NEWS BITES:


US bishops annual meeting to discuss documents on Lay Ecclesial Ministry and Death Penalty
One of the main agenda items for the upcoming plenary meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is a vote they will take on the document “Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry.” The document addresses the theological understandings of lay ecclesial ministry and the minister’s relationship to the bishop, priest, deacon and other parishioners. It also addresses the appropriate education and formation and offers suggestions for how lay ecclesial ministers can be integrated into the “workforce” of the Church. A new study by the National Pastoral Life Center, “Lay Parish Ministers: A Study of Emerging Leadership,” shows that in U S parishes alone, more than 30,000 lay men and women serve in such roles. The numbers continue to grow. In 1990, lay ecclesial ministers were on the staff of 54 percent of U. S. parishes; in 2005, they are on the staff of 66 percent of all US parishes. The study also reports that 74 percent of these parish ministers work full time; 80 percent are women. In 1990, religious sisters accounted for 41 percent of parish ministers; in 2005, they account for 16 percent.


In addition, the bishops will also vote on a statement presenting Catholic teaching on the death penalty titled, “A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death.” The annual bishops meeting will take place from Nov. 14-17 at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, DC. A notice appearing from the USCCB’s Office of Media Relations (Nov. 1, 2005) Web site indicates that meeting’s public sessions will end on noon, Tuesday, Nov. 15. Remaining sessions will either be in executive session for the full body of bishops or the bishops meeting in their USCCB regions, neither of which are open to the media.


Catholic News Service produces Series on Vatican II
The USCCB’s Office of Media Relations (Nov. 4, 2005) announced that the Catholic News Service has produced a series of articles to mark the 40th anniversary of the ending of Vatican II in December of 1965. The name of the series is “Vatican II at 40: Legacy and Hope.” Jim Lackey, CNS general news editor said, “Our expertise on the Catholic Church and its people is second to none, and we felt we could make a unique contribution to help readers understand what Vatican II meant for the church.” The series is open to the public at: www.catholicnews.com. The direct link to the series is: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/vat2.htm.


Pope highlights two Legacies of Vatican II
In his Angelus address to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 30 and reported by Zenit news agency, Pope Benedict XVI highlighted two legacies left by Vatican II which changed the life of the Church and, in part, of humanity: the importance of education and the promotion of religious freedom. He mentioned the Vatican II declaration “Gravissimum Educationis” and recalled that the Council attributed “utmost importance” to the task of education, both for the life of man as well as for social progress.

“Also today, in the era of global communication, the ecclesial community sees the importance of an educational system that recognizes the primacy of man as person, open to truth and good,” the Pope said. The other great legacy that the Pope commented on is contained in the declaration “Nostra Aetate,” which he said was dedicated to “the attitude of the ecclesial community vis-à-vis non-Christian religions.”

“Based on the principle according to which ‘all peoples form one community’ and for which the Church has the mission ‘to foster unity and charity’ among peoples,” the Holy Father said, “the Council ‘rejects nothing of what is holy and true’ in the other religions and announces to all Christ ‘Way, Truth and Life’ in whom men find the ‘fullness of religious life.’”