Bishops Challenge Stem-Cell Initiative

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The bishops of Missouri have asked to intervene in a lawsuit challenging an effort to protect embryonic stem-cell research in Missouri.

The bishops filed a motion Dec. 13 in Cole County Circuit Court in Jefferson City to become plaintiffs in the case, which challenges the ballot title of a proposed constitutional amendment on stem-cell research.

In their motion, the bishops argued that the ballot title “misleads and deceives the voters of the state of Missouri.” Called the Missouri Stem-Cell and Research Cures Initiative, the effort seeks to protect somatic cell nuclear transfer, otherwise known as human cloning, from being banned in Missouri. The language of the initiative, however, claims that the proposal will ban human cloning. The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures is seeking to place the initiative on the Nov. 7, 2006, ballot.

(CNS)

Nashville Diocesan Administrator Named Bishop

WASHINGTON — Pope Benedict XVI has named Father David Choby, administrator of the Diocese of Nashville since November 2004, to head the Tennessee diocese. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States, made the announcement in Washington, D.C., Dec. 20.

Bishop-designate Choby, a 58-year-old Nashville native, succeeds Bishop Edward Kmiec, who was named bishop of Buffalo, N.Y., in August 2004. “I came to know Father Choby well during my tenure as bishop of Nashville,” Bishop Kmiec said in a statement, “and I know him as one endowed with wonderful qualities of priestliness and pastoral zeal which he will now bring to his new office and ministry as bishop of Nashville.”

Bishop Kmiec added, “He has done an excellent job as diocesan administrator and will shepherd a great diocese of faith-filled people who will continue to work with him in fulfilling the mission of the Church.”

(CNS)

New York Archdiocesan Newspaper to Go Biweekly

NEW YORK — Catholic New York, newspaper of the Archdiocese of New York, will advance to a biweekly publishing schedule beginning this month. The change was approved by Cardinal Edward Egan of New York in November. The first biweekly issue will be dated Jan. 5.

The newspaper will be printed and distributed every other week, for a total of 24 issues during the calendar year. A summer schedule will be in effect for July and August with one less issue published in each of those months.

For the first 20 years of its existence, after its founding by Cardinal Terence Cooke, Catholic New York was issued weekly. But, as a cost-saving measure, it went monthly in September 2001, just before New York was attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11.

“This is a big step for Catholic New York,” said John Woods, the paper’s editor in chief. “It will allow us to present news and information that is important to our readers in a much more timely fashion.”

 (CNS)