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PERTH, WA: November 5, 1992
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MONROVIA: Five American nuns murdered last week in Liberia had gone back to the US in 1990 because of danger but decided to return the following year. Archbishop Michael Francis of Monrovia lays the blame for the killing of the five nuns and four Liberian novices squarely at the feet of the rebel Charles Taylor's forces. Two of the nuns who had been kidnapped two weeks ago were found dead along a street. The other three were found outside their convent. In Monrovia's cathedral Archbishop Francis said: "They call themselves freedom fighters but they kill innocent people... the are destroyers not builders.., who murdered the sisters". The five dead sisters' ages ranged from 54
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Nuns' murder shock in a 'martyred' country
to 69. The eldest had worked in Liberia for 21 years and before that in Vietnam. They belonged to the Illinois based Adorers of the Blood of Christ who have worked in Liberia since 1972. The murdered nuns were nurses and teachers at a Monrovian high school. At the time of their death the section of Monrovia in which they worked was behind the rebel lines. Pope John Paul said that "despite the danger of the civil war the sistsers remained until the end beside a threatened population. "May their sacrifice give rise to proposal and concrete initiatives for dialogue and peace in that martyred country." US ambassador to Liberia William Twaddell said of the siain nuns: "The safety and the
welfare of the wounded and the defenseless motivated them and were their only concerns in the midst of war." Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles wrote to the order: "They faced danger constantly with the uncertain political future of the country and even without the basic governmental protection they remained at their posts with commitment and self giving. Modern day Liberia has some 78,000 Catholics out of a population of 2.8 million, cared for in three dioceses. Portuguese missionaries had visited the territory in the 1400s and Jesuits and Capuchins served the area inthe 1600s. Twenty years after the 1820 colonisation by freed US slaves Pope Gregory arranged for two American priests and an Irish catechist to minister to the Catholics there.
Over twenty young Catholic Vietnamese men and women gathered at Sandy Beach Reserve in Bassendean recently to socialise and reflect on the religous and priestly life. The day was organised by Peter Hung, a Redemptorist seminarian, along with Chien Nguyen, Quang Nguyen, Nhut Tran and Hpong Nguyen who are currently resident at St Charles Seminar) Guildford. "Get to know you" games began a day that was followed by an "Aussie" barbecue. In the afternoon Peter Hung talked on the vocation of priesthood and seminary formation. This was followed by a group discussion and gospel sharing. Back at St Charles Seminary there was more socialising, canoeing and the evening meal. The enjoyable day produced calls that similar days should be organised for the future. Any Vietnamese men and women interested in being part of these days of reflection can contact Chien Nguyen at St Charles Seminary, phone 279 1310.
Galileo reprieved: 'tragic Church decision VATICAN CITY (CNS): Pope John Paul It has formally acknowledged that the church erred when it condemned 17th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei for maintaining that the Earth revolved around the sun. In a solemn ceremony attended by international theologians and scientists, the pope said the Galileo case was an example of "tragic mutual incomprehension" that showed the limits of theology and science. "This sad misunderstanding now belongs to the past," the pope told members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences October 31. The pontiff made his remarks after accepting the findings of a commission he had appointed in 1981 to study the Galileo trial.
The commission said Galileo's ecclesiastical judges acted in good faith but were "incapable of dissociating faith from an age-old cosmology" — that of the Earth as the fixed centre of the universe.
This was a "subjective error of judgement" one that caused Galileo much suffering, said Cardinal Paul Poupard, presenting the commission's conclusions. Galileo, after being found guilty of "vehement suspicion of heresy" by the Roman Inquisition at the age of 69, spent his remaining eight years under house arrest. This year marks the 350th Anniversary of the death of the astronomer, best known for his pioneering discoverings with the telescope.
The pope said the Galileo case held important lessons concerning "the nature of science and the message of faith".
It is possible, he said, that "one day we shall find ourselves in a similar situation, one which will require both sides to have an informed awareness of the field and of the limits of their own competencies". The pope said 17thcentury theologians were deeply challenged by Galileo's defence of the Copernican theory that the planets revolve around the sun. Because the church relied on an overly literal interpretation of the Bible, the idea that the Earth was the centre of the universe "seemed to be a part of scriptural teaching itself," the pope said. The emergence of
science, with its methods Pope John Paul said the and freedom of research, church has learned from obliged theologians to the Galileo case. examine the way they For one thing, he said, it interpreted Scripture, illustrates "the duty for but "most of them did not theologians to keep know how to do so," he themselves regularly said. informed of scientific advances" so they can see "Paradoxically, Galileo, whether there is cause a sincere believer, for "introducing changes showed himself to be in their teaching". more perceptive in his The pope acknowlregard than the theologians who opposed him," edged that this can create the pope said. Galileo pastoral difficulties. had said scriptural inter- When theologians are pretation must go faced with new scientific data — as in the Galileo beyond literal meaning. case — it may be necesAt the same time, the sary to overcome strong pope noted that Galileo popular habits of rejected the church's thought, he said. suggestion that he presIn general, he said, a ent the Copernican system as a hypothesis, pastor ought to show "a boldness," instead of as demon- genuine strated truth. No one at avoiding both hesitancy that time had laid out and hasty judgement. The pope recalled that "irrefutable proof" of the Copernican model, the the church changed its position on Galileo's pontiff said.
arguments and in 1820 approved a book presenting Copernican astronomy. Yet the Galileo controversy, he said, helped create a longstanding "myth" — that of "an incompatibility between the spirit of science and its rules of research on the one hand and the Christian faith on the other". The pope said there is a distinction but not an opposition between the knowledge found in revelation and that found in experimental sciences. "The two realms are not altogether foreign to each other; they have points of contact," he said, and together they bring out "different aspects of reality". He said the church today must continue to closely follow scientific
advances, especially in areas of biology and biogenetics, because their applications affect human beings "more directly than ever before". In 1979 the pope told the pontifical academy that he wanted theologians, scholars and histor ans to take a closer look at the Galileo case in order to openly recognise "wrongs from whatever side they come" and help dispel mistrust between science and faith. In 1981 the pope took the next step, appointing the study commission of church and lay experts to look at all sides of the historic dispute. Cardinal Poupard, a member of the commission and president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. read a three-page report of the finding during the October 31 ceremony.