Arroyo: Improving Morals Must Start At the Top

ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 31 — Faced with endemic corruption and other social ills in the Philippines, new President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said recently that the only way to build a brighter future for the country is “leadership by example,” the news service reported.

Arroyo, who took power Jan. 20 when Joseph Estrada was forced from office by protests over allegations of corruption, realizes she faces a massive task in trying to end the perception of pervasive cronyism.

“We have to work on integrity down the line,” the new president told Associated Press.

The daughter of a former president, Arroyo has taken several high-profile actions that reflect a new approach. Among other things, she ordered the sale of luxury government cars that proliferated under Estrada and banned a controversial film about sexual performers on moral grounds. Asked about the prospect of seeking her own six-year term in 2004, Arroyo said she was leaving that decision up to “divine providence.”

Added Arroyo, “The Lord has been a very good manager of my career.”

Russian Catholics Celebrate Anniversary of Freedom

FIDES, April 3 — “God Almighty and Everlasting! Ten years ago you restored our freedom and happiness.” Thus began a prayer composed by Bishop Joseph Werth, apostolic administrator of Western Siberia, in commemoration of the restoration of religious freedom in the former Soviet Union, reported the missionary news agency.

In the prayer, Bishop Werth thanked God for the martyrs of the 20th century and their sacrifice, “on which you have re-built your Church in these last 10 years.”

On April 13, 1991, the Catholic Church was allowed to re-establish ecclesiastical structures after more than 70 years of state-imposed atheism. After the October Revolution in 1917, the Soviet government confiscated all Church property, and in 1923 Stalin initiated a campaign to eliminate totally the presence of the Church.

Bishop Werth, who was born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, also thanked God for all those “who despite persecution kept the faith and handed the light on to us” and expressed gratitude for missionaries — “the priests, religious and laity who left their own countries and came to Russia to help our spiritual rebirth.”

Uzbekistan Officials Block Religious Literature

KESTON NEWS SERVICE, March 30 — Despite its international human rights commitments to allow the free publication, import and dissemination of religious literature, the Uzbek government continues to obstruct this right for all religious groups, the news service reported.

In a March report, Keston said that Uzbek government authorities frequently obstruct or ban religious literature from a variety of faiths, including Christianity. Censorship of all religious literature, Keston said, is enshrined in law and enforced throughthe government's Committee for Religious Affairs.