May 25, 2001
Jesuit says no culture ever fully ‘culture of life’ or ‘of death’ BUFFALO, N.Y. (CNS) — Labeling an entire culture a “culture of death” is simplistic and unworthy of Christians, a Jesuit sociologist told a national meeting of catechetical leaders. “No culture is ever fully a culture of life or of death,” said Jesuit Father John A. Coleman, professor of social values at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “Those who are serious about discerning culture in the light of the Gospel should cease using these gross terms to characterize a whole culture.” Father Coleman delivered one of the major addresses at the 65th annual meeting of the National Conference of Catechetical Leadership. The meeting, held in Buffalo April 29-May 3, drew about 900 religious education professionals from around the country. Vietnam church ‘limited’ but not persecuted, says USCC official WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Catholic Church’s ability to operate freely in Vietnam is “severely limited,” but the church is not persecuted, said a U.S. Catholic Conference official. Relations between the church and the Vietnamese government have improved during the past decade. However, certain issues, such as restrictions on the ordination, appointment and transfer of priests, need improvement, said Thomas E. Quigley, the U.S. bishops’ policy adviser on Asian affairs. “There can be no denying that religious freedom is severely limited in today’s Vietnam. But as with other communist states that have survived the Cold War, improvements have been noted,” Quigley said during testimony at a meeting of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in Washington May 16. Pope says even in Italy, people live as if God does not exist VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Even in Italy, where the vast majority of people are baptized Catholic, more and more people are living their lives “as if God does not exist,” Pope John Paul II said. “This tendency is often emphasized and spread by the media with serious risks for the moral formation of individuals and of the collective,” the pope told Italy’s bishops. The pope addressed Healing Companions, a grief support group for the bereaved, will be meeting tonight and June 17 in Conference Room A at 7:30 p.m. at St. Leo the Great Church, 335 Springdale Ave. Call the church office at (336) 7240561 for details. 10 CHARLOTTE — St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Pkwy., will be hosting its Christian Coffeehouse Youth and Young Adult Night tonight from 7-8:30 p.m. in the parish center. All are invited to participate in fellowship, Christian contemporary music provided by Kathy and David with Redeemed, refreshments and spiritual messages. For sponsorship opportunities and further details, call Kathy Bartlett at (704) 614-9100. 11 CHARLOTTE — The 1st Annual Links for Life Golf Tournament will be held today at Firethorne Country Club. Included in the package will be lunch, beverages, dinner and a posttournament awards reception. All proceeds will benefit Room at the Inn, a maternity home supporting single,
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President attends Notre Dame commencement President George W. Bush is flanked by Holy Cross Father Edward Malloy (left), president of the University of Notre Dame, and Patrick McCartan, right, during commencement services at the university May 20. In his address the president urged faith-based groups to take the lead in fighting poverty. the country’s bishops May 17 during their annual general meeting at the Vatican. He told the bishops, “It is part of the mission of pastors both to encourage, with clarity, correct doctrine in matters of faith and morals as well as to support and encourage all initiatives which can be valid alternatives” to living outside church teaching. At U.N. conference, Vatican calls for shared duty to poor BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNS) — At a U.N. conference highlighting an increase in extreme poverty in parts of the world, a Vatican diplomat called for a “worldwide movement” of shared responsibility for the poor. “Our task is to make solidarity a reality,” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, head of the Vatican delegation to the third U.N. conference on poverty, told participants May 16 during the weeklong meeting. “We must create a worldwide movement which understands solidarity as a natural duty of each person, each community and each June 3 CHARLOTTE — The St. Maximilian Kolbe Fraternity of Secular Franciscans will be meeting today from 2-4 p.m. at Our Lady of Consolation Church, 2301 Statesville Ave. All visitors and inquirers are welcome. For more information, call Skyler Mood, SFO, at (704) 573-4299. 3 CHARLOTTE — Because of Pentecost, a charismatic Mass, celebrated by Father Dean Cesa, will be held at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Rd. East, this afternoon at 4 p.m. with prayer teams at 3 p.m. and a potluck dinner at 5 p.m. in the school cafeteria. For further information, contact Josie Backus at (704) 527-4676. 3 GUILFORD COUNTY — The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Guilford County Division 1, an IrishCatholic social and charitable interparish group, will be having a meeting today from 3-5 p.m. at the Showfety Activity Center at St. Benedict Church, 109 West Smith St. in Greensboro. For
nation,” he said. The conference, which was expected to produce a program of action to combat poverty, brought together leaders of the world’s poorest and richest countries, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, World Bank President James Wolfensohn and private business representatives. Seventy percent of Latinos identify as Catholic, says survey WASHINGTON (CNS) — A new national survey reports that 70 percent of the Latino population identified themselves as Catholic. The survey also showed a dropoff in the percentage of Latino Catholics with each generation born in the United States and an increase in the Protestant population with each passing generation. The survey was done by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, a California-based think tank, as part of the Hispanic Church in American Public Life Project. The Hispanic further information, call Alice Schmidt at (336) 288-0983. 3 SALISBURY — Sacred Heart Church, 128 N. Fulton St., will be celebrating a charismatic/healing Mass at 4 p.m. today followed by prayer teams and a potluck dinner. Father John Putnam will be the celebrant. For further details, call Bill Owens at (704) 639-9837. 4 CHARLOTTE — Churches in the Charlotte area will be having their regularly scheduled cancer support group meetings for survivors, family and friends on the following days: St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd., tonight at 7 p.m. in the ministry center library and St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., on June 5 at 7 p.m. in the office building conference room. For more information, call: St. Matthew - Marilyn Borrelli at (704) 542-2283 and St. Gabriel - Eileen Cordell at (704) 352-5047, Ext. 217. 4 CHARLOTTE — Christians in Career Transition is a ministry of St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne
project is a three-year ecumenical research program funded by a $1.3 million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to examine the role of religion on the political and civic commitment of Latinos. Survey on religion and stress needs online participants WASHINGTON (CNS) — Psychology researchers at The Catholic University of America are recruiting online participants for a 30-minute survey on how people turn to religion in times of stress. The Web-based survey at http://research. cua.edu/psy is open to anyone who wishes to respond. Catholic University graduate students Michele Schottenbauer and Benjamin Rodriguez and their professors hope to recruit a sample from a wide variety of religious denominations, as well as participants who may not be affiliated with any religious denomination. Data from the survey will be used to study the ways people turn to faith and religion to help cope with stress. Theologians must reaffirm church laws on sexuality, says Vatican VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In addressing moral problems facing modern men and women, Catholic theologians must recognize that certain concepts regarding the dignity of human life and sexuality are unchanging, the Vatican said. Moral theologians may be tempted to answer questions “with responses that are more conforming to the sensitivities and expectations of the world than to the thinking of Christ,” said an article in the May 16 edition of the Vatican newspaper. The article in L’Osservatore Romano, signed with three asterisks to signify its publication was approved at the highest levels of the Vatican, was published alongside a notification criticizing some works by Redemptorist Father Marciano Vidal, a Spanish moral theologian. The notification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the priest’s work was erroneous or ambiguous on s e ve r a l m o r a l q u e s t i o n s, i n cluding contraception, hom o s e x u a l i t y, m a s t u r b a t i o n and in vitro fertilization.
Commons Pkwy., devoted to helping people in career crises. The meeting takes place tonight and June 18 from 7-9 p.m. in the office area of the parish center’s conference room. For more information, call Rev. Mr. Jim Hamrlik at (704) 542-6459 4 CHARLOTTE — The widowed support group for those grieving the loss of a spouse meets from 6-7 p.m. tonight and June 18 in the family room at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd. For further details, call the church office at (704) 3645431. 4 CLEMMONS — Holy Family Church, 4820 Kinnamon Rd., will be celebrating a charismatic Mass tonight at 7:30 p.m. The sacrament of reconciliation will be given at 7 p.m., and the laying on of hands will take place after Mass. The next Mass will be celebrated on July 2. For more information, call the church office at (336) 778-0600 or Jim Passero at (336) 998-7503. 7 WINSTON-SALEM — The