What a difference a Day made.NEW YORK--The sainthood cause for Dorothy Day (1897-1980), the journalist, pacifist, advocate for the poor, and cofounder co·found tr.v. co·found·ed, co·found·ing, co·founds To establish or found in concert with another or others. co·found of the Catholic Worker movement The Catholic Worker Movement is a Catholic organisation founded by Servant of God Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ. , has officially been opened, the Vatican announced in March. Day, whose canonization canonization (kăn'ənĭzā`shən), in the Roman Catholic Church, process by which a person is classified as a saint. It is now performed at Rome alone, although in the Middle Ages and earlier bishops elsewhere used to canonize. has been promoted by the publishers of this magazine for the past 17 years, has been called "the most important, interesting, and influential figure in the history of American Catholicism." In announcing the decision, New York Cardinal John O'Connor, who had asked the Vatican to open her cause, called Day "a model for all in the third millennium." In other saint-related news, Katherine Marie Drexel, the Philadelphia banker's daughter who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament were founded in 1891, by St. Katharine Drexel. The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, which at the time was the meeting of all Roman Catholic bishops in the United States, renewed the vigor with which there was to be missionary work and devoted her life to the education of black and Native Americans, is set to become the second native-born U.S. saint in October. And in September, the two popes who convened the First and Second Vatican Councils--Plus IX and John XXIII--are to be beatified be·at·i·fy tr.v. be·at·i·fied, be·at·i·fy·ing, be·at·i·fies 1. To make blessedly happy. 2. Roman Catholic Church . Status quo or NGO? WASHINGTON, D.C.--Charging that the Vatican "should act like a religion, not a country," a group led by Catholics for a Free Choice Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) is a pro-choice political organization whose founders hold the belief that "the Catholic tradition supports a woman's moral and legal right to follow her conscience in matters of sexuality and reproductive health. is seeking to change the Holy's See status in the United Nations from that of a nonmember state permanent observer to a nongovernmental organization (NGO). "We have a church that is far too imperial anyway. We would like to see it act like a pilgrim church, not like the Holy Roman Empire Holy Roman Empire, designation for the political entity that originated at the coronation as emperor (962) of the German king Otto I and endured until the renunciation (1806) of the imperial title by Francis II. ," says Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, a controversial pro-choice group that is itself an NGO and that has been at odds with the official Catholic Church for years. Although it has no vote in the U.N. General Assembly, as a permanent observer the Vatican can vote at conferences such as the one on women held in 1995 in Beijing. As an NGO, its voice would have the same weight as other religious bodies, like the World Council of Churches. The Vatican's votes on abortion, contraception, and AIDS prevention are what prompted Catholics for a Free Choice to launch the "See Change" campaign a year ago, Kissling says. Since then, 400 groups have signed on. But there is opposition. Two resolutions are currently before the U.S. Congress condemning the proposed change in the Vatican's status. |
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