NEWS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In the wake of the revolution that toppled Egypt's authoritarian government last winter, the country's Christians remain fearful, yet hopeful, said Cardinal Antonios Naguib, patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church.

"I think that (the people) are afraid," said Naguib during a recent visit to Nashville. The revolution has provided a historic opening for equality and freedom for people of all faiths in Egypt, but the prospects for Christians depend on the future government, he added.

"At the same time we have much hope it will be better than before," Naguib said.

The cardinal is the leader of the Coptic Catholic Church, based in Egypt and one of the Eastern Catholic churches.

VATICAN CITY - A tract of disputed church property in Croatia was returned to the Croatian government after a justice minister annulled a series of past property decisions that had given the property to a diocese.

The justice minster's action has caused "great astonishment," the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, told journalists Aug. 11.

The center of the dispute is a monastery located in Dajla, Croatia, along the Adriatic coast.

The monastery was built by the Benedictine monks of Praglia, Italy, who were given the property in the mid-1800s by a nobleman.

The property, which included vineyards and an olive grove, was used by the church until the then-communist government of Yugoslavia nationalized all church property in 1948 and turned the Dajla monastery into a home for the aged.

LONDON - Catholic nuns who live near London neighbourhoods hit by riots are working with local authorities to help -- and even counsel -- homeless victims.

Members of the Sisters of Marie Auxiliatrice, a French-based community, made their decision after attending an ecumenical prayer vigil amid smouldering ruins and husks of burned-out vehicles in the British capital's Tottenham district.

Dublin-born Sister Sylvia McCarthy told Catholic News Service Aug. 10, "The shops were burned out completely, and many people lived over those shops, and they had very little time to get out of their apartments.

"The people were in an awful state," she said. "They are short of everything."

WASHINGTON - The dramatic and uplifting story of survival and a rescue that captivated the world one year ago unfolds in "Against All Odds: Rescue at the Chilean Mine," a new exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

The exhibit opened Aug. 5, exactly one year after the mine collapse in Chile, in which all 33 miners survived and were rescued 69 days later.

The technical skill of the rescuers can be seen in the drill bit that cut through nearly one kilometre of rock, and the Fenix rescue capsule constructed by the Chilean navy in consultation with NASA. That capsule was named for the phoenix, the legendary bird that is a symbol of rebirth.

But the human spirit and faith that helped the miners endure is also on display, in the form of a small Bible, about the size of a hand, labelled Santa Biblia ("Holy Bible"), and the exhibit notes, "Miner Jose Henriquez, a committed Christian, read from this Bible when he led the men in daily prayer."

SAN SALVADOR - Nine former soldiers in El Salvador's army have surrendered to authorities, three months after their indictment in Spain for the 1989 killings of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter during the country's 12-year civil war.

The ex-military members turned themselves in at a military base Aug. 8 and were transported to a Salvadoran court, the government said.

They were among 20 former soldiers indicted by a Spanish court for their role in the deaths on the campus of the University of Central America in the Salvadoran capital, where the priests taught and lived.

Five of the priests were Spanish. Spain's courts have used the principle of international jurisdiction to prosecute the killings.

About 200 Jesuits and their lay collaborators gathered at Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont., from July 27 to 31 to “remember and renew without counting the cost.”

The congress for the Jesuits in English Canada celebrated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Jesuits to Canada on May 22, 1611.

“We decided that we would use this celebration not only to remember this foundational event but also to gather all the Jesuits from English Canada plus those who work with us in significant roles in our ministries across the country,” said Fr. Erik Oland, a member of the organizing committee which began meeting about two years ago to plan the congress.

In addition, a substantial delegation of French Canadian Jesuits and one member of the Hungarian Jesuits in Canada were in attendance.

TORONTO - Catholic Cemeteries’ Annual Mass for the Faithful Departed offers families who have lost loved ones a great source of spiritual strength, said Amy Profenna.

“By celebrating the Mass on the grounds where their loved ones are interred, it’s very special and very emotional for a lot of people,” said Profenna, manager of marketing and public relations at Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Toronto. “The Mass plays a unique role in the resolution of grief.”

Taking place Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. at seven different cemeteries throughout the GTA, Profenna is expecting more than 12,000 people to attend the annual outdoor summer Masses. Catholic Cemeteries has been holding the Masses for about 24 years — and they typically fall close to the Feast of the Assumption.

By celebrating the Annual Mass, Catholic Cemeteries aims to fulfill its mission as a vehicle of compassion to the bereaved, said Profenna.

TORONTO - Fr. Jose Maria Naranjo took his mission as an Ardorini Missionary of serving people in rural areas seriously. As chaplain of the seasonal Mexican workers labouring in the Holland Marsh lands north of Toronto, he ran a weekly Mass in Spanish.

“When they were losing their faith or depressed, he was there for them,” said Ricardo Boscan, national president of the Hispanic Cursillo Movement. “And that definitely did a lot for this group of people.”

Fr. Naranjo passed away July 31 after months of battling cancer. Only 42 years old, he was in his 11th year of the priesthood with the Ardorini Missionaries. He was pastor of St. Mary Margaret parish in Woodbridge, Ont., where he had previously served as associate pastor and administrator.

Born in Colombia, he came to Canada in 1994 with the sponsorship of Fr. Eugene Filice, local superior of the Ardorini Missionaries. Fr. Naranjo studied philosophy at the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Colombia and theology at the Toronto School of Theology.

TORONTO - When she was eight, Rebekah Boscariol wanted to swim across the Pacific Ocean. And while it’s not quite her childhood dream, Lake Ontario — which Boscariol crossed on Aug. 6 — is still no small feat.

Boscariol, a 17-year-old student at Markham's St. Augustine Catholic High School, swam from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., to the Toronto lakeshore, where she was welcomed by a roaring crowd of supporters as she touched land for the first time in 15 hours.

"I was really happy that I was done and thankful that it's over," said Boscariol shortly after completing the swim, amidst a slew of family, friends, reporters and cameras. "And I just can't believe that I just actually did it."

Boscariol, among the youngest of the 55 registered swimmers to have crossed Lake Ontario, finished only 23 minutes shy of the current women's record. Exhausted, she admitted she was disappointed she didn't beat the record with her time of 15 hours, 33 minutes and 15 seconds.

But she had more motivation than just breaking a record.

OTTAWA - Conservative MP Joy Smith plans to introduce five pieces of legislation to combat human trafficking, including a change in prostitution laws to punish men who buy sex, particularly from underage women.

“What I want to do is target the market,” she said.

Though the details of her legislation are embargoed, Smith said she likes the Nordic model that treats the women and children involved in prostitution as victims and criminalizes the men who buy sex or make money off exploiting prostitutes. Penalties could include fines and/or jail time.

The Nordic model was adopted after hard evidence showed the harms that developed in some countries that had tried legalizing prostitution, she said. Legalized prostitution leads to an increase in violence against women, increase in child rape and child pornography, and a rise in human trafficking, she said.