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• French Cabinet adopts Muslim scarf ban | French Cabinet ministers on Wednesday adopted a bill to ban conspicuous religious symbols in public schools — the first step to outlawing Islamic head scarves in the classroom (Associated Press)
  
  
• Is France on the way to becoming an Islamic state? | Given current birth rates, it is not impossible that in 25 years France will have a Muslim majority. (Barbara Amiel, The Daily Telegraph, London)
  
  

Abortion:

• Abortion trial wraps up in Portugal amid protests | Lawyers in a highly publicized trial in Portugal of seven women accused of having abortions made their final arguments with a verdict expected on February 17, as protestors gathered outside the courthouse. (AFP)
  
  
• My late-term abortion | President Bush's attempt to ban partial-birth abortions threatens all late-term procedures. But in my case, everyone said it was the right thing to do — even my Catholic father and Republican father-in-law (The Boston Globe Magazine)
  
  
• The unnewsworthy thousands | Once they were recognized as pro-life marchers. Today it's "abortion demonstrators"—if they're mentioned at all (George Neumayr, The American Spectator)
  
  
• No abortion left behind | The pro-abortion fanatics have taken over the entire international forum. And to achieve the ability of any woman—at any place, for any reason—to have an abortion, they are willing to pay any price. (Editorial, The Weekly Standard)
  
  
• Clark's choice | On abortion, he's in the mainstream of his party (Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review Online)
  
  

Crime:

• Police: Pastor stole from church | Former Westview Baptist Church members say pastor Barry R. Young spent up to $70,000 in church tithes on personal expenses. He is charged with organized fraud and grand theft (The Miami Herald)
  
  
• Cathedral's damaged statues leave gaping hole | Churchgoers say vandalism ruptured sanctity, security (The Washington Post)
  
  
• 14 indicted in drug inquiry near famous Harlem church | Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, was reportedly among those who complained to the police (The New York Times)
  
  

Archbishop Burke:

• Burke is installed as archbishop | In the seven weeks since Pope John Paul II named him to head the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Burke has exploded onto the national stage through a series of bold pronouncements that have captured the attention of the nation's media and have inadvertently knocked some other bishops on their heels (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  
  
• New archbishop calls on Catholics to deepen their faith | In his first Mass as archbishop, Raymond Leo Burke invited St. Louis Catholics to renew their relationship with Christ through a deeper devotion to Jesus' love (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  
  
• Burke installed as St. Louis archbishop (Associated Press/KDSK, video)
  
  
• Communion and choice | Creating the sort of controversy that would follow an order to refuse Communion to Catholic officeholders in a region where support for abortion rights is widespread would do little to advance Catholic teachings, and much to isolate Morlino from the community he seeks to serve (Editorial, The Capital Times, Madison, Wis.)
  
  

Catholic/ Orthodox relations:

• Vatican delegation to visit Moscow in February | After a long chill, a high-level Vatican delegation will meet in Moscow next month with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The delegation will include Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity (Associated Press)
  
  
• Russian church rules out meeting with Pope | The Russian Orthodox Church ruled out Tuesday any prospect of a meeting between its head and the Pope—something long-sought by the Catholic pontiff—just weeks before a Vatican envoy was due to visit Moscow. (Reuters)
  
  

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January (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48