May 18, 2007

May 18, 2007

The Catholic News & Herald 1

www.charlottediocese.org

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Perspectives David Hains recalls rise, fall of Rev. Falwell; Tony Magliano offers deep thoughts for Memorial Day | Pages 14-15

Established Jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul VI May 18, 2007

Abstinence before marriage

Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

Pope tells Latin Americans to meet challenges by focusing on Jesus

by JOHN THAVIS catholic news service

KEVIN E. MURRAY editor

CHARLOTTE — Bishops Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte and Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh are calling on the North Carolina General Assembly to shelve a bill providing expanded sex education in public schools.

In a May 11 letter to Speaker of the House Joseph Hackney, the bishops expressed their “grave concern” regarding House Bill 879, “Modify School Health Education Program.”

The bill, if passed, would replace the current “abstinence until marriage” See BILL, page 7

Fighting back with faith

Symptoms, causes of domestic violence explored JOANITA M. NELLENBACH

by

correspondent

HICKORY — “Then came the angry words … the verbal tearing apart … Next came the beatings … unrelenting violence … unceasing pain. I shouldn’t stay, but this is my husband … promised forever. He says I deserve it … maybe I do …

I feel so alone … doesn’t God hear me when I cry out silently as I lie in bed each night?”

See VIOLENCE, page 5

no. 30

Exploring the ‘continent of hope’

N.C. bishops ask N.C. assembly to table proposed sex education bill by

vOLUME 16

CNS photo by L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI is greeted by a dancer during a meeting with young people at Paulo Machado de Carvalho stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 10. Some 40,000 enthusiastic young people crowded the stadium and welcomed the pope with song, dance and prayers.

APARECIDA, Brazil — On a five-day visit to Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI identified a host of social and religious challenges and said the church should respond by focusing more clearly on the person of Jesus Christ.

“This is the faith that has made America the ‘continent of hope.’ Not a political ideology, not a social movement, not an economic system: faith in the God who is love — who took flesh, died and rose in Jesus Christ,” the pope said on the final day of his May 9-13 visit to Brazil.

It was a comment echoed in many of his encounters, which included a rally with young See BRAZIL, page 8

Special buddies

Bishop McGuinness students participate in Special Olympics, assist athletes

KERNERSVILLE — Catholic high school students are helping make a difference in the lives of some special athletes.

A group of 100 students from Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School helped out at the Special Olympics Spring Games, held at Wake Forest University in WinstonSalem April 25.

Bishop McGuinness has participated in the annual event

for several years, as well as assisted Special Olympics Forsyth County in other events throughout the year with volunteer and staff support.

Special Olympics Forsyth County, a subprogram of Special Olympics North Carolina, provides athletic competition and training for more than 1,400 youths and See BUDDIES, page 13

Courtesy Photo

Melissa Plunkett, a senior at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Kernersville, is pictured with her Special Olympics buddy in Winston-Salem April 25.

Around the Diocese

Culture Watch

Symbols of hope

Catholics assist many; first Communions celebrations

Pope’s new book; ‘tsunami of pornography’; ‘Shrek’ 3

Tornado-ravaged town getting back on its feet

| Pages 4, 6

| Pages 10-11

| Page 16

May 18, 2007

2 The Catholic News & Herald

InBrief

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

Joined in faith

CNS photo by Sam Lucero, Catholic Herald)

Ryan Shaw, seen holding son Mateo, and Angie, with son McHale, are back home in Sheboygan, Wis., following the babies’ recovery from surgery to separate them last fall after they were born conjoined in May 2006. The couple said faith led them through the 19-hour surgery and through this first year of their sons’ lives.

Faith helps couple with twins born conjoined, separated by surgery SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (CNS) — The last year has been an emotional one for Angie and Ryan Shaw following the birth of their twin sons. But the young couple agrees they couldn’t have made it without the support of family and friends, and their Catholic faith.

The babies were born conjoined and required surgical separation to save their lives. And they face more medical treatment — they also were born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

When doctors explained what a prenatal screening and ultrasound had shown, “we were told we still had opportunities to terminate the pregnancy,” said Ryan. “But that wasn’t an option for us. It’s not for us to play God just because of potential problems.”

The names they chose for their boys, Mateo Asher and McHale Twain, reveal much about the parents and the journey on which they embarked in welcoming their babies. Mateo and McHale mean “gift of God;” Mateo reflects Angie’s Spanish heritage and McHale, Ryan’s Irish background. Asher means “to be blessed,” while Twain means “to be cut in two.”

The couple learned they were expecting conjoined twins during Angie’s 18th week of pregnancy.

A routine screening indicated the possibility of spina bifida, a birth defect characterized by an incomplete closure of the spinal column.

A follow-up ultrasound revealed not one, but two babies. Then the doctor explained the twins had hydrocephalus, a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain occurring because the spinal defect prevents normal drainage of fluids.

Angie and Ryan both come from Catholic families.

“I think this type of situation,” said Angie, “can either bring you closer to God, or push you away. After a lot of prayer, we felt safer leaving the boys’ fate to God.” The doctors said the twins could have severe disabilities that could shorten their lives. The last male conjoined twins in the United States to survive surgical separation were back in 1957. And because the boys also had spina bifida, the parents were told their sons had just a 5 percent chance of survival.

The other unknown was the quality of life the boys would experience if they survived. For Angie and Ryan, however, the decision was not what was easiest for them as parents, but what was best for their boys.

“We figured one way or another, it would work out if we put the boys first,” Angie said.

“It’s been amazing to see what’s good in people,” said Ryan, referring to all the help the couple has received.

“When you watch the news, you can lose perspective about the world. ...

But when you go through an experience as we have, you see so much good in people, and so many people willing to help,” he said.

In return they want to share their experience with other parents, especially those expecting conjoined twins or a child with spina bifida.

“We’ve been there, and we can tell parents the other side, about the amazing happiness children can bring you,” said Angie.

CORRECTION In the May 11 issue, a photo of Pope Benedict XVI accidentally ran with a column by CNS Columnist Dan Morris. The Catholic News & Herald regrets the error.

Climate change an ethical, environmental issue, U.N. nuncio says U N I T E D N AT I O N S ( C N S ) — Global warming is not just an environmental issue but must be seen in “ethical, economic, social and political terms as well,” Archbishop Celestino Migliore told a gathering of high-ranking development officials at the United Nations May 10.

The Vatican nuncio warned that global warming and energy shortages could have a disproportionate effect on the world’s poor.

“The consequences ... will impact first and foremost the poorest and weakest who, even if they are among the least responsible for global warming, are the most vulnerable because they have limited resources or live in areas at greater risk,” he said. “Many of the most vulnerable societies, already facing energy problems, rely upon agriculture, the very sector most likely to suffer from climatic shifts.”

Archbishop Migliore spoke during the 15th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development of the U.N.

Diocesan planner ASHEVILLE VICARIATE HENDERSONVILLE — The St. Francis of the Hills Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order will meet May 27 at Immaculate Conception Church, 208 7th Ave. West. We’ll begin with the Franciscan Crown rosary in the chapel at 1 p.m.

Visitors and inquirers are welcome. For more information, contact Joanita Nellenbach, SFO, (828) 627-9209 or jnell@dnet.net.

CANDLER — Bishop Peter J. Jugis will celebrate the Mass dedicating of the new St. Joan of Arc Church, 768 Asbury Rd., May 30 at 5 p.m. All are welcome to the dedication Mass and the following celebration. For more information, call the office at (828)670-0050.

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE CHARLOTTE — The Semi-annual Rosary Rally will be held May 20 at 3 p.m. at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Rd. East. This 33-yearold tradition will include recitation of the rosary, a eucharistic procession and Benediction. For more information, call Tina at (704) 846-7361.

CHARLOTTE — Father Timothy Reid will present “Seeking the Heart of God” at St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., Thursdays, May 24 through June 28, 7-9 p.m. This lecture series deals with understanding the spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Each participant will need a copy of St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle.” For more information, please contact Susan Brady at (704) 541-8362, ext.4.

CHARLOTTE — Theology on Tap, a dynamic speaker series designed to provide young adults in their 20s and 30s with the opportunity to discover more about their faith in a relaxed open environment, will be held May 29 and June 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Fuel Pizza in Park Road Shopping Center. These interactive events will explore the

Economic and Social Council May 9-11.

Also addressing the commission were high-ranking officials of the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, International Energy Agency and other international bodies, as well as senior government officials of more than two dozen nations.

“Ultimately ... we have a grave and far-reaching responsibility to ourselves and to future generations for the actions we are due to take here,” Archbishop Migliore said.

Abdalla Salem el-Badri, secretarygeneral of OPEC, told the U.N. session that energy demand is projected to increase more than 50 percent by 2030.

A “global, long-term energy strategy” must be “capable of satisfying legitimate short- and medium-term energy requirements ... protecting human health and the environment, and establishing precise commitments to address the question of climate change,” Archbishop Migliore said.

issues and challenges that Catholic young adults face in the 21st century. For more information, contact Catrina at (704) 533-2124 or c_l_conway@hotmail. com or visit www.compass-catholic.com.

CHARLOTTE — St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., will host a free Christian Coffeehouse May 27, 7-9 p.m. in the Banquet Room of the New Life Center. Single and married adults are invited for an evening of contemporary Christian music, food and fellowship. For more information, or to reserve a table for six or more, call Kathy Bartlett at (704) 400-2213.

CHARLOTTE — The next Blood Give-In Sunday at St. Matthew Church is June 10, 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m., in the family room of the Parish Center, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy. Donors will be required to provide identification, such as a driver’s license or Red Cross blood donor card. Sign up table is in the narthex May 26-27 and June 2-3. Appointments are encouraged and will be honored. Walk-ins are welcome, but will be taken as time permits. For more information, call the church office at (704) 543-7677.

HUNTERSVILLE — Elizabeth Ministry is a peer ministry comprised of St. Mark Church parishioners who have lost babies before of 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 Sandy Buck at (704) 948-4587.

CHARLOTTE — The St. Maximilian Kolbe Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order gathers the first Sunday of each month at 2 p.m. at Our Lady of Consolation Church, 2301 Statesville Ave. Those interested in learning more about the SFO and the Franciscan way of life are invited to attend.

For more information, call Tom O’Loughlin at (704) 947-7235.

CHARLOTTE — New Creation Monastery invites you to a day of silence and solitude in the presence of Almighty God. The monastery offers private spiritual retreats for lay people. Write to Father John Vianney Hoover at New Creation Monastery, 1309 Duncan Gardens Dr., Charlotte, N.C., 28206, stating why you want to go on retreat and when. For more

MAy 18, 2007 Volume 16 • Number 30

Publisher: Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis Editor: Kevin E. Murray Staff Writer: Karen A. Evans 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 18, 2007

The Catholic News & Herald 3

FROM THE VATICAN

Vatican official: Nations must disarm to stop spread of nukes VATICAN CITY (CNS) — If the world is to help stop the spread of nuclear weapons, nations must take positive steps toward nuclear disarmament, a Vatican official said.

Nuclear disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation “are interdependent and mutually reinforcing,” said Msgr. Michael Banach, representative to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

“Responsible implementation” of international agreements concerning nuclear weapons represents a crucial step “in the fight against nuclear terrorism” and promoting “a culture of life,” peace and human development, he said May 1 in Vienna, Austria, during the April 30May 11 proceedings of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

The Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty became effective in 1970 in an effort to curb the spread of nuclear

weapons and weapons technology as well as ensure nuclear energy would be used for peaceful purposes.

Msgr. Banach urged countries to help create “a climate of confidence and real cooperation” in international efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and said it was necessary to set aside individual interests and work for “collective security” which, in the end, helps guarantee the security of individual nations.

If the treaty is to be effective, he said, provisions must help the international community verify compliance as well as track and control fissile and radioactive materials.

Countries stockpiling nuclear weapons include the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. India, Pakistan and North Korea have carried out nuclear tests. Israel is suspected of having a nuclear arms arsenal, while Iran has been accused of pursuing uranium enrichment for weapons use.

information, call (704) 344-0934.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN VICARIATE MURPHY — A Charismatic Prayer Group meets Fridays at 3:30 p.m. in the Glenmary House of St. William Church, 765 Andrews Rd. join us for praise music, witness, teaching, prayers and laying on of hands for those in need. For more details, call Gery Dashner at (828) 494-2683.

GASTONIA VICARIATE BELMONT — An adult faith formation series, “The Church and Human Sexuality,” will meet Tuesdays through May 22, 7:30-9 p.m., at Queen of the Apostles Church, 503 N. Main St. Topics will include the theology of creation and of the body, the sacrament and sacramentality of marriage, the sexuality of single life, the church and homosexuality and God is love. Presentations are based on and include Scripture, the lives of the saints, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the writings and teachings of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. No fees or pre-registration needed. For more information, call Dennis Teall-Fleming at (704) 825-9600, ext. 26 or e-mail teallfleming@yahoo.com.

BELMONT — First Saturday Devotions take place on the first Saturday of each month at Belmont Abbey Basilica, 100 Belmont-Mt. Holly Rd. Devotion begins at 9:30 a.m. with the recitation of the rosary, followed by reconciliation and Mass. For more information, call Phil or Terri at (704) 888-6050.

GREENSBORO VICARIATE GREENSBORO — The Greensboro Council of Catholic Women will host a luncheon May 23 at the Cardinal Country Club beginning at 11:30 a.m. The program will feature a performance by the Scottish Country Dancers. For more information, call Carmen Wood at (336) 545-9266.

HIGH POINT — Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 4145 Johnson St., invites everyone to attend the Third Annual International Festival, a non-denominational family event with food, entertainment, music, art, exhibits and games from around the world. The free event begins at 4 p.m. May 27. For more information, contact Larry Kwan at hlkwan@lexcominc.net or (336) 688-1220.

Episcopal

WINSTON-SALEM VICARIATE CLEMMONS — Holy Family Church, 4820 Kinnamon Rd., has Eucharistic Adoration each Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m. For more details, call Donna at (336)940-2558 or Carole at (336) 766-4530.

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.

Pope OKs stricter norms for mandatory feast days in church calendar VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has approved stricter guidelines for determining which saints will be remembered with mandatory feast days.

The General Roman Calendar, the universal schedule of holy days and feast days for the Latin rite of the Catholic Church, is so packed that more selectivity is needed, according to new norms and a commentary published in the official bulletin of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The pope determines who makes the universal calendar based on recommendations from the congregation, the commentary said. And, according to the new norms published in the bulletin in mid-May, those recommendations will be more difficult to obtain.

“A saint can be inserted in the general calendar because of the significant and universal importance of his or her spiritual message and effectiveness as an example for a broad category of members of the church,” said the norms, approved

by Pope Benedict in December.

Special consideration will be given to saints from countries not already represented in the general calendar and from underrepresented categories, such as laypeople, married couples and parents, the norms said.

In addition, the norms said, 10 years should have passed since the canonization ceremony to ensure ongoing, widespread devotion.

The process for adding a candidate, it said, should begin with a two-thirds favorable vote from the bishops’ conference where the saint was born, lived or died.

“The numerous beatifications and canonizations celebrated in the past few years by the supreme pontiff have underlined concretely the multiple manifestations of holiness in the church,” the commentary said.

But, it said, hundreds of new saints also has meant greater competition for the limited free dates on the universal calendar, dates used to remember saints with a local importance and to keep the tradition of remembering Mary on Saturdays not already dedicated to an obligatory feast.

In his more than 26-year pontificate, Pope John Paul II proclaimed more than 480 saints; by comparison, all of his predecessors between 1594 and 1978 canonized a combined total of 302 saints.

Pope Benedict XVI added his 10th saint to the church’s rolls when he presided over a canonization May 11 in Brazil.

The year does not have enough days to include all the saints in the universal calendar, particularly when Sundays and holy days are subtracted.

The congregation’s commentary said, “it will be difficult in the future to make further additions if certain criteria are not rigorously applied.”

Faith at Fatima

WINSTON-SALEM — The Compassionate CareGivers meet the first, third and fifth Thursdays of each month at St. Benedict the Moor Church, 1625 East 12th St. This group provides affirmation, support and prayer for people who have cared for and are caring for loved ones living with Alzheimer’s and any other chronic illnesses. For more information, call Sister Larretta RiveraWilliams at (336) 725-9200.

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 (Fridays). Submit in writing to Karen A. Evans at kaevans@charlottediocese.org or fax to (704) 370-3382.

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

May 19 — 2 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Mark Church, Huntersville

May 26 — 2 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation Sacred Heart Church, Salisbury

May 20 — 11 a.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation Our Lady of Consolation Church, Charlotte

May 27 — 12:30 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

May 21 — 7 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation St. John Neumann Church, Charlotte

May 30 — 5 p.m.

Dedication of St. Joan of Arc Church Asheville

May 26 — 10 a.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation Sacred Heart Church, Salisbury

June 1 — 11 a.m.

Jubilee Mass for Priests St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

CNS photo by Nacho Doce, Reuters

The statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried May 13 through a crowd of pilgrims at the shrine built in her honor in central Portugal. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims joined in celebrations marking the 90th anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children. Lucia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, received the first of several visions of Mary May 13, 1917.

For May crownings in the Diocese of Charlotte, see page 4.

ATTENTION READERS The Catholic News & Herald is beginning its bi-weekly publishing schedule for June, July and August. As such, there will be no issue next Friday, May 25. Our next issue will be Friday, June 1.

4 The Catholic News & Herald

AROUND THE DIOCESE

May 18, 2007

Celebrating Communion

Honoring Mary

Courtesy Photo

Eighth-grader Nick Hopkins assists second-grader Emily Gamble as she places a crown of flowers on a statue of Mary outside St. Michael School in Gastonia May 14. The crowning was part of the school’s annual May procession.

After Mass in St. Michael Church, Father Roger Arnsparger, pastor, and the second-graders — dressed in their first Communion clothes — led the school in the procession to the statue for the crowning. Prekindergarten through eighth-grade took part in the songs and prayers.

The month of May is devoted to Mary and is traditionally celebrated with a crowning and praying the rosary.

Courtesy Photo

Father Walter Williams, pastor of St. Mary Mother of God Church in Sylva, is pictured with communicants who made their first Communion at the church May 6. Pictured with Father Williams are Daniela Berenice, Acosta Diego Armando Acosta, Benjamin Eliaz, Elizabeth Ann McElroy, Emma Grace Raleigh, Luke Sipler, Matthew Klaus, Philippe Toedt, Lorena Yanez, Eliseo Puebla, Rocio Puebla and Nancy Puebla.

Courtesy Photo

Courtesy Photo

Madeline Wise, a fifth-grader at St. Ann School in Charlotte, followed by Father Frank O’Rourke, pastor of St. Ann Church, and flanked by students in their first Communion attire, leads the school’s annual May procession into the church May 15. Madeline, assisted by fifth-grader Jessica Fielder, was selected to crown a statue of Mary in the church during Mass celebrated by Father O’Rourke.

Father Tien Duong, pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains Church in Highlands, is pictured with communicants during their first Communion celebration at the church May 6. Pictured with Father Duong is (from left) Bailey Ann-Marie Lica, Emily Erin Crowe, Eden Elizabeth Ingate and James Francis Walsh.

May 18, 2007

from the cover

The Catholic News & Herald 5

Symptoms, causes of domestic violence explored VIOLENCE, from page 1

Words from a battered wife begin “When I call for help: A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against Women,” which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published in 2002.

“How interesting that our bishops would begin their pastoral letter to us with the voice of a woman,” Augustinian Father Francis J. Doyle said during his presentation, “Domestic Violence: Does Faith Formation Have an Answer?” at the Catholic Conference Center May 10.

The Diocese of Charlotte’s Office of Faith Formation sponsored the program, attended by 25 parish catechetical leaders and others involved in faith formation.

Pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Maggie Valley, Father Doyle is chairman of the Haywood County Domestic Violence Task Force and a board member of REACH of Haywood County, a nonprofit agency addressing issues of advocacy and counseling for domestic-violence victims.

Faith formation has part of the answer, Father Doyle said, but it’s a collaborative answer in conjunction with churches, as well as agencies that work to stop domestic violence.

TYPES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FaithTrust lists four basic types of domestic violence: — Physical assault: Including shoving, pushing, restraining, hitting, or kicking.

Physical assaults may occur frequently or infrequently, but in many cases they tend to escalate in severity and frequency over time.

— Sexual assault: Any time one partner forces sexual acts which are unwanted or declined by the other partner.

— Psychological assault: Includes isolation from family and friends, forced financial dependence, verbal and emotional abuse, threats, intimidation, and control over where the partner can go and what she can do.

— Attacks against property and pets: Destruction of property which may include household objects or treasured objects belonging to the victim, hitting the walls, or abusing or killing beloved pets.

The Catholic Church hasn’t always engaged this issue. In fact, he said, “This is the first time I’ve been invited to a Catholic-sponsored event on this topic.”

“I’ve been ordained 12 years and this is the first (Catholic Church) organized class I’ve ever heard of (on domestic violence),” said Deacon Frederick Scarletto of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point.

Domestic violence crosses all economic, education and social strata, and all religious denominations. It used to be called “battered women syndrome” but is now referred to as “domestic violence” because victims include men, children, elderly parents and parents of teenagers.

However, according to the FaithTrust Institute, which focuses on ending sexual and domestic violence, “statistics show that 95 percent of domestic violence victims are women.”

“Domestic violence is a pattern of violent and coercive behavior exercised by one adult in an intimate relationship over another,” FaithTrust notes. “It is not ‘marital conflict,’ ‘mutual abuse,’ ‘a lovers’ quarrel,’ or ‘a private family matter.’ It may consist of repeated severe beatings, or more subtle forms of abuse, including threats and control.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines marriage as “a covenant or partnership for life between a man and woman, which is ordered to the well-being of the spouses and for the procreation and upbringing of the children. When validly contracted between two baptized people, marriage is a sacrament.”

Types of violence FaithTrust lists four basic types of domestic violence: physical assault, sexual assault, psychological assault, and attacks against property and pets.

But why stay in such a relationship?

Because the abuser promises — repeatedly — never to do it again.

Or, one or more of these: The victim fears being on her own and making a new life for herself, doesn’t want her children to be without a father, has no place to go, lacks financial resources or job skills, doesn’t know where to seek help, or is embarrassed to admit she’s in a bad marriage.

Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach

Augustinian Father Francis J. Doyle chats with Doni Juarez of Good Shepherd Church in King during “Domestic Violence: Does Faith Formation Have an Answer?” at the Catholic Conference Center May 10.

Power and control Leaving is dangerous. A woman leaves seven to nine times making the final break, but when she does make that break she’s 75 percent more likely to be killed by her abuser than if she had remained in the relationship.

“When she makes the break, she’s in the greatest danger she’s ever been in,” Father Doyle said. “Domestic violence is about power and control. When she takes control of her life, he’s lost control and his reaction is even more violent.”

Then there are religious beliefs.

Friends or clergy may tell a woman that the abuse is “your cross in life,” “God’s will,” or punishment for a past sin.

“The first thing some pastors (ask the victim) is, ‘What did you do wrong?’”

Father Doyle said.

The bishops disagree: “As pastors of the Catholic Church in the United States, we state as clearly and strongly as we can that violence against women, inside and outside the home is never justified.

Violence in any form — physical, sexual, psychological or verbal — is sinful; often it is a crime as well.”

Abusive husbands sometimes use Bible texts, such as Ephesians 5:22, “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands …,” to justify abuse. However, as the bishops point out, “the passage (v.

21–33) refers to the mutual submission of husband and wife out of love for Christ.”

They also “emphasize that no person is expected to stay in an abusive marriage.

Some abused women believe that church teaching on the permanence of marriage requires them to stay in an abusive relationship. They may hesitate to seek a separation or divorce. They may fear that they cannot remarry in the church.

“Violence and abuse, not divorce, break up a marriage. We encourage abused persons who have divorced to investigate the possibility of seeking an annulment,” say the bishops. “An annulment ... can frequently open the door to healing.”

Education and counseling More education about domestic violence is needed among Catholics clergy and laity, Father Doyle said.

“One of the reasons I got involved is because you don’t hear about the Catholic Church getting involved in this issue,” he said. “This topic was never

touched on in my seminary education.

There’s not a priest in this diocese who’s had seminary training on this. Our whole emphasis has been on keeping couples together. It can result in the death of one of the partners.”

The bishops, and those involved in working with domestic-violence victims, state that safety of the victim and her children is paramount.

Then, as the bishops note, “In dealing with people who abuse, church ministers need to hold them accountable for their behavior. They can support the person as he seeks specialized counseling to change his abusive behavior. Couple counseling is not appropriate and can endanger the victim’s safety.”

The reason is that the abuser can retaliate against his partner with worse abuse because of what she said in the counseling session.

And Father Doyle said, “Until (Catholic abusers) hear a Roman Catholic priest say this behavior is a crime, they’re not going to take responsibility.”

Restoration of the relationship is possible only if the abuser permanently stops all abuse. If that doesn’t happen, the victim can be helped to “mourn the loss of the relationship,” the bishops state.

It is important to listen to a woman and believe her when she says she’s being abused. There are also signs.

“You may never have suspected that this church-going, first-pew family, that it’s a whole different scene at home,” Father Doyle said. “A child is falling asleep in class (because) he’s been up all night and he’s been terrified not only from seeing a gun pulled on his mother but from trying to protect her.”

If a woman wears long sleeves and long pants in hot weather, or sunglasses when the sun isn’t shining, or seems submissive around her husband, she may be an abuse victim.

Churches can help in a number of ways, including helping victims find safe shelters and counseling, taking up monthly collections for shelters, addressing domestic violence during marriage preparation and praying for victms during Mass.

When he does this, Father Doyle said, “Invariably a woman will come up to me after Mass and say she’s been in that situation in the past and will offer to help.”

6 The Catholic News & Herald

around the diocese

May 18, 2007

Dinner, dancing help raise funds Helping hands in Henderson County for Latino Family Center HIGH POINT — The Latino Family Center of Catholic Social Services in High Point recently held a dinner-dance to raise funds for summer camp opportunities for Hispanic youths in the area.

A hundred people attended the May 4 event, held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point, which provided Latin food and lessons in Latin dance steps.

A second event, the 5K Race to Embrace in June, will also raise funds for summer activities.

The Latino Family Center provides programs and services to help local Hispanics intgrate into the community as full participants in and contributors to society, according to Tania Hoeller,

program director.

The center provides a Family Literacy Program for families at the parish, in which parents learn English and the children do their homework.

Staff provide translation, information and referral assistance, and outreach according to need.

Programs for boys and girls help the youths develop leadership skills and live free of drugs, smoking and sexual activity.

The summer camps include languageand math-skill building, art enrichment and music. St. Mary Episcopal Church and the Theater Arts Gallery in High Point are assisting the center with these enrichment activities.

Courtesy Photo

Bruce Harris (left), Operation LAMB director, and Grand Knight Neil Boland (center) of Knights of Columbus Immaculate Conception Council 7184 in Hendersonville present a check to Jane Griggs and Superintendent Stephen Page of Henderson County Public Schools.

The Knights council distributed more than $11,000 funds collected during the 2006 Operation LAMB campaign to area organizations that work with the mentally challenged.

Knights of Columbus councils conduct Operation LAMB (Least Among My Brethren, taken from the Gospel of Matthew) throughout the United States to help the mentally challenged. Contributions were collected through the annual “Tootsie Roll Campaign” held August through December.

There are more than 12,100 Knights of Columbus in North Carolina.

Courtesy Photo by Ann Kilkelly

Greensboro-area dance teachers Elizabeth and Scott Tomlin demonstrate Latin steps to kick off the evening of dancing at the Latino Family Center’s dinner dance, held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point May 4.

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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 Karen Evans at (704) 370-3354 or kaevans@charlottediocese.org.

May 18, 2007

abstinence & chastity

Avoid ‘compromised’ message in sex education, cardinal says WASHINGTON (CNS) — The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities urged two congressional committees to maintain current funding levels for abstinence education and said programs that promote “safe sex” and contraception offer young people a “compromised” message.

In a May 9 letter to members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia said the more than 500 abstinence programs currently in place in the U.S. “form character and educate our youth about the decisions they face, empowering them to make healthy choices that do not jeopardize their health and future.”

But for every $1 the federal government spends on abstinence education through the Adolescent Family Life Act, Title V of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and the Community-BasedAbstinence Education Program, it spends $12 on “‘safe sex’ and contraceptive programs,” he said.

“While programs incorporating the latter emphasis are sometimes called ‘comprehensive’ sex education, they are more accurately described as compromised education: The abstinence message is mentioned but then undermined with the false message that premature sexual experimentation does no real harm if steps are taken to avoid pregnancy,” Cardinal Rigali wrote.

If the federal government makes “that ‘comprehensive’ or internally divided approach” the norm in U.S.

N.C. bishops hope to table proposed bill BILL, from page 1

CNS photo by Nancy Wiechec

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia recently urged two congressional committees to maintain current funding levels for abstinence education. sex education, “the result will not be to expand diversity and pluralism in this field but to eliminate it,” the cardinal said.

“Catholic schools and other organizations truly dedicated to the message of personal responsibility and abstinence before marriage will be unable to participate in government programs,” he added. “America’s young people would be the real victims of this misguided approach.”

The cardinal’s letter was sent as the House and Senate committees were beginning discussions of appropriations bills for fiscal 2008.

The Catholic News & Herald 7

curriculum with an abstinencebased, comprehensive sexuality education curriculum.

“We wish to go on record strongly opposing this bill and want you to know that we will do everything in our power to activate the Roman Catholics of our state to lobby their legislators to oppose the passage of this bill,” the bishops wrote.

“This is not an action we would take lightly,” they added.

Introduced March 20, 2007, House Bill 879 would require public schools to offer comprehensive, medically accurate, non-discriminatory sexuality education in grades seven and eight and once in high school.

“The proposed bill would essentially teach that all sex between two people is equal, whether couples are married or unmarried, or of the same sex,” said David Hains, communications director for the Diocese of Charlotte.

Current law states that local school districts may expand the abstinence curriculum after a public review under the auspices of the local Board of Education. Since 1995, only 10 out of

“We will do everything in our power to activate the Roman Catholics of our state ... to oppose the passage of this bill.”

— Bishops Peter J. Jugis and Michael F. Burbidge 115 districts have voted to expand it.

The bill would make the health education curriculum mandatory in all school districts.

The present law, which endorses abstinence before marriage, has shown positive results in North Carolina, the bishops said in their letter.

“It covers the consequences of sexual activity by adolescents thoroughly. It allows for comprehensive sex education to be added at the level of local school districts,” they wrote.

“Although we disagree with much of the materials presently contained in the curriculum for comprehensive sex education allowed in our state, we believe the present law is vastly better than this proposed bill,” they said.

The letter, signed by Bishops Jugis and Burbidge, was delivered to Hackney and to the 52 members who comprise House committee on education.

Bishops get draft of guidelines for education in chaste living WA S H I N G T O N ( C N S ) — “Education for chastity is more than a call to abstinence,” says a draft document being studied by the U.S. Catholic bishops in preparation for a vote this fall.

Sent out to the bishops at the end of April, the draft is titled “Catechetical Formation in Chaste Living: Guidelines for Curriculum Design and Publication.”

“Parents are called to ensure that their children’s education in human sexuality occurs within the context of the moral principles and truths of the church,” it says.

It adds that parents are “the primary but not the exclusive educators of their children” and that the invitation to other educators “to carry out their responsibilities in the name of the parents arises from the consent and authorization of the parents.”

“Education for chastity, sustained by parental example and prayer, is absolutely essential to develop authentic maturity, teach respect for the body and foster an understanding of the nuptial meaning of the body,” it says.

The 14-page draft document was developed by the Committee on Catechesis of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, chaired by Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington.

In a cover letter to the bishops, Archbishop Wuerl invited them to consult with diocesan staff members or others and to submit responses from their diocese by July 1 so that the committee will have time to prepare a final draft for the bishops to consider at their November national meeting in Baltimore.

Msgr. Daniel Kutys, deputy secretary for catechesis in the USCCB Department of Education, said the committee did not go into questions of appropriate age for specific aspects of education for chaste living, leaving that to the experience of publishers. The point of the guidelines, he said, is to stress that catechetical education should be dealing with questions of faith, virtue and moral life and not involve questions of biology and other sciences except to the extent necessary.

In family life materials for younger children, he said, many catechetical programs put any physiological discussions in a parent segment.

The guidelines outline what elements of the church’s teaching should be included as components of education for chaste living, starting with the scriptural account of human beings being created in God’s own image and created for love.

The guidelines address the role of pastors in ensuring “that the education and formation of the young in human sexuality is in accord with the church’s teaching.”

Other parts of the document address the role of parents, the role of teachers and catechists and the role of publishers.

It cites some “special issues of concern,” saying that “serious offenses against chastity are identified because of their prevalence in our society today and the particular dangers they pose to chaste living.”

Listed among the special issues are pornography, the contraceptive mentality and practice, premarital and extramarital sex, cohabitation, sexual abuse, homosexual activity and same-sex unions.

8 The Catholic News & Herald

pope in latin america

May 18, 2007

Pope tells Latin Americans to meet challenges by focusing on Jesus BRAZIL, from page 1

people, the canonization of the first Brazilian-born saint, and the inauguration of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The pope cited inroads by secularism, threats against the family and the institution of marriage, and an erosion of traditional Latin America values and said that in response the church needs to put greater emphasis on the religious education of its own members.

One big reason the evangelical sects have attracted Catholics, he told Brazilian bishops, is that many Catholics are insufficiently evangelized and their faith is weak, confused and easily shaken.

In a country where televangelists have had great success with simplistic religious messages, the pope did not hold out any easy solutions.

Instead, he said, the church should conduct “a methodical evangelization aimed at personal and communal fidelity to Christ.”

Firm doctrinal content is essential to faith formation, he said, and at nearly every stop he suggested wider use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The crowds that showed up for papal events were enthusiastic but smaller than foreseen by trip planners in Brazil, the largest Catholic country in the world.

There were empty spaces at both of his outdoor Masses, and the crowds along some of his motorcade routes were sparse.

Intense itinerary The papal trip began May 9 with an inflight press conference that prompted controversy when the pope, in response to a question, appeared to support the idea of excommunication for proabortion politicians.

The Vatican later released a toneddown version of the papal comments.

In Brazil, where pressures have been growing for legalized abortion, the pope mentioned protection of the unborn at several of his events, including a Sao Paulo airport welcoming ceremony attended by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The pope told the president and assembled dignitaries that he had come

to help reinforce Christian values and counter new threats to the poor, the abandoned and the unborn.

“I am well aware that the soul of this people, as of all Latin America, safeguards values that are radically Christian, which will never be eradicated,” he said.

On May 10, the pope joined some 40,000 young people in a Sao Paulo soccer stadium for song, dance, prayer and a lengthy papal speech that laid out arguments for Christian virtue.

He warned against sexual infidelity, drug use and unethical routes to success and told the youths to live their lives “with enthusiasm and with joy, but most of all with a sense of responsibility.”

The choreographed encounter was billed as an emotional highlight of the papal visit. The pope hugged some of the young people who spoke, but looked somewhat reserved throughout the event.

Although he had no problem pronouncing his Portuguese speech, there was no spontaneous banter with the crowd.

At a Mass May 11 on a Sao Paulo airfield, the pope canonized St. Antonio Galvao, an 18th-century Franciscan known for his charitable work among the poor and sick.

The pope said the saint’s dedication to God and purity should be exemplary in a modern age “so full of hedonism.”

“The world needs transparent lives, clear souls, pure minds that refuse to be perceived as mere objects of pleasure.

It is necessary to oppose those elements of the media that ridicule the sanctity of marriage and virginity before marriage,” he said.

On May 12 the pope rode deep into the Brazilian countryside to visit Fazenda da Esperanca, or Farm of Hope, a church-run drug rehabilitation center.

After listening to emotional testimonials from recovering addicts, the pope warned drug dealers that they will face God’s judgment for the human damage they have inflicted.

Compared to the first days of the trip, the pope looked more at ease on the grounds of the farm, where he was cheered by 3,000 volunteers and residents and was given a group hug by four children.

That evening, he was even more animated when he met with thousands of priests, seminarians, religious and lay movement members in the Basilica of Our Lady Aparecida, Latin America’s

CNS photo by L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI greets the faithful as he leaves St. Benedict Monastery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 10. biggest Marian shrine.

After praying the rosary, the pope gave a spiritual pep talk that was repeatedly interrupted by applause, telling the congregation: “The church is our home.

This is our home. In the Catholic Church we find all that is good.”

At Mass outside the basilica the next day, the pope appeared to draw a distinction between the Catholic Church’s missionary approach and the aggressive proselytizing by evangelical sects, which have flourished in Latin America.

“The church does not engage in proselytism. Instead, she grows by attraction,” the pope said.

By living charity day in and day out, he said, Christians release “an irresistible power which is the power of holiness.”

This is the center of the missionary task, he said.

Key points to bishops Before leaving Brazil, the pope delivered a lengthy opening address to the bishops’ general conference, a speech that was greatly anticipated by the more

than 260 participants.

The pope made several key points: — The church best contributes to solving social and political problems by promoting a moral consensus on fundamental values — which must come before the construction of just social structures.

— Among Catholics, the bishops should give priority to Sunday Mass and more intense faith formation of young people and adults.

— Both Marxism and capitalism have failed to deliver on their ideological promises to build a better world, largely because they are systems divorced from individual morality.

Along with his critique of capitalism and the growing rich-poor gap, the pope warned that globalization risks creating vast monopolies and treating profit as “the supreme value.”

— The evangelization of the Americas was not the “imposition of a foreign culture,” and any attempt to retrieve pre-Colombian indigenous religions would be “a step backward” for Latin Americans.

May 18, 2007

pope in latin america

Brazilians’ devotion to Our Lady Aparecida dates to 1717 APARECIDA, Brazil (CNS) — Even before Pope Benedict XVI arrived May 11, this city of 35,000 people in a valley about 100 miles northeast of Sao Paulo was accustomed to receiving large crowds of pilgrims.

Every Oct. 12, at least 100,000 people arrive to celebrate the feast of Our Lady Aparecida, Brazil’s patroness.

Since 1717, when three local men fished an image of Mary from the Paraiba River, Aparecida has been a pilgrimage destination. More than 7 million people now annually visit the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida.

Shops nearby are filled with souvenirs, including replicas of the original statue of a dark-skinned Mary wearing a dark-blue cape with gold decorations typical of South American colonial art.

The earliest sites of the devotion to Our Lady Aparecida — so named because she “appeared” to the fishermen — were small grottos or chapels built by the fishermen’s families. By 1745, the

statue had become known as miraculous, and a small, colonial-style church was built on a hilltop to house it.

That church, near the bus station, is often the first one that pilgrims see, but the number of pilgrims visiting every year has far outstripped its capacity.

In 1955, Brazil’s bishops decided to build a larger basilica. The new structure, still under construction, was consecrated

by Pope John Paul II in 1980, during his first visit to the country.

That is the basilica where Pope Benedict XVI prayed the rosary with Brazilian priests and religious May 12 and which served as the backdrop for the outdoor Mass he celebrated May 13 to open a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean bishops.

The devotion to Our Lady Aparecida is widespread throughout Brazil, and “Aparecida” is a common name for girls.

More than 330 Brazilian parishes and five cathedrals are also dedicated to Our Lady Aparecida.

CNS photo by Tony Gentile, Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass in front of the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida in Aparecida, Brazil, May 13. A crowd of about 150,000 attended the service.

The Catholic News & Herald 9

Harvesting hope in Brazil Pope tells addicts that drug dealers will face God’s judgment

by JOHN THAVIS catholic news service

GUARATINGUETA, Brazil — In a meeting with recovering Brazilian drug addicts, Pope Benedict XVI said drug dealers will face God’s judgment for the damage they have inflicted on individuals and society.

The pope made the remarks during a visit May 12 to Fazenda da Esperanca, or Farm of Hope, a church-run drug rehabilitation center in rural Brazil.

After listening to emotional testimonials from young men and women who have struggled to break free of drug and alcohol dependency, the pope urged those helped by the center to become “ambassadors of hope” to other addicts.

The pope said the statistics on drug abuse in Brazil were alarming and that the rest of Latin America is not far behind.

“I therefore urge the drug dealers to reflect on the grave harm they are inflicting on countless young people and on adults from every level of society,” he said.

“God will call you to account for your deeds. Human dignity cannot be trampled upon in this way,” he said.

The pope spoke from a thatch-roofed platform to about 3,000 people who gathered on the grounds of the 40-acre farm, where residents grow vegetables and raise livestock.

The pontiff arrived after a long drive deep into the heart of the southern Brazil countryside, where rich valleys alternated with wooded hills. Farmsteads along the route decorated their driveways in yellow and white, the Vatican colors.

The Farm of Hope was founded in 1983 by a German Franciscan, Father Hans Stapel. Today, it is a movement with 33 centers around the world, helping drug addicts, unwed mothers, homeless and young people infected with HIV. The main center near the Brazilian city of Guaratingueta ministers to about 100 addicts. Many of them arrive there after trying and failing with other rehab treatments.

Filipe Kenji Diniz, a 27-year-old from Curitiba who sat near the papal stage, said he tried for 12 years to kick his drug habit, which began with alcohol and ended with crack cocaine.

He entered three hospital programs and took substitute chemicals, but it did not work, he said.

He had heard about Farm of Hope, so he decided to try it.

“Here the method was different,” he said.

“I learned to talk to God — to pray.

And when I talked to God, I found that I stayed very calm, and I didn’t need the drugs anymore,” he said.

Five men and women stood before the pope and read testimonials about their experience at the farm. Antonio Eleuterio Neto described how his drug addiction since age 12 was broken when he was offered friendship and trust and was able to discover the importance of God in his life.

CNS photo by Tony Gentile, Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI embraces a group of children during his visit to Fazenda da Esperanca (Farm of Hope) drug rehabilitation center in Guaratingueta, Brazil, May 12. The Franciscan-founded facility treats mostly those who have failed to kick their addiction in other programs.

“God will call you to account for your deeds. Human dignity cannot be trampled upon this way.”

— Pope Benedict XVI After the young man spoke, the pope gave him a hug.

Sylvia Hartwich, a 20-year German immigrant, cried when describing her struggle with drugs and anorexia, which she overcame after being approached by three members of Farm of Hope.

Today, she works as a volunteer in a German branch of the movement.

Ricardo Correa Ribeirinha, the son of a prostitute, told of his personal experiences of sniffing glue, taking cocaine and smoking crack, and of the devastation caused society by the drug trade and the violence that surrounds it.

People thought he would end up in jail or in an early grave, but he broke free after joining Farm of Hope, he said.

In his talk, Pope Benedict praised the center’s approach of combining medical and psychological assistance with prayer, manual work and personal discipline. When dealing with addiction, he said, it was important to treat the soul as well as the body.

The personnel at the center, he emphasized, are carrying out a work of conversion as well as rehabilitation.

Farm of Hope says its success rate with addict rehabilitation is more than 80 percent, far better than other similar programs in Brazil.

Before leaving, the pope gave a gift of $100,000 to the center.

May 18, 2007

10 The Catholic News & Herald

Culture Watch

A roundup of Scripture, readings, films and more

‘Sign of God for all humans’

With first book as pope, Benedict seeks to enrich views on Jesus

(CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI believes that a serious gap has developed between two classic and complementary ways of describing Jesus.

His new book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” the first he has published since his election as pontiff two years ago, attempts to close that gap and to reclaim what he considers to be a proper understanding of Jesus.

At the outset, the pope makes it clear that this book (one of two he plans to write on the subject) reflects his own opinions which are not necessarily those of the magisterium — the church’s official teaching office.

The book is solely “an expression of my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord’ (Ps 27:8). Everyone is free, then, to contradict me. I would only ask my readers for that initial good will without which there can be no understanding.”

“Jesus of history” and “Christ of faith” have long served as parallel terms for describing Jesus, Pope Benedict writes in the foreword. The first affirms his humanity while the second asserts his divinity.

The author feels deeply that too much modern theology (a lot of it well-intentioned) has had the effect of downplaying the supernatural reality of God and the divinity of Jesus.

Over the past 50 years, the historicalcritical approach to Scripture studies (while a great gift to biblical scholarship) has weakened our experience of Jesus as the core of our faith.

Much has justifiably been made of the man Jesus as moral teacher, social revolutionary, inspired religious founder, prophet and sage. But this has also blurred our encounter with Jesus as personal lord and savior who reveals God to us — a conviction that permeates the Gospels.

The scientific approach to the Scriptures was an attempt to make God more accessible and Jesus more amenable to modern Christians and non-Christians alike. But it has also led to a relativization of God and a humanization of Jesus at the expense of their ideal natures.

When the church fails to communicate the powerful “otherness” of God revealed through Jesus, the pope concludes, its highest public service is compromised.

Pope Benedict believes that there can

be no true civil society or genuine moral progress apart from a right understanding of God. For that to occur, the church needs to proclaim to the world a divine vision.

Jesus Christ offers this vision. He is “the sign of God for all humans.” Jesus is the one to whom all Scripture — Old and New Testaments alike — bears witness. We need to reclaim this Jesus as the word of God, revealed to us throughout the Bible.

By writing this book, the pope hopes to foster in his readers “a living relationship with Jesus.”

“Jesus of Nazareth” combines pastoral and theological vigor. It demonstrates the author as a man of faith, a refined theologian and a sincere servant of God’s people.

The book contains 10 spiritual/ theological reflections, and deals with themes like the baptism and temptations of Jesus; his message of the “kingdom of God” presented in his Sermon on the Mount; the Lord’s Prayer; and his parables.

He called his disciples to accompany him and to carry on his mission.

The concluding chapters comment on images of Jesus in John’s Gospel, the significance of Peter’s confession and the meaning of the Transfiguration. In the concluding reflection Jesus reveals his true identity.

The content of each chapter will enrich personal meditation, homily and talk preparation and ordinary conversation.

Reading this book is not unlike having its author engage you personally in a college dorm discussion, or other informal exchange.

Agreement is not so much his goal as stimulating engagement and debate.

“Jesus of Nazareth” portrays the pope as someone who cares deeply and personally about what we believe.

The author concludes on this reflective note: “In the end, man needs just one thing; but he must first delve beyond his superficial wishes and longings in order to learn to recognize what it is that he truly needs and truly wants. He needs God.” Holst teaches religion and culture at the University of Calgary, in Canada’s Alberta province.

WORD TO LIFE

Sunday Scripture Readings: MAY 27, 2007

May 27, Pentecost Sunday Cycle C Readings: 1) Acts 2:1-11 Psalm 104:1ab, 24ac, 29bc-30, 31, 34 2) 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 3) Gospel: John 20:19-23

Joining together helps us receive wholeness of God’s spirit

by JEAN DENTON catholic news service

To their credit, every one of the 18 teenagers had chosen to fully engage in the experience of lectio divina — divine reading. They may have been reluctant to come on this retreat, but once there they decided to make the most of it.

Using the ancient prayer form, they listened to a reading and each shared aloud what struck them as a significant word or phrase. The process was repeated twice more with increased elucidation each go-round.

The reading they used was the first section of the Nicene Creed.

Later in the retreat they prayed lectio divina again, this time with the second section of the creed. Their responses grew more confident and heartfelt as they became more comfortable with the prayer and each other.

In the meantime, their other activities focused on their personal relationship with God and with each other as a

community of faith. It was part of their preparation for the sacrament of confirmation.

Finally toward the end of the retreat they prayed lectio divina for a third time, reading the last part of the creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit ...” When their leader said a final “Amen” at the end of their meditation, the group remained quiet for several moments.

Then one teen said, “It’s really cool how we get the same words, but we all hear something a little different.”

Another added, “Yeah, it’s like everybody has a little piece of the puzzle.”

A third person said, “You can understand a lot more when you get everyone’s different perspectives.”

So began a free-flowing discussion about their basic, shared belief in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Better than a teaching on the Holy Spirit, it was an experience of the Holy Spirit provided by none other than the Spirit itself.

Those young people who a few months later would receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation learned that the Spirit is given to each according to one’s unique gifts for the sake of all.

Like the disciples in this week’s reading from Acts, each one heard and responded to God in his or her own “language.” By joining their understanding together they received the wholeness of God’s Spirit.

Question: When have you had an experience of the Holy Spirit that was deepened by your relationship with others? Describe how the “pieces of the puzzle” fit together.

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE Scripture for the week of May 20—26 Sunday (Seventh Sunday of Easter), Acts 7:55-60, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20, John 17:20-26; Monday, Acts 19:1-8, John 16:29-33; Tuesday (St. Rita of Cascia), Acts 20:17-27, John 17:1-11; Wednesday, Acts 20:28-38, John 17:11-19; Thursday, Acts 22:30; 23:6-11, John 17:20-26; Friday (St. Gregory VII, St. Bede, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi), Acts 25:13-21, John 21:15-19; Saturday (St. Philip Neri), Acts 28:16-20, 30-31, John 21:20-25.

Scripture for the week of May 27—June 2 Sunday (Pentecost), Acts 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13, John 20:19-23; Monday, Sirach 17:20-24, Mark 10:17-27; Tuesday, Sirach 35:1-12, Mark 10:28-31; Wednesday, Sirach 36:1, 4-5, 10-17, Mark 10:32-45; Thursday (Visitation of the Virgin Mary), Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:2-6, Luke 1:39-56; Friday (St. Justin), Sirach 44:1, 9-13, Mark 11:11-26; Saturday (St. Marcellinus and Peter), Sirach 51:12-20, Mark 11:27-33.

The Catholic News & Herald 11

May 18, 2007

The trouble of accessibility

‘Shrek’ sets sail for laughs, good values

‘Tsunami of pornography’ debases human dignity, archbishop says by

DAN MORRIS-YOUNG catholic news service

SAN FRANCISCO — Describing what he sees as an “electronic tsunami of pornography,” Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco told a Utahbased anti-pornography organization that pornography “debases the priceless worth and dignity of each human being and (God’s) gift of human sexuality.”

While pornography “is not a new challenge,” the archbishop told members of the Lighted Candle Society at its annual awards dinner in Salt Lake City May 8, “the explosive increase in the accessibility and availability of pornography is new and deeply troubling.”

“Every computer terminal is its pipeline, and cell phones and other hand-held devices, many of them marketed to children and young people, literally deliver pornography everywhere, to anyone,” he said in his keynote address.

Archbishop Niederauer was presented the Lighted Candle Society’s Guardian of the Light Award two years ago for his work as president of the Utah Coalition Against Pornography, a position he held for five years as bishop of Salt Lake City before being named archbishop of San Francisco.

The archbishop, who headed the Salt Lake City Diocese from 1994 to 2005, reminded his listeners that pornography “now generates more annual income than all three major professional sports combined, and causes as well the world’s fastest growing addiction.”

“We have all heard the discouraging numbers,” he said, noting research shows there are 68 million Internet “search engine requests for porn sites” every day, that 70 percent of men ages 18 to 24 visit porn sites each month, that “90 percent of 8- to 16-year-olds have viewed porn online,” and that “the average age of a child’s first exposure to pornography on the Internet is 11.”

However, he said, “what should motivate us most profoundly is not the amount of pornography there is but the kind of harm it does. Pornography assaults human dignity and commodifies people and human sexuality. Porn starves

“Every computer terminal is its pipeline ... literally deliver pornography everywhere, to anyone.”

— Archbishop George H. Niederauer

the human soul in its spiritual dimension. ... The human person, an irreplaceable gift, becomes a throwaway toy.”

The archbishop, who chairs the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Communications and is a member of the Pontifical Council on Social Communications, cautioned that pornography opponents “need constantly to explore and articulate what we are for, not merely what we are against. Deploring and pointing with alarm are valid and effective only in light of what we value and defend.”

Much of the archbishop’s talk also addressed the motion picture industry which, he said, “is capable of so much beauty and so much trash.”

Admitting he has had “a lifelong love affair with the movies,” Archbishop Niederauer criticized “the nihilism that reigns in many quarters of moviemaking” today as well as “excessive violence” and dark portrayals of life.

He called on his listeners, film critics and moviemakers themselves to be wary of being cowed by a desire to seem “supersophisticated.”

“The one thing we will not be called is prudes, so we laugh nervously at the vilest sexual aberrations, nod knowingly at the blackest, sickest kind of humor, even relish a bit of violence well carried off,” the archbishop said.

“Some of us want to come off as so worldly-wise that we defend any evil flashed on-screen by saying, ‘Face it, the world is like that!’” he said.

“Moviegoers can’t be sponges,” he added. “Just as in our experiences of other media, in watching films we need to become our own best filters.”

Contributing to this article was Barbara Stinson Lee in Salt Lake City.

CNS photo by DreamWorks

Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) and Artie (voiced by Justin Timberlake) are seen in “Shrek the Third,” a somewhat darker film than its two predecessors but still with plenty of laughs and a careful emphasis on good values, such as believing in yourself, sacrificing for others, eschewing violence and trusting in mankind’s innate goodness. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II — adults and adolescents.

The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG — parental guidance suggested. for children.

Pursuing art and morality Mexican actor gives up fame to make movies that touch lives by

DEBORAH GYAPONG catholic news service

OTTAWA — If the story of the rich young man from the Gospel of Matthew had a sequel updated for modern times, it might resemble the life of actor Eduardo Verastegui, a Catholic who stars in the film “Bella.”

In the Gospel account, Jesus tells the young man to sell all he has and follow him, but the man goes away sorrowful.

In the modern-day sequel, Verastegui sells all he has and is prepared to give up his budding acting career to follow Jesus.

Verastegui had reached the zenith of Mexican celebrity as a soap star and singer who had toured at least 13 countries to sold-out crowds. His resume includes everything from appearing as Jennifer Lopez’s love interest in a music video to the starring role in the 20th Century Fox movie “Chasing Papi” and a co-starring role in the independent film “Meet Me in Miami.”

Verastegui also has been listed as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in the magazine People en Espanol.

But while studying English in Los Angeles, he found himself drawn to a deeper faith in Jesus through the example of his Catholic teacher, and he began to see all the reasons he had wanted to be an actor — fame, money and pleasure — as empty and vain.

He said the media portrayal of Hispanics in general demeaned both men and women, resembling nothing like the dignity and beauty of his mother and sisters in Mexico.

Verastegui said he discovered he had hurt people through his work, and the messages in his movies were “poisoning society.”

“It broke my heart,” he said. “I realized I had offended God” and spent “many months in tears.”

Verastegui sold his possessions, wondering if God was calling him to be a priest, perhaps in the jungles of South America. His spiritual adviser, however, told him: “Hollywood is a bigger jungle.”

He vowed to refuse parts unless they

CNS photo by Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News

Eduardo Verastegui is co-founder of Metanoia Films, which released its debut film, “Bella,” last year. affirmed life and human dignity. For three years, he went without work, because all the parts offered him involved the “same negative stereotypes.”

“We are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful,” Verastegui said. “I wasn’t born to be famous, or rich; I was born to know and love and serve Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Then in 2004 he met movie producer Leo Severino while attending daily Mass.

Severino returned to Catholicism in 1999 while reading Christian apologetics.

He began attending daily Mass and found younger Christians like himself were scarce in the mostly anti-religion world of Hollywood.

Then he noticed another young man at Mass. Severino said he soon discovered, “This guy’s the Brad Pitt of Mexico.”

Not long after their meeting, Verastegui and Severino co-founded Metanoia Films with the intention to produce movies that could change lives and hearts. “Bella,” released in 2006, is Metanoia’s first film.

It won the coveted People’s Choice Award at last fall’s Toronto Film Festival.

Severino said the media, especially film and television, are “shaping our culture.” He said the movie “Million Dollar Baby” promoted euthanasia and “Cider House Rules” glorified abortion.

“Natural Born Killers” influenced the Virginia Tech shooter, he said.

“Art and morality go hand in hand,” he said, urging young people to guard their eyes and ears and their innocence.

“God does not use evil means,” he said.

12 The Catholic News & Herald

May 18, 2007

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May 18, 2007

in our schools

The Catholic News & Herald 13

Math skills benefit children’s Asheville Catholic students compete in Declamation Contest hospital by

CAROLE McGROTTY correspondent

ASHEVILLE — Students at Asheville Catholic School celebrated National Poetry Month in April by participating in the school’s annual Declamation Contest.

Three students from each class, including kindergarten students for the first time this year, were selected by their teachers to recite a poem by memory to students, faculty and parents April 26.

The Declamation Contest, which began in 1988, increases confidence in public speaking and promotes an interest in poetry. It is one of the school’s many extracurricular activities, including Battle of the Books, science and math fairs and geography bees.

Before the contest, moderator and

parent Julie Cogburn spoke about the difficulties of public speaking and how to overcome them.

Three judges selected final winners from each grade based on their presentation, interpretation, memorization, expression and stage presence. All students were given certificates of recognition.

First place winners were James Lopez, kindergarten; Bailey Cook, first grade; Annalise Mangone, second grade; Sarah Elizabeth Michalets, third grade; Emma Lenderman, fourth grade; Connor Dalton, fifth grade; Michael TonnerMintier, sixth-grade; Dylan Morris, seventh grade; and Samantha Goodman, eighth grade.

Also during the contest, outgoing parent-faculty association members received plants in gratitude for their service during the past school year.

Bishop McGuinness students participate in Special Olympics BUDDIES, from page 1

adults with intellectual disabilities.

During the Spring Games, the Bishop McGuinness students worked with their athlete “buddies,” accompanying them throughout the day and participating with

them in various games and competitions, including alpine skiing, aquatics, basketball, bowling, floor hockey, golf, roller skating, soccer, softball and volleyball.

Melissa Plunkett, a senior at Bishop McGuinness, has participated in Special Olympics for four years.

“It is more that getting out of school. It makes you feel fortunate about what you have, and the best part of it is that every time you participate you walk away with a new friend,” said Plunkett.

“We are blessed that Bishop McGuinness allows the students to participate in this event. It brings out the best in our students,” said Maryann Tyrer, religion teacher and coordinator for Special Olympics at the school.

“It really is heartwarming to see them interact with the children,” she said. “At first some of them participate just to receive service hours, but they keep coming back because it is such a rewarding experience.”

This year, Bishop McGuiness students assisted Forsyth County Special Olympics in several other events, including basketball, swimming and bowling.

Courtesy Photo

Third-grader Joseph Mellone, pictured with teacher Lynn Ruff, was the top fundraiser in the recent Matha-Thon at St. Gabriel School in Charlotte. The fundraiser, coordinated by Ruff, benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a pediatric treatment and research facility in Memphis, Tenn. The students collected pledges and completed math workbooks to raise a total of $11,078.45 in donations.

(Extended) family support

Courtesy Photo

Third-grader Alexandra Shaney accepts a giant check from Lisa Roy (left), librarian at St. Mark School in Huntersville, and Principal Debbie Butler. The school recently held a fundraiser dinner for Alexandra, who is undergoing treatment for cancer.

School assists family of student with cancer HUNTERSVILLE — Faculty and staff at St. Mark School in Huntersville recently raised more than $17,000 to help an ill student.

The school hosted a spaghetti dinner fundraiser April 27 to benefit first-grader Alexandra Schaney and her family.

Alexandra is currently undergoing her second round of treatment for Neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in infancy and childhood. She and her mother travel back and forth for treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

“The evening was an inspiring

reminder of our school’s devoted faith community,” said Principal Debbie Butler.

More than 400 people came out to honor Alexandra, an adorable, brightfaced little girl with amazing energy and determination.

Alexandra has become an advocate for cancer research and awareness — she has held her own fundraisers by selling her toys to purchase new toys for a children’s cancer center in Charlotte, has appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show” and been a spokesperson in an ad for Ronald McDonald House.

May 18, 2007

14 The Catholic News & Herald

Perspectives

A collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

All weapons should be considered David Hains’ column on gun control blew me away (“America, take control of yourself,” April 20).

Mr. Hains really got it right this time when he says that this nation again needs to talk seriously about gun control.

The issue, however, is bigger than controlling handguns on our streets and in our schools.

If we use the force of Scripture (you shall not kill) to argue against owning a handgun, then what do we do about our nation owning and using its vast arsenal of weapons of mass and tactical destruction?

As taxpayers and citizens, we own and sell weapons that are killing people and destroying property throughout the world every day. These weapons are much more lethal than any handguns because they have the capability of destroying the earth and all of God’s people.

When are we going to use the “Catholics’ trump card” of holy Scripture to talk seriously about our support of weaponry and warfare? The violence that we support at a national level eventually filters down to street level.

When we as a nation aggressively use guns to solve our problems, how can we expect our citizens to not use guns to solve their problems?

— Kenneth Schammel Huntersville

Concerns over ‘global warming’

It can’t be true as to what some Catholics were saying about “global warming” in the April 28 teleconference (“To change a climate,” May 4). If correct facts were checked, one would see that high CO2 levels occurred frequently in the past, and they always followed cyclic temperature spikes. They did not cause them.

Those at the teleconference did not mention that the sun has been the hottest its ever been over the past 1,000 years, that several other of our solar system’s planets are seeing the same warming as Earth, that most of the people from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are bureaucrats and policymakers (and not climatologists), that the sun itself is actually a variable star, and that earth always recovers from events far worse than additional CO2.

And the actual temperature rise over the past 100 years is 0.8oC. Are we arrogant enough to believe that we, as humans, control our destiny without God? They admit that God gave humankind the mandate to subdue and have dominion over the Earth, but all the reductions in pollutants and toxics seem to be ignored as well as moral implications.

Government and private studies have shown that adherence to Kyoto would cost the United States $348 billion by 2012, and the destruction of 1.3 million jobs.

Letters to the Editor If any of these things come to fruition, may God have mercy on our souls.

— Kevin Roeten Asheville Our faith should guide our lives and our dealings with the material world. The way we interact with creation falls into that category.

However, there should not be a “Catholic way” to approach the issue of global warming. As far as I know, it is not scientifically proven and it has become a political matter that fits clearly within the agenda of a specific ideology.

Each Catholic individually can think of it freely as he or she chooses about the issue. I really do not think that this is a subject to be discussed in Catholic churches, journals or the like.

— Frank Carrillo Charlotte

Military chaplains appreciated

Congratulations for the excellent article on priests training to be military chaplains (“Fathers on the front lines,” May 4).

I was moved by their testimony. I am thankful to them for their generosity and courage. Certainly they are a key piece to help our military to sanctify its difficult work.

My gratitude to those in the military who generously risk their lives to defend all of us. They can count on my prayers.

— Marina Nunez Winston-Salem

A preacher passes Remembering the rise and fall of Rev. Falwell He stood at the podium in a ballroom that had been transformed into a press center. Rev. Jerry Falwell was about to meet the public to announce his takeover of PTL Ministries.

Falwell, who died this week at 73, spent a lot of time in the Carolinas in the late 1980s.

As a television reporter in Charlotte during that time, I frequently covered PTL and its founder, Rev. Jim Bakker.

PTL, which stood for “Praise the Lord” — or depending on your viewpoint, “pass the loot” — was an evangelical television and resort empire located just over the state line in Fort Mill, S.C. PTL and Rev. Bakker were the subjects of intrigue because even though he was a television star, Rev. Bakker was a secretive fellow who wasn’t keen on snoopy reporters. He used the money he solicited in endless on-air appeals to build what is known in the religion business as “a tall steeple.”

PTL included a hotel, indoor mall, campground, outdoor theater and a water park. His TV studio doubled as a church.

The immediate reason for Rev. Bakker’s withdrawal from PTL in 1987 was because he admitted to having an affair with a church secretary. But it turned out Bakker had more pressing problems with a federal grand jury that was looking into his shell-game fundraising methods.

A trial jury would later send a tearful Rev. Bakker to prison for bilking millions from his followers.

Rev. Falwell came to the PTL resort as a kind of news media-anointed savior. In contrast to Rev. Bakker he lived modestly.

As the founder of the Moral Majority, the political voice for fundamental Christianity in America, there seemed to be little he could not accomplish.

Rev. Bakker’s spectacular fall from the pulpit was widely viewed as bad for the blossoming televangelism business.

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CNS photo by Rick Reinhard

The Rev. Jerry Falwell is pictured during the 1985 March for Life in Washington. He died May 15 at Lynchburg General Hospital.

Catholics & the Media DAVID HAINS communications director

It was hoped that Rev. Falwell, who had a good track record for fundraising, could save PTL. Rev. Falwell struck me as a resolute guy who answered the assembled reporters’ questions with a refreshing lack of baloney. He was open and honest about the massive problems faced by PTL. I recall his answer to a particular question about the possibility of Rev. Bakker somehow returning to PTL. He paused before answering, but then made it clear that there was no pastoral place for a fallen minister.

“I said to Jim, you need to hear this and you need to hear it from me, ‘You aren’t coming back to PTL, ever,’” said Rev. Falwell.

Rev. Bakker never returned. But despite Rev. Falwell’s strong words and his publicity stunt of riding a water slide while wearing a suit to celebrate a fundraising goal, he couldn’t save the corrupt ministry and PTL disappeared in the quagmire of bankruptcy.

And for his efforts, Rev. Falwell didn’t get much. His own ministry/empire shrank considerably as a result of the loss of trust the collective audience demonstrated by diminished giving to the TV ministries.

Before he was a famous preacher, Rev. Falwell was a pastor who built a successful and large church in Lynchburg, Va., around his fundamentalist approach to Scripture.

It is unfortunate that he gained his greatest notoriety not through his dedication as a pastor of a large flock but because of the inflammatory remarks he made when he became politically active.

In his later years, Rev. Falwell became a person who the media turned to when it was looking for an outrageous remark.

He constantly berated homosexuals, made personal attacks on Bill and Hillary Clinton and declared that the Sept. 11 attacks were divine revenge for the mostly sexual ills of society.

Rev. Falwell’s damnation statements won’t be missed, except perhaps by some news organizations that, like the tall-steeple builders, are always on the lookout for a catchy slogan that says “pay attention to me.”

Faith, be it Catholic or the Protestantism of the Christian right, means paying attention to something else.

D a v i d H a i n s i s d i re c t o r o f communication for the Diocese of Charlotte. Contact him at dwhains@ charlottediocese.org.

A podcast of this column is available on the diocesan Web site, www. charlottediocese.org.

May 18, 2007

The Catholic News & Herald 15

Fighting ‘the good fight’ Soul-searching thoughts for Memorial Day Instead of shopping, let’s do something far more appropriate this Memorial Day. Let’s pray for those who lost their lives in battle. And let’s imagine a world without war and what it would take to get there.

Why do presidents and congresses send young men and women to kill and be killed? Why do most Americans so easily accept their worn-out answers?

And why can’t we finally learn how to wage peace, instead of war?

For insight I turned to America’s most famous anti-war veteran. For more than 45 years, Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan has been fighting the battle against war itself.

Armed with the weapons of faith, logic, dialogue and civil disobedience, Father Berrigan has been nonviolently waging — in the words of Scripture — “the good fight.”

At 86, the soft-spoken Father Berrigan told me he still writes, gives retreats and regularly gets arrested.

Father Berrigan said that as a young Jesuit he met and worked with two giant Catholic figures of the 20th century: Dorothy Day and Trappist Father Thomas Merton. Their deep spiritually and uncompromising commitment to nonviolence had a lasting impact on his life.

His late brother, Josephite Father Philip Berrigan, also deeply influenced him. They were truly kindred spirits.

After all, they were long known as the “Berrigan Brothers.”

He said that in the mid-1960s Cardinal Francis Spellman, archbishop of New York, strongly backed American involvement in the Vietnam War. The cardinal said the Vietnam War was a just war. The Berrigan Brothers said, “No war is just.”

Father Berrigan added, “I don’t know how we can open the Gospel and wage war.”

While Cardinal Spellman was flying to Vietnam aboard a U.S. bomber, Father Berrigan said he and his brother were protesting in front of New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral holding a banner that read “Thou Shall Not Bomb.”

He said that as people passed by he and his brother handed out anti-war leaflets stained with their blood. “It is better to give blood than to take it,” he added.

In true prophetic spirit, Father Berrigan has not only “talked the talk” but has “walked the walk.” And he has paid a dear price for his convictions: years of imprisonment.

One of his most symbolic acts of civil disobedience was when he and eight other protesters used napalm to burn draft records in Catonsville, Md.

Sinful gossip

Exploring the characteristics of powerful, malicious talk Gossip: Everybody does it and everybody suffers from it.

Sometimes gossip is sinful, but in my experience hardly anyone ever confesses it. Maybe that is because it is so common.

If we do something routinely, we stop reflecting on it.

A few years ago while preparing adult converts to receive holy Communion, we got into a discussion about whether it was better to receive Communion in the hand or on the tongue. One man said he thought we shouldn’t receive Communion in the hand because of all the sins we commit with our hands.

Another responded immediately, “But what about all the harm we do with our tongues?” Good point.

We really can hurt people with sinful gossip. I’m not referring to small talk or harmless chit chat. Such talk may not be beneficial, but it does little damage.

It is ordinary conversation. Simple observations can be made: “She’s lost weight”; “he has been sick a long time”; or “their house has been on the market for 10 months.” This is hardly sinful.

When does talk become sinful gossip?

It seems to me that it has four characteristics: 1. Sinful gossip is merely idle talk. It

serves no good purpose. It advances no good cause.

We are talking about things that we cannot change or affect in any way.

It is not sinful gossip for a doctor to talk to a nurse about a patient’s sexually transmitted disease. It has a constructive purpose. It can advance a cure.

It is sinful gossip for the same doctor or nurse to talk to their husband or wife about that same patient. That conversation does nothing for the patient except tear the person down and cause harm to his or her reputation.

2. Gossip is malicious talk. Malicious talk serves an evil purpose. It is designed to harm the person we are talking about.

The reason we want to share that information is to degrade the reputation of another. Often we do this to make ourselves feel superior.

Truth is no defense when it comes to gossip. Even when the information is true it can be malicious. Christians are held to a higher standard than newspapers. Just because a newspaper prints it does not mean that we should gossip about it.

There are very few things more valuable to a person than a good name.

Once information is broadcast we cannot get it back in the corral. We do not know how it might be used.

Making a Difference TONY MAGLIANO cns columnist

He said they used napalm to highlight the fact that American warplanes were dropping napalm bombs on countless Vietnamese civilians.

Father Berrigan explained that napalm is made out of kerosene and soap chips. The soap chips allow burning kerosene to adhere to human skin. He said, “It’s criminal to burn paper, but not criminal to burn children.

“What do we make of the Sermon on the Mount while all this is going on?” questioned Father Berrigan. “Jesus lived by nonviolence; he commanded us to love our enemies.”

In light of Memorial Day Father Berrigan said, “We must honor the living — including vulnerable children and old people — as well as the dead. Let’s stop shipping young men and women to Iraq and Afghanistan and bringing them back in body bags. Any sense of our faith and humanity would lead us to demand an end to the killing.”

He summed it all up with these soulsearching questions: “Are we Christians who happen to be American? Or are we Americans who happen to be Christian?”

The very fate of our nation, not to mention our souls, hinges on our answer.

Parish Diary FATHER PETER DALY cns columnist

When we repeat something bad, to no purpose, we add to the harm.

A good test for malicious talk is our own feelings. How would I feel if something about me was repeated to others? Could I recover?

3. Gossip is about the private lives of others. We do not have a right to delve into lives of famous people.

Even politicians and celebrities should have a zone of privacy. Just because something is on the front page does not mean a Christian should talk about it. The supermarket tabloids titillate, but they do not elevate.

4. Gossip degrades the speaker.

When we listen to someone gossip, we want to move away.

We know that this kind of talk is designed to destroy. We know that the speaker will come after us next.

Christian speech should lift us up and encourage us. It should appeal to our better angels and noble thoughts. It should be a sign of grace.

Our tongue is a powerful instrument.

It can be used to build up in grace or tear down in gossip.

Finding community For the Journey EFFIE CALDAROLA cns columnist

Where do you find community?

When we answer that question it tells us a lot about who we are and what we value.

Catholicism is essentially a communal religion. Sometimes we find ourselves in big, impersonal congregations where we barely know each other. We think of our faith as a private matter, when in fact the essence of Christianity is based on community.

“Spirituality is not a private search for what is highest in oneself but a communal search for the face of God,” says Father Ronald Rolheiser in “The Holy Longing.”

Father Rolheiser’s quote brings to mind the story of the blind men describing an elephant. How much more clearly we can see the face of God when we share our experience of God with others.

The focus of our parish mission this year was Eucharist. The speaker emphasized that Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith, is about breaking bread together, becoming Christ for each other, leaving the church to carry Christ to others.

Community, this priest said, is established as soon as someone walks in the front door and feels welcomed.

On the mission’s first day, as we shared coffee and doughnuts, the priest asked for questions.

“I really dislike it,” one woman proclaimed, “when people start talking to each other as they leave their pews after Mass. Why can’t they wait to chat until they get to the foyer? The church is God’s house.”

I know the woman meant well, and I agree with her that the sanctuary is sacred space. But would the God who loves us not be part of the celebrating of the community as they burst forth into the world?

I love the fact that our parish is comprised of people who know and care for each other, and as they spill out of the pews they begin to greet each other, ask about a parent who is ill or about who won the Friday night football game.

We’ve all had the misfortune to be in the midst of sullen churchgoers pushing toward the front door of the church so they can get on with their lives. The contrast with a church where community is building is stark.

Community requires effort and an expenditure of time. Over the years, our parish elementary school provided community for me as my children attended and I volunteered. I have also found community in parish committees, especially the one for which I take holy Communion to the homebound.

When worship at my parish seems dull and brittle, I need to ask if I am making the effort to form community or just going through the motions.

May 18, 2007

in the news

The Catholic News & Herald 16

Symbols of hope

Catholic life in tornado-hit town slowly getting back on its feet by

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

GREENSBURG, Kan. — Although St. Joseph Church in Greensburg was destroyed in the May 4 tornado, its cross is reportedly the only cross left standing in the shattered town, and its bell is still rung daily at noon and 6 p.m.

But the rubble that was once St. Joseph Church was cleared from the lot May 11 by a work crew that included parishioners from Greensburg and Sacred Heart in nearby Pratt, as well as members of the Knights of Columbus.

“Everyone has a story of survival, helplessness, humbleness and happiness in being alive.”

— Billy Baalman Knights of Columbus Aid Foundation

The cross and the bell, which are all that remain, are seen as symbols of hope.

Plans are now under way to provide a structure that will serve the parishioners and the community as a church.

“We are committed to St. Joseph Parish and have made arrangements to purchase a modular building to serve as a temporary worship space until more permanent building plans are established,” said Dan Stremel, director of finance for the Diocese of Dodge City.

“The timetable for this is ‘as soon as possible,’” Stremel added. “This will be dependent upon utilities and other infrastructure issues that may take some months to re-establish.”

“Having this time will allow us to attempt to address the real needs of the parish, that is, the people whose lives have been disrupted and where we will focus much of our attention in the weeks ahead,” he said.

Father Robert Schremmer, vicar general for the diocese, has been in contact with leaders from other denominations in Greensburg and has offered the use of the modular structure for their congregations as well.

The Catholic Church Extension

CNS photos by Michael Schweitzer, Dodge City Daily Globe

The cross (above) and memorial bell (below) of St. Joseph Church stand amid rubble May 7 in the aftermath of a tornado that swept through Greensburg, Kan., May 4. The F5 tornado was the most powerful to hit the U.S. in eight years. Greensburg was about 95 percent destroyed.

Society has offered to assist with the $55,000 cost of the modular building.

Individuals, parishes and dioceses throughout the country have called with offers of money, manpower, equipment and vehicles.

Quoting Richard Ritter, vice president of Catholic Extension, communication director Mark Andel said, “That’s what we’re here for. We are just really concerned about the people there and hoping they can pull together and take comfort in God and know that God is still with them.”

Nearly 30 members of the Knights of Columbus canvassed Greensburg May 9 handing out $100 vouchers for food, clothing and medicine to the residents who lost their homes in the tornado.

The Knights helped 381 families in Greensburg and another 60 families in surrounding communities affected by the May 4 storm, according to Bill Baalman, president of the Knights Charities Aid Foundation.

The funds were made possible by the Knights’ emergency disaster aid program.

The Knights spent five hours in Greensburg covering 80 square blocks.

They canvassed the town in teams of two handing out vouchers to be used at the Wal-Mart store in Pratt.

“Several people commented that they were Methodist, Baptist, Mennonite and others, and wanted to know if we would still help them,” Baalman said. “Our answer to them was that we are all in life together trying to get to the same goal.”

“When people are suffering it doesn’t matter what religion, if any, they are. They still need our help and prayers,” he said.

“Everyone had a story of survival, helplessness, humbleness and happiness in being alive as well as expressing sorrow for those who were injured or lost their lives,” he added. “Many came to tears while telling their stories and were comforted by the Knights passing out vouchers. I wish everyone in Greensburg would write their own experience because what I heard from them, there are 1,500-plus people with 1,500-plus stories, each a little different, but all

amazing,” said Baalman.

Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore, in his column in the diocesan newspaper, the Southwest Kansas Register, recounted his May 10 visit to Greensburg to comfort the twister’s victims.

“They were hurt, of course. They were struggling to absorb what they had lived through that dark night. They were struggling to give voice to their experience. They were overwhelmed by the scale of the problem before them,” Bishop Gilmore said.

“For their homes were gone. Their church was gone. Their town was gone, quite literally gone. Days and weeks of uncertainty stretch out before them,” he continued.

“Months and years of rebuilding stretch out before them. Anxieties piled up around them on that afternoon as the debris piled up all around them, and all around their town,” said the bishop.

“But they were not glum. They were not paralyzed. They mocked the fierce storm in their conversation, they almost dared it to come back,” he said. “They laughed at it through their anxieties and through their tears. They were down-toearth, heart-on-sleeve, human about it all.”

Bishop Gilmore added, “I am proud to be in the same church with them. I am proud to be their bishop” because their suffering invited others “to suffer with them. That communion in suffering makes all of us more human, and more divine: more like Christ, who had compassion on the crowds.”

Contributing to this story was David Myers.