c. 2006 Religion News Service

Pope Drops Centuries-Old Title `Patriarch of the West’

VATICAN CITY (RNS) In a departure from more than 1,300 years of papal tradition, Pope Benedict XVI is no longer going by the title “patriarch of the West.”

In a move aimed at clarifying his job description, the Vatican announced Wednesday (March 22) that Benedict had cut the title from a list that currently includes “servant of the servants of God,” “vicar of Christ,” “successor of Peter” and “pontifex maximus,” Latin for the supreme pontiff.

In a statement, the Vatican’s Council for Christian Unity said the title was too vague to accurately represent the geographical reach of the papal office.

“Since its creation, the title `patriarch of the West’ has been unclear and has become obsolete and practically useless with the evolution of history,” the statement said. “It therefore appears senseless to insist on dragging this on.”

Adopted by Pope Theodore I in the year 642, the title reflected the growing estrangement between eastern and western Christians that climaxed with the Great Schism of 1054, officially dividing the faith into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

At the time, the pope, also known as the “bishop of Rome,” was regarded as the leader of one of the five ancient “sees” of the church, which included Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Rome.

That view runs counter to current Vatican thinking, which considers the pope’s spiritual authority over Christians “universal,” or without borders.

The refusal of modern popes to limit their spiritual authority to specific territories, or patriarchates, has become a sticking point in dialogue with Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Russian Orthodox Church, in particular, has been outspoken in criticizing what it considers Vatican encroachments onto Orthodox territory.

The Council for Christian Unity, the Vatican department for dialogue with Eastern Rite churches and other denominations, said the title change did not aim to assert Vatican authority over Orthodox churches but “to express historical and theological realism.”

Speculation over the change has been brewing ever since the Vatican excluded the title from its 2006 Annuario Pontificio, a massive yearbook containing the names and titles of Catholic officials around the world.

The yearbook still describes Benedict as the successor of St. Peter, who is credited with founding the church, and Jesus Christ’s “vicar,” or priestly substitute on Earth.

_ Stacy Meichtry

In a First, Boston College to Rescue Ailing Catholic School

(RNS) Aiming to establish a model to help save endangered Catholic elementary and middle schools, Boston College has unveiled the first-ever partnership between a Catholic university and a parochial school in the United States.

Under terms of the agreement announced Tuesday (March 21), Boston College will join the Archdiocese of Boston on the board of trustees at St. Columbkille School in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston. Faculty from Boston College’s Lynch School of Education will help develop curriculum and shape teaching techniques used at the school.

“Without this agreement, St. Columbkille School could not stay open in the coming years,” said the Rev. Richard J. Shmaruk, pastor of St. Columbkille Parish.

In explaining the university’s reasons for getting involved, Boston College President William P. Leahy noted that across the country, 277 Catholic elementary schools closed in the past two years. Faculty at Boston College expressed hope that universities and parochial schools could use the BC model to stop hemorrhaging in their areas and improve educational methods.

“St. Columbkille will serve as a model for how Catholic universities and Catholic schools can partner to develop best practices for Catholic education,” said Mary Walsh, director of BC’s Center for Child, Family and Community Partnerships. “The evidence-based best practices that emerge from this collaboration will have clear potential to strengthen Catholic education across the country.”

About 2.4 million students currently receive elementary and secondary school education from the nation’s 7,589 Catholic schools, according to the National Catholic Educational Association. Enrollment numbers have declined over the past four decades from an all-time high of 4.5 million in the mid-1960s. One major reason is demographic shifts, according to the NCEA.

“There are many school buildings in urban areas without a nearby Catholic population to support them,” according to an NCEA analysis on its Web site. “And there are thousands of potential students in suburban areas where schools have yet to be built.”

_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Report: Mass. Let Down 12-Year-Old at Center of Right-to-Die Case

BOSTON (RNS) In a scathing review of how Massachusetts cares for children in its custody, a special commission has found that a comatose 12-year-old at the center of a right-to-die controversy was let down by “a systemic failure” on the part of the state and private health providers.

Haleigh Poutre, 12, was admitted to a Springfield hospital in September in a comatose state after being abused.

The state Department of Social Services moved to end Haleigh’s life support eight days after she was hospitalized and six days after obtaining temporary custody of her.

The agency, supported by Haleigh’s lawyer and court-appointed guardian, received permission from the state Supreme Judicial Court on Jan. 17 to take away a ventilator and feeding tube from the girl. That decision prompted national attention from religious and other groups.

The day after that ruling, the state agency said the girl was breathing on her own and responding to commands. The girl, moved to the Franciscan Hospital for Children on Jan. 26, has since shown further signs of improvement, according to her biological mother, Allison Avrett of Agawam.

The state Department of Social Services has acknowledged overlooking signs of past abuse, largely because medical professionals and staff believed it was self-inflicted.

A three-member commission, appointed by Gov. W. Mitt Romney, reported its findings Tuesday (March 22) on the state agency’s involvement with Poutre during the past seven years.

“What happened to Haleigh Poutre … should not have happened and did not have to happen,” the commission’s report said.

The commission said the state agency’s procedures are “substantially insufficient” to decide whether to seek removal of life support from children in its custody.

The panel called for new coordination and sharing of medical information among the state and private health care institutions. The panel said the state Department of Social Services needs better access to medical, psychiatric and child abuse experts.

After Haleigh was hospitalized in Springfield, her adoptive mother, Holli A. Strickland, and stepfather, auto mechanic Jason D. Strickland, were arrested and charged with assault and battery with substantial injury. Holli Strickland died Sept. 22 in West Springfield, shot and killed by her grandmother, who then shot herself in a murder-suicide, police have said.

_ Dan Ring and George Graham

Catholic Diocese in Va. Lifts Ban on Female Altar Servers

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va., which had been one of two U.S. dioceses that did not allow girls to be altar servers, will now allow them in parishes if pastors request them.

The decision by Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde on Tuesday (March 21) leaves the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., as the only U.S. one to prohibit girls and women from assisting priests at Mass.

“Some parishes have actively requested the liberty to allow female altar servers; others have not,” Loverde said in a letter to his 400,000-member diocese. “The church’s permission in this arena, accordingly, allows for a legitimate diversity of opinions.”

Loverde had maintained the ban he inherited from his predecessor when he became bishop seven years ago; the Vatican has allowed female servers since 1994. Loverde had been reluctant to lift the ban out of fear that it could upset elements of the conservative-leaning diocese.

Previously, girls were allowed to serve in non-parish settings, such as on college campuses and in convents. Loverde’s new directive expands their roles to include Catholic high schools and parishes.

“This is long overdue, and the right decision,” the Rev. Horace Grinnell of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church, Va., told The Washington Post. “I understand there are some laity against it, but they are as rare as hen’s teeth because most people who have children see the innate fairness of having ministries open to everyone who qualifies.”

Loverde also allowed two parishes in Alexandria, Va., and Front Royal, Va., to celebrate the Latin Mass once each Sunday. Since the 1960s, nearly all Masses have been conducted in the native language of parishioners.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Quote of the Day: Christian Century Assistant Editor Jason Byassee

(RNS) “When the powers that be are done with you, we mainline liberals will have a rocking chair for you at the retirement home of the formerly religiously important. Maybe then we can finally see each other as sisters and brothers.”

_ Jason Byassee, assistant editor for The Christian Century magazine, a mainline Protestant publication, addressing evangelicals in a guest column in the March issue of Christianity Today, an evangelical Protestant magazine.

MO/PH END RNS