Food pantries face greater need, fewer donors
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (CNS)

While economic indicators continue to tumble, the number of people turning to parish food pantries continues to climb. In many cases, pantries are struggling to meet the increased demand. "We used to be able to fill up the shelves. Now, soon as it's there, it goes out," said Fr. Tom Coby, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Riverhead, where the number of people seeking help has nearly doubled in recent months. According to Mary Rubert, coordinator of social ministry at the parish, they used to serve between 350 and 400 people a month. In August, that number rose to 454. It jumped to 560 in September and more than 600 people in October. Across the country it's the same story. At People of Progress, a food bank and emergency assistance charity in Redding, Calif., executive director Melinda Brown said that she's seeing "more and more new people, and a lot of working people, which is new." The working people are getting food from the charity to make their paychecks stretch to the end of the month, she said. "We're seeing people who have never asked for help before."

Appalachia's environmental ills reflect those in world
BEREA, Ky. (CNS)

The continuing need to consume fossil fuels is changing the environment, not only on a global scale but also in the heart of one of the United States' leading fossil-fuel-producing regions, according to a University of Kentucky professor. "I have been by homes in Lexington with five-car garages," said Tom Barnes, a forestry professor at the University of Kentucky. "I have driven past houses with six or seven cars in the driveway." There are now 233 million cars on the nation's roads to serve a total population of barely more than 300 million, he added, but "Mom and Dad work, (and) the kids need to go to school." Another example of overconsumption in central Kentucky can be seen in water usage. It is up 127 percent since 1956, according to Barnes. A water utility serving the area, he added, may have to raise rates 25 percent so it can finish construction on a new pumping station to pull water into communities from a considerably farther distance. Barnes made his remarks Nov. 9 during an Appalachian study tour co-sponsored by the Catholic Press Association and the Catholic Committee on Appalachia.

Cardinal sees Obama as 'apocalyptic'
WASHINGTON (CNS)

A U.S. cardinal who has worked at the Vatican for 12 years harshly criticized President-elect Barack Obama Nov. 13, saying he has "an agenda and vision that are aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic." Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a major Vatican tribunal, spoke on "Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II: Being True in Body and Soul" in a lecture sponsored by the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University of America in Washington. Saying that the United States experienced a "cultural earthquake" when Obama was elected president Nov. 4, Stafford said the president-elect "appears to be a relaxed, smiling man" with rhetorical skills that are "very highly developed." "But under all that grace and charm, there is a tautness of will, a state of constant alertness, to attack and resist any external influence that might affect his will," he added. Although the text of Cardinal Stafford's talk was not made public, a video clip from it was posted on YouTube by The Tower, the student newspaper at Catholic University.

Jesuits become vital resource in Appalachian region
MOUNT VERNON, Ky. (CNS)

When Jesuit Fr. Al Fritsch founded Appalachia -- Science in the Public Interest in 1977, he might not have known that it would become a vital resource to all citizens of Appalachia, not just to the sparse Catholic population of eastern Kentucky. Fritsch established his organization, now also an affiliate of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, as a secular entity, not a religiously affiliated group. While he is no longer connected with it, his name lives on as its founder -- and also because he named a nature center maintained by the organization after his mother, Mary. Appalachia -- Science in the Public Interest, or ASPI, provides educational programs, and miles of nature trails in support of the Appalachian Ecology Project. "We're trying to bring the young kids in here, said ASPI's outgoing director, Deb Bledsoe. "So many of them think things are hopeless. ... A lot of them don't know where their water comes from, where their sewer goes, where their electricity comes from." ASPI was one stop on a Nov. 9-11 Appalachian study tour co-sponsored by the Catholic Press Association and the Catholic Committee on Appalachia.

Vatican opens bookstore outside St. Peter's Square
VATICAN CITY (CNS)

In a world filled with conflicting messages, people should be able to find books that explain Catholic Church teaching near every Catholic Church, said the Vatican secretary of state. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Pope Benedict XVI's top aide, spoke at the Nov. 18 opening of the Pope Benedict XVI International Bookstore just outside St. Peter's Square. The store is a joint operation of the Vatican publishing house, the Vatican newspaper's photographic service and the Vatican's stamp and coin office. The Vatican publishing house also operates the tiny Pope John Paul II International Bookstore in St. Peter's Square and the Pope Paul VI International Bookstore near Rome's Spanish Steps in the building that houses the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Caritas president urges more efforts for children with HIV
VATICAN CITY (CNS)

Anticipating the Dec. 1 commemoration of World AIDS Day, the president of Caritas Internationalis urged greater efforts from governments and from medical experts in caring for children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, president of the international organization of national Catholic charities, issued his statement Nov. 17. The cardinal said that, while a third of HIV-positive adults in the world have access to antiretroviral drugs so they can live longer and better lives, "only 15 percent of children living with HIV get these essential drugs. Many die before their second birthday." He said, "Pharmaceutical companies and governments must show leadership by developing child-friendly medicine for HIV and improving testing." Rodriguez said children will be the key focus of the 162 Caritas members in 2009.

Philippine bishops meet with proponents of health bill
MANILA, Philippines (CNS)

Philippine Catholic bishops have agreed to meet with proponents of a reproductive health bill to discuss the legislation, which the bishops have said is unacceptable as written. Rep. Edcel Lagman, the principal author of the proposed Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Act of 2008, welcomed the dialogue as long as it "will not delay or prejudice the resumption and completion of the legislative process on the enactment of the measure." The Philippine Star Nov. 15 quoted Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas, chairman of the bishops' commission on catechesis and Catholic education, as saying the discussions would be on a diocesan level, with each bishop coordinating directly with legislators in his own district. In a Nov. 14 statement, the bishops said the bill "makes a number of good points." However, the bishops said, the legislation currently being debated in the House of Representatives "poses a serious threat to life of infants in the womb ... is a source of danger to the stability of the family" and "places the dignity of womanhood at great risk."

Sri Lankan activists frustrated over human rights abuses
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNS)

Christian activists in Sri Lanka expressed increasing anxiety and frustration over widespread abuses of law and violations of human rights in the country's northern war zone. "Police and armed forces behave as if they are a law unto themselves. The special powers granted to the armed forces because of the concerns regarding national security have led to a range of human rights abuses (even) in areas outside the conflict," said Fr. Nandana Manatunga, director of human rights for the Kandy Diocese, during a recent ecumenical meeting. At least 8,000 people -- mostly Tamil rebels -- have been killed since government forces launched an all-out war in 2007 against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in northern Vanni, where the rebel group runs a de facto state of more than 300,000 ethnic Tamils. Manatunga said human rights groups have recorded 662 killings and 540 disappearances of civilians in the country in 2008. Five serious human rights abuses are reported daily, he said.