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WASHINGTON – Rep. Chris Smith has called Amnesty International’s new position on abortion “outrageous” and said it creates a “major credibility gap” for the widely respected human rights organization. In a telephone interview with Catholic News Service May 18, the New Jersey Republican said Amnesty’s new position makes it “just another pro-abortion organization.” Amnesty’s claim that it takes no position on whether abortion should be legalized, when it calls for complete decriminalization of abortion, is “totally contradictory.” “When you decriminalize, you legalize. … If there is no sanction, there is no law,” said the Catholic congressman, one of the leading foes of abortion in Congress and also one of Congress’ leading human rights advocates.

APARECIDA, Brazil – Saying “it’s five minutes to midnight” for the Amazon, a bishop from Brazil made an impassioned plea for all the countries of the world to join forces to stop the destruction of the rain forest. German-born Bishop Erwin Krautler of Xingu, in northern Para state, said during a press conference May 19 that when he arrived in the area 42 years ago, “the Amazon was more or less intact and now it is threatened with destruction.” Clearing and burning the rain forest to plant soy and sugar cane “will be a fatal blow for the Amazon,” he said. “If things continue as they are, in another 30 years the Amazon will not exist anymore.”

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI made an urgent appeal for an end to the “tragic violence” escalating in the Gaza Strip. After praying the noonday “Regina Coeli” with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square May 20, the pope called on both Palestinian and Israeli leaders to renew efforts for dialogue and to curb the violence. He said the mid-May rocket attacks by Palestinian militants against nearby Israeli towns and subsequent air raids launched by Israel against Palestinians were “provoking a bloody deterioration of the situation and causing dismay.”

Catonsville resident Jeanne Marie Hannon doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty if it means slowly watching the plants at Catholic Charities’ Gallagher Services in Timonium transform into colorful flowers or luscious vegetables. Cultivating plant life for the summer is an annual tradition for the St. Agnes, Catonsville, parishioner and client of the residential and day program for people with developmental disabilities, and she was proud to contribute to Gallagher Services’ two-day annual flower sale during the second weekend in May.

Whether relaxing by the pool or stuck inside on a rainy day, reading is always a great summer activity. The Enoch Pratt Free Library is offering several programs dedicated to books this summer. Avid readers can sign up for the Summer Reading Club at all Pratt library locations June 9. The theme for the program, which ends in August, is a “reading road trip” to show young people they can use their imaginations to go places without leaving Baltimore, said Roswell Encina, director of communications for the Enoch Pratt Free Library. explained Mr. Encina. Avid readers can also join in the running to read the most books in Baltimore during the summer. “This encourages more kids to read during the summertime,” said Mr. Encina, adding that hundreds of youths participate each year.

The aroma of sizzling steak on a grill may permeate through Maryland neighborhoods mostly in warmer months, but it’s a scent Parkville residents – who live near Bob Delisle’s home – smell all year. The avid outdoor chef and St. Matthew, Northwood, parishioner doesn’t need to dust off his two grills in the late spring because he cooks on them even when snow blankets his back lawn. Dinner served on the family’s dining room table gets its start from the backyard grill at least three evenings each week, and it’s not only the meat prepared outside. “I can easily make the whole meal on the grill,” said the 50-year-old married father of three. “Typically, I put a bunch of vegetables in a tin foil packet with some butter, salt, pepper and other seasonings, and it all steams up nicely while the meat cooks.”

A memorial tree honoring “the life and supreme sacrifice” of Calvert Hall College High School, Towson, 1994 graduate E. Austin Koth was dedicated on campus May 10.

WASHINGTON – Five years after the U.S. bishops passed their landmark policies to prevent child sex abuse, they can look back at successes in institutionalizing safeguards and look ahead to challenges in restoring church credibility. But the basic question is: Are children safer now? “Absolutely yes,” answers Patricia O’Donnell Ewers, chairwoman of the National Review Board overseeing the bishops’ compliance with child protection policies.

SEATTLE – A funeral Mass was celebrated May 12 in a chapel at Seattle University for Walter Hubbard Jr., a national African-American Catholic leader who had headed the Seattle-based National Office for Black Catholics since 1970. Mr. Hubbard, 82, died May 5 in Seattle. No cause of death was given. He had served for two decades on Jesuit-run Seattle University’s board of regents. Born in New Orleans Oct. 19, 1924, he worked as a skilled cloth-cutter in the garment industry. He later became active in the trade union moment, serving as president of local unions in Seattle that represented garment workers and liquor store clerks, before becoming an insurance company executive.