February 22 | 0 COMMENTS print
Cross Wires: Tuesday headlines
Vatican talks with Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) near end; Death toll in earthquake in New Zealand 65 and rising, Christchurch Cathedral spire (above) flattened; Bernard Nathanson, abortionist who became pro-life activist, has died; Bishops say Zimbabwe not ready for an election; Archbishop Peter Smith on status of marriage...
Vatican talks with a controversial Catholic splinter group are nearing an end without any accord on reintegrating the ultra-traditionalists, including a bishop whose denial of the Holocaust has embarrassed Pope Benedict XVI.
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE71K55Y20110221
Debris from the 6.3 New Zealand earthquake includes the spire of Christchurch Anglican Cathedral (above). The death toll began at 65 and is rising. The 150-year-old Blessed Sacrament Catholic Cathedral (see below before damage) on Barbadoes Street half collapsed, with cracks in the rest of the structure.
Hopes are Mounting for Meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=40449
Bernard Nathanson, abortionist who became pro-life activist and produced The Silent Scream film, dead at 84
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9344
Three reasons for a Catholic role in Egypt
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25131
Conditions in Zimbabwe are not conducive to holding an election in 2011, the Catholic bishops of Southern Africa said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
A village in Bangladesh was burned down and dozens of indigenous people have been injured and driven from Ragipara in the mountain district of Rangamati, according to sources at the Catholic Diocese of Chittagong.
http://www.energypublisher.com/article.asp?id=48906
Archbishop Peter Smith on status of marriage, civil partnerships in Church
And finally: Letter in the Scotsman
So, if anti-Catholicism is ‘deep, wide and vicious’ we need firstly to define it specifically, and isolate it. If the Crown Office publishes statistics on crimes motivated by sectarianism, they will only be helpful if they are presented in context.
http://news.scotsman.com/letters/Letter-Discrimination-is-not-a.6722091.jp
—Cross Wires is the Scottish Catholic Observer newspaper’s blog