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WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush June 20 vetoed a bill to expand federal funding for medical research on human embryonic stem cells, saying it “would compel American taxpayers, for the first time in our history, to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos.” Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, praised the veto. “This bill would not actually enhance stem-cell research, but divert federal funds from legitimate research toward avenues requiring the destruction of innocent human life,” he said. “The cause of science is not enhanced but diminished when it loses its moral compass.” In conjunction with the veto, Bush issued an executive order calling on federal agencies to strengthen the nation’s commitment to research on pluripotent stem cells.

LONACONING – St. Mary of the Annunciation in Lonaconing just wouldn’t be the same without Mary and Catherine Meyers. The two sisters have been lifelong parishioners of this tiny faith community in Western Maryland – amassing a combined 181 years at the parish. Now that the Myers sisters live at an assisted living facility in nearby Frostburg, they rely on Sid and Wanda Hanna, fellow parishioners, to bring them to the 6 p.m. Mass every Saturday.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – As chaplain of the South Carolina Firefighters’ Association for the past 23 years, Monsignor Joseph R. Roth has made a habit of writing to the families of each of the 80 or 90 members who die each year. But he never expected to have to write to nine families at once, as he will now do after a fire in a Charleston furniture warehouse claimed the lives of nine firefighters in the early morning hours of June 19. The fire began around 7 p.m. June 18. Monsignor Roth, vicar general for the Diocese of Charleston, spoke briefly with The Catholic Miscellany, Charleston diocesan newspaper, by telephone June 19.

Shortly after undergoing brain surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, June 18, Cardinal William H. Keeler was cracking jokes with a family member, a sign the procedure went well, officials from the Archdiocese of Baltimore said. Deacon Rod Mortel, director of the Office of the Propagation of the Faith for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, visited the cardinal in his hospital room June 19. “I was surprised to see him in such good shape just 24 hours after having surgery. He is doing very well,” said Deacon Mortel, a retired physician. “He was alert and in good spirits. He even got up and walked around, with a little help, of course.”

JERUSALEM – The Gaza compound of the Rosary Sisters was ransacked and looted and sacred objects were destroyed during Palestinian infighting that led to the Hamas faction’s takeover of the Gaza Strip. Monsignor Manuel Musallam, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Gaza, said gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to break down the doors of the compound, which is located some distance from the Holy Family Parish compound in the Tenalhawa section of Gaza. He estimated damages at more than $500,000. “This is more than vandalism,” he said. “They forced open the door and entered and destroyed everything. The even put the sisters’ beds on fire.”