News Briefs

An ecumenical prayer service called for healing on April 9 at Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church in Murrysville, Pa., after a 16-year-old student rampaged in the hallways of Franklin Regional High School near Pittsburgh, wounding 22. • Along with other leaders and organizations that defend the rights of Tamils, the Rev. S. J. Emmanuel, the 80-year-old leader of the Global Tamil Forum, was named on April 10 to a list of “terrorists” by Sri Lankan authorities. • On April 10, U.N. officials agreed to deploy 12,000 peacekeepers to the chaotic Central African Republic, but they will not arrive until September; the nation’s religious leaders are urging an immediate deployment of reinforcements for an existing peace mission. • A survey by CARA of attitudes among priests and lay parish leaders about the revised Roman Missal, released on April 10, reports that 52 percent of priests say they don’t like the new texts, while 75 percent of priests and lay leaders think the language is “awkward and distracting.” • Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon said on April 10 that proposed laws on “the protection of race and religion,” apparently targeting Myanmar’s Muslim minority, risked dialing back religious freedom in Myanmar at a time when citizens are gaining freedoms in most other areas.