WORLD

National Catholic Reporter, August 11, 2000 by Teresa Malcolm

Prelate discourages Ugandan condom campaign

The papal representative to Uganda has asked youths to turn a deaf ear toward people who urge them to use condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Archbishop Christoph Pierre, apostolic nuncio to Uganda, made the appeal just two weeks after Ugandan Vice President Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe criticized religious leaders who oppose the use of condoms.

Pierre, celebrating Mass for Uganda Martyrs High School day July 29, said condoms are not a solution to AIDS. He said condoms might instead increase the spread of the disease by fostering promiscuity. Pierre said abstinence would save the young people from AIDS.

Kazibwe, a medical doctor, traveled on a national tour promoting the use of condoms to prevent AIDS. In Masaka, in southwestern Uganda, in mid-July, she criticized clergy who oppose condom use and added that many nuns, priests, ministers and imams had died of AIDS.

UNAIDS, a U.N. organization, reports that Uganda, which had an HIV rate of 14 percent at its peak in 1990, was the first sub-Saharan African country to reverse its epidemic. UNAIDS said that by using strong prevention measures, the rate of HIV prevalence is currently about 8 percent.

Vatican releases missal revision

The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments July 28 issued the first revision in 25 years of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.

The new Latin-language instruction -- released simultaneously in Washington in an English study translation -- introduces numerous minor changes in the way Mass is to be celebrated.

It also makes a clear legislative decision on a controversy of recent years by declaring that it is "desirable whenever possible" for the priest to celebrate Mass facing the people. Some Catholic groups have been pressing for church officials to adopt the view that the preferable form of celebration is for priest and people alike to be facing eastward, which entails the priest having his back to the people.

The location of the tabernacle has been another source of ongoing controversy. The 1975 instruction expressed strong preference for "eucharistic reservation in a chapel suited to the faithful's private adoration and prayer."

The new instruction gives equal weight to the options of reserving the Eucharist in a chapel or "in the sanctuary, apart from the altar of celebration." If a chapel of reservation is used, it says the chapel should be "integrally connected with the church" and "conspicuous to the faithful."

Activists appeal for toxic clean-up in Philippines

Activists appealed to Philippine President Joseph Estrada, visiting the United States, to discuss the cleanup of toxic wastes at former U.S. bases, but said they were not hopeful changes would be made.

"We are not expecting any concrete results because it seems [Estrada] is out to get funds and investments, so he won't do anything to intimidate the U.S. government," said Leony Felicen, staff member of the nongovernmental People's Task Force for Bases Clean Up in Quezon City, north of Manila. Felicen spoke July 25, the day after Estrada left the country for his 10-day official U.S. visit.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. said it was possible Estrada and U.S. President Bill Clinton would forge an "agreement on environmental protection, including a joint statement on toxic waste."

The bases were closed after the treaty allowing U.S. military facilities in the Philippines expired in 1991. The last American troops left in 1992.

The U.S. Embassy in Manila said in a statement July 24 that the United States had no legal obligation to restore the base property to its original condition.

In a statement issued in early July, Archbishop Paciano Aniceto of San Fernando and Bishops Deogracias Iniguez Jr. of Iba, Florentino Cinense of Tarlac and Honesto Ongtioco of Balanga insisted that moral responsibility is involved. "There may be no treaty obligation holding the United States to address the issue, but there are moral and public health arguments that should compel it to accept its responsibility," the prelates wrote.

The bishops said fuel, cleaning fluids, lubricants and other chemicals left by base personnel "continue to leech into the land and groundwater, endangering the lives of the local population and the environment."

German Catholic church admits to using slave labor

The German Catholic church has admitted that it employed slave laborers during the Nazi regime.

Following revelations by a July 20 television program, church spokesman Rudolph Hammerschmidt said initial investigations had shown that the church employed slave laborers. He said there would be more investigations and that the bishops would decide at a late-August meeting whether the church should contribute to a slave labor compensation fund recently set up by government and industry.

The television program "Monitor," produced by the Cologne-based public station WDR, included interviews with former slave laborers and extracts from documents showing that slave laborers from Russia, Poland and Ukraine were employed in the farming operations of a seminary in Westphalia and a convent and an abbey in Bavaria.