WORLD

National Catholic Reporter, April 28, 2000 by Teresa Malcolm, Gerry McCarthy

Media owner slams bishop For labor remarks

The owner of Canada's largest newspaper chain, Conrad Black, has called Calgary's Catholic Bishop Frederick Henry "a jumped-up little twerp" who is "a prime candidate for an exorcism."

Black was responding to the bishop's opinion piece in the Toronto-based Catholic Register, in which Henry defended the 150 employees of Black's Calgary Herald who've been on strike since last November.

In his article, the bishop criticized Black for insulting his employees, failing to consider their legitimate demands and adopting an intransigent approach to the dispute. Henry said Black's behavior falls short of true Christian teaching.

"Church teaching encourages Catholic workers to become actively involved in their own unions and urges the Catholic community to support the essential role that labor unions have to play in society," Henry wrote.

Black, a convert to Catholicism, owns approximately 650 newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post, the (London) Daily Telegraph, the National Post, and the Ottawa Citizen. In Canada, Black's newspaper ownership is estimated to be almost 60 percent of all daily newspaper circulation.

Black attacked Henry in an opinion piece in the National Post, saying the bishop has been "running off at the episcopal mouth" and is "a perfect `useful idiot'" for extreme left-wing elements.

Henry told news reporters that Black's remarks were "probably actionable," but indicated that he plans no legal action. "I think that basically my response to him has got to be a Christ-like response, and that's basically to forgive him," he said April 11.

He added, "I think our involvement in this whole issue has been on the basis of justice and substance of the issues, and personalities have nothing to do with it."

The heads of Calgary's mainline churches have come to Henry's defense, calling Black's remarks "outrageous and un-Christian" in an April 12 statement.

--Gerry McCarthy

Vatican calls nomination proposal `impossible'

A Vatican official has turned thumbs-down to a proposal from Austria's bishops to involve priests, religious communities and laity in developing nominations for the office of bishop.

The plan, developed by a working group chaired by Innsbruck Bishop Alois Kothgasser, called for diocesan bishops to hold an assembly every three years of representatives from priests' councils, pastoral councils, religious communities and important lay groups. This body would develop a list of three nominees that would be discussed by the bishops' conference. Although the pope would retain authority to name a candidate not on the list, appointment of one of three nominees would be seen as "desirable."

The bishop of Graz, Johann Weber, already employs a similar system to develop a list of candidates for his successor. Weber, 73, will reach retirement age in 2002.

The Austrian news magazine Profil reported in its April 17 issue that Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, has sent a letter to the Austrian bishops stating that a plan such as that envisioned by Kothgasser is "absolutely impossible." Moreover, Neves said, the system presently in use by Weber is invalid and must be ended. The report did not suggest the reason for Neves' conclusion.

A spokesperson for Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, head of the Austrian conference, said Schonborn and Kothgasser would go to Rome in the near future to "continue the conversation." Conservative Bishop Kurt Krenn of Sankt Polten welcomed the Vatican action.

Chinese Stoup demands Vatican clarification

In an open letter to Vatican officials, the Cardinal Kung Foundation has demanded clarification of the. Vatican's position regarding the divided church in China and raised questions about its treatment of the "open" and "underground" church communities.

In the March 28 letter, Joseph Kung, president of the U.S.-based foundation, which supports the underground church in China, queried actions taken by the Vatican with regard to the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

Despite Vatican directives and papal urgings, the government-approved open church in China remains schismatic and refuses to submit to the pope or be in communion with the universal church, the letter said. The letter asked why the Holy See has not declared the association as schismatic.

It also questioned why the U.S.-based Maryknoll Fathers, with alleged backing from some Vatican officials, have supported some 50 seminarians and priests from the association to study in U.S. Catholic seminaries in recent years. Those in the underground church have not received similar support, it added. Kung called for an explanation from the Holy See regarding this program, termination of sponsorship for open church seminarians and support for underground ones.

The letter said many missioners from outside China have started charitable and other projects in cooperation with the open church without permission from the underground bishops.

Kung is the nephew of the late Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pinmei of Shanghai. The cardinal spent 30 years in solitary confinement in China before being paroled in 1985. He died March 12 at the age of 98 in the United States.