IN NORTHERN GAZA --- A Palestinian woman sits in the bedroom of her destroyed house in the northern Gaza Strip Jan. 20.

JERUSALEM (CNS) --- Implementation of the two unilateral cease-fires declared by Israel and the Palestinian militant organization Hamas does not signify an end of troubles for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip but just the start of another sort of struggle, said the Gaza Catholic parish priest. "It is not enough to see that the war has stopped," Msgr. Manuel Musallam told Catholic News Service by telephone Jan. 18. "We will begin to see psychological disturbances, diseases of question of hygiene, and other disturbances. We will need to find doctors for them, and we haven't specialists in Gaza." The Ministry of Health in Gaza estimates that 40 percent of the more than 1,300 Palestinians killed in the three-week Israeli offensive were women and children. Israel puts the percentage closer to one-third and says most of them were caused by Hamas militants using the local population as shields as they lobbed missiles into civilian populations into Israel.

Bishop says ACLU suit over USCCB trafficking grants without merit
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- An American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over human trafficking grants allocated to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is without merit, according to the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration. Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City said in a Jan. 15 statement that he hoped the U.S. Justice Department would "mount a vigorous defense" against the lawsuit, which charges that HHS is violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment "by permitting USCCB to impose a religiously based restriction on the use of taxpayer funds." The "religiously based restriction" it cited was that the USCCB requires its subcontractors providing the direct services to trafficking victims to not use the funds for contraceptives or abortion or contraception referrals. Bishop Wester said the lawsuit threatened both "the weakest in our society" and religious liberty. The suit, ACLU of Massachusetts v. Leavitt, was filed Jan. 12 in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, based in Boston. It asks for a permanent injunction requiring HHS to ensure that funds under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act are disbursed "without the imposition of religiously based restrictions."

No time to waste: SCHIP vote just one step on road to health reform
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- As the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program zooms through Congress at nearly unprecedented speed, health reform advocates aren't taking the time to pat themselves on the back. "There's a tremendous amount to be enthusiastic about in the SCHIP reauthorization," said Alan Weil, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy and former executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, at a Jan. 15 forum in Washington on "Health Care Reform and Children: The Prognosis for Change in 2009." "But SCHIP is not a comprehensive health agenda and was not meant to be," Weil added. "Much work remains to be done." The reauthorization bill that passed the House by a 289-139 vote Jan. 14 would expand the joint federal-state program to include about 4 million more children, including some 240,000 children of legal immigrants. It would be funded by increasing the federal tax on cigarettes by 61 cents to a dollar per pack. The Senate Finance Committee approved a similar version of the legislation late Jan. 15, and President-elect Barack Obama has said he hopes to sign the reauthorization bill as one of his first acts as president.

Christian leaders urge focus on poor in Obama stimulus package
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Nine Christian leaders said the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama listened attentively to their urging that the needs of the poor be included in a planned economic stimulus package once Obama assumes the presidency. They said they were challenged by a transition-team official to have the members of their respective denominations demand help for the poor in the stimulus package. "We hope and believe overcoming poverty, which diminishes the lives and dignity of so many of our children, is a central and urgent priority for common and persistent action for all of us," said Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. He spoke during a Jan. 15 press conference sponsored by Christian Churches Together following the transition-team meeting.

Young adult celebrities reflect on power of Rosary in new DVD
HOLLYWOOD --- A new DVD from Family Theater Productions, featuring 21 young adult celebrities praying the Rosary and reflecting on its importance in their daily lives, will debut Feb. 7 with a screening in Hollywood. "Rosary Stars: Praying the Gospel" features champion athletes, actors, film directors, TV hosts, recording stars, authors and lecturers who emphasize the power of daily prayer of the Rosary and encourage viewers to live the Mysteries of the Rosary every day. Produced by the media production ministry founded by Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton, the DVD features baseball players Jeff Suppan and Mike Sweeney, actors Matthew Marsden and Ali Landry, TV host Matt Gallant and Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza.

Pope says global migration should favor encounter, not conflict
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- Pope Benedict XVI appealed for generosity to the world's migrant population, saying the movement of peoples should foster a peaceful encounter between civilizations and not conflict. In remarks aimed at migrant maritime workers, the pope also warned of the risks of modern piracy and the damage caused by illegal fishing. The pope made the comments Jan. 18, which the church celebrates as the World Day for Migrants and Refugees. "I encourage individuals, communities and institutions to be generous to all who have left their homeland. May the Father of mercies open our eyes and our hearts to the sufferings and needs of those who have entrusted themselves to our hospitality," the pope said. Christians have a special responsibility to witness the Gospel to migrants from other countries, and to approach migration as a positive social phenomenon that can lead to cultural exchanges, he said.

Church leaders reaffirm traditional family at meeting in Mexico
MEXICO CITY (CNS) --- Participants at the Sixth World Meeting of Families made impassioned defenses of the traditional family while rejecting allegations from protesters and local leftist politicians that the Catholic Church has been preaching exclusion. Speakers on the first day of the Jan. 14-18 meeting, which organizers say is being attended by more than 8,000 participants from more than 90 countries, emphasized the traditional definition of family --- father, mother and children --- while discarding suggestions that the institution be expanded to include homosexual couples. The meeting was organized by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family. "The church --- we teach respect for marriage between a man and a woman because that is the foundation of the family," Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City said during his opening remarks Jan. 14.

Lithuanian archbishop denounces economic riots in capital
VILNIUS, Lithuania (CNS) --- The head of the Lithuanian Catholic bishops' conference condemned riots that erupted during a protest against government economic policies. "We must protect our state and not ruin it. Living in democracy means protecting one's rights by legitimate means ... but that must be done peacefully and legally, without resorting to violence," said Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius of Kaunas, president of the bishops' conference, in a statement Jan. 16. Earlier that day, some 6,000 people gathered at the parliament building in Vilnius, answering the call of trade unions to protest the new center-right coalition's plan to raise taxes in an effort to combat a recession and decrease the budget deficit. But the event quickly turned into riots, which led police and special forces to use tear gas and rubber bullets to prevent the crowd from ruining the building and causing further damage. Two days earlier, a similar scenario unfolded in Riga, the capital of Latvia.