Sainthood causes of Pope Pius IX and Pope John XXIII advanced with papal decrees promulgated December 20. Pius IX, who was pope from 1846 to 1878, is expected to be beatified September 3. In the case of John XXIII, pope from 1958 to 1963, recognition of a miracle is expected to be issued in the spring, which could make it possible for him to be beatified in 2000 as well. Pope John convoked the Second Vatican Council. He promoted ecumenism, improved relations with the Orthodox churches and with the Jews, and wrote major encyclicals on the church and on peace. Pope Pius solemnly declared the dogma of Mary’s immaculate conception and convoked the First Vatican Council. He issued the Syllabus of Errors, a list of 80 modern propositions which he believed were undermining religion, the church, and moral values.
Monsignor Stephen Kelleher of New York, a canon lawyer who urged abolition of church marriage courts, died December 5 in Manhattan. Retired since 1990, he was 84. Kelleher was chief judge of the New York archdiocesan tribunal in 1968 when he called for radical changes in the church’s handling of broken marriages, eliminating judicial annulment procedures and leaving the question of freedom to remarry up to an individual’s conscience. Shortly after he published his views he was removed from the archdiocesan court and reassigned to parish ministry. Kelleher was a consultant from 1967 to 1972 to the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law and in the late 1960s chaired the committee of the Canon Law Society of America that drew up proposals for special, simplified U.S. marriage court procedures.
The Vatican has called for a complete overhaul of the statutes of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, a commission representing 11 bishops’ conferences which translates liturgical texts into English. Questioning the quality of ICEL’s work as well as how it functions, the Vatican, in a letter from Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, instructed the commission to revise its statutes, bringing into focus the Vatican’s role of oversight and regulation. In recent years, the work of translation has become increasingly controversial. At issue is how literal translations must be and to what extent the original liturgical text can be adapted to thought structures or forms of expression in the second language.
The Diocese of Sacramento is forgiving $1.5 million in debt owed by 10 parishes, schools, and agencies, according to Bishop William Weigand, who said the move is in keeping with the spirit of the jubilee year. The Diocesan Finance Council developed a plan for debt relief to parishes recognized as "financially challenged" in that they have debts beyond their ability to manage despite diligent efforts by parish leadership, Weigand said. He said also that the plan includes additional assistance "that will help avoid the accumulation of these same types of debts far into the next millennium."
Nineteen debts owed to them have been canceled by the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Ill. Seventeen debts were loans the order made to organizations involved in alleviating poverty. The other two debts were personal loans. One canceled the remaining mortgage on a farm that a family was working to buy from the congregation. Sister Mary Jean Traeger, prioress general, said that the world needs "our energetic commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel. It longs for some assurance that peace with genuine justice is possible. In this spirit of jubilee we decided to cancel several long-term debts."