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National Catholic Reporter, March 5, 1999 by Matt Kantz

THE PILOT EPISODE of last year's controversial, short-lived ABC drama, "Nothing Sacred," won a Writers Guild of America Award for best episodic drama. The winning Writers Guild episode, announced Feb. 20, "Proofs for the Existence of God," aired in the fall of 1997 and portrayed a struggling young priest dealing with abortion and other issues. From its first episode, the show suffered from low ratings and a barrage of attacks by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. It was canceled last spring.

RETIRED ARCHBISHOP Joseph E. Tawil of Newton, R.I., a bishop since 1960 and head of the U.S. Melkite Catholics from 1969 to 1989, died at home Feb. 17 after a long illness. He was 85 years old. Tawil was born Dec. 25, 1913, in Damascus, Syria. He was ordained a priest in Jerusalem July 20, 1936, after studies at the Patriarchal College in Damascus and seminaries in Jerusalem.

THE U.S. SUPREME COURT'S affirmation of a Virginal parental notification law "is an important victory for Virginia parents and their daughters," said attorney Clarke D. Forsythe, president of the Chicago-based Americans United for Life. Without comment Feb. 22, the high court upheld a 1997 Virginia law requiring that pregnant women under 18 notify a parent before having an abortion.

TED TURNER apologized for insulting Pope John Paul II by telling a Polish joke and for saying the ban on adultery should be deleted from the Ten Commandments. A statement from the CNN founder sent to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which had protested the comments, said he "regrets any offense [the] comments may have caused." Turner made the remarks while addressing the National Family Planning and Reproductive Center in Washington Feb. 16. "We certainly accept his apology, and this brings closure to the incident," said William Donahue, president of the New York-based Catholic League.

THE WORLD'S CATHOLIC POPULATION has surpassed 1 billion for the first time. The Vatican made the announcement when it unveiled its 1999 annual yearbook Feb. 20. The latest statistics show that while the Catholic population continues to increase, the number of priests is holding about steady and the number of religious is slowly dropping. According to the statistics, dated Dec. 31, 1997, there were about 1,005,000,000 Catholics registered in the world's dioceses, representing 17.3 percent of the global population.

THE VATICAN has called on people around the world to give up smoking for a day and donate the equivalent money to the fight against AIDS. The proposal by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers as designed as a penitential preparation for the year 2000. At the same time, it aimed to provide concrete assistance awareness about the health risks of smoking.

THE GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM, after refusing to allow the ordination of any religious-order priest in 1998, has given permission for nine men to be ordained in March. The nine are to be ordained March 18 in the Cathedral of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Ho Chi Minh City. Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man will ordain two Dominicans, two Jesuits, two Redemptorist, a Sulpician, a Franciscan and a member of the Nazareth Institute, a local order.

REV. THOMAS SPISAK, the Warren Ohio., Roman Catholic priest who stabbed himself 88 times in a suicide attempt and then claimed black men attacked him, was sentenced Feb. 23 to two days at a private facility on a falsification charge. Spisak, 56,, faced up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Prisoners at the facility perform services such as helping run the local human society.

CARDINAL FRANCIS ARINZE will deliver Wake Forest University's 1999 commencement address on May 17. Arinze is the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. "His work as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue brings ideal conclusion to this Year of Globalization and Diversity," said Wake Forest President Thomas K. Hearn Jr. Wake Forest is located in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Briefs, gathered from news services, correspondents and staff, are compiled and edited by Matt Kantz.