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VATICAN CITY STATE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18  

 
Diplomacy in High Gear
   Pope John Paul II met with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and asked for "concrete commitments" to U.N. disarmament resolutions.
Iraq: the Moral Case for War
American Policy and Christian Principles
THE TABLET
UK - The reason why the United States is going to war against Saddam Hussein, unless he fulfils his solemn obligations to international order or leaves power, has nothing to do with any new theory of “preventive war”.
   On the contrary, such a war comes under traditional just war doctrine, for this war is a lawful conclusion to the just war fought and swiftly won in February 1991.
   At that time, the war was summarily interrupted, in order to negotiate the terms of surrender with the unjust aggressor, Saddam Hussein. At the peace
 
 
table, the United Nations insisted that, as a condition of his continuation in the presidency of Iraq, Saddam Hussein must both disarm and provide proof to the UN that he had disarmed, accounting with transparency for all his known weapons systems and arsenals.
   In particular, he was ordered to destroy his stocks of mustard gas, sarin, botulin, anthrax and other chemical and biological agents. He was also to provide proof that he had destroyed all his work toward nuclear weapons.
   John Wilkens, editor of The Tablet, discusses the issue...>LISTEN
A Test of Faith
School Religion Exam
A.D. 2000
AUSTRALIA - Since 1998, the Sydney Catholic Education Office has been running a religious education test for Grade Six students in the archdiocese. In June 2002, over 5,000 sat for the test, including, for the first time, children from five Armidale Diocese schools. The test covers the areas of beliefs and symbols, decision-making, Mass and the Eucharist, sacraments, saints, Church, prayer, liturgy and Scripture.
   Michael Gilchrist of A.D. 2000 has more...>LISTEN
Driving Force
The Church and Poverty
THE SOUTHERN CROSS
SOUTH AFRICA - Addressing a Christian business forum at St Joseph's church in Durban, Archbishop Emeritus Denis Hurley challenged businessmen to tackle the issue of economic inequality.
   Is it possible to contemplate a huge effort throughout the church to solve the devastating problem of poverty?
   Gunther Simmermacher of The Southern Cross has more...>LISTEN

C A T H O L I C   P U B L I C A T I O N S
The Catholic Herald
The Catholic Register
The Universe
The Irish Catholic
Outreach to Hispanics
Welcome the immigrant
OUR SUNDAY VISITOR
USA - When she lived in New York, in the 1980s, parish volunteer Teresa Aldahondo lobbied for a Spanish-language weekend Mass for the Hispanic immigrants arriving from the Caribbean. The time slot her pastor allotted for the Spanish Mass was at 2 p.m. on Saturdays - in the basement of the church, recalled the Puerto Rican-born woman.
   In 1987, Aldahondo moved to Raleigh, N.C., where she started volunteering with Hispanic ministry in the early 1990s. Just a decade ago, the Spanish-speaking population in North Carolina almost entirely comprised Mexican farm workers who spent their summers around Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.
   Gerald Korson, editor of Our Sunday Visitor...>LISTEN
 
War with Iraq
Must Catholics Be Opposed?
THE CATHOLIC HERALD
UK - As war in Iraq -- despite current manoeuvrings by the French and German governments to impede the forward momentum of Anglo-American policy -- seems to become ever more inevitable, how are we to perceive the moral issues involved?
   For Catholics, it might now seem, the issues have been made clear beyond any doubt, by the virtually unanimous consensus of the world's bishops.    In the words of the bishops of South Africa, "to wage war at this stage is immoral and illegal, and therefore must be excluded. The fight against terrorism cannot be achieved through a war that will inevitably kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people."
   Simon Caldwell of The Catholic Herald has more......>LISTEN
Vatican Council II
The Myth and the Reality
AMERICA MAGAZINE
USA - The memory of the Second Vatican Council, 40 years after the opening of the council, continues to arouse both acclamation and vilification.
   Its champions, in many cases, see it as having liberated Catholics from a long night of oppression, thus restoring to the people of God their rightful liberties.
   Its detractors blame it for shattering the unity and order of the church and introducing an era of contestation and doubt. While reformers caricature the preconciliar church as tyrannical and obscurantist, traditionalists idealize the preconciliar church as though it were a
 
lost paradise. In part, the quarrels are due to a conflict of interpretations. The council documents, like most committee products, reflect some compromises. Four factors make the interpretation especially difficult.
   The council fathers, under the direction of Pope Paul VI made every effort to achieve unanimity and express the consensus of the whole episcopate, not the ideas of one particular school.
   Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J., discusses two articles which examine Vatican II, featured in this week's America magazine...>LISTEN
Historic Anniversary
   Marking the 40th anniversary of Vatican II, Pope John Paul II said the council's documents continue to be a "sure compass" for the Church.