NEWS

VATICAN CITY - A car bomb exploded outside a Syrian Catholic church in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk leaving at least 20 people injured.

The early morning attack Aug. 2 was the first time the Holy Family Syrian Catholic Church had been a target, Vatican Radio said.

Police defused two other car bombs — one in front of a Christian school and another in front of a Presbyterian church.

Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk told Vatican Radio that the blast set nearby cars on fire and damaged not only the church, but also about 30 surrounding homes. Most of those injured were in their homes at the time of the blast.

The archbishop said he visited the injured in the hospital.

"It's terrible," he said, as both Christians and Muslims were wounded in the attack. Many of the injured had been released by the end of the day, according to reports.

Archbishop Francis John Spence, former archbishop of Kingston, died peacefully in his Kingston, Ont., home on the morning of July 27 at the age of 85.

Archbishop Spence, a former president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), served as a priest for 61 years and as a bishop for 44. In 2002, after two decades of leading the archdiocese of Kingston, he retired.

“As an archdiocese, we thank God for the gift of Archbishop emeritus Spence and his unfailing service and witness throughout the years of his priesthood and episcopacy,” read a statement from the archdiocese of Kingston.

Archbishop Spence was born in Perth, Ont., in 1926. After his ordination in 1950, he spent two years as an associate pastor at Kingston's St. Mary’s Cathedral, where he was the secretary to the archbishop of Kingston. In 1955, Archbishop Spence earned a doctorate in canon law from the Angelicum University in Rome after three years of study. After returning to Kingston, he fulfilled a variety of responsibilities and attended the Second Vatican Council, until his appointment as a bishop in 1967.

WASHINGTON - The man responsible for the July 22 Norway terror attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, is not only against Muslims but also anti-Jewish and anti-Christian, according to a longtime observer of Norwegian hate groups.

Breivik is at least philosophically allied with a loosely organized underground subculture of Norwegians who consider themselves "Odinists and neo-pagans," said Jeffrey Podoshen, an associate professor of marketing at Franklin & Marshall College, a liberal arts school in Lancaster, Pa. He teaches classes in business, organizations and society, and Judaic studies.

Odin is an ancient Norse god sometimes better known these days as the father of another Norse god, Thor, but in Norse mythology is associated with war, battle, victory, death, wisdom, magic, poetry, prophecy and the hunt.

This subculture, Podoshen told Catholic News Service, is "looking at Christianity as Breivik looks at Islam."

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - Christians cannot be indifferent to the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people starving in the Horn of Africa, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"It is inadmissible to be indifferent in the face of the tragedy of the hungry and thirsty," the Pope said, speaking in Polish after reciting the Angelus July 31 with pilgrims gathered in the courtyard of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo.

When Jesus fed the multitudes by miraculously multiplying loaves and fishes, He gave His disciples an example to follow, the Pope said.

"He encourages us to give them something to eat and to share bread with the needy. Following Christ, we must be sensitive to people's poverty," he said.

Commenting on the day's Gospel passage, the Pope said it was natural to read the story of Jesus' miracle and think of "our many brothers and sisters who, in these days, in the Horn of Africa, suffer from famine aggravated by war and the lack of solid institutions."

TORONTO - “No snail mail: Who cares?” read a newspaper headline on the morning of June 3, when Canada Post began its rotating postal strikes. It may have been a sentiment shared by many Canadians, but certainly not by registered charities.

For them, it was a “nightmare,” according to Jim Hughes, president of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), a pro-life charity that simply wouldn’t be able to operate without mail donations.

“We rely upon donations of up to $5,000 a day in order to keep our doors open,” said Hughes, adding that, conservatively, CLC lost $75,000 worth of donations as a result of the strike.

Donations that weren’t sent in June were not made once postal workers were sent back to work on June 27, he said. Instead of having regular contributors “double up” their gifts, the donations were simply lost.

OTTAWA - Canadians are being urged to donate money to help feed 11 million people in the Horn of Africa who face possible starvation as drought and famine ravage the area.

The region, which includes Somali, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and the new Republic of South Sudan, is experiencing the worst drought in 60 years. Somalia’s been hardest hit and refugees are pouring into neighboring Kenya where one camp, designed to hold 90,000 people has swelled to more than 400,000.

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) is one of several charities that have been designated as qualified agencies under a federal government fund-matching program. Every dollar donated to D&P for African relief by Sept. 16 will be matched by Ottawa.

“I saw a true humanitarian crisis at Dadaab,” said Minister of International Cooperation Bev Oda, who recently visited Somalia. “The stories of how the women and children struggled to reach the camp are incredible. Their perseverance and courage must be matched by our willingness to help.”

MANCHESTER, England - The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain and Scotland in September prompted a wave of fresh allegations of historical clerical sexual abuse, church child protection officials said.

Allegations of sexual and physical abuse against priests, religious men and women, church employees, volunteers and parishioners more than doubled in 2010 compared with the previous year, according to figures released July 28 in the 2010-11 annual report of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission.

The commission is the agency of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales that oversees child protection programs.

In all, 92 allegations of sexual and physical abuse were received in 2010 compared with 43 in 2009 and 51 in 2008.

Exactly half of the allegations were dismissed after investigations by law enforcement authorities and 41 remain under investigation, the report said. One resulted in a police warning, two in continuing court hearings and two in prison sentences, according to the report.

TORONTO - Bishop Paul Marchand, S.S.M., of the Diocese of Timmins, Ont. died of natural causes on July 23 while on summer vacation.

A “humble” priest with a collaborative pastoral approach, Bishop Marchand headed the Diocese of Timmins at a challenging time of declining numbers of parishioners and priests in the community.

“He was a very collaborative-oriented person. He really believed in the role and responsibility of the laity,” said Fr. Pat Lafleur, rector of Timmins' St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral.

“He was in a difficult position because we have a shortage of priests up here that is rather pronounced,” he added.

There are currently about 14 priests, at least half of whom are from outside the diocese, Lafleur said.

During his tenure, Marchand had to make difficult decisions such as closing five parishes because many residents were moving out of the community and there was a decline in church attendance and vocations to the priesthood.

OTTAWA - Novalis Publishing celebrated its 75th anniversary at Ottawa’s Saint Paul University July 7 at a reception to honour its authors, editors and past and present staff.

Novalis began in 1936 when Oblate Father André Guay, who founded the Catholic Centre at the University of Ottawa, began publishing pamphlets to help ordinary Catholics better understand their faith in a post-Depression era.

“No organization can achieve the kind of success Novalis has had in 75 years without truly caring and committed people,” said Novalis’ publishing director Joseph Sinasac. “From André Guay until now, Novalis benefited from a tremendous amount of wisdom, of passion, of talent, of devotion from its staff writers, editors and many, many friendly collaborators.”

Guay recognized the way ordinary Catholics lacked an understanding of their faith, said Celebrate Magazine editor Bernadette Gasslein.

McLENNAN, Alta. - The archdiocese of Grouard-McLennan plans to move its offices from the town of McLennan into Grande Prairie.

The move is motivated primarily by transportation and staffing needs, says Archbishop Gerard Pettipas.

“In spite of the cordial welcome and genuine support I have enjoyed in McLennan since becoming archbishop, I have become increasingly aware that this is not the most suitable location for me and the chancery offices at this point in our history,” the archbishop says in a recent letter to Catholics in the northwestern Alberta diocese.

“I have thus began to look seriously at a move to Grande Prairie, which provides the only air transportation by national carriers within the archdiocese, as well as a suitable large population base from which to hire office staff.”

McLennan is a small agricultural community of about 825 people.