From Catholic News Service

Religion can help conquer racism, xenophobia

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNS) -- Religious communities can contribute to the elimination of racism, xenophobia and nationalism, Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore told European and North American officials. The cardinal said religious communities can "help heal society's divisions through dialogue and interaction." "Though religion may be misused -- even tragically at times -- or distorted, it can offer positive values to society and can be a major force for healing the infection of racism and xenophobia," Cardinal Keeler said Sept. 13 during a conference on tolerance and fighting racism, xenophobia and discrimination. Cardinal Keeler was named by Secretary of State Colin Powell as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Brussels conference, sponsored by the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe. "Speaking very personally, I know that genuine dialogue, collaboration and reconciliation have strengthened my faith, enriched my religious community, helped to heal my nation's wounds and build bridges across a divided world," he said.

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German cardinal criticizes communist nostalgia

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A German cardinal has criticized nostalgia for communism in the former East Germany. "I'm sorry so many people have forgotten how inhuman the system was under the communist regime," said Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne. "The generation now in its 20s and 30s experienced it as children, without fully realizing the ideological and economic exploitation which existed there," he said. A survey published in the Sept. 10 edition of the Stern weekly revealed that 20 percent of former citizens of East Germany were dissatisfied with current conditions and yearned for the communist system. Cardinal Meisner told the archdiocese's Dom Radio that East Germans had "benefited more than any other post-communist society" from Western help. He also said he hoped World Youth Day, planned for Cologne in 2005, would supply an "injection of new hope" for German society. "We need patience -- what was ceaselessly torn apart for 40 years will need at least the same time to achieve unity again," said Cardinal Meisner, a former East German citizen. Cologne is in western Germany.

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Lithuanian church officials protest pagan festival

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Lithuanian church leaders have protested plans for a pagan festival next to the Catholic cathedral in Vilnius. "The city authorities see this as a social event which could bring in tourist revenue," Vilnius Auxiliary Bishop Juozas Tunaitis told Catholic News Service Sept. 15. "But to organize pagan rituals in such a place is clearly wrong -- it is a violation of the civic spirit, as well as the good will that should govern church-government ties." Preparations were under way for the late-September song and dance festival in the square adjoining the capital's 14th-century St. Casimir Cathedral. Cardinal Audrys Backis of Vilnius, president of the Lithuanian bishops' conference, told the city's mayor, Arturas Zuokas, Sept. 8 that the festival would be viewed as a "provocation" by religious believers. Zuokas said he believed Catholicism and paganism should not "stand against each other in the 21st century." "Paganism is part of our history, and Vilnius has the right to a many-sided cultural life," Zuokas told Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI, Sept. 10.

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Catholic hurricane relief efforts in Caribbean, Florida

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As the Caribbean and southeastern United States faced one of the worst hurricane seasons in memory, Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Relief Services stepped in with emergency relief aid to some of the hardest-hit areas. In mid-September, as people across the Gulf Coast braced for Hurricane Ivan and Tropical Storm Jeanne was bearing down on Puerto Rico and approaching hurricane strength, Floridians were still recovering from the massive damage caused by Charley in mid-August and Frances just three weeks later. Between Charley and Frances, Deacon Gerald Collins, disaster response director for Catholic Charities USA, visited Florida to assess the damage and discuss relief needs with local partner agencies. The national agency immediately sent emergency grants of $10,000 each to Catholic Charities of the Orlando and Venice dioceses after Charley. Following Frances it sent $10,000 to Catholic Charities of the Miami Archdiocese and a second $10,000 grant to the Venice agency. More help was on the way. Catholic Charities USA spokeswoman Shelley Borysiewicz said Sept. 15 that her latest tally, from two days earlier, showed that more than $915,000 had been donated so far for victims of Charley or Frances.

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Despite evil, God's plan leads toward redemption

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- No matter what destruction is brought about by evil in today's world, God's plan leads toward humanity's redemption, said Pope John Paul II. "The Lord has established his reign, intervening in history with supreme authority," he said in his Sept. 15 weekly general audience. Though God has entrusted mankind to be free "to generate good and evil," history "has as its ultimate seal the choice of divine providence," said the pope. No matter what "storms, wounds and devastation" are wrought by evil, "the book of the Apocalypse celebrates the end toward which history is guided through the efficacious work of God," he said. For the first time since mid-June, the pope's weekly general audience returned to St. Peter's Square, where some 10,000 pilgrims gathered under dark clouds and a sprinkling of rain.

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