Archdiocese seeks relief aid for people affected by Typhoon Frank
LOS ANGELES --- The destruction of Typhoon Frank in the Philippines has led to pleas by the Los Angeles Archdiocese and Filipino Catholic community for assistance in the region.

"Once more our hearts are being touched to respond to the havoc that Typhoon Frank has done in the Philippines, especially in the Visayas Region, and in particular Iloilo," said Good Shepherd Sister Mary Christina Sevilla, Office of Filipino Ministry director. "So many lives have been lost, homes and properties destroyed and gone --- so much misery all over. We are all blessed that we are safe in our own homes but we cannot ignore the plight of our sisters and brothers in whose veins flow the same blood that is flowing in ours."

Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Soils, director of the Office of Justice and Peace, noted that 208 villages in the Diocese of Antique were submerged by floods, affecting more than 36,000 people, while another 100,000 were impacted in the Archdiocese of Capiz and 70,000 more in the Archdiocese of Cotabato. "The typhoon caused great destruction in some parishes," he said, "especially in the low-lying areas, damaging houses, properties and corn and rice fields."

Catholic Relief Services and its partner, the National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace, are providing emergency relief efforts. To contribute, send checks made out to:

---CRS/ADLA, Philippines Relief, and mail to the Office of Justice and Peace, 3424 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CDA 90010.

--Or, to Filipino Ministry with the notation "Handog Kapatid: Iloilo," and mail to 4954 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90029.

Church official says despair engulfs Zimbabwe as Mugabe retains power
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) --- Zimbabweans are in widespread despair as the country's longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term, a Catholic Church official said. In rural areas of the southern African country, the June 27 runoff election, in which Mugabe was the only candidate, "was masterminded by thugs" loyal to the ruling party, said Alouis Chaumba, who heads the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe. Mugabe was sworn in June 29. "People know if they disobey they will be beaten up," Chaumba said in a June 30 telephone interview with Catholic News Service. "The level of brutality in the rural areas has reached unimaginable proportions." While many people in Zimbabwe's cities did not turn up at the polling stations, people in rural areas "were warned that they had to go and vote," he said. "They were not allowed into the booths on their own but were made to tell the electoral officers that they were unable to read or write and then were given folded ballots (for Mugabe) to hand in," he said.

Archbishop expresses sadness at leaving St. Louis for Vatican post
ST. LOUIS (CNS) --- Archbishop Raymond L. Burke didn't hide his sadness during a news conference June 27 in St. Louis following his appointment as prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature at the Vatican. Calling the appointment "bittersweet," the archbishop said, "I am deeply honored and also humbled by the trust which Pope Benedict XVI has placed in me. I have pledged the Holy Father to serve him with all my energies to the best of my abilities. I ask you to please pray for me, as these are obviously challenging responsibilities which I will be taking up." Several minutes into the meeting, he paused and his eyes began to tear up. His reaction was met with loud applause from archdiocesan employees who were there. Archbishop Burke, who turned 60 June 30, is the first U.S. bishop to be named prefect of the Apostolic Signature, which is the Vatican's highest court. When the appointment was announced at the Vatican, Archbishop Burke ceased to be archbishop of Louis, where he had served for almost four and a half years.

Catholics denounce move to curb doctors' objections to abortions
LONDON (CNS) --- Catholic officials have denounced proposals made by the British Medical Association that would strip them of their right to refuse to arrange abortions. "The right of conscience is a fundamental human right.... The doctor's right to act according to his conscience remains firmly embedded both in medical practice and in the law," said Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff, Wales, in a July 1 statement to Catholic News Service. Archbishop Smith is head of the Department of Christian Responsibility and Citizenship of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Under the proposals, doctors would no longer be able to conscientiously object to authorizing abortions but will be compelled to send any woman requesting the procedure directly to an agency or a physician offering the procedure. It is expected that the move will be discussed by the association's policymaking body July 10 at its annual general meeting.

NBC's Williams ties Russert's Catholicism to journalistic integrity
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- NBC "Nightly News" anchor and managing editor Brian Williams told a gathering at The Catholic University of America in Washington the late Tim Russert's Catholic values propelled him as a political journalist in his mission to seek out the truth. Williams --- a Catholic college dropout who had attended the university and two other colleges --- was a replacement speaker for Russert at the 2008 annual Philip J. Murnion Lecture, hosted by the Catholic Common Ground Initiative June 27. Russert, the NBC News Washington bureau chief and "Meet the Press" moderator, died unexpectedly June 13 at the age of 58. "Tim wore his Catholicism proudly," said Williams, 49, who eventually was awarded an honorary doctorate from Catholic University. "His Catholicism was an overwhelming influence on him to seek out the truth." Though Russert's Catholic values drove him to push guests on Meet the Press to reveal political truths, those same principles motivated him to hold them accountable for their actions, but in a civil manner, Williams said.

As human rights cases go to court, Latin Americans come under attack
LIMA, Peru (CNS) --- Unprecedented human rights cases are moving through the courts in countries such as Peru, Argentina and Chile, raising hopes that perpetrators will be brought to justice. But human rights workers continue to come under attack. The apparently contradictory combination is not a coincidence. "There's a connection between progress in cases against high-level officials and attacks against human rights workers involved in those cases," Coletta Youngers, a senior fellow with the nonprofit Washington Office on Latin America, told Catholic News Service. In Peru, where former President Alberto Fujimori is on trial in connection with two high-profile cases of killings by a death squad that occurred while he was in office, the Pro Human Rights Association, known by its Spanish acronym APRODEH, has suffered harassment and the theft of computers and documents.