May 9, 2008

May 9, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 1

www.charlottediocese.org

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Perspectives Hugging mom; the joy of faith; Christ our hope in the defense of life

Established Jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul VI May 9, 2008

In the wake of nature’s fury

| Pages 14-15 Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

Driven to serve

by

KEVIN E. MURRAY editor

by CAROL GLATZ catholic news service

See CYCLONE, page 5

no. 27

An inside look at the daily lives, faith of two diocesan priests

Pope appeals for mercy, generosity for suffering cyclone victims

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI appealed to the world community to be merciful and generous by offering aid and working to relieve the suffering caused by Cyclone Nargis, which killed tens of thousands in Myanmar.

During his May 7 general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the pope called on people to open their hearts “to compassion and generosity so that with the collaboration of all who are able and want to lend help, the suffering caused by this huge tragedy can be alleviated.”

When the pope spoke, more than 22,000 people had been killed, 41,000 were missing and 1 million were homeless

vOLUME 17

and

KATIE MOORE staff writer

Photo by Katie Moore

Father Patrick Hoare, parochial vicar of St. Mark Church in Huntersville, drives to the church after celebrating Mass at Charlotte Catholic High School April 2. He said he enjoys ministering to youths because “I feel like I have a tremendous opportunity to impact the future.”

Heroic in faith

Youths explore God-given ‘superpowers’ during conference by

CAROLE McGROTTY correspondent

Courtesy Photo

Jesse Manibusan, a Catholic signer and songwriter, performs during the Diocesan Youth Conference in Ridgecrest April 26.

RIDGECREST — Youths from around the Diocese of Charlotte recently gathered to pray, sing and celebrate their gifts from God. “Chosen by God, Hero

by Choice” was the theme for the 31st annual Diocesan Youth Conference, held at Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ridgecrest April 25-27.

Approximately 200 high school-age teens attended the event, which was sponsored by the diocesan Office of Youth Ministry.

“It is a grace to participate in, as well as witness and sponsor, an event where young people gather in the name of what’s true and good and holy See YOUTHS, page 13

CHARLOTTE — His day began, as it typically does, at 5 a.m.

From 5:30-6:30 a.m., before many people are even awake, Msgr. John McSweeney prayed the Liturgy of the Hours.

Every morning begins with prayer, he said.

“To be efficient, a priest has to be a prayerful person,” he affirmed. “I give my day to the Lord. I tell him, ‘Whatever happens today is yours.

Use me.’”

He then went on to celebrate the 7 a.m. Mass.

“And then the venture starts,” said Msgr. McSweeney, pastor of St. Matthew Church See PRIESTS, page 8

Positive response

Poll shows pope’s visit influenced attitudes toward church, faith by

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

NEW HAVEN, Conn.

— Pope Benedict XVI’s U.S. visit impacted public attitudes toward the pope, the church and people’s willingness to live their faith more fully, See POPE, page 7

Helping the homeless

Culture Watch

Colorful conviction

Sister of Mercy offers insights into combating homelessness

Author on losing, regaining faith; the church and Internet

Swiss Guards show loyalty to church doesn’t change

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| Pages 10-11

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May 9, 2008

2 The Catholic News & Herald

InBrief

Current and upcoming topics from around the world to your own backyard

LAUS, France (CNS) — The Catholic Church has officially recognized 17th-century Marian apparitions to a 17-year-old peasant girl in a southern Alpine village in France.

“Three centuries have passed since Benoite Rencurel testified ... about what Christ and Mary, his mother, had revealed concerning God’s love for men, as well as his infinite mercy and his appeal for conversion,” Archbishop Georges Pontier of Marseille, France, said during a May 4 Mass at the Marian basilica in the town of Laus.

“Here, as in Lourdes, as in La Salette, as in Fatima, we see Mary pursuing her mission to reveal her son and invite us to do all he tells us,” he told more than 6,000 people at the Mass.

A decree recognizing the “supernatural origin of the apparitions and of facts lived and recounted by the young shepherdess” between 1664 and 1718 was read at the Mass by Bishop Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri of Gap, France.

Saintly intervention

CNS photo by Anna Weaver, Hawaii Catholic Herald

Audrey Toguchi holds a picture of Blessed Damien de Veuster at her home in AIea, Hawaii, May 1. Toguchi was cured of cancer nine years ago after she prayed to Blessed Damien, the Belgian missionary who cared for the Hansen’s disease patients of Molokai, Hawaii, and who died of the disease in 1889.

Vatican theologians see miracle in Hawaiian woman’s cancer cure HONOLULU (CNS) — Theological consultors to the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes have ruled that the cancer cure of a Hawaiian woman was due to Blessed Damien de Veuster’s intercession, Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva announced April 29.

The decision represents a major step forward in Father de Veuster’s cause for canonization. The final actions required to declare the priest a saint are the endorsement of the congregation’s committee of cardinals and bishops and the approval of the pope.

Father de Veuster, the 19th-century Belgian missionary of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary who spent the final 16 years of his life caring for the Hansen’s disease patients on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai, was beatified in 1995 in Belgium by Pope John Paul II. In his announcement, Bishop Silva included the name of the Oahu woman, Audrey Toguchi, whose cancer disappeared a decade ago after she began prayers to Father de Veuster that included pilgrimages to Kalaupapa where the priest worked and died.

It was the first time the diocese had made her name public.

Toguchi, in a May 1 interview with the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Honolulu diocesan newspaper, said that when she first learned she had cancer “I put everything in God’s hands.”

She decided to pray to Father de Veuster, who had given his own life in service to others.

“Father Damien is not going to let me go,” she thought at the time.

Church recognizes 17th-century Marian apparitions in France

The sainthood process generally requires two miracles, one for beatification and one for canonization.

An alleged miracle — usually a healing — must overcome two hurdles.

First, medical experts must declare it dramatic and unexplainable. Next, theologians must determine that it was caused through the intercession of the candidate for sainthood.

In Father de Veuster’s case, the medical commission of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes ruled last October that the healing was “unexplainable according to available medical knowledge.” In this latest judgment, the theological consultors determined that the cure was attributable to Father de Veuster.

The cure in question involved the disappearance of cancer, without treatment, from Toguchi’s lungs in 1999.

The case was documented in an article about “complete spontaneous regression of cancer” published in the October 2000 issue of the Hawaii Medical Journal.

According to the article, three malignant lung tumors were discovered

by X-ray in September 1998. Upon learning of her condition, Toguchi began praying to Father de Veuster and visiting Kalaupapa.

Before therapy could be applied, an X-ray a month later showed that the tumors had decreased in size.

Monthly X-rays revealed further shrinkage until scans in May and October 1999 could find no sign of the cancer. The doctor’s report stated that the “lung metastases disappeared with no therapy at all.”

Diocesan planner For more events taking place in the Diocese of Charlotte, visit www.charlottediocese. org/calendarofevents-cn.

ALBEMARLE VICARIATE MONROE — A holy hour is held every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 725 Deese St., until December 2008 in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes.

The holy hour consists of evening prayer, recitation of the rosary and Benediction.

The celebration is open to all. For more information, contact the parish office at (704) 289-2773.

ASHEVILLE VICARIATE HENDERSONVILLE — In honor of the 150th anniversary of Our Lady’s appearance in Lourdes, Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin will give a talk at Immaculate Conception Church, 208 7th Ave. W., Sunday, June 8 at 3 p.m. Following the talk, P.G.A. life member and Immaculate Conception Church parishioner Ron Garcia will testify to how his asthma and allergies were miraculously cured by water from Lourdes. A question and answer session will follow, along with a reception. All are welcome to attend, there is no charge. For more information, call Ron Garcia at (828) 696-8163.

BOONE VICARIATE SPRUCE PINE — A rosary of intercession

In late 2003, Bishop di Falco Leandri set up a panel of seven historians, theologians and psychologists to study the apparitions. In 2006 the panel’s findings were sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which raised no objection to the recognition of the visions.

The apparitions are the first approved by the French church since apparitions to St. Bernardette Soubirous at Lourdes were officially recognized in 1862.

After four months of daily apparitions in 1664, Rencurel said Mary had asked her to build a church and house for priests. She later claimed similar visions while ministering to pilgrims and penitents as a lay Dominican tertiary in her home village.

Numerous cures were later claimed by sick visitors who were treated with a special oil.

Bishop di Falco Leandri also relaunched a canonization process for Rencurel in 2003. for priests is recited each Friday at St. Lucien Church, 695 Summit St., before the 9 a.m.

Mass. Prayers are offered for bishops, priests and deacons, and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. For more information, call the church office at (828) 765-2224.

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE CHARLOTTE — A rosary is prayed every Wednesday at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 4207 Shamrock Dr., at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass at 7 p.m. All are welcome to participate in this sacred tradition. For more information, call Juanita Thompson at (704) 536-0784.

CHARLOTTE — “The Moral Alternative to Contraception, An Introduction to Natural Family Planning” (NFP) will be presented at St. Ann Church, 3635 Park Road, May 15, 7-8:30 p.m., in classrooms 1 & 2 of the Msgr. Allen Center. Judy Townsend, a trained counselor and instructor of NFP, will present and share her expertise. Couples are highly encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Danielle Mathis at tmathis3@carolina.rr.com.

CHARLOTTE — There will be an introduction to the Mass in the extraordinary form at St. Ann Church, 3635 Park Rd., Wednesday, May 21, 7 - 8:15 p.m. Anyone interested in learning more about the traditional liturgy is welcome to attend. The Mass in the extraordinary form will be celebrated at St. Ann Church on Saturdays at 8 a.m., beginning May 31. If you would like more information please contact James Blake at jrblake@carolina.rr.com or (704) 551-0686.

CHARLOTTE — The Compassionate Friends of Charlotte meet the first and third Tuesdays of the month at St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy. The organization is a support group for parents who have lost a child, regardless of cause of death or age of the child. The group meets at 7 p.m. in room 234. Meetings are open to the public. For more information, contact Donna or Ralph Goodrich at (804) 882-4503 or

may 9, 2008 Volume 17 • Number 27

Publisher: Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis Editor: Kevin E. Murray STAFF WRITER: Graphic DESIGNER: Tim Faragher Advertising MANAGER: Cindi Feerick Secretary: Deborah Hiles 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203 Mail: P.O. Box 37267, Charlotte, NC 28237 Phone: (704) 370-3333 FAX: (704) 370-3382 E-MAIL: catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

The Catholic News & Herald, USPC 007-393, is published by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203, 44 times a year, weekly except for Christmas week and Easter week and every two weeks during June, July and August for $15 per year for enrollees in parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte and $23 per year for all other subscribers. The Catholic News & Herald reserves the right to reject or cancel advertising for any reason deemed appropriate. We do not recommend or guarantee any product, service or benefit claimed by our advertisers. Second-class postage paid at Charlotte NC and other cities. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to The Catholic News & Herald, P.O. Box 37267, Charlotte, NC 28237.

May 9, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 3

FROM THE VATICAN

Pope says Christians have fundamental duty to work for peace, justice VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians have a fundamental responsibility to work for peace and justice, which is tied inseparably to their mission to proclaim the Gospel, Pope Benedict XVI said.

This social aspect of the faith is crucial as humanity faces new and important challenges in the 21st century, including economic justice and environmental protection, he said.

The pope made the remarks May 3 in a speech to members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The academy was meeting to discuss Catholic social teaching and the common good.

The pope said the technical aspects of social justice must be understood by Catholics in a framework of faith.

“The responsibility of Christians to work for peace and justice, their irrevocable commitment to build up the common good, is inseparable from their mission to proclaim the gift of eternal life to which God has called every man and

woman,” he said.

The concept of solidarity, he said, has a special meaning for Christians. It calls upon them to humble themselves, not merely to seek a situation of social parity.

“Jesus commands us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, to love our neighbor as ourselves,” he said.

“In this sense, true solidarity — though it begins with an acknowledgment of the equal worth of the other — comes to fulfillment only when I willingly place my life at the service of the other,” he said.

“Herein lies the ‘vertical’ dimension of solidarity: I am moved to make myself less than the other so as to minister to his or her needs,” he said.

The pope said the principle of “subsidiarity” — the idea that social tasks should be handled by the smallest and simplest organization that can do so competently — reflects the natural desire for self-governance.

e-mail iluvu2lauren@earthlink.net.

ministry comprised of Sacred Heart Church parishioners who have lost babies before or shortly after birth. Confidential peer ministry, information and spiritual materials are offered at no cost or obligation to anyone who has experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or the death of a newborn. For details, call Renee Washington at (704) 637-0472 or Sharon Burges at (704) 633-0591.

GASTONIA VICARIATE DENVER — The Senior Group of Holy Spirit Church, 537 N. Highway 16, meets once a month for fun and fellowship. All are invited to join. For more information on upcoming events, contact Irene Brunner at (704) 483-1210.

GREENSBORO VICARIATE GREENSBORO — Bishop Peter J. Jugis, will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving and celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

The Mass will take place Tuesday, May 13 at 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Grace Church, 2205 West Market St. Father James Ebright will be the homilist. For more information, contact the Te Deum Foundation at (336) 765-1815.

HIGH POINT — An International Festival will be held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 4145 Johnson St., May 18, 4-8 p.m. There will be child and adult entertainment, exhibits from around the world and antique cars. Bring a family-size serving of food to share, beverages will be provided. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (336) 884-0522.

HICKORY VICARIATE HICKORY — Father Robert Ferris leads a Lectionary Bible Study at St. Aloysius Church, 921 Second St., Wednesdays, 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the Mary, Mother of God Room. Anyone interested is welcome to attend. This study prepares participants for the following Sunday’s Mass by reading and studying the liturgical readings for the next week. For more information on this study, contact Kathy Succop at (828) 327-2341 or stalscoordinator@charter.net.

SALISBURY VICARIATE MOORESVILLE — St. Therese Church Senior Fun & Games meets the second Saturday of every month at 6:30 p.m. for those 50 and older.

A potluck supper is followed by board and card games. For more information, call Barbara Daigler at (704) 662-9572.

SALISBURY — Elizabeth Ministry is a peer

Episcopal

calendar

SMOKY MOUNTAIN VICARIATE WAYNESVILLE — The Catholic Women’s Circle of St. John the Evangelist Church, 234 Church St., meets the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. in the church hall. For more information, call the church office at (828) 456-6707.

God made pre-humans into people, Vatican newspaper says VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While apes evolved naturally into pre-human creatures, it was the will and desire of God that turned them into humans, an article in the Vatican newspaper said.

“The formation of human beings necessitated a particular contribution

by God, though it remains that their emergence was brought about by natural causes” of evolution, it said.

The article, published in the May 56 edition of L’Osservatore Romano, was written by Italian evolutionary biologist Fiorenzo Facchini.

The article said that, “when the biological conditions necessary for supporting a being capable of reflective thought were attained, the will of God, the creator, freely desired it, and man came to be.”

The article posed the question: Does this mean that humans evolved from chimpanzees?

“No, it might be better to say that at some point God willed a spark of intelligence to light up in the mind of a nonhuman hominid and thus came into existence the human as a being, as a subject capable of thought and the ability to decide freely,” it said.

So rather than picturing it as humans

descending from the apes, it said, humans ascended or rose up from the animal kingdom to a higher level, thanks to the hand of God. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in 1968 when he was Father Joseph Ratzinger, God wanted to create a being that could know him and be able to turn to him, the article said.

The emergence of the human is neither a casual or accidental event, nor is it something that was “strictly necessary,” demanded by God or the evolutionary process, it said.

Evolution could have ended at the pre-human stage, it said, but thanks to “the free choice of God,” humans emerged from their pre-human ancestors.

This divine intervention “does not represent an unwarranted intrusion (of theology) in the field of science — as is the case with intelligent design — but is called for in order to explain the presence of man’s spirit” which cannot come from or evolve out of the material world, the article said.

The movement from being a creature of the animal and physical world to also the spiritual was a gift from God “even if it came at the end of a natural process of evolution,” it said.

Summit of faith

WINSTON-SALEM VICARIATE CLEMMONS — A Charismatic Prayer Group meets Mondays at 7:15 p.m. in the eucharistic chapel of Holy Family Church, 4820 Kinnamon Rd. Join us for praise music, witness, teaching, prayers and petition. For more details, call Jim Passero at (336) 998-7503.

WINSTON-SALEM — Franciscan Sister Kathy Ganiel will present “Prayer and Discernment” June 8, 3-5 p.m. as part of a series of free talks offering an exploration into some of the major contributions of Franciscan men and women of faith. The talk will take place at the Fatima Chapel, 211 W. Third St. For more information and registration, e-mail spiritofassisi@bellsouth.net or call (336) 723-1092.

Is your parish or school sponsoring a free event open to the general public?

Deadline for all submissions for the Diocesan Planner is 10 days prior to desired publication date. Submit in writing to kmmoore@charlottediocese. org or fax to (704) 370-3382.

CNS photo by David Maung

Two women rest at the third station of the cross during a climb to the top of Colorado Hill to celebrate Mass and the Day of the Holy Cross in Tijuana, Mexico, May 4. About 300 people made the climb to the summit in what has become a tradition in Tijuana for more than 30 years.

National Migration Conference set for July

Bishop Peter J. Jugis will participate in the following events:

May 12 (7 p.m.)

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Philip the Aposstle Church, Statesville

May 14 (7 p.m.)

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Luke Church, Mint Hill

May 13 (11 a.m.)

Presbyteral Council meeting Pastoral Center, Charlotte

May 16 (7 p.m.)

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Therese of Lisieux Church, Mooresville

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The challenges and abuses faced by refugees, migrants, trafficking victims and other people on the move will be discussed during the National Migration Conference set for July 28-31 in Washington.

The conference is designed to increase public awareness on migration questions as well as to educate policymakers about the needs of people who do not have permanent homes.

Topics to be discussed include

global migration trends, identifying and supporting victims of traumatic events, immigration law and crimes, detention issues, ethnic information on new refugee people, and family-based immigration.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles will be among the speakers to address the Washington gathering.

The conference is sponsored by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network and the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services.

4 The Catholic News & Herald

May 9, 2008

around the diocese

To help those without homes

TOWARD THE PRIESTHOOD

Courtesy Photo by Ken Snow

Courtesy Photo

Mercy Sister Mary Scullion addresses the ‘Homeless Helping Homeless’ group following lunch at the Urban Ministry Center May 1. Known for her efforts in assisting homeless in Philadelphia, Pa., Sister Scullion came to Charlotte to assess the homeless situation and offer suggestions for combating the problem.

Sister of Mercy offers ideas to combat homelessness in Charlotte area

by KRIS REICH special to the catholic news herald

&

CHARLOTTE — Two Sisters of Mercy and lay Catholics recently took an in-depth look at homelessness in the Charlotte area.

A group of parishioners from St. Matthew Church in Charlotte joined Mercy Sister Therese Galligan, a pastoral associate at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte, and her visitor, Mercy Sister Mary Scullion of Philadelphia, Pa., on a tour of shelters and agencies that provide services to the homeless May 1.

That evening to a capacity crowd at St. Matthew Church, Sister Scullion gave her assessment of the homeless situation and passionately challenged area Christians to respond to the crisis at hand.

Social workers estimate there are more than 5,000 homeless in the Charlotte area, with nearly half of them children. Many homeless work but do not earn enough to pay rent.

To combat ho m e l e s s n e s s i n Philadelphia, Sister Scullion in 1989 co-founded Project HOME (Housing, Opportunities, Medical Care, Education), a program that provides housing, employment, education and health care to homeless and low-income residents in Philadelphia.

The program’s motto is “None of us are home until all of us are home.”

St. Matthew and St. Gabriel churches were among the sponsors of Sister Scullion’s visit, the goal of which was to assist the community in providing safe havens for women and children who are homeless, and to end the cycle of homelessness by promoting the identification, development and funding options for safe, affordable housing.

“In the long run, the economics of addressing homelessness issues costs far less than the economics of addressing the fall out caused by homelessness,” said Sister Scullion.

“Walking by someone sleeping in a doorway is an assault on our dignity and an assault on that person’s dignity.

Every human being deserves a place to stay,” she said.

Speaking to homeless individuals at Charlotte’s Urban Ministry Center, she said, “Homelessness is not acceptable, it’s not OK, and it’s not your fault.”

The privately-funded Urban Ministry Center began 14 years ago after four downtown churches — among them, St. Peter Church — responded to the needs of the city’s growing homeless population.

From that initial soup kitchen has come a facility that provides counseling and employment, athletic and substance abuse recovery programs.

The facility’s outreach now focuses on three main principles: engage, build trust and change behavior.

“We need to change our society and hold our elected officials responsible for doing their part,” said Sister Scullion. “If we want peace, we have to work for justice.”

During her talk in Charlotte, she encouraged her Charlotte audience to “challenge the businesses all around you to do their share.”

“Instead of complaining about the homeless hanging out at the Urban Ministry Center, challenge them to join you next time you pick up garbage,” she said. “It’s their neighborhood, too.”

Kris Reich is communications director for the Sisters of Mercy of North Carolina. Contributing to this story was Catholic News Service.

John Eckert (second from right), a seminarian for the Diocese of Charlotte, is pictured after his admission to candidacy for holy orders at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio April 26. Also pictured (from left) are Father John Allen, director of pastoral formation for the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio; Msgr. Nevin Klinger, School of Theology vice rector; Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix; and Msgr. Paul Langsfeld, rector and president of the seminary.

Seminarian admitted to candidacy COLUMBUS, Ohio — John Eckert, a seminarian for the Diocese of Charlotte, has taken another step toward the priesthood.

Eckert was one of nine seminarians admitted to candidacy for holy orders by Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead of Phoenix during a ceremony in a chapel at the Pontifical College Josephinum April 26.

The rite of admission to candidacy for holy orders is celebrated when a seminarian has reached a maturity of purpose in his formation and has demonstrated the necessary qualifications for ordination.

In the presence of a bishop, the seminarian publicly expresses his intention to complete his preparation for holy orders and his resolve to fully invest himself to that end, so that he will serve

Christ and the Church faithfully.

“There are three traits … that are the distinguished goals for which these candidates strive,” Bishop Olmsted said in his homily.

“Holiness of life; true art — the art of loving others as Christ loves us; and universality — being Catholic in identity, life, and mission,” he continued.

“When you and I live these traits, we bear witness to hope, because we bear witness to Christ.”

The Pontifical College Josephinum, as an international seminary, serves an average of 30 dioceses in the United States and abroad. The nine seminarians represented eight dioceses, and they will continue studies at the seminary for two more years before being ordained to the priesthood.

Partners in Hope

Courtesy Photo by Ann Kilkelly

Candy Hill (at left), Catholic Charities USA senior vice president for social policy and government affairs, is pictured with Bill LaMay, a member of Catholic Social Services’ bard of directors, at the “Partners in Hope” fundraising event at the Embassy Suites hotel in Winston-Salem May 2. The annual event raises funds for CSS’s Piedmont Triad Office. As guest speaker, Hill addressed the moral issue of poverty.

Catholic Charities USA, of which Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Charlotte is an affiliate, launched a campaign in January 2007 to reduce poverty in the United States by half by 2020.

“Action in our local communities is key,” said Hill, pointing out that social change does not begin in Washington, D.C., but ends there in political action.

“More Congress people are now calling Catholic Charities USA before voting on issues that affect the poor,” she said.

The poverty campaign is the call to work together locally and nationally for those without a voice in politics. National statistics on poverty match a report that states one in five children in North Carolina lives in poverty and that poverty is an epidemic with harmful cognitive, physical and emotional effects.

May 9, 2008

from the cover

The Catholic News & Herald 5

Pope appeals for help for cyclone victims CYCLONE, from page 1

CNS photo by Xinhua/Zhang Yunfei, Reuters

Monks clear fallen trees from a road in Yangon, Myanmar, May 4 after Cyclone Nargis swept through the previous day, in this picture distributed by China’s official news agency Xinhua. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the cyclone.

after the cyclone’s heavy rains and winds of up to 120 mph swept over southern Myanmar May 3.

The cyclone damaged at least three major cities, including Yangon, the capital of Myanmar and its largest city.

Earlier, in a telegram sent on behalf of the pope by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to Archbishop Paul Zinghtung Grawng of Mandalay, the pope had expressed deep sadness and “heartfelt sympathy” after hearing news of “the tragic aftermath” of the disaster.

The pope said he was “confident that the international community will respond with generous and effective relief to the needs” of those hit by the cyclone.

In Thailand and India, Catholic agencies prepared relief efforts for neighboring Myanmar, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.

Father Pibul Visitnontachai, director of the Thai bishops’ Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees, told UCA News May 7 that the Myanmar Embassy had just given permission for a church team to go there. He said his request to send representatives was turned down, but he reapplied in the name of Caritas after Caritas Internationalis officials meeting in Rome May 4 resolved to let the Thai church lead its response to the disaster.

Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations.

A representative of the Thai bishops and a representative of the Irish Caritas organization, Trocaire, were to enter Myanmar May 8, said Father Visitnontachai.

He said they were to assess the situation in the affected areas and plan a

coordinated response with the bishops of the affected dioceses.

Father Visitnontachai said the delegation would take more than $31,450, an initial donation from Thai Catholics.

Meanwhile, he said, the church would conduct a campaign to inform Thais of the situation in Myanmar and raise donations.

Caritas India also planned to send at least two volunteers to Myanmar to assess the situation, said the agency’s executive director, Father Varghese Mattamana.

However, the Indian workers were facing visa problems, he told UCA News May 7. Caritas India, he added, wants to send 1 million rupees (US$25,000) as immediate relief.

While he had “no definite” information about the extent of the devastation, Father Mattamana said Caritas was trying to work with German aid agency volunteers who had reached the affected region.

The U.S. bishops’ Catholic Relief Services said in a statement May 6 that the Baltimore-based agency “is supporting the emergency relief and response efforts of the Caritas Internationalis network.”

“Cyclone Nargis could not have happened in a worse stretch of land.

The surge hit in the low-lying coastal areas. With the tidal surge at 12-15 feet, presumably thousands of people living along the delta were simply washed away,” said Pat Johns, director of CRS’ emergency response team, in the statement.

The Canadian Catholic aid organization Development and Peace said in a statement May 6 that it also had been evaluating the situation and coordinating its relief efforts with Caritas.

The aid agency has been accepting funds to help the victims of the cyclone.

About 1 percent of the population of junta-ruled Myanmar is Catholic. Most of its citizens are Buddhist.

Contributing to this story was Regina Linskey in Washington.

6 The Catholic News & Herald

Not an easy read

May 9, 2008

in the news

Survey indicates Bible hard to understand CINDY WOODEN “The people of God are asking for help VATICAN CITY — The Bible: Most reading the Bible.” people in Europe and North America by catholic news service

have one and some of them actually read it, but more than half of them say it is difficult to understand.

A survey commissioned by the Catholic Biblical Federation found that even those who reported reading the Bible said it was not easy to understand.

Luca Diotallevi, the Rome-based sociology professor who coordinated the survey’s working group, said, “This is very important: People described the Bible as difficult whether or not they said they read it.”

“The people of God are asking for help reading the Bible,” he said in an April 30 interview.

The Catholic Biblical Federation commissioned the survey as part of its preparation for the October world Synod of Bishops, which will focus on the Bible.

During an April 28 Vatican press conference, the federation and GfKEurisko, which conducted the survey, presented preliminary results from nine countries: the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and Russia.

The survey results are based on telephone interviews conducted in November with 13,000 adults.

Asked, “In the past 12 months have you read any passage from the Bible?”

75 percent of U.S. adults said “yes.”

Their European counterparts were far behind them, but Diotallevi said the results coincide with other surveys on the differences between U.S. and European religious attitudes and practices.

Diotallevi said a few more Protestants than Catholics reported having and reading the Bible, but the difference was so slight that it “was not statistically relevant.”

The percentage of Europeans affirming they had read a Bible passage in the previous year varied from a high of 38 percent in Poland to a low of 20 percent in Spain.

But the huge differences all but disappeared when those surveyed were asked whether they considered the Bible’s content to be “easy” or “difficult.”

Word for word The spread of those who said it was difficult went from 56 percent in the United States to 70 percent in Germany.

The percentage of respondents who said they had a Bible at home was 93 percent in the United States, 85 percent in Poland, 75 percent in Italy, 74 percent in Germany, 67 percent in both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, 65 percent in Russia, 61 percent in Spain and 48 percent in France.

The survey designers also tested for what they defined as an individual’s “index of biblical knowledge,” by asking seven very basic questions, such as “Are the Gospels part of the Bible?” and “Did Jesus write a book of the Bible?”

Diotallevi said the scores of Catholics

— Luca Diotallevi and Protestants were not significantly different because, while slightly more Protestants reported reading the Bible, “they have a greater tendency toward fundamentalism, giving what we would consider a wrong answer. For example, many of them maintain that Jesus is the author of the Gospels.”

When asked to describe the Bible, the most popular answer in every country except Germany was, “The Bible is the inspired word of God, but not everything in the Bible should be taken literally, word for word.”

In Germany, 40 percent chose the phrase about the Bible being inspired, but more respondents — 42 percent — said, “The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.”

Diotallevi described as fundamentalist those who chose the response: “The Bible is the actual word of God, which must be taken literally, word for word.”

Poland was the country with the highest percentage of fundamentalists, with 34 percent affirming the statement.

In the United States, 27 percent said it was literally God’s word and in Italy 23 percent said so.

‘Lexio devina’ One statistic bishops are expected to discuss during the synod is the relatively infrequent use of the Bible for prayer, the “lexio divina” promoted by the church.

Survey respondents who said they prayed were asked, “How do you do it?”

While 37 percent of U.S. respondents and 32 percent of Polish respondents said they use the Bible to pray, only 9 percent of people in the United Kingdom, France and Italy reported praying with the Bible and only 6 percent of Spaniards said they used the Bible for their prayers.

In France and in Italy, the top answer was, “I recite words that I know by heart.”

In all the other countries, the most popular method of private prayer was using one’s own words.

Those interviewed also were asked about their political orientation; in order to have comparable statistics, the survey did not ask people which party they belonged to, but rather to describe themselves as right wing, center-right, center, center-left or left wing.

He said the number of people who read the Bible “was more or less equal” in each of the political categories.

“But on individual issues, reading the Bible was strongly predictive,” Diotallevi said.

The statistical breakdowns were not available in late April, but he said those who reported reading the Bible were those most likely to oppose abortion and euthanasia.

Attention Readers!

Have a Story to Share?

Do you have a story to share with The Catholic News & Herald? Do you know of people who are living the tenets of their faith? Do you have photos of a parish- or ministry-based event?

If so, please share them with us.

Contact Staff Writer Katie Moore at (704) 370-3354 or kmmore@charlottediocese.org.

May 9, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 7

in the news

Pope to spend 10 days, including 3 of rest, on trip to Australia SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) — The Catholic Church in Australia and organizers of World Youth Day in Sydney have identified a “serene, beautiful and suitable” place in Australia for Pope Benedict XVI to rest for three full days in July before joining the youth gathering.

While refusing to identify the place for reasons of privacy and security, Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher, World Youth Day coordinator, said the pope would have “the opportunity to see some of Australia’s beautiful flora and fauna.”

Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, assistant director of the Vatican press office, said May 2 the place chosen was near Sydney.

Pope Benedict will leave Rome July 12, stop briefly in Darwin, Australia, July 13 for refueling, then proceed to Sydney, Father Benedettini said.

The pope will spend July 14-16 resting and recovering from jet lag, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman.

Pope Benedict will be involved in World Youth Day activities July 17-20 and will leave Sydney July 21.

Father Lombardi said the “three days of rest, without doing absolutely anything,” would allow the 81-year-old pope to absorb the effects of the trip from Rome, which crosses nine time zones.

The total flight time is expected to be about 20 hours.

Rest days are not unprecedented in papal travel. In 2002, when Pope John Paul II went to Toronto for World Youth Day, he spent most of the first four days after his arrival relaxing at an island retreat center.

CNS photo by Tim Wimborne, Reuters

Waves crash over rocks in the harbor of Sydney, Australia, near the city’s famous bridge and opera house April 29. Sydney is set to host World Youth Day July 15-20.

The refueling stop in Darwin is the only stop planned on the way to Sydney, Father Benedettini said.

In late April, the World Youth Day organizers said nearly 123,000 young people had already registered to participate in the July 15-20 gathering.

They are scheduled to welcome Pope Benedict July 17.

The papal welcome will include a greeting from local indigenous leaders and “a colorful reception with flags from all over the world,” organizers said.

In the afternoon, the pope will take a cruise in Sydney Harbor, disembarking at Barangaroo, where he will address the pilgrims.

The detailed program for the pope’s visit was expected to be released in June.

Pew poll: Americans think more highly of pope after his U.S. visit WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States in April boosted his image among Americans, including Catholics, according to a recent survey.

Sixty-one percent of the 1,000 people surveyed by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life April 23-30, just days after his U.S. trip, said they view the pope favorably.

In March, 52 percent of those surveyed had the same response.

Among Catholics, the pope’s favorable rating rose to 83 percent in April, up from 74 percent in March. The survey included 232 Catholics.

The survey also found that nearly half of the responding Catholics (49 percent) say they have a very favorable opinion of the pope, up from 36 percent in March. Among all Americans, 22 percent of those surveyed said they had a very favorable view of the pope.

The pope also received improved marks for promoting good relations with other religions between March and April, especially among Protestants in the survey.

Nearly half (49 percent) of Protestants who had heard at least a little about the pope said he has done an excellent or good job in his relations with other

religions. In late March, just 32 percent of Protestants held that view.

Overall, 70 percent of Catholics expressed a positive opinion of Pope Benedict’s efforts to foster good relations with other religions, up from 64 percent in March. Most of the improvement came from among Catholics who attend Mass less than every week. In that group, 60 percent of those surveyed said they felt positive about the pope’s interreligious efforts, an increase from 48 percent a month earlier.

The survey also questioned participants about the pope’s handling of the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Less than half of Catholics (49 percent) felt the pontiff had done a good or excellent job in the matter. Among those who attend Mass weekly, 60 percent were positive about the pope’s efforts related to the crisis compared with 38 percent of those who attend Mass less frequently.

Among Protestants overall, just 39 percent felt positive about his efforts. White evangelicals felt more positive about Pope Benedict’s handling of the abuse scandal by a 45 percent to 32 percent margin over white mainline Protestants.

The margin of error for the survey was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the total sample and plus or minus 7.5 percentage points for the Catholic subset.

Poll shows pope’s visit influenced attitudes toward church, faith POPE, from page 1

according to a poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus.

The nationwide poll of 1,013 adults was conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., April 22-24, just after the April 15-20 papal visit.

Marist conducted a similar poll prior to the pope’s visit. Both polls had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

According to the newest poll, 65 percent of Americans have a more positive view of Pope Benedict as a result of what they saw and heard during his six-day visit to the United States and 52 percent have a more positive view of the Catholic Church.

The percentage of Americans with a favorable view of Pope Benedict jumped from 58 percent prior to his visit to 71 percent afterward. Similarly, the percentage of those who described the pope positively as a spiritual leader increased from 53 percent to 62 percent.

Poll results also showed that respondents have a higher opinion of the pope as a good world leader — 51 percent now, compared to 41 percent before the visit.

And 56 percent of adults said his ability to promote good relations between the Catholic Church and other religions was good or excellent, up from 40 percent in the previous poll.

When asked what part of the pope’s visit was the most meaningful, 39 percent said the pope’s meeting with

abuse victims.

Fifteen percent were unsure; 14 percent cited the pope’s visit to ground zero and 9 percent said the Masses at baseball stadiums. The pope’s other events were cited by 7 percent or less of the respondents.

A majority of Americans, 55 percent, said the pope spent the right amount of time during his visit discussing the clergy abuse crisis and 58 percent were satisfied with his apology for the scandal.

But 46 percent of respondents said the church has not done enough to avoid a recurrence of the abuse scandal.

More than a third of respondents said they are more in touch with spiritual values as the result of the pope’s visit. And nearly half of respondents said they have a better understanding of the Catholic Church’s positions on important issues.

A significant number of Americans are prepared to change their personal involvement as a result of the pope’s April visit to Washington and New York.

About 40 percent said they are more likely to lead a moral life and make family a bigger part of their lives and one-third are more likely to participate in elections, community activities and their churches.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said the poll results “show clearly” the pope “has presented the Catholics of the United States with a tremendous opportunity.”

“Americans are a religious people, and they responded very positively to the message of faith, hope and love that the Holy Father delivered throughout his visit,” said Anderson. “It is now up to all of us in the Catholic community to walk through the door he has opened for us and work together to build a civilization of love.”

8 The Catholic News & Herald

men in black

May 9, 2008

A look at the lives, faith of two diocesan priests PRIESTS, from page 1

in Charlotte, the largest parish not only in the 46-county Diocese of Charlotte, but also in the southern United States with a impressive 7,100 households.

“I have the responsibility and care of 26,000 people,” he noted.

That number includes a paid staff of 56 and 5,000 volunteers involved in active ministry.

“I want a lot of people doing something, not a few people doing a lot,” he indicated, adding all they do is “for the glory and honor of God.” His large parish campus, which includes St. Matthew School and the New Life Center, has become a hub of faith-centered services and activities for both Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Mass is celebrated five times on Sunday, three times on Wednesday and twice on other days of the week.

“The primary purpose of this parish is to teach, preach and to help people toward holiness,” he said.

Msgr. McSweeney, who turned 66 May 4, is actively aware of all that transpires in his parish and as his morning progresses he can be found moving from meeting to meeting with his parish department and ministry heads, volunteers and parishioners.

He doesn’t like to micromanage — “I count on and trust people to do their jobs,” he said — but the constant interaction with his flock compels him.

“My primary job, which I take very seriously, is how do I help people to get closer to God,” said Msgr.

McSweeney, who considers himself like

a jigsaw puzzle worker.

“Each person — each piece — is different,” he said. “And through consistency and persistence, you get a beautiful picture.”

Despite the busyness of his days, Msgr. McSweeney believes constant prayer and reflection helps him to see and create that picture.

“A parish priest needs quiet time to be contemplative of what’s going on — in his life and in the lives of those in his parish,” he said. “It gives you a deeper sensitivity to what is going on so, as their shepherd, you can pull all those pieces together.”

Fruits of faith It was around 11:30 a.m. that Father Patrick Hoare stood in front of a gym full of students. He held a brown paper bag with the words, “Fr. Pat,” boldly emblazoned across one side.

Inside the bag was a pair of sneakers, a visual he would use to illustrate the resurrection during his homily at the Mass he celebrated for students at Charlotte Catholic High School.

It may sound like a strange scenario, but for Father Hoare, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

His day begins around 6 a.m. with prayer. If he is scheduled to celebrate the 7 a.m. Mass at St. Mark Church in Huntersville, he hits the gym afterward.

When celebrating the 9 a.m. Mass, he goes to the gym before.

Then it’s off to the parish office and a day full of responsibilities and meetings.

But the part of the day he always looks forward to most is celebrating Mass.

“It’s the one time of the day that I know for sure that I am going to connect with God in a special way,” said Father Hoare.

Msgr. John McSweeney, pastor of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, meets with parish department heads April 1. Whi like to micromanage. “I count on and trust people to do their jobs,” he said.

“In preparing for Mass, I have to go over the readings and contemplate what they say,” he said. “It gives me that moment of quiet time at the beginning of the day to focus on what Jesus is asking me to do.”

This particular day, it included — among other things — meetings, a funeral Mass and celebrating Mass for teenagers at Charlotte Catholic.

“Some people are intimidated by youth,” said Father Hoare, 41. “(But) I feel like I have a tremendous opportunity to impact the future.”

“It’s easier to teach a younger person,” he added, “even though the fruits of that might not be born for many years.”

Father Hoare knows a thing or two about how long it can take a tree to bear fruit. Discerning his vocation to the priesthood was not something that happened overnight.

A native of Pennsylvania, Father Hoare moved to Charlotte in 1995 when the insurance company he worked for opened an office in town.

He recalled thinking, “Maybe the dissatisfaction in my life wasn’t a call to the priesthood, but just a call to change my life.”

Over the next few years, his spirituality grew. He volunteered as a youth minister at his parish, St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, from 1995 to 2001.

Then he landed his dream job as vice president of his company, a position that required him to move back north, this time to Baltimore, Md. Although he looked forward to career advancement and being closer to his family, Father Hoare was surprised to find he still wasn’t content.

“I liked my company. I had no moral aversion to my job,” he said. “It was just a realization that I enjoyed working

with the church, I loved working with young people.”

It was about that time his parish priest, Msgr. McSweeney, encouraged him to consider the priesthood.

Priestly possibilities Born in Oneida, N.Y., in 1942, Msgr.

McSweeney thought he would go into the family business of running funeral homes. But in his late 20s, he felt his heart changing.

“Something was going on in my life.

I wanted to give myself to something,” he recalled.

At first he wasn’t convinced he was being called to the priesthood, even as he enrolled in Holy Apostles Seminary in Connecticut at age 29. He did not pack to stay long.

“I thought when my clothes were used up, I’d leave and go home,” he confessed. “But I didn’t. A feeling came over me that this was right, and I gave myself to the Lord.”

He was ordained as the first priest for the newly-established Diocese of Charlotte by Bishop Michael J. Begley, the diocese’s first bishop, on Sept. 29, 1974. Msgr. McSweeney said he came to Charlotte “excited” at being involved in the building process of a mission diocese.

“There is tremendous opportunity to grow in the true sense of the Second Vatican Council … tremendous opportunity to build the Kingdom of God here,” he said.

“The building blocks,” he noted, “are the people, not the buildings.”

The fledgling diocese has grown tremendously in the last 35 years, with a current estimated registered population of more than 161,000 Catholics.

As Bishop Begley once told him, “Keep out of the way of the Holy Spirit.

May 9, 2008

men in black

The Catholic News & Herald 9

“But since day one, knowing Jesus, and helping others to know him, has been the number one goal.”

In the late 1970s, while director of vocations, Msgr. McSweeney met a young man at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte whom he described as having “a good sense of humor … and a deep sense of faith.” He encouraged him to consider the priesthood.

Several years later that man, Peter Jugis, was ordained to the priesthood and in October 2003 was ordained as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte.

“To me, with Bishop Jugis’ ordination, the Catholic Church of this young diocese is truly coming into its own,” said Msgr.

McSweeney. “This local church has produced a bishop of its own — it gives this diocese a sense of maturity.”

Just a few years prior, Msgr.

McSweeney had helped Father Hoare find his calling.

“He was my most recent pastor, and one of the first priests in my adult life to mention the possibility of the priesthood,” said Father Hoare.

“He has always been consistent in his support of me,” he added.

Photo by Kevin E. Murray

ile involved in all aspects of the parish’s ministry, he doesn’t

If you do, the Lord’s church will grow.”

Over the next three decades, Msgr.

McSweeney served in parishes in Belmont, Charlotte and Waynesville, and served the diocese through a number of roles, including president of the presbyteral council, director of vocations, director of planning and development, executive secretary of the diocesan pastoral council, moderator of the curia, vice chancellor, vicar general and chancellor, and administrator.

“I’ve served in many parishes, in many roles, and I’ve had the privilege of seeing the church grow in many aspects and cultures,” said Msgr. McSweeney.

Family in faith It was in 2002 that Father Hoare entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, Pa, as a seminarian for the Diocese of Charlotte.

“I didn’t feel called to be a priest in Philadelphia,” said Father Hoare, who was attracted to the growing population of Catholics in western North Carolina.

“Charlotte was an exciting place to live as a Catholic,” he said. “Newlyordained priests were becoming pastors within two to three years.”

Ordained in June 2007, Father Hoare currently serves as parochial vicar at St. Mark Church. It didn’t take long for him to become immersed in his priestly duties.

“I think what I like the most is being able to be a part of so many peoples lives at so many special moments in their lives,” he said.

“I already feel like I’m a part of the family,” he added.

Founded in 1997, St. Mark Church now has more than 3,000 registered

Photo by Kevin E. Murray

Msgr. John McSweeney, pastor of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, pauses to speak with parishioner Lee Magers between meetings April 1. “My primary job, which I take very seriously, is how do I help people to get closer to God,” said Msgr. McSweeney.

Photo by Katie Moore

Father Patrick Hoare, parochial vicar of St. Mark Church in Huntersville, gives his homily during Mass in the gymnasium of Charlotte Catholic High School April 2. He said he enjoys ministering to youths. “It’s easier to teach a younger person even though the fruits of that might not be born for many years,” he said. families. Currently Mass is celebrated in the gymnasium of the Msgr. Joseph Kerin Family Life Center. A new church scheduled to be completed by June 2009.

Father Hoare said he has learned a lot from Msgr. Richard Bellow, pastor of St. Mark Church.

“He is very pastoral in the sense of his kindness to people,” said Father Hoare.

“He is genuinely concerned for everyone.

I think he helps me to enhance that.”

Father Hoare’s experiences as a parish priest have taught him a lot about the people he serves.

“I’ve learned that faithful, Godseeking people come in all shapes and sizes and all different backgrounds,” he said. “Often, the people who say the least are the people you need to listen to the most.”

Msgr. McSweeney would agree.

In addition to encouraging vocations to the priesthood, Msgr. McSweeney believes in emphasizing the baptismal call of the laity, and that they need to be given more responsibility in churches.

“I am constantly amazed at the faith dimension and the spiritual journeys of the laity,” he said.

As a parish priest, Msgr. McSweeney said he gets the “unique privilege” of sharing the “greatest part of their lives — birthdays, dying and everything in between. I laugh with people and shed tears with them.”

He believes in tending to his flock the way a gardener tends a garden. “I nurture and care for it, and plant for the future,” he said. “I believe in the future.”

Spirit and solace The future of the priesthood in the Diocese of Charlotte is strong and vibrant.

Seventeen seminarians are currently studying for the priesthood, and two will

be ordained as priests in June.

There is camaraderie among the priests, especially those who have gone to seminary together.

On his days off, Father Hoare likes to visit with his friends, Fathers Patrick Cahill and Patrick Toole, both parochial vicars at St. Matthew Church. All three were ordained together by Bishop Jugis.

The priesthood, said Father Hoare, “is not a lonely existence.”

“The priests I know are not lonely.

They have friends and family and people they work with.”

He tries also to make a trip to Belmont Abbey once or twice a month.

“The monks are very welcoming,” said Father Hoare. “I’ll have lunch in the monastery and spend time in the library.”

It is nice being able to get away for the day, said Father Hoare, who enjoys the occasional opportunity for solitude.

People might be surprised to know that “I am very shy and would not consider myself an extrovert at all.”

The teenagers at Charlotte Catholic might find that hard to believe, but Father Hoare credits God with all that he has accomplished.

“It doesn’t really depend on your ability,” said Father Hoare. “That’s where God kicks in.”

It is God, also, Msgr. McSweeney credits with the successfulness of his days.

When he ends his day typically around 9 p.m., Msgr. McSweeney reflects on all that has transpired, and asks God to help him with what is to come tomorrow.

“I do the best I can, in words and in actions, and not just in the church, but day in and day out in the routine of life,” he said.

May 9, 2008

10 The Catholic News & Herald

Culture Watch

A roundup of Scripture, readings, films and more

Concentrating on Christ Author Anne Rice talks of losing, regaining her Catholic faith

May 18, Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Cycle A Readings: 1) Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9 Psalm: Daniel 3:52-56 2) 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Gospel: John 3:16-18

We show God’s love by what we give

by PAT NORBY catholic news service

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Most people know author Anne Rice for her detailed characterization of vampires and vivid descriptions of their haunts in the streets and homes of New Orleans, where she was born and raised.

But a growing number of people today are reading Rice’s second novel about Christ, “Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana.”

Her first book on Jesus’ early years, “Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt,” was published in 2005, several years after she consecrated her life to Christ.

Before that time, Anne (O’Brien) Rice was searching for redemption after her break with the Catholic Church at age 18 and her marriage to Stan Rice, a professed atheist.

“I made the terrible mistake of losing my faith, of just thinking, if I can’t live within the confines of the church, if I don’t find it possible to do this, if I think the church is wrong, then maybe God doesn’t exist,” Rice said in an interview from her home in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

“I stopped talking to God,” she added. “I stopped asking for his help. I stopped really praying. ... The mistake was rigidity, it was a lack of flexibility, a lack of being able to open up to some new experiences and not make such a violent break with the church.”

Although those years were financially fruitful — “Interview With the Vampire” (1976) was the first of Rice’s more than 20 works of fiction — she was filled with guilt that was reflected in her characters.

The vampires were a metaphor for the “souls who are away from the light of Christ and live in the darkness of the night,” she said.

Over the years, she said, the characters continued to reflect her despair, guilt and search for meaning and faith. The first fictional vampires were set in the 18th century. Then Rice and her characters started working their way back in time.

“When I got to the first century and began to study the origin of Christianity and began to study what was going on in the Roman world at the time, I began to realize that I saw patterns that I could not explain, except that God was working in history,” she said.

“I read and wrote myself back into the church through my search,” said Rice, although she agonized over theological and sociological questions.

“Then the day came when I thought, ‘Look, you believe in (Christ), you love him, you want to go home to your church and you want to go back to the banquet table, (and) you want to receive holy Communion again,” she said. “That means you’re not an atheist, lady!’”

WORD TO LIFE

Sunday Scripture Readings: May 18, 2007

by JEFF HEDGLEN catholic news service

CNS photo by Becket M. Ghioto, courtesy of Knopf

Anne Rice, author of “Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana,” is pictured in an undated photo.

She no longer needed to answer questions about how things would work out or why evil existed or why good people suffer. Jesus knew the answers, so she could let go.

She said she had no doubt that Jesus was God when she returned to the Catholic Church in 1998.

Rice was living in New Orleans, three blocks from the boundary of Nativity of Our Lord in Kenner, La., where Father Curtis Thomas was pastor of the mostly blue-collar parish.

Although everyone in the parish knew who Rice was, she was just another faithful parishioner who arrived early to pray before the Saturday vigil Mass and chat with people before she left.

“Once, we said it would be nice if some of you would visit the poor box more often,” said Father Thomas, now pastor of St. Bonaventure Church in Avondale, La. “The next week, a check showed up from Miss Rice. There was no hoop-dedoo or anything. If there was a need and she valued the need she would try to help meet it,” he said.

Father Thomas, an admirer of Rice’s vampire novels, also has enjoyed her first two “Christ the Lord” books and said they have “wonderful insights into what may have been the environ that Christ, as a young man, was exposed to.”

He also said there is nothing counter to church teaching in her fictional characterization of Christ.

Rice has been surprised by some of the criticism she has received. She expected it, somewhat, from Protestants who don’t recognize the perpetual virginity of Mary, she said.

But Catholics, too, have criticized her use of the legends about Anna and Joachim, the parents of Mary. Rice said she combined the Eastern Orthodox and Western views of the children she portrays as Jesus’ cousins and Jesus’ brother, James.

“We know the Lord had brothers and sisters. The Catholics, from the time of St. Jerome, have maintained that those brothers and sisters were in fact cousins,” she explained. “But the Eastern Orthodox

Years ago I was a clown. Not in the Ringling Brothers sense of the word, but the clown ministry version. I loved my costume: I was kind of a prom date gone wrong with top hat, tails and all.

My time in this ministry was shortlived, and my great costume went into the closet to collect dust. Some time later a friend of mine who was still in the ministry asked if he could have my top hat for his costume.

I was hesitant, thinking maybe I would pull it out for Halloween or some other random event. In the end I said no.

That top hat sat untouched on the top shelf in my office for the next 10 years.

Every time I looked at it I remembered my unwillingness to give it away. My attachment to this small material object blocked the love I had for my friend.

Lucky for us, God does not behave like this. John’s Gospel tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only

Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Love is wanting good for another and being willing to do what it takes to bring about this good in the person’s life.

God demonstrates this definitively in the sacrifice of his Son. It is God’s desire that every one of us spend eternity in union with him.

To bring about this desired good meant sending Jesus to earth to suffer and die for our sins.

God was willing to do this. This was the first “big give” (sorry, Oprah).

John 3:16 is not just a great sign to hold up in the end zone of a football game. It is the defining statement of God’s love for us. Yet, at the same time, it is also the blueprint for how we are called to love.

God does not ask us to give up our children to save the world, but he challenges us to show our love for God and our neighbor through what we give, be that a lifetime of missionary work or an unused top hat.

It truly is not how much we give but that we give.

Questions: How would you make John 3:16 come alive for you? (You) so loved (name a person) that (you) gave (a gift) so that this person would have (name the good you want for him/her). What is a good you have received from someone’s love for you?

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE Scripture for the week of May 11-17 Sunday (Pentecost), Acts 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13, John 20:19-23; Monday (St. Nereus, St. Achilleus, St. Pancras), James 1:1-11, Mark 8:11-13; Tuesday (Our Lady of Fatima), James 1:12-18, Mark 8:14-21; Wednesday (St. Matthias), Acts 1:15-17, 20-26, John 15:9-17; Thursday (St. Isidore), James 2:1-9, Mark 8:27-33; Friday, James 2:14-24, 26, Mark 8:34--9:1; Saturday, James 3:1-10, Mark 9:2-13.

Scripture for the week of May 18-24 Sunday (Most Holy Trinity), Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9, Daniel 3:52-56, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, John 3:16-18; Monday, James 3:13-18, Mark 9:14-29; Tuesday (St. Bernardine), James 4:1-10, Mark 9:30-37; Wednesday (St. Christopher Magallanes and Companions), James 4:13-17, Mark 9:38-40; Thursday (St. Rita of Cascia), James 5:1-6, Mark 9:41-50; Friday, James 5:9-12, Mark 10:1-12; Saturday, James 5:13-20, Mark 10:13-16.

have always believed that James was an older brother, that he was a child of Joseph by a former marriage.”

“These (‘Christ the Lord’) books are absolutely Catholic books, but I hope they speak to all Christians,” Rice said. People want biblically correct fiction, especially after ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ That was such a debacle, to have that ridiculous novel blown all out of proportion and people actually believing that nonsense.”

“I see ‘The Road to Cana,’ my second novel, as a direct answer to ‘The Da Vinci Code,’” she added. “No. Our Lord did not marry Mary Magdalene. No. He was celibate and he was sinless.”

Her third book will delve into Jesus’ ministry up to the Passion, which will be the focus of her fourth and final book about Christ.

Rice didn’t plan to write about the passion when she started the first book on Christ. But her experience with pain and loss has given her insights that have inspired her to continue the series.

Her daughter died of leukemia at age 5. Her husband died of a brain tumor after 41 years of marriage. Her parents are both dead and her older sister, Alice, died in 2007.

Those losses have given her “a deep sense of how important it is to love everyone and to value every single moment and every single day,” she said.

Rice, 66, realizes that she is moving toward the later part of her life.

“You watch what people suffer as they die and you see, I think,” she said, pausing to gather her composure before adding, “the mercy of the Lord, the Lord’s tender mercy.”

The Catholic News & Herald 11

May 9, 2008

Fire destroys two buildings at musician Talbot’s hermitage BERRYVILLE, Ark. (CNS) — An April 28 fire destroyed the common center and chapel at Little Portion Hermitage near Berryville.

The hermitage, the home of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity led by musician John Michael Talbot, worked with firefighters from four different fire departments to stop the blaze.

“Everybody was heroic,” Talbot told the Arkansas Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock. “People were going into the building to save things.”

Damages were estimated to be at least $500,000. The common center housed the hermitage’s library, kitchen, archives and offices.

Also destroyed was Talbot’s lighting and sound equipment; he was scheduled to leave May 2 for a monthlong tour of Canada.

Both of the buildings that

were destroyed were built between 1983 and 1989.

Spared from the flames were hermitage residences, a second chapel and a retreat center located about a halfmile away.

Talbot identified spiritual lessons from the fire.

“God is stripping us so that only what is essential will remain,” he said. “We are going to rebuild, God willing. But we are only going to rebuild in stone.”

The Brothers and Sisters of Charity, a community of about 25, includes celibate men and women, married couples and their children.

The fire’s origin was not immediately known. Talbot said an “electrical spike” was noticed about 9 p.m. that night, two and a half hours before the fire was first detected. An enclosed wood-pellet stove was lit in the chapel, he added.

CNS photo courtesy of Little Portion Hermitage

A stone carving of the Virgin Mary is all that stands after a fire destroyed Charity Chapel April 28 at Little Portion Hermitage near Berryville, Ark. The Brothers and Sisters of Charity also lost their common center in the fire. Damages were estimated t o be at least $500,000.

Church must address role of Internet in identity, community, say experts

by CINDY WOODEN catholic news service

VATICAN CITY — The Catholic Church and particularly its social teaching must begin to grapple with the potential and the problems posed by the Internet, particularly when dealing with questions about personal identity, community involvement and solidarity, several social scientists said.

Members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, meeting at the Vatican May 1-7, explored how solidarity and subsidiarity can come together to promote the common good.

As part of their discussion, they looked at the role of the market economy and the state in promoting the exchange of goods, but also at the role played by communities and groups that support people, give them identity and teach them how to contribute to society.

For an increasing number of people, computers are the way they connect to the communities where they test and forge their personal identities and where they express their creativity and contribute to the production of goods, several academy members said at a May 6 Vatican press conference.

Margaret Archer, a professor at the University of Warwick in England and co-organizer of the May meeting, said academy members were discussing the “common good” as those things which “are vital for the flourishing of the human person,” including respect for human rights and the sharing of gifts and talents.

“Many of the old methods through which people learned to take part in society — to obey, to contribute, to receive — are threatened or gone altogether,” she said.

The primary agent of socialization in the past was the family, led by a person’s biological mother and biological

father; “only 50 percent of the West’s population” now grows up with both parents at home, she said.

The other significant agent was a person’s specific culture, whether it was a nationality or a religion, she said. But increasingly people do not feel bound by those identities.

“It’s more pick and mix now,” she said.

And particularly as people live longer, she said, more and more of them are living alone, increasing their distance from traditional forms of communal life.

“Here virtual communities could help,” she said. “YouTube and Facebook may not be appropriate for people over 55, but we can develop communities for them.

“We cannot compare virtual reality to what we grew up with if we had two parents, but that reality no longer exists for most people,” Archer said.

“Virtual communities cannot replace the traditional family, but can it fill some of the space?

“We may be nostalgic, but we cannot turn the clock back,” she said.

As the academy members — economists, sociologists, legal experts and theologians, many of whom are not Catholic — engage in a dialogue with church leaders on social topics, Archer said they notice “gaps in Catholic social teaching because the world is changing so rapidly.”

“If you go through the documents, you will find very little on information technology,” she said.

Michel Bauwens, a Belgian philosopher and theorist specializing in “peer-to-peer” Internet collaboration, said that “the vision of civil society in the documents is constituted by very formal organizations, which are being substituted by more flexible communities,” including those formed by people who meet, socialize, work and share primarily through the Internet.

The philosopher said that cooperative, free projects such as the Linux computer operating system and the Wikipedia Internet encyclopedia are the result of a computer culture that encourages people to participate, work together and make their products available in a form anyone can use and access.

“It runs counter to the overbearing influence of both the market and the state,” he said.

“Peer-to-peer work is an exemplar of subsidiarity because each person participates to the degree he or she wants, but to translate that into solidarity is an issue that still needs to be developed,” he said.

Archer said, “Solidarity is the huge problem left behind by modernity.

There is a huge deficit of solidarity,” but increasing connections between and among people is probably the first step toward addressing the problem.

12 The Catholic News & Herald

May 9, 2008

in our schools

Students walk to cure diabetes

Students collect items for U.S. troops

Courtesy Photo

First-grade teacher Crystal Johnson walks with students at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in High Point during the school’s Walk for Diabetes event held March 3-7. Students and faculty spent recesses and lunch breaks walking on campus and raised $7,600 for diabetes research by the American Diabetes Association. As a bonus, schools that raised more than $7,500 received rebates toward the purchases of sports equipment or medical supplies from a participating company.

CCHS senior selected as Presidential Scholar

CHARLOTTE — Kristin Hogan, a senior at Charlotte Catholic High School, has been selected as a 2008 Presidential Scholar.

Hogan is one of 139 U.S. high school seniors that have demonstrated academic achievement, artistic excellence, leadership, citizenship and service at school and in their community.

The Presidential Scholars will be honored for their accomplishments in Washington, D.C. June 21-24.

“The 2008 Presidential Scholars shine a bright hope on the future of our country,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. “Not only have these young graduates demonstrated exemplary discipline and achievement in academics and the arts, but they have also exhibited exceptional leadership and service to their local communities.”

Hogan, president of the National Honor Society, has taken eight AP classes, founded the Triathlon Club and has been junior and senior student council representative.

Hogan excels in field hockey and track, played varsity basketball as a freshman, traveled to the United

Kingdrom as part of a People-toPeople visit and volunteers as a student counselor and tutor.

Courtesy Photo

Mary Connolly (left), music teacher at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in High Point, helps students Austin Adzima, Katie Vest, Taylor Vest and Thomas Gooding load supplies for the Soldier’s Angels in March. Students, faculty and staff collected nearly 300 pounds of personal care items and snacks for the nonprofit volunteer organization that provides letters, care packages and comfort items to deployed U.S. troops and support for their families.

The school’s donations were sent to military chaplains to be distributed. Often, Soldiers’ Angels care packages go to troops deployed in hard-to-reach areas or to those who otherwise would not receive care packages on a regular basis.

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May 9, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 13

youths in action

Youths explore God-given ‘superpowers’ during DYC YOUTHS, from page 1

Courtesy Photo

Youths watch a musical performance by Jesse Manibusan, a Catholic signer and songwriter, during the Diocesan Youth Conference at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ridgecrest April 26.

and discover their personal discipleship,” said Paul Kotlowski, director of the diocesan youth ministry.

“They gathered with the diocesan church to pray with and support one another as young believers,” he said.

The Diocesan Youth Advisory Council, comprised of youths from different parishes, chose the conference theme and worked to organize the weekend of events, music, Mass and hero-in-faith-themed workshops, which included topics on religion, salvation and the youths’ “superpowers” — their gifts from God. The conference “helps in getting closer to God and to learn more about our gifts and our ability to bring others to our faith,” said Laura Pohlheber, a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte.

“It (the conference) helped me understand more about my religion,” said Matthew Pohlheber, Laura’s brother.

“I learned what is special about me and my special gifts,” he said.

In one workshop, youths explored the similarities and differences of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in “Capes of Different Faiths,” presented by Dennis TeallFleming, youth minister at Queen of the Apostles Church in Belmont. “Jesus didn’t die just for people who believed in him. The plan of salvation is a mystery and known completely only to God.” “Those who have not yet seen the Gospel remain close to God,” he said.

Saturday evening, April 26, the youths were treated to a concert by Jesse Manibusan, a Catholic signer and songwriter.

At the closing ceremony on Sunday, April 27, recognition was given to adults Stephanie Gardner and Chris Beal, who have given five years of service to youth ministry.

“I learned what is special about me and my special gifts.”

— Matthew Pohlheber Other awards were presented to youths and clergy.

The St. Timothy Award, for a youth exemplifying outstanding discipleship, was presented to Molly Sanford, a parishioner of St. Aloysius Church in Hickory.

The Bishop Michael J. Begley Award, for youths involved in social justice and outreach, was presented to Patrick Finegan, a parishioner of St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte.

The Bishop William G. Curlin Award, for an individual or group exemplifying outstanding pastoral care, was presented to Kathy Diener, youth minister at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte.

(Ingeborg Collins, a parishioner of St. Mary Church in Shelby, will receive the award May 11.)

The God and Youth Award, for a parish personnel member who has been generous in their time and talent to youths, was presented to Teall-Fleming.

The Pope John Paul II Award, for ordained men exemplifying love for the youth of the church, was presented to Father James Hawker, vicar for education and pastor of St. Luke Church in Mint Hill.

Father Hawker celebrated the closing Mass. During his homily, he told the youths to “go forth and become heroes, and to do extraordinary things in an ordinary way.”

WANT MORE INFO? For more information about diocesan youth ministry, go online to www.charlottediocese.org/youthministry.html.

Photo by Carole McGrotty

Youths make Jewish prayer tassels during a workshop at the Diocesan Youth Conference in Ridgecrest April 26.

May 9, 2008

14 The Catholic News & Herald

Perspectives

A collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

Hugging Mom — in person or in the heart Mother is name for God on lips, hearts of children It’s three years now since we lost Mom, and while Mother’s Day prompts these memories, in truth thoughts of Mom are with me — joyfully — every day.

One never knows exactly what to say to a friend who has suffered the loss of a loved one, especially a mother, but from my own experience I can honestly affirm that God fills the world when she goes with thousands of precious reminders of her presence in song and place and word.

My mom loved Mother’s Day, but then she had a child’s glee for any holiday, some of which I am convinced she just made up. Holidays replete with her wonderful dinners, board games, long walks and laughter restored the little community of the home.

You never really had to say anything for Mom to know everything. She knew my mind and disposition as I climbed the front steps. There was no hiding your feelings — happy or sad, worried or confident — she knew and knew what to say to lift any burden you carried to her door.

Mom wasn’t all talk either. She knew how to get things done, often in far more practical and direct ways than her son, though she would permit me to think that education she worked with me to obtain contributed more than it did.

I don’t ever remember seeing my mother depressed or angry. Oh yes, there were those occasions, but I don’t remember them.

God apparently doesn’t permit it. One suspects the Moms’ Union in heaven under the stewardship of dear mother Mary saw to this happy bit of situational Alzheimer’s.

I do remember Mom and Dad occasionally, well, sparring. Usually over something trivial like whether Dad really agreed to go to that church meeting with her or who forgot the directions for a car trip or who advised taking the last, wrong turn.

Yet, the subtext of any such petty annoyance was unquestioned love.

Mom loved her children with perfect equality, understanding better than any court that equality seldom means the same since there is a uniqueness of spirit that needs constant nourishment.

In doling out the good things in life, whether

Faith & Precedent DOUGLAS W. KMIEC cns columnist

they be ice cream or pie, if there was not enough, you can bet that Mom would find reason just then to diet or to proclaim disinterest in her favorite treat.

Someone once defined a sweater as that which keeps a daughter warm when Mom is cold. There were no daughters for our mom, but then, as my wife of 35 years touchingly recalls, “Mom always treated me as her special daughter.”

Mom died in Holy Week; it was her time. Mom loved God completely, understood him simply, and by accepting his will without resistance she taught her children to do the same.

The English novelist Thackeray once said: “Mother is the name for God on the lips and in the hearts of little children.”

Older ones too, and we remember well.

Hug your mom today — in person or in your heart. Trust me, she will know either way.

A mother whose life embraces children — and the world We must care about the poor to be in solidarity with Christ When the spotlight is put on mothers, not much is said about how we contributed to our church, community, social justice issues, aiding the poor and seeking peace.

Truth is, mothers for a long time have not been limited to a vocation defined by having raised children. We have also worked hard to try to make the world better.

Certainly a mother whose life exemplifies this on a grand scale is Marie Dennis, currently co-president of Pax Christi International and the director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns in Washington, D.C. Maryknoll is a U.S.-based Catholic missionary movement.

I knew little more than Dennis’ name until I read her latest book, “Diversity of Vocations.” My respect for her soared immediately when I read that she raised six children as a single mother, as I have!

As for the work she has done, she tells you simply, “For most of the past 30 years I have been involved in the work for social justice and peace.”

But then if you listen to what she has to say you marvel at her inspiring accomplishments as a single parent of such a big family.

She tells how they lived in an innercity neighborhood in Washington, D.C., with a small Catholic group called the Assisi Community, which is comprised of religious and lay people striving to live “the Gospel call to work for a more just and peaceful world.”

Members put the values of Jesus into practice.

The Assisi Community members were “sharing the dangers and hopes, fears and joys of a largely impoverished part of our nation’s capital,” Dennis wrote. “The reality of a broken world was on our doorstep.”

Yet she affirms, “My children grew in wisdom and benefited enormously from the gift of their experience in the neighborhood.”

In fact, her youngest son, who grew up in that community, now describes that experience as one of “tremendous

The Bottom Line ANTOINETTE BOSCO cns columnist

security, of awesome encounters” with people from all over the world who visited the community — “survivors of torture and war, Nobel laureates, authors, theologians, human rights activists, community organizers, social justice advocates.”

Marie Dennis was not too long in the Assisi Community when she was asked

by Maryknoll to work as the director of its Office for Global Concerns.

“Our goals are clear but very long range: peace on earth, social justice and ecological integrity. We try to educate the U.S. public and decision makers,” she explained.

In a conversation I had with this remarkable woman, she told me she got into her life’s work when she asked herself: “Who and how am I called to be in this broken world?”

She learned too that at any time “God might spiral us out into unknown areas of life.”

A primary concern for her still is poverty. She has seen poverty close up, like how in some places workers produce food and clothing they are unable to buy because they do not make a living wage.

She maintains that we must care about the poor if we are to be in solidarity with Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.

Dennis tells of her life, her faith journey really, in her book. And she ends her story by acknowledging that our God is “full of surprises ... inviting us to follow in ways that we don’t expect or understand — into places we had not planned to go.”

But the bottom line is that we are being “invited to the fullness of life.”

Dennis is living proof of that.

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May 9, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 15

Christ our hope in defense of life

Most vulnerable are counting on God’s love in each of us I’ll remember those sunny spring days for a long time. The skies here in Washington, D.C. were clear and blue.

The temperature, perfect, with colorful banners waving in the breeze.

The very daffodils stood tall and fresh — all to welcome Pope Benedict XVI during his first apostolic visit to the United States. It was as if creation itself were giving witness to what his predecessor had called the “new springtime of evangelization” already blossoming in the church.

What fruit might the papal visit now bear as we continue working for the protection of all life?

The theme of the visit was “Christ Our Hope.” Throughout his various addresses, Pope Benedict invited Catholics to enter more deeply into relationship with Jesus Christ.

Happiness, peace, freedom and justice cannot authentically derive from any other source, even though the secular influences in culture might have us believe otherwise — that it is possible to live without Christ and still live well.

The Holy Father cautioned against “a growing separation of faith from life: living ‘as if God did not exist’,” and exhorted us to remain steadfast in objective truth.

From his homily at Yankee Stadium in New York: “May you find the courage to proclaim Christ and the unchanging truths which have their foundation in him. They are the truths which alone can guarantee respect for the inalienable dignity and rights of each man, woman and child in our world — including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother’s womb.”

Cultivating this kind of faith takes some work on our part. As it says in Hebrews, “faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb 1:11), and so much remains “unseen” in our fight to defend the unborn. Such as: — When will we have enough justices on the Supreme Court with the wisdom and courage to overturn Roe v.

Wade? And when that finally happens, will states be ready to enact laws protecting women and their children from abortion?

— What other cultural and legislative measures will help make abortion unthinkable to men and women alike?

— Will the multigenerational wound of abortion ever start to heal?

— Will the most hardened abortion advocates come to see their deep error

The joy of faith

Surrendering to God is gateway to happiness

There are two kinds of faith: natural and supernatural.

Natural faith is the act of believing the information supplied by maps and weather forecasts, for example. Even though we’ve never met the mapmakers or the weathermen, we take it on faith, natural faith, that they are telling us the truth.

When we demonstrate supernatural faith, we do the same with the words of Jesus. We know he is telling us the truth.

Even though we have never seen him speaking directly to us, we believe by God’s grace that the mysteries he taught are the truths of faith: namely, there is a God; we are his creatures; there is an afterlife; Jesus is the divine Son of God; he has come to save and lead us home to eternal life.

We believe the Lord; we are certain he would never deceive us.

Meeting Jesus is a different experience for each one of us. Being human, we have a natural tendency to pick and choose those parts of the Gospel we like, passing over the ones that make us feel uncomfortable.

But Jesus demands total faith. He is like a doctor who says, “If you don’t do what I tell you, you will die.” He

demands obedience for our own good.

Surrendering to the Lord is a religious act. But many ask, “What do we really know about Jesus?”

We know all we need to know.

The late Frank Sheed, a Catholic intellectual of the 20th century, had this to say: “Jesus was never sentimental, he never wasted words. He said what had to be said, which anyone new to reading the Gospels may take a while to get used to. ... He of all men was not likely to be sentimental about sin. ... He knew what our sinful world would cost him on Calvary.”

Once you trust the Lord you begin to gain a greater understanding of the mysteries of faith. For instance, if you believe that God is love, this knowledge will change your life.

If you believe the central mystery of Christianity, namely that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, you immediately know that the God of love has a human face, the face of Jesus who comes into this world to bring you hope and healing.

While you may not be able to explain the mysteries of the deposit of faith, you

Life Issues Forum DEIRDRE A. McQUADE guest columnist

and start defending innocent life?

Given all the unknowns, we may sometimes be tempted to discouragement.

And yet, we are called to remain bold and joyful in our work, confident that Jesus Christ has already won the war against death.

As the pope encouraged us at St. Patrick’s Cathedral: “The proclamation of life, life in abundance, must be the heart of the new evangelization. For true life — our salvation — can only be found in the reconciliation, freedom and love which are God’s gracious gift. “[O]ur most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy born of faith and the experience of God’s love.”

The pope’s visit surely gave witness to God’s love in the world. Let us pray that it will inspire all Christ’s followers to do the same — in service to neighbor and enemy alike.

The most vulnerable members of our human family are counting on it.

Deirdre A. McQuade is assistant director for policy and communications a t t h e S e c re t a r i a t o f P ro - L i f e Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Christians must persevere in prayer for unity, pope says at audience The Pope Speaks POPE BENEDICT XVI VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Despite the difficulties and divisions, Christians must persevere in prayer for full unity, Pope Benedict XVI said while the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church looked on.

Just a few days before the feast of Pentecost, the pope shared the stage during his May 7 general audience in St. Peter’s Square with Catholicos Karekin II, patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The patriarch and a delegation of 18 bishops were in Rome May 6-10 to meet with the pope and Vatican officials, as well as scholars and students at various pontifical institutes.

After the two leaders exchanged greetings before the 30,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict dedicated the catechesis of his general audience to the theme of Christian unity.

Here is the Vatican’s text of the pope’s remarks in English.

Spirituality for Today FATHER JOHN CATOIR cns columnist

can benefit from them nevertheless. The childlike faith of every Christian is the gateway to eternal happiness.

You do not need to comprehend the mysteries of faith fully; all the Lord asks is that you accept them.

Surrendering to natural or supernatural truths on the basis of faith is really quite a reasonable way to live your life.

Some people fear Jesus the same way they fear going to a doctor. Those who are afraid of knowing their true condition tend to trivialize the authority of Jesus.

But those who know the truth, by faith, come to love him with all their hearts. He has both the power and authority to raise the dead, heal the sick and comfort the suffering.

“In him, with him and through him we live and breathe and have our being.”

It is just as St. Paul said, “I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today we welcome to our audience, His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II, supreme patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians, together with a delegation from the Armenian Apostolic Church.

His presence among us, in these days before the solemnity of Pentecost, spurs us to pray more fervently for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all Christians as we seek to advance along the path of ecumenism.

The Risen Lord sent the Spirit upon his disciples, and from the day of Pentecost, the church has constantly implored the Spirit’s gifts, which impel her to proclaim the Gospel before all the world.

The presence and activity of the Spirit remind us that Christ never abandons his church. The Spirit sustains our efforts to overcome division, to persevere in prayer and to work for Christian unity.

Prayer is the heart and soul of the ecumenical movement. Today, let us join in thanking the Lord for the Spirit’s work in fostering ecumenical dialogue and inspiring the hope of full unity.

May the gifts of the Spirit lead all Christians to serve the Gospel with generosity and to be a sign of God’s love for all humanity. With Mary, let us pray: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love! Amen.”

May 9, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 16

in the news

Colorful conviction

Swiss Guards show that loyalty to church does not change, pope says

by CINDY WOODEN catholic news service

CNS photo by Max Rossi, Reuters

A new Swiss Guard gestures during the swearing-in ceremony at the Vatican May 6. Pope Benedict XVI met May 5 with 33 young Swiss Catholic men who had joined the 110-man corps over the past 12 months.

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VATICAN CITY — In a world of constant change, the Swiss Guards with their colorful traditional uniforms are a sign that loyalty and dedication to the church never go out of fashion, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The pope met May 5 with 33 young Swiss Catholic men who had joined the 110-man corps over the past 12 months.

They were to take their official oaths of office the next evening.

Pope Benedict said the corps, formed 502 years ago, was always small, but always dedicated to protecting the pope and his residence.

“After five centuries, the spirit of faith that pushes young Swiss men to leave their beautiful land in order to serve the pope at the Vatican has remained unchanged,” he said.

In addition, he said, “the love for the Catholic Church to which you witness with your persons more than with your words” also has remained unchanged.

“Your historic uniforms speak to

pilgrims and tourists from all over the world of something that despite everything does not change, that is, they speak of your commitment to serve God by serving the ‘servant of his servants,’” the pope told the young men.

Pope Benedict asked the new guards to act as Christians in everything they do and to cultivate a life of prayer.

“Be open, simple and loyal,” he said. “Learn to appreciate the differences of personality and character that exist among you because beneath the uniform each of you is a unique and unrepeatable person called by God to serve his kingdom of love and peace.”

Pope Benedict told the guards that the corps is not simply a professional military organization, but also is “a school of life” that can help the young men discover their vocations as Christian husbands, priests or religious.

And, in fact, he said he was particularly pleased that long-serving Swiss Guards came to the audience with their wives and children, “who are the most beautiful flowers of your families and remind us of the special love that Jesus had for little ones.”

CNS photo by Alessandra Tarantino, pool via Reuters

New Swiss Guards prepare for their swearing-in ceremony at the Vatican May 6. Pope Benedict XVI met May 5 with 33 young Swiss Catholic men who had joined the 110-man corps over the past 12 months.