WORLD

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 25, 2000 by Toby Becker

Irish church criticizes U.S. judicial system

An Irish bishops' commission report criticized the U.S. judicial system for not transferring Irish-born prisoners closer to their homes.

The report by the bishops' Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas was published in early February by Bishop Thomas Finnegan of Killala and Justice Declan Costello, former High Court president.

The commission is a subsection of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Commission for Emigrants and has campaigned on the prisoner transfer issue, arguing that failure to move prisoners to jails closer to their homes punishes the convicts' families.

In the case of the United States, the commission blamed bureaucracy and conflicts over sentencing policies for the failure to transfer Irish-born prisoners home. The report did not name the prisoners.

Nuala Kelly, coordinator of the prisoners commission, said that an Irish prisoner in California has been refused transfer because he would serve two years less if sentenced to a Northern Ireland prison. "He has said that he is willing to serve the full sentence in Northern Ireland, but it would be illegal to hold him longer than the maximum time prescribed under Northern Irish law," said Kelly.

In another U.S. case cited in the report, a state prisoner in Illinois has been refused transfer because the Irish government has been unable to guarantee that he will not be eligible for temporary release at some later stage in his sentence

In Massachusetts, an Irishman held in a hospital for the criminally insane recently was sentenced to life without parole. Because no such sentence exists in Irish law, his transfer has been refused.

The commission's report said that the current punitive climate in the United States, which favors heavy sentencing and lengthy minimum incarceration times, is not compatible with the laws of most European countries.

Indian nun heads women's political party

A Catholic nun has entered politics in the eastern Indian state of Bihar after what she said was her disenchantment with the political system and continuing prejudice against women and the poor.

"Everything has broken down in Bihar," says Notre Dame Sr. Sudha Verghese, founding president of the Akhil Bharatiya Mahila Party (All India Women's Party). The party was launched in January.

Verghese, 46, is leading the campaign for Suman Lal, the new party's lone candidate for the Bihar state legislative assembly elections.

Verghese bemoaned the fact that no political party has taken women's representation seriously. She said she fears that even a proposal to reserve 33 percent of parliamentary seats for women might produce only puppets.

"So we decided to register a party of women and by women," said the nun, who has worked among dalit (low caste) villages near the state capital of Patna since the 1980s.

She said the party plans to fight for women's equal participation in public life, for basic civic services, for environmental protection and for dalit Christians' right to government jobs.

Vatican demands return of Congolese archbishop

The Vatican demanded the return of a Congolese archbishop to his archdiocese, calling rebel authorities' refusal to let him travel home a "regrettable incident."

Archbishop Emmanuel Kataliko of Bukavu was on his way home Feb. 12 from the capital, Kinshasa, when members of the rebel group Congolese Rally for Democracy seized him and sent him to Butembo, his childhood home, the Vatican reported.

A Feb. 14 statement said, "The faithful of the diocese ask with grief-stricken insistence for the return of their pastor, who has been especially appreciated for his apostolic courage in defending the rights of all people."

Explaining the group's refusal to allow Kataliko to return to Bukavu, the Congolese Rally for Democracy accused him of inciting ethnic hatred.

After the archbishop was not allowed to return to Bukavu, the archdiocese published an open letter of protest, announcing "the cessation of liturgical activities in the churches" and the suspension of "all professional and social activities of the diocese."

Vatican, PLO sign agreement on church rights, Jerusalem

Vatican and Palestinian leaders, in a groundbreaking agreement on church rights in Palestinian territories, said unilateral actions affecting the status of Jerusalem were "morally and legally unacceptable."

Israel's ambassador to the Vatican immediately voiced dismay at the accord, saying it had strayed into controversial political issues that were still on the negotiating table.

Signed by Vatican and Palestinian Liberation Organization officials Feb. 15, five weeks before Pope John Paul II was expected to visit Israel and Palestine, the agreement called for an internationally guaranteed statute for Jerusalem -- which Israel has always rejected -- in order to protect basic religious freedoms.

The pope and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met after the signing. "His Holiness has promised me he will come to Jericho," a beaming Arafat said after he issued an impromptu invitation to the pontiff during their 15-minute meeting; the pope agreed on the spot. Vatican officials said the stop in Jericho, a biblical city and one of the first handed over by Israel to Palestinian control, would be added to the pope's March 20-26 Holy Land itinerary.