Plight of Iraqi refugees shapes nuns' visit to Middle East
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A family of six Iraqis lives in a unheated, single room in Beirut, Lebanon -- the adults unable to work legally, the teenager with diabetes unable to get medical care or attend school. The family -- an engineer, his wife and three children, and the wife's brother -- fled violence in their homeland two years after they received threats and their home was fired upon. Once out of the country, they quickly burned through their savings. For Mercy Sister Anne Curtis, the refugee family helped define what she described as abhorrent conditions for the millions of Iraqis who have fled their homeland, most taking up residence in Lebanon or Syria. She was one of a group of eight U.S. women religious from different communities who spent more than a week with Catholic Relief Services in mid-January looking into the problems and aid opportunities for Iraqi refugees in Syria and Lebanon. CRS is the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency. "I'm still sorting out my impressions," Sister Curtis told Catholic News Service in a phone interview a few days after the delegation returned to the U.S. Jan. 20. During her first few days in the Middle East, she said she felt "an overwhelming sense of sorrow and shame about a U.S. war and the consequences; such massive human suffering."
Sue Cifelli on 19 Dec 08Slowed economy forces USCCB to freeze wages, budgets in 2009 WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The slowed economy has forced officials at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to freeze wages and department budgets for 2009. Msgr. David Malloy, USCCB general secretary, made the announcement to staff Dec. 11. Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, USCCB director of media relations, said the step became necessary when investment income fell as the economic situation worsened throughout 2008. She said conference officials decided to roll back individual department budgets to 2008 levels even though the bishops approved a 2.25 percent increase in allocations to conference programs at their annual fall meeting in November. The wage freeze became necessary in large part to meet pension obligations, Sister Mary Ann told Catholic News Service Dec. 17. At CNS, which is part of the USCCB communications department, Anthony Spence, director and editor in chief, said the news agency is working to minimize the impact of the budget freeze. Staff members belong to the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild and are under contract to receive a 3.25 percent wage increase Jan. 1. Spence said he has scheduled a meeting with guild representatives to seek "some accommodation that will acknowledge CNS' financial condition."