July 10, 2009

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(CNS PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA CATHOLIC PRESS PHOTO)

Pope Benedict XVI signs a copy of his encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”), at the Vatican July 6. The social encyclical, released July 7, addresses the global economic crisis.

Catholic san Francisco Newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco

In new encyclical, Pope Benedict says moral values must be part of economic recovery, development The global dimension of the financial crisis is an expression of the moral failure of greedy financiers and investors, of the lack of oversight by national governments and of a lack of understanding that the global economy required internationally recognized global control, Pope Benedict said. “In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth,” the pope wrote. “To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority,” he said. Pope Benedict insisted that the idea of the world’s richest nations scaling back development aid while focusing on their ENCYCLICAL, page 3

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Ethical values are needed to overcome the current global economic crisis as well as to eradicate hunger and promote the real development of all the world’s peoples, Pope Benedict XVI said in his new encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”), released at the Vatican July 7. The truth that God is the creator of human life, that every life is sacred, that the earth was given to humanity to use and protect and that God has a plan for each person must be respected in development programs and in economic recovery efforts if they are to have real and lasting benefits, the pope said. Charity, or love, is not an option for Christians, he said, and “practicing charity in truth helps people understand that adhering to the values of Christianity is not merely useful, but essential for building a good society and for true integral development,” he wrote. In addressing the global economic crisis and the enduring poverty of the world’s poorest countries, he said, “the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity.”

Remote India diocese links in spiritual partnership with San Francisco Archdiocese The bishop of the Diocese of Miao in the remote northeast corner of India is visiting the Archdiocese of San Francisco to advance a budding partnership between the two Catholic communities – one just four years old and growing rapidly, the other seen from the bishop’s perspective as “one of the greatest and well-established dioceses in the Catholic world.” Bishop PK George is visiting as a guest of Archbishop George H. Niederauer and meeting with local Catholics who are interested in playing a part in a sister diocese relationship, including members of the Indian Catholic community, representatives of several parishes and members of the broader faith community. At a dinner July 9 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, the bishop was officially welcomed by the San Francisco Interfaith Council. “This well known diocese can teach us a lot,” the Indian prelate said in an e-mail. “Miao diocese is a very new diocese with very young Catholic communities. Being connected and spiritually united with the community here will enrich us in many ways. “The universality of the Church itself is a reality that gives much strength to the people out there in Miao,” he said. “I am sure that my visit will help me to strengthen my own faith and when I

(PHOTO BY RORY DESMOND)

By Rick DelVecchio

Bishop PK George with a family in the Diocese of Miao, India. share my experience with the people, they, too, will gain from it. At the same time I am sure that the Catholics here in San Francisco will also be happy and encouraged to hear that there is a young and vibrant church out there, up in the Himalayas.” The Miao-San Francisco connection stems from Bishop George’s friend-

ship with Rory Desmond, a Most Holy Redeemer parishioner and former director of parish response for Catholic Charities CYO in San Francisco. Desmond met the bishop through a Miao diocesan priest who was stationed for three months at St. Anselm Parish in San Anselmo, where parishioners had established an outreach to India that included

children making rosaries by hand and sending them to children in Miao. Bishop George asked Desmond to serve as his representative in the United States, to acquaint U.S. Catholics with the life and needs of the Church in Miao. Desmond told Archbishop Niederauer of the opportunity and his desire to go to Miao to broaden the connection between the two communities. “I supported him in his going there because I thought it was a good thing,” the archbishop told Catholic San Francisco. “It seemed promising to me to make this outreach.” It is a good thing to recognize what very young Catholic communities are like and to be aware of the universality of the Church, the archbishop said. “I think it’s good for us to realize not that we’re unimportant but that we make up a small part of a larger whole,” he said. Desmond spent three weeks in Miao in March and was impressed by the vibrancy of Catholic life, which he said was violently repressed as late as the 1990s. The Catholic community has grown from 3,000 worshippers in 1983 to 70,000 today. There are 1,500 baptisms a month, and schools, churches, a cathedral and a seminary are rising in a jungle region that has more rivers than roads. Catholicism is making inroads among a tribal people whose traditional faith is INDIA, page 15

INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION On the street . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Women religious office . . . . . 6 Special needs ministry . . . . . 7 Exorcist at work . . . . . . 10-11 Archbishop’s journal . . . . . . 12

News in brief: First lady in Russia ~ Pages 4-5 ~ July 10, 2009

Father Damien relic comes to cathedral ~ Page 8 ~

Making faith interactive ~ Page 16 ~

ONE DOLLAR

Scripture and reflection . . . 14 Datebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

NEXT ISSUE JULY 24 VOLUME 11

No. 22


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