religious education programs, 26,000 fewer than the previous year. Elementary students in religious education numbered nearly 3.5 million, but the total was 81,000 below the previous year's figure.
In all, the number of Catholic children receiving faith formation in Catholic schools or religious education programs last year was 204,000 lower than the year before. Lack of figures from New Orleans accounted for only about one-fourth of that decline.
Catholic colleges and universities reported 764,000 students, about 9,000 fewer than the year before.
In key sacramental moments, according to the directory:
-- There were only about 212,000 church-recognized marriages last year, 11,000 fewer than the year before.
-- Confirmations numbered more than 630,000, down 15,000 from the year before.
-- First Communions numbered nearly 833,000, a drop of almost 40,000.
-- Infant baptisms totaled 943,000, down by 34,000.
-- Adult baptisms and receptions into full communion totaled more than 154,000, about the same as the year before.
-- There were 438 priestly ordinations, 29 fewer than the year before.
If the New Orleans Archdiocese had as many infant baptisms, first Communions and confirmations last year as it had the year before, the reported declines in those areas nationwide would have been about 5,000 fewer in each category -- but would nevertheless remain substantial. Marriages would have declined by about 9,000 instead of 11,000.
The total number of priests in U.S. dioceses and religious orders was 42,271. This was 1,151 fewer than the year before -- but only about 740 fewer if New Orleans priests had been counted. The number of women religious declined more than 2,000, to 67,773. There were 5,252 religious brothers, 265 fewer than the year before.
For the first time since the permanent diaconate was revived after the Second Vatican Council, the total number of permanent deacons in the United States -- 14,995 -- showed a decline, but it was very slight at 32 below the previous year's total. If the 186 permanent deacons in New Orleans had been counted, the number would have gone up instead of down, continuing the long-term upward trend.
Although 46 new parishes were opened across the country last year, they did not offset parish closings or mergers. The 18,992 parishes listed represent a net loss of 305 parishes last year and mark the first time since 1983 that the directory reported fewer than 19,000 Catholic parishes in the United States and its possessions. New Orleans, however, had 142 parishes before Katrina and since then 113 have reopened. Counting them would have brought the 2006 national total back to about 19,100.
The 573 Catholic hospitals listed in the new directory are eight fewer than the year before, but in 2005 they served 84.7 million patients, 2.5 million more than the year before.
Besides the lack of data from New Orleans and the reversal of population figures in Boston, another anomaly in the 2006 edition's statistical summary was the apparent quadrupling of facilities for residential care of children, or orphanages, from 235 last year to 1,023 this year. The Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., was listed as having 800 orphanages this year, 794 more than it listed last year.
Barbara Conley, Brooklyn diocesan director of child care and planning, told Catholic News Service that the diocese has six agencies whose services include residential care for children. Using that figure would give a national total of such facilities as 229.

**Delaware Catholic school drops plan to let donor name new building

By Jim Grant, Catholic News Service
WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) -- A storm of protest prompted the board of trustees of a Delaware Catholic school to reverse its plans to let a major donor with a connection to a murder cover-up put his family name on a new student center.
After pledging $1 million to Archmere Academy's $6 million capital campaign last fall, developer Louis Capano Jr., a 1969 Archmere graduate, had been granted the right to name the Student Life Center in honor of his parents.
The developer is a younger brother of Thomas Capano, also an Archmere graduate and a former high-profile Wilmington attorney who is serving a life sentence in prison for the murder of Anne Marie Fahey, his former girlfriend, 10 years ago.
Thomas Capano was convicted of murdering Fahey, 30, after Louis and another brother, Gerard, cooperated with prosecutors by admitting they helped their brother cover up the crime. Both Louis and Gerard Capano were sentenced to probation.
The board of trustees June 26 announcement on the naming decision came after intense and sustained protests from a group of parents, alumni and students who were upset that the Capano family name would be attached to the center. The announcement came after an agreement reached with Louis Capano Jr. at a meeting that night at the school.
The controversy attracted national media attention, including reports on ABC's "Nightline" program, on CNN and in The Wall Street Journal.
In its statement, Archmere said Louis Capano Jr. "offered the board the opportunity to name the Student Life Center in honor of a religious figure of historic significance to the school."
The board said it would meet "to discuss the naming of the new facility and the appropriate means of recognizing, in some other way, Mr. Capano's gift in honor of his parents," according to the statement.
Louis Capano Sr., a respected home builder, died in 1980; his wife, Marguerite, is 82.
A parent-led group that opposed naming the building after the Capanos expressed gratitude on its Web site (www.protectarchmereslegacy.com) to the "more than 900 people in the Archmere community and beyond who joined our cause and spoke up to protect Archmere's legacy."
"Ours has been a grass-roots effort that speaks to the strong positive feelings so many students, alumni, parents and friends have for Archmere," the group added. "We look forward to hearing more details about the naming of the building, and about how Archmere plans to honor the Capano gift."
Tony Flynn, a member of Archmere's board who graduated from the school the same year as Louis Capano Jr., said June 27 that in hindsight the board did not communicate well enough its original decision to grant the naming rights to Capano.
Despite unanimous approval last fall from the board, the capital campaign committee and other school groups that included parents and alumni, "we probably needed to have some better way then to take soundings and do some research on how this might be received," Flynn said.
"We also failed to get out the story about why Louis' parents were appropriate honorees," he added.
He said Louis Capano Sr. "was a universally respected businessman in the community. There were 2,000 people at his funeral. He did endless good works for the church."
But the parents' reputation, Flynn said, "could not be taken in isolation. Unfortunately, the sins of their sons were visited upon them."
Archmere initially planned to name the building after U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., an Archmere graduate and longtime supporter of the school. That plan was scrapped after Wilmington Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli opposed it because of Biden's views on keeping abortion legal.
The bishop cited a 2004 statement by the U.S. bishops about Catholics in political life, which says that "Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."
Contributing to this story were Joseph Ryan and Gary Morton.

**Bosnian bishop urges Medjugorje visionaries to stop claims

By Simon Caldwell, Catholic News Service
LONDON (CNS) -- The bishop whose diocese includes the Bosnian village of Medjugorje has urged six alleged Marian visionaries to stop claiming that Mary has been visiting them for 25 years.
Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the church "has not accepted, either as supernatural or as Marian, any of the apparitions" said to have been witnessed by a group of people from Medjugorje.
"As the local bishop, I maintain that regarding the events of Medjugorje, on the basis of the investigations and experience gained thus far throughout these last 25 years, the church has not confirmed a single apparition as authentically being the Madonna," he said. He then called on the alleged visionaries and "those persons behind the messages to demonstrate ecclesiastical obedience and to cease with these public manifestations and messages in this parish."
"In this fashion they shall show their necessary adherence to the church, by placing neither private apparitions nor private sayings before the official position of the church," he said.
"Our faith is a serious and responsible matter," he added. "The church is also a serious and responsible institution."
The bishop made his comments June 15 during a homily at a confirmation Mass in Medjugorje's St. James Church. The diocese published the homily in English and Italian July 3.
On June 25, thousands of pilgrims converged on Medjugorje to mark the 25th anniversary of the onset of the alleged apparitions.
Marian experts continue to debate the significance of Medjugorje, and several have published books -- ranging from enthusiastically supportive to skeptical -- to coincide with the anniversary.
At the Vatican, officials said they are still monitoring events at Medjugorje, but emphasized that it was not necessarily the Vatican's role to issue an official judgment on the alleged apparitions there.
More than once in recent years, the Vatican has said that dioceses or parishes should not organize official pilgrimages to Medjugorje. That reflects the policy of the local bishops. But the Vatican has also said Catholics are free to travel to the site, and that if they do the church should provide them with pastoral services.
Since June 24-25, 1981, the alleged visionaries together claim to have received more than 30,000 messages.
But Bishop Peric said in his homily that "so-called apparitions, messages, secrets and signs do not strengthen the faith, but rather further convince us that in all of this there is nothing either authentic or established as truthful."
He said in February that Pope Benedict XVI expressed similar doubts when they discussed Medjugorje during the Bosnian bishops' visit to the Vatican.
Bishop Peric told the congregation that because the church did not accept the claims of the visionaries it was illicit for priests to "express their private views contrary to the official position" during Mass, in acts of popular piety or in the Catholic media.
He said Catholics were forbidden from making pilgrimages to Medjugorje if by such visits "they presuppose the authenticity of the apparitions or if by undertaking them attempt to certify these apparitions."
Bishop Peric said his views, and those of his predecessor, Bishop Pavao Zanic, who was also opposed to the claims, were supported by the pope. He expressed appreciation to Popes Benedict and John Paul II, "who have always respected the judgments of the bishops of Mostar-Duvno, of the previous as well as the current bishop, regarding the so-called apparitions and messages of Medjugorje, all the while recognizing the Holy Father's right to give a final decision on these events."
He also warned his audience of a schism emerging in the region between the church and more than a dozen Franciscan brothers and priests who have been expelled by the generalate of the Order of Friars Minor in Rome because of their disobedience to the pope.
He said that the expelled Franciscans "have not only been illegally active in these parishes, but they have also administered the sacraments profanely ... or they have assisted at invalid marriages."
Bishop Peric said he shared the view of Bishop Zanic that the visions and the Franciscan "schism," which began under Pope Paul VI in the 1970s, are linked.
Throughout the 1980s, Franciscan Father Jozo Zovko acted as "spiritual adviser" to the visionaries.
But three church commissions failed to find evidence to support their claims, and in 1991 the bishops of the former Yugoslavia declared that "it cannot be affirmed that these matters concern supernatural apparitions or revelations."
A short while later Father Zovko was stripped of his faculties to exercise any priestly functions by Bishop Zanic in a decree upheld by Bishop Peric.

**Religious freedom: human right, not a bargaining chip

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- By calling on predominantly Muslim nations to exercise "reciprocity" by recognizing the rights of Christians, Pope Benedict XVI has been portrayed as taking a tough stance on Islam.
But Vatican officials and outside observers have pointed out that in Vatican usage the term reciprocity has a different meaning than it usually has in relations between states.
When Pope Benedict XVI invokes reciprocity in asking Muslim nations to respect the religious freedom of Catholics, he is stating an expectation, not bargaining or making a threat, a Vatican diplomat explained.
Reciprocity is a term used in diplomatic relations for provisions two countries agree to make for each other's citizens. For example, two nations can make a reciprocal agreement that their citizens do not need visas to visit each other's countries.
But religious freedom is not a provision or a concession; it is a human right.
"When we say 'reciprocity' it is not, 'We will give your people religious freedom if you give ours religious freedom, and if you do not, we will take it away,'" the Vatican diplomat said.
"Perhaps 'reciprocity' is not the best word," he said.
"If Saudi Arabia does not allow the construction of churches," which it does not, "we are not going to stop our dialogue or try to keep Muslims out of Italy," he said. Invoking reciprocity "is not a threat -- we respect religious freedom and we expect others to respect it as well."
In a mid-May talk to a Vatican meeting on migration to and from predominantly Muslim nations, Pope Benedict spoke about the importance of reciprocity as a "relationship founded on mutual respect" and as an "attitude of heart and of spirit."
He referred to a 2004 document from the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, "Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi" ("The Love of Christ Toward Migrants"), which described reciprocity as a concept that could enable people of different religions "to live together everywhere with equal rights and duties."
The document said, "Healthy reciprocity will urge each one to become an 'advocate' for the rights of minorities when his or her own religious community is in the majority."
In other words, the Catholic Church calls on its members to defend the rights of Muslim migrants and urges the Muslim migrants to defend the rights of Christians in Muslim homelands.
The Catholic Church recognizes and defends the right to religious freedom not only for the benefit of its own members, but because it believes each human being was created by God and must be free to seek the truth about God.
Because of possible confusion surrounding the meaning of the term in international diplomacy and in the Vatican's usage, U.S. Jesuit Thomas Michel, head of the Jesuit Secretariat for Interreligious Dialogue, said he thinks the Vatican should stop using the term reciprocity in relation to religious freedom.
"Religious freedom is not negotiable. It is not dependent on how people treat some of us," he said.
"I do not think reciprocity is a Christian attitude," Father Michel said. "The Gospel never said, 'Do unto others as some members of one group do unto yours.'"
As for urging Muslims in Europe to pressure their home governments to respect the religious freedom of Christians, he said, "Muslims in Western Europe are not responsible for what is happening to Christians in some Muslim countries."
Father Michel said it seems more effective to support full religious freedom for Muslims in Europe -- including building mosques, hiring imams and educating their children in their faith -- and have that experience as a concrete example to share with Muslim dialogue partners.
Besides, he said, when Catholics support the construction of a mosque, "we are not being kind to Muslims, we are respecting their right to religious freedom. It is not negotiable or conditioned on how Christians are treated in some Muslim countries."
"You do not use worship of God as a bargaining chip," he said.

**Bishops criticize Supreme Court for upholding Kansas death penalty

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien, Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Speaking on behalf of the state's bishops, the executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference expressed regret June 30 at a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Kansas statute on capital punishment is constitutional.
Mike Farmer, commenting on a June 26 high court decision, said the bishops of Kansas' four Catholic dioceses would continue to work with the Legislature to overturn the death penalty law.
Writing for the majority in the 5-4 decision, Justice Clarence Thomas said the Kansas Supreme Court had erred in ruling that the instruction form for jurors in capital cases was flawed because it required jurors to vote unanimously for either life imprisonment or the death sentence and set capital punishment as the sentence if jurors could not agree.
"In this case the Supreme Court said a tie goes to the state, instead of the defendant," Farmer said. "I am surprised and disappointed at their ruling."
More than four years earlier, the bishops also expressed regret at a December 2001 state Supreme Court decision that said the state's capital punishment law in general remained valid.
"Crime can never be overcome by simply executing criminals, nor can we restore the lives of the innocent by ending the lives of those convicted of their murders," said a statement of the Kansas Catholic Conference at the time. "The death penalty offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life."
In the 2006 statement, Farmer cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church's teaching that the death penalty is needed to protect people from aggressors only in "very rare, if not practically nonexistent" cases.
"While the victims of violent crimes deserve both justice and compassion and those who inflict such harm must be held accountable, I believe a reflection on our church's teaching as well as on a multitude of published statistics will lead most people of good will to agree that the use of the death penalty should be restricted in the state as well as in our entire country," he added.
In the majority opinion, Thomas said the Kansas law was constitutional "because it rationally narrows the class of death-eligible defendants and permits a jury to consider any mitigating evidence relevant to its sentencing determination."
"The state's weighing equation merely channels a jury's discretion by providing criteria by which the jury may determine whether life or death is appropriate," he added.
Joining Thomas in the majority were Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito Jr.
In another action June 26, the high court refused without comment to consider appeals aimed at preventing the states of Louisiana and Tennessee from issuing "Choose Life" license plates. Critics of the plates had argued that the states violated free-speech rights by failing to offer an alternative "Choose Choice" specialty license.
In a January 2005 order, also issued without comment, the court declined to take an appeal of a ruling that said South Carolina's program offering pro-life license plates was unconstitutional.
(7/14/06)

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