May 30, 2008

May 30, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 1

www.charlottediocese.org

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Perspectives A silver anniversary worth remembering; pressing questions about life on earth

Established Jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul VI MAY 30, 2008

Uncovering the past

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

Church official: Rural Zimbabweans fear for their lives amid violence

by BRONWEN DACHS catholic news service

by CAROL GLATZ catholic news service

See MAUSOLEUM, page 7

no. 30

Going down a dangerous road

Vatican completes restoration of mausoleum under St. Peter’s VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has completed the restoration of the largest and most luxurious mausoleum in the vast necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Mausoleum of the Valerii displays some of the most ornate decoration among the 22 family mausoleums in the ancient underground cemetery.

“We had wanted to restore it for a long time, but we didn’t have the money. Now we’re extremely happy” the funding came through and the yearlong restoration has been completed, said Maria Cristina

vOLUME 17

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Zimbabweans in rural areas “fear for their lives,” a church official said after a report warned that Zimbabwe is headed toward civil war.

Postelection attacks have been “most severe” in rural areas, and many Zimbabweans in these areas may be too afraid to vote for the opposition in the runoff presidential election June 27, said Alouis Chaumba, head of Zimbabwe’s Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.

However, many people in the country’s towns and cities CNS photo by Philimon Bulawayo, Reuters

Family members of evicted farmworkers cook breakfast on the side of the road outside Mvurwi village, Zimbabwe, May 1. Families have been evicted by ruling party militia after being suspected to have voted for the opposition Movement For Democratic Change in Zimbabwe’s March 29 presidential and parliamentary elections. Scores have been killed and thousands displaced in postelection violence.

Crusading for a better tomorrow

See VIOLENCE, page 5

The N.C. man and the saint

Youth group marks one-year anniversary by

KATIE MOORE staff writer

Courtesy photo

Members of the St. Joan of Arc Youth Group in Candler, weed a garden for a parishioner as part of a Fall 2007 community service project.

CANDLER — May 20 marked the one-year anniversary of the formation of a youth group at St. Joan of Arc Church in Candler.

Comprised of middle and high school students from the Asheville area, they call themselves the “Crusaders” and follow the motto, “Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ.”

“Even though St. Joan of Arc had a very active faith formation ministry, there was no youth group per se,” said Nancy Driscoll, parish youth minister.

Driscoll first began working with the youths at the parish as a middle school faith formation catechist. She See YOUTHS, page 8

Courtesy Photo

St. Gaetano Catanoso, an Italian parish priest canonized in October 2005, is pictured in this undated photograph. His cousin, Justin Catanoso, a parishioner of St. Pius X Church in Greensboro, has recently written a book about his saintly relative and his own spiritual journey.

See story on page 10.

Culture Watch

In Our Schools

Hospitality, not hostility

Archdiocese sues Facebook; pope to send text messages

Student-actors perform classic Shakespeare, Andersen tales

Churches help victims of xenophobic violence

| Pages 10-11

| Page 12

| Page 16

May 30, 2008

2 The Catholic News & Herald

InBrief

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

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Capitol Hill colleagues praised the fighting spirit of longtime U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts after learning he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

On the Senate floor May 20, Kennedy’s colleagues stopped deliberations to offer words of encouragement for the 76-year-old senator, who was hospitalized in Boston May 17 after he suffered a seizure at his Cape Cod home.

Three days later, Kennedy’s physicians announced the seizure was caused by a malignant tumor in the upper left portion of his brain.

He was released from the hospital May 21. A course of treatment has not been announced.

Kennedy, a Catholic, was elected in 1962 to the seat once held by his brother, John F. Kennedy, who became president in 1960.

He is the third-longest serving

faces of faith

CNS photo courtesy of World Youth Day 2008

Opera singer Amelia Farrugia, siblings Mitchell and Sophie Delezio, and Australian Football League player Jared Crouch have been chosen by World Youth Day 2008 organizers to be ambassadors for the July 15-20 event. Sophie Delezio, 8, escaped death twice. She survived a fire and also lived when struck by a car.

Family of girl who escaped death among World Youth Day ambassadors PERTH, Australia (CNS) — The Catholic family of an 8-year-old girl who narrowly escaped death twice was named among nine ambassadors for World Youth Day 2008.

Sophie Delezio, known to Australians as “Little Sophie,” was thrown more than 55 yards when she was struck by a car two years ago.

She spent 12 days in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, a broken jaw and broken shoulder bone, bruising to her head, numerous rib fractures and a tear to her left lung.

In 2003 she lost both feet and suffered burns to 85 percent of her body after a car crashed into a Sydney child care center she was attending.

The Delezio family — Sophie’s parents, Ron and Carolyn, along with Sophie and her brother, Mitchell — are among the local sport stars, singer, diplomat and fashion designer chosen to promote World Youth Day among Australians.

Sophie’s parents said the opportunity to serve as World Youth Day ambassadors provides them the chance to give “back to the church for what it has given us.”

“World Youth Day will show Australians that the pope seriously cares about the people in Australia and wants to be with his family here,” they said in a statement released by World Youth Day organizers.

Sophie, who was baptized at the shrine of Blessed Mary MacKillop in Sydney, always went into surgery with a prayer card and a relic of Blessed MacKillop, the Australian founder of the

Kennedy’s colleagues in Congress praise his strong spirit

Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

Blessed MacKillop, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995, is one of 10 patrons of World Youth Day. “When the medical side is out of your hands, the only other way we could help Sophie was in prayer and knowing that there was a possibility of Sophie going to God if it did not work out,” Sophie’s parents said.

“No one can endure the difficulties of dealing with their child’s critical injuries without having faith,” they added.

“It would have been too hard without believing in God and Mary MacKillop.”

The couple said they witnessed God’s love when they saw the World Youth Day cross and icon arrive in Australia. When they saw their children touch the cross they felt “God’s energy was passed on to the children and our whole family.”

World Youth Day ambassadors are helping to promote World Youth Day in Sydney July 15-20.

The other Australian ambassadors are: Matthew Hayden, cricket player; Jared Crouch, football player; Mark Bresciano, World Cup soccer hero; Stephen Moore, Rugby World Cup star; Amelia Farrugia, opera singer; John Herron, former ambassador to the Vatican and Ireland; Jimmy Little, musician; and Carla Zampatti, fashion designer.

Australian Cardinal George Pell of Sydney described the ambassadors as “impressive Australian role models” who will help encourage “all Australians — young and old — to get involved in World Youth Day.”

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

ALBEMARLE VICARIATE MONROE — A holy hour is held every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 725 Deese St., until December 2008 in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes. The holy hour consists of evening prayer, recitation of the rosary and Benediction. The celebration is open to all. For more information, contact the parish office at (704) 289-2773.

ASHEVILLE VICARIATE HENDERSONVILLE — In honor of the 150th Anniversary of Our Lady’s appearance in Lourdes, Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin will give a talk at Immaculate Conception Church, 208 7th Ave. W., Sunday, June 8, 3 p.m. Following the talk, PGA Life Member and Immaculate Conception parishioner Ron Garcia will testify to how his asthma and allergies were miraculously cured by water from Lourdes. A question and answer session will follow, along with a reception. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Ron Garcia at (828) 696-8163.

BOONE VICARIATE SPRUCE PINE — A rosary of intercession for

senator in U.S. history, after the late Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., Kennedy has worked with Catholic bishops and Catholic Charities officials on a variety of issues, such as immigration, the federal minimum wage and health coverage.

He also has been criticized by Catholic leaders for his support for legalized abortion and embryonic stemcell research.

Catholic colleagues in the Senate and House offered their support for the senator.

During a May 21 media briefing on Capitol Hill announcing religious leaders’ support for a newly-reworked climate change bill, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., who is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, led other Christian and Jewish religious leaders in a moment of prayer for Kennedy. priests is recited each Friday at St. Lucien Church, 695 Summit St., before the 9 a.m. Mass. Prayers are offered for bishops, priests and deacons, and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood.

For more information, call the church office at (828) 765-2224.

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE CHARLOTTE — St. Peter Church, 507 S. Tryon St., will host “Men’s Spirituality” the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 12 p.m. The hourlong meetings will include silence, prayer and faith sharing. The next sessions will be June 10, 24.

For more information, call Michael LaVecchia at (704) 363-7729 or call Kevin Bezner at (704) 907-3875.

CHARLOTTE — The Compassionate Friends of Charlotte meet the first and third Tuesdays of the month at St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy. The organization is a support group for parents who have lost a child, regardless of cause of death or age of the child. The group meets at 7 p.m. in Room 234. Meetings are open to the public. For more information, contact Donna or Ralph Goodrich at (804) 882-4503 or e-mail iluvu2lauren@earthlink.net.

CHARLOTTE — Christians in Career Transition is a ministry devoted to helping people in career crisis. The group meets the first and third Monday of each month, 7-9 p.m., in room 132 of the New Life Center at St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy. For more information, call Deacon Jim Hamrlik at (704) 543-7677, ext.

1040; or Jack Rueckel at (704) 341-8449 or e-mail jrueckel@earthlink.com.

CHARLOTTE — St. Basil the Great Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church will have a Ukrainian Mass in English in the chapel of Charlotte Catholic High School, 7702 Pineville-Matthews Rd., the third Saturday of each month at 5 p.m.

Confession at 4 p.m. The Mass is open to anyone who would like to attend. For more information, contact Father Mark Shuey at mshuey2@nc.rr.com

May 30, 2008 Volume 17 • Number 30

Publisher: Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis Editor: Kevin E. Murray STAFF WRITER: Katie Moore 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 30, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 3

FROM THE VATICAN

Vatican document says vow of obedience shows dependence on God VAT I C A N C I T Y ( C N S ) — A religious vow of obedience is a witness to the truth that obeying God’s will sometimes involves reining in unbridled personal freedom, said a new Vatican document. “ Wi t h t h e i r v e r y e x i s t e n c e , consecrated persons present the possibility of a different way for the fulfillment of their own life, a way where the goal is God, his word the light and his will the guide,” said the document from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

The document, “The Service of Authority and Obedience,” was released May 28 at the Vatican and was presented the same day to the heads of men’s religious orders at the assembly of the Union of Superiors General.

In the past, the document said, religious superiors risked focusing so much of the order’s mission that they could

overlook the needs and gifts of individual members; “today, the risk can come rather from excessive fear of hurting others’ feelings” or by focusing so much on individual talents that the impact on the order as a whole is neglected.

Neither religious obedience nor exercising authority in a religious community is easy, which is why both must take place in an atmosphere of prayer, with members seeking the will of God and listening to one another, it said.

Those in authority must be instruments of God’s love and mercy, the document said.

The superior must be a person of deep prayer who listens to and consults others, but is not afraid to take responsibility for making the final decision, it said.

“Persons in authority must act in such a way that the brothers or sisters can perceive that when they give a command they are doing so only to obey God,” said the document.

or call (919) 779-7246.

from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. There will be a closing Mass for all participants, followed by a potluck dinner, June 27 at 5 p.m. For more information, contact Michelle Calascionea at (828) 837– 2000.

GASTONIA VICARIATE 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 — Theology on Tap, a speaker series for Catholics in their 20s, 30s and 40s, will take place at Natty Greene’s Pub and Brewing Co., 345 S. Elm St. The next series will be held on Wednesday evenings, June 4, 11 and 18. Socializing begins at 6:45 p.m. Speaker begins at 7:45 p.m. For more information, call Deb at (336) 286-3687 or send an e-mail to greensborotot@yahoo.com.

HICKORY VICARIATE HICKORY — A charismatic Mass is celebrated the first Thursday of each month in Sebastian Chapel of St. Aloysius Church, 921 Second St. NE, at 7 p.m. For further information, contact Joan Moran at (828) 327-0487.

MURPHY — Scripture study of the Gospel of John and the Johannine Letters is being offered now through the first week in August at St. William Church, 765 Andrews Rd. The classes are held on Mondays from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Each session includes reflection on Scripture, commentary, daily questions and a brief synopsis. For more information, contact Michelle Calascione at (828) 837-2000.

SALISBURY VICARIATE SALISBURY — Our Lady Rosary Makers of Sacred Heart Church, 128 N. Fulton St., are making cord rosaries for the missions and the military. The group meets the first Tuesday of each month in the church office conference room, 10-11 a.m. For more information, call Cathy Yochim at (704) 636-6857 or Joan Kaczmarezyk at (704) 797-8405.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN VICARIATE MURPHY — June 22-27 is designated as vacation Bible school week at St. William Church, 765 Andrews Rd. The adult classes will be led by Rev. Ben Bushyhead on June 22 at 6:30 p.m., and June 23 and 24 at 7 p.m. The children’s vacation Bible school will be held Monday through Friday

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

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

calendar

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

June 1 (11 a.m.)

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Mary Church, Sylva June 4 (7 p.m.)

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Charlotte

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The four dozen people who received Communion from Pope Benedict XVI on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ received the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling.

Vatican officials said the gesture at the May 22 Mass outside the Basilica of St. John Lateran does not mark a permanent change in papal liturgies, but highlighted the solemnity of the feast and a connection to Mass practices in the past.

As the pope prepared to distribute Communion, two ushers placed a kneeler in front of the altar on the basilica steps.

The chosen communicants — laypeople, nuns, seminarians, priests and boys and girls who had received their first Communion in their parishes in May — all knelt and received on the tongue.

Generally at papal Masses, those receiving Communion from the pope stand. The majority choose to receive on the tongue, but some reverently extend cradled hands to receive the Eucharist.

In a brief e-mail to Catholic News Service May 23, Msgr. Guido Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies, said the decision “was a solution adopted for (the feast of) Corpus Domini,” but as for the future, “we’ll see.”

Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, secretary of the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, told CNS “there is no discussion” in the Vatican about insisting that those who receive Communion from the pope do so kneeling or that they receive it on the tongue rather than in their hands.

In addition, he said, “there are no new norms coming” that would change the Vatican’s 1969 decision that local bishops could allow their faithful to receive the Eucharist in their hands while standing.

“But the gesture of the Holy Father” at the May 22 Mass “is to be appreciated.

It brings out in a better way the fact that we adore the Lord whom we receive” in the Eucharist, Archbishop Ranjith said.

“It was a special occasion” because the feast focuses on Jesus truly present in the Eucharist, he said. “I hope this practice spreads.”

In his homily at the Mass, Pope Benedict spoke about the importance of “kneeling before the Lord, adoration that begins at the Mass itself and accompanies the entire (Corpus Christi) procession” through the streets of Rome.

“To adore the body of Christ means to believe that there, in that piece of bread, there really is Christ who gives meaning to our lives,” the pope said in his homily.

Gathering for change

BRYSON CITY — An adult faith formation evening with Father Shawn O’Neal will take place at St. Joseph Church, 316 Main St. after the 4 p.m. Mass, June 20. The topic will be “Ask and you shall receive: Answering your questions; why we believe what we believe and do what we do.” Questions on beliefs, rituals, and other things can be sent to stjoseph@dnet.net.

Discussion will take place over a potluck supper.

Bring a dish to share. For more information, call the church office at (828) 488-6766.

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

Episcopal

Receiving Eucharist kneeling may not be permanent change

June 5 (11 a.m.)

Mass with seminarians for diocese Catholic Conference Center, Hickory June 7 (10 a.m.)

Ordination Mass of Deacons Brad Jones and Tri Vinh Truong St. Vincent de Paul Church, Charlotte

CNS photo by Paul Haring

Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., looks toward Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn. (left), while speaking at a press briefing concerning a climate change bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington May 21.

Religious leaders, including Rabbi David Saperstein (second from left), joined U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. (third from left) and John Warner, R-Va. (right) at the briefing. Bishop Wenski, chairman of the U.S. bishops Committee on International Justice and Peace, said he was not endorsing specific legislation, but welcomed the climate change bill’s focus on the poor.

4 The Catholic News & Herald

around the diocese

May 30, 2008

Honoring Our Lady of Fatima Celebrating Communion Mass, dinner recognizes influence, vocations, work of foundation GREENSBORO — Our Lady of Fatima’s influence on vocations was recognized recently during a special Mass and dinner.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis celebrated a Mass in honor of Our Lady of Fatima at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

Several priests of the Diocese of Charlotte concelebrated the Mass, with transitional deacons assisting and seminarians serving.

During the dinner afterward in the parish hall, Father Conrrad Kimbrough, a retired priest of the diocese, was honored for his devotion to Our Lady and to fostering vocations.

The Mass and dinner — attended by guests from the dioceses of Charlotte, Raleigh and Richmond, Va. — were sponsored by the Te Deum Foundation, a North Carolina-based benevolent organization that provides spiritual and material needs for seminarians.

On May 13, 1917, three siblings claimed to have seen Mary near their home at Fatima, Portugal. The apparitions continued once a month until October 1917 and later were declared worthy of belief by the Catholic Church.

In his homily, concelebrant Father James Ebright spoke from first-hand experience that Our Lady guides seminarians along their paths to the priesthood.

For priests, she is “their special mother, the mother of the one, true priest, prophet and king they seek to follow,” said Father Ebright, who is in residence at Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury.

Father John Putnam, diocesan judicial vicar and pastor of Sacred Heart Church, spoke during the dinner about how his early trip to the site of Our Lady’s apparitions. There, he said, he received confirmation that the priesthood was indeed his vocation.

As such, he praised the importance

o f t h e Te D e u m F o u n d a t i o n ’s Fatima pilgrimage for seminarians.

Father Richard DeClue, who is performing graduate studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., spoke of how the foundation provided for some of his material needs, allowing him to stay focused on his studies.

Father Christopher Roux, the bishop’s priest secretary, spoke about the foundation’s plans to build a seminary in North Carolina. The dinner raised funds for the project.

There are currently no seminaries between Florida and Washington, D.C., he said.

“Unlike other sections of the country where parishes are closing or consolidating, there’s a need here for our unique culture of an expanding Catholic population,” said Father Roux.

At the end of the dinner, Bishop Jugis and Wilhelmina Silva-Mobley, foundation president, presented a special award to Father Kimbrough.

Although retired from active ministry, Father Kimbrough continues to mentor young seminarians and bring new men into the priesthood.

“Father Kimbrough has and continues to serve Our Lord by bringing new shepherds to his flock,” said Silva-Mobley.

In recognition of Father Kimbrough’s years of service, the foundation endowed the Rev. Conrad L. Kimbrough Scholarship for Seminarians.

“The Te Deum Foundation’s mission and seminary project are both praiseworthy endeavors in the service of the Lord and his church,” said Bishop Jugis.

WANT MORE INFO? For more information about the Te Deum Foundation, call (336) 765-1815 or visit www.tedeumfoundation.org.

Courtesy Photo

Bishop Peter J. Jugis and Te Deum Foundation president Wilhelmina Silva-Mobley present an honorary award to Father Conrad Kimbrough during a dinner at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro May 13.

Courtesy Photo

Father James Hawker (right), pastor of St. Luke Church in Mint Hill, and Father Richard Hanson, a diocesan priest, are pictured May 17 with one of five classes of children who celebrated their first Communion at St. Luke Church in Mint Hill May 10, 17 and 18. Each child celebrating his or her first Communion has a role during the Mass, such as carrying banners or candles, reading the first reading or intercessions, bringing up offertory gifts and preparing the altar for the eucharisitc prayer.

First Communion, along with baptism and confirmation, is one of the three sacraments of initiation.

May 30, 2008

from the cover

Rural Zimbabweans fear for lives amid violence VIOLENCE, from page 1

“are motivated to vote again to ensure an end to the present system,” he told Catholic News Service in a May 26 telephone interview from the capital, Harare.

“Many communities feel that voting will be an act of solidarity with their friends who have been killed or wounded in the violence, so that they did not die in vain,” Chaumba said.

A report on postelection violence in Zimbabwe by the Solidarity Peace Trust, an ecumenical group of church organizations from Zimbabwe and

South Africa, said, “There needs to be a general recognition that Zimbabwe is sinking fast into the conditions of a civil war, propelled largely by the increasing reliance on violence by the ruling party to stay in power, and the rapidly shrinking spaces for any form of peaceful political intervention.”

The report, released in Johannesburg, South Africa, May 21, contained about 50 eyewitness accounts of orchestrated beatings, torture and the destruction of homes and shops.

The results of the March 29 parliamentary and presidential elections are “a clear message that, despite the extremely harsh and repressive political environment in which elections have

The Diocese of Charlotte

invites you, your family and friends to escape winter and join with Fr. Mo West to

been conducted in Zimbabwe, the people of the country found the ‘resources of hope’ required to say no to continued authoritarian rule,” it said.

In early May, election officials announced that Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, took 47.9 percent of the vote while President Robert Mugabe, 84, who has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, took 43.2 percent.

T h e o ff i c i a l r e s u l t s o f t h e parliamentary vote confirmed that the opposition held a majority of seats for the first time in 28 years.

The report said that the ruling party’s violence “has demonstrated the hollowness of Mugabe’s anti-colonial message, with the real targets of his party’s onslaught being the impoverished and battered citizens of the country.”

The party’s conduct since the March elections “has encapsulated the degeneracy of the Mugabe legacy, and the security threat that this regime now poses to Zimbabweans and the region,” it added.

The report noted that the violence “was carefully planned by a combination of army, police” and government intelligence operatives at an April meeting in the village of Nkayi, Zimbabwe.

In their late May newsletter, Zimbabwe’s Jesuits said there has been “vicious, premeditated violence” on an

The Catholic News & Herald 5

unprecedented scale in the country since the elections.

They urged opposition supporters who have been attacked by government agents to resist the temptation to retaliate.

“This would be civil war. It would also destroy the moral foundation of the struggle of the opposition for freedom and the restoration of human dignity in this country,” they said.

In Harare, Anglican Bishop Sebastian Bakare said people attending services in Anglican churches are assaulted by police with increasing brutality. In a statement, he expressed shock and dismay at the “continuous police interference with Sunday services.”

Police officers “beat, harass and arrest us, having declared our church premises no-go areas,” his May 23 statement said.

Bishop Bakare replaced a proMugabe bishop.

Jesuit Father Oscar Wermter said in the May newsletter that “a church congregation that is praying for peace is now deemed to be in support of the opposition — with a certain logic, one has to admit, since the ruling party is definitely engaged in war against the common people and is against peace.”

“It is a great shame and very sad that members of the church supporting different parties may be fighting each other,” Father Wermter said.

CNS photo by Howard Burditt, Reuters

Supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change from rural Zimbabwe show their broken limbs May 3 from an assault in the capital, Harare. Scores have been killed and thousands displaced in violence following the disputed March 29 election.

6 The Catholic News & Herald

in memoriam

Jesuit Father Lawrence Hunt: 1927-2008 Priest remembered for mission work, leading others to Jesus BALTIMORE, Md. — Jesuit Father Lawrence Hunt, a Jesuit for more than 60 years who once served in the Diocese of Charlotte, died May 20 at Colombiere Jesuit Residence in Baltimore, Md. He was 81.

A Mass of Christian burial was held at St. Mark Church in Catonsville, Md., May 23. He was buried at the Jesuit cemetery in Woodstock, Md. Father Hunt was born Feb. 14, 1927. He entered the Society of Jesus at St. Isaac Jogues Novitiate in Wernersville, Pa., Sept. 20, 1944. He was ordained at Woodstock Seminary June 23, 1957.

In 1963, Father Hunt was sent as a missionary to India, where he would spend 21 years in various ministries, notably at several schools and a hospital for patients with Hanson’s disease (leprosy).

“He led with his heart,” said Father Joseph Lacey, who had been friends with Father Hunt since 1959 and worked with him in India for many years.

Although Father Hunt never mastered the languages in India, he found a profound way to communicate.

“Every day, he would make the rounds and shake every leprosy patient’s hand,” said Father Lacey.

In 1984, Father Hunt returned to the United States and served as dean of students at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia for a year.

He then returned to parish ministry, serving as assistant pastor and parochial vicar at parishes in Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. He served as pastor of St. Benedict

the Moor Church and Good Shepherd Mission in Winston Salem from 1990 until 2004.

He then went on to serve as a pastoral care minister at a parish and medical center in Maryland between 2004 and 2008. He also took part in Radio Mass, which broadcast Sunday Masses from St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore for the homebound.

“He was a very, very vital part of this parish, even when he was in India,” said Father Christopher Whatley, pastor of St. Mark Church, where Father Hunt continued to celebrate Sunday Mass until April 2008.

Father Hunt entered the Jesuits from St. Mark Church, according to Father Whatley, and the parishioners supported him and his work while he was in India.

“The parish was delighted when he came back here to serve the last few years and the schoolchildren especially cherished his sense of humor, his love for them and his strong desire to be with them,” said Father Whatley.

“He saw his ministry as a way of telling everybody that Jesus loved them,” said Deacon Joseph Knepper of St. Mark Church. “That’s the way he lived his life.”

Father Hunt is survived by two brothers, a sister and many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made payable to “Jesuit Missions” be sent to Maryland Province, Jesuits Advancement, P.O. Box 64818, Baltimore, MD 21264.

May 30, 2008

Josephite brother who was nationally renowned photographer dies at 78 WASHINGTON (CNS) — A funeral Mass for nationally renowned photographer Josephite Brother Earl Vincent Kent, 78, was celebrated May 28 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Baltimore.

Brother Earl died May 22 at St. Joseph Manor in Baltimore — a retirement and recuperation facility for the Josephites — following a long and debilitating illness, said Josephite Father John F. Byrne, a retired priest at the facility. Brother Earl was interred in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore.

Orphaned as an infant in Baltimore, he was raised in St. Elizabeth Home and was educated at Dunbar Junior High School in the Maryland city and St. Joseph Industrial School for Boys in Clayton, Del., until 1946. He eventually began working at the Josephite facility even before he joined the religious order in 1954. He took his final vows in 1961.

Brother Earl served in a number of ministries in New York, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, Texas and Louisiana. Along the way he developed a passion for photography and honed his craft, Father Byrne said.

“He would later become a formidable photographer for the Josephites,” he said. “He generated a large portfolio of photographs chronicling Josephite and parochial life and work throughout the country. Many such photographs have been published in the Josephite Harvest, the Josephite mission magazine.”

In addition to teaching photography at St. Joseph Industrial School for Boys, Brother Earl also served as the official photographer at the Josephite Pastoral Center in St. Joseph Seminary in Washington.

“He was always taking pictures,” said Josephite Brother Thomas Vincent, a longtime friend of Brother Earl, who is now working at the

Washington seminary.

Though much of his later photography can be seen at the Washington seminary, his work was appreciated by people nationwide who picked up a copy of the Josephite Harvest, said Josephite Father Frank M. Hull, editor of the national magazine.

“Brother Earl had been taking pictures most of his life as a Josephite brother,” Father Hull said. “He could always be counted on to cover Josephiterelated events.”

The subjects in his photos stood out because they were never posed and he captured their true essence in the frame, Father Byrne said.

“When you saw the picture, you felt like you knew the guy,” the priest said.

“They were real people in his photos and when you look at them you can almost see into their souls, whether it was a photo at a funeral, a Josephite meeting, a bishop showing up, or of a pillar of the community.”

The Baltimore-based Josephites — who primarily serve black communities — currently run parishes and schools in Washington, Baltimore, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and California, and have seminaries in both Washington and Nigeria.

Some of his favorite photographic subjects were youngsters in the different ministries, Brother Thomas said.

“Brother Earl really loved working with the youth,” he said. “He may have been known for his photography, but he had also become a top-notch track coach when he was at St. Joseph Industrial School for Boys.”

Very private, quiet and reserved, Brother Earl wasn’t an easy man to get to know, but his photographs spoke volumes, Father Byrne said.

“He was one of those special kinds of artists I guess,” he said. “He was not what you would call a media star.”

May 30, 2008

from the cover

The Catholic News & Herald 7

“We had wanted to restore it for a long time ....”

Vatican completes restoration of mausoleum under St. Peter’s MAUSOLEUM, from page 1

Stella, an official at the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the office responsible for the basilica’s upkeep.

The $300,000 project was funded by the Rome-based Foundation for Music and Sacred Art, the Italian branch of Mercedes-Benz, and other sponsors.

Stella and other Vatican officials spoke at a May 27 press conference at the Fabbrica’s headquarters near the basilica.

The Vatican necropolis includes the burial grounds where St. Peter’s tomb has been venerated since early Christian times. The Valerii mausoleum was built sometime after 160 by Gaius Valerius Herma — a wealthy, highly educated Roman slave who had bought his freedom. He built the site for his family and his freed slaves and their descendents.

Like many other pagan tombs in the necropolis, the sarcophagi were later “recycled” by Christians who buried their loved ones and added inscriptions referring to Christ.

The cemetery had been used until the fourth century when the emperor Constantine had workmen fill in the open-air necropolis with dirt in order to lay the foundation for building a basilica above St. Peter’s tomb.

The airless, lightless atmosphere actually had helped preserve much of the artwork and statuary.

Restorers for the Valerii mausoleum used hand-held lasers, tiny drills, scalpels,

sponges and plain water to remove mineral salts, other encrustations and dirt, and they injected special glues to reinforce crumbling plaster walls.

They pieced together broken plaster or marble fragments back onto statuary tucked into niches lining the mausoleum walls.

Stella said what makes this mausoleum stand out from the others is its “uniform use of stucco” for artistic rather than architectural reasons and the large number of life-size plaster figures that are almost three-dimensional bas-reliefs.

More than a dozen figures in the various niches and “lunettes” above the sarcophagi have been either partially or completely preserved. Inscriptions and elegant stucco decorations indicate each buried relative’s name and interests when he or she was alive.

One elderly male figure holds a tablet in one hand while writing implements are depicted in the lunette above him.

Above one younger female figure are bas-reliefs of a mirror and a jewelry case and above an older female is a spindle, basket and ball of yarn.

Many Roman gods and goddesses decorate the walls. Hypnos, the god of sleep, has the wings of a bat and is surrounded by two similarly winged cherubs who are holding a gilded cornucopia filled with poppy seeds.

The second-century subterranean burial ground is two levels below the basilica floor, and St. Peter’s tomb is directly under the basilica’s main altar.

The cemetery was excavated for the first time in the 1930-40s, revealing a double row of mausoleums and niches decorated with paintings, stucco

CNS photo courtesy of Fabbrica di San Pietro

The Mausoleum of the Valerii family is seen in the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in January 2008. The Vatican has completed restoration of the mausoleum, located in the same necropolis where St. Peter was buried. and mosaics, along with a section of simpler graves.

The Vatican has spent the past decade repairing and restoring the tombs, labyrinthine lanes and funerary artwork using state-of-the-art techniques, as well as setting up a complete conservation system that controls the climate of the necropolis.

Visitors interested in seeing the necropolis must make reservations in writing in advance either by stopping at the excavations office or by sending a letter. Vatican guides escort groups of 10-15 people through the site.

CNS photo courtesy of Fabbrica di San Pietro

This is a detail from the Mausoleum of the Valerii family as seen in the necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in January 2008.

The Vatican has completed restoration of the mausoleum, located in the same necropolis where St. Peter was buried.

8 The Catholic News & Herald

youths in action

Youth group marks one-year anniversary YOUTHS, from page 1

recalled the enthusiasm of the youths and their eagerness to become more involved at the parish.

“All it took was some organization,” she said.

Over the past year, the youth group has become a visible part of ministry in the parish.

The 10:30 a.m. Mass on the third Sunday of each month is designated as the youth Mass. At that Mass, youth group members serve as readers, ushers and altar servers.

“It is so important that we encourage these young adults to be participants in the church,” said Driscoll. “Serving their parish and community should be a vital part of their lives.”

The youths have completed service projects such as yard work for parishioners and a fundraiser for a local food pantry, “Loving Food Resources.”

Other involvement in the parish has included the performance of an “Epiphany play” and a presentation of the Passion on Palm Sunday.

“Our youths appreciate the recognition they receive from our parish,” said Driscoll. “This past year

May 30, 2008

Developing tomorrow’s Catholic leaders

“This past year they have begun to recognize that they play a vital role in the church.”

— Nancy Driscoll they have begun to recognize that they play a vital role in the church.”

One of the primary goals they set for the first year was organizing a trip to the 2007 Eucharistic Congress in Charlotte.

At the congress, they took part in eucharistic adoration and the eucharistic procession, and attended the youth program track.

High school youth group members attended the annual Diocesan Youth Conference in Ridgecrest in April.

“Our youths are both the future and the ‘now’ of the church,” said Driscoll.

“The youth group was formed to enhance the parish life at St. Joan of Arc,” said Mike Driscoll, adult volunteer and Nancy’s husband.

“And with the continued support of all concerned, it will continue to thrive,” he said.

Contact Staff Writer Katie Moore by calling (704) 370-3354, or e-mail kmmoore@charlottediocese.org.

Photo by Kathleen Healy Schmieder

Parishioner Bernie Koesters gives money to youth group member Kegan Daly during the youth group’s “Cakes for Kids” bake sale at St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Mars Hill May 11.

Youth group shares Christian values with many by

KATHLEEN HEALY SCHMIEDER correspondent

MARS HILL — The support and encouragement of the youths at St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Mars Hill have resulted in an increased spirit of giving from the small parish.

Maxine Pendleton, parish youth m i n i s t r y d i r e c t o r, e n g a g e s t h e youths in an ongoing outreach to the communities in western North Carolina and beyond.

The first Saturday of each month, the youth group joins with a Baptist church to help feed the homeless and needy in downtown Asheville. The youths have developed friendships with many of the people they serve.

“Ms. Maebell is in her 80s and she looks after everyone,” said Kegan Daly about one of the regulars at the Saturday food ministry.

“I’m dropping off an invitation to my (high school) graduation to her,” said Daly.

Three recent Saturdays were spent on an extensive yard cleanup for a neighbor of a member of the parish music ministry.

The group also spent a Sunday in May running “Cakes for Kids,” a bake sale fundraiser that raised $250 for Arts for Life, an organization that teaches visual arts, music and creative writing to disabled children.

The parish youth ministry began

eight years ago under Pendleton’s guidance. Changes are in store as some of the founding members, including Daly, move on to college this year, but the ministry remains strong with newer members growing into their roles as servants for those in need.

While focusing on local outreach most of the time, youth group members — after months of fundraising and support from parishioners — achieved their dream of going to Mexico in 2006 to help build a home in an impoverished community.

In addition to helping the less fortunate, the youths felt they received blessings from the experience.

“The poverty is pervasive,” said Colleen Daly, one of the members who went on the trip and remains an active participant in the group.

“The trip helped us develop our own community,” she said.

“It ties in with our faith,” said Kegan Daly. “These are our brothers and sisters and we brought back those ties.”

As some of the youth group members head off to college, they intend to take with them the lessons they have learned And through working with the youths, Pendleton said she too has learned more about tolerance and acceptance of others.

“The bottom line is the unconditional love God gives to us that we give to others around us,” she said.

May 30, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 9

youths in action

Celebrating Catholic Scouts Charlotte Catholic senior

organizes event for ALS

Photo by Katie Moore

Mike Rucker, former defensive end for the Carolina Panthers, signs an autograph for Ally Petrilli, a senior at Charlotte Catholic High School. Rucker talked to students about ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, during a luncheon at Charlotte Catholic May 27.

Courtesy Photo

Jesuit Father Joseph Kappes, parochial vicar of Saint Therese of Lisieux Church in Mooresville, and Kevin Scruggs (right), Scoutmaster, are pictured with Boy Scouts from Troop 171 at the church May 4. The Scouts received their Catholic religious emblem awards — the high school-age Scouts received Pope Pius XII awards and the middle school-age Scouts received Ad Altare Dei awards.

Pictured are: (top row) Tommy Arland, Bobby Arland, Ryan Darge, Zack Sauser; (bottom row) Chris Arland, Father Kappes, Jaehyeong Lee, Joshua Babich and Scruggs.

Not pictured: Deacon John Sims, religious instruction advisor and permanent deacon at St. Therese Church.

Lunch with football player raises money, awareness by

KATIE MOORE staff writer

CHARLOTTE —When Charlotte Catholic High School senior Ally Petrilli found out her dad was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) she decided to take a proactive approach to dealing with his illness.

“When my dad was diagnosed two years ago, I knew I wanted to do something to raise money and raise awareness,” said Petrilli.

With the help of her friends and the encouragement of faculty and staff at Charlotte Catholic, she organized several events to help support the cause.

Fundraisers included a school dance and dress-down day — a day when students paid a dollar to wear something other than the school uniform.

Then a family friend suggested they solicit the help of a professional — a professional football player, that is.

Tom Brydon knew Mike Rucker, former defensive end for the Carolina Panthers, from his work on the board of the PinStripes Fund, which supports initiatives of the Carolinas Neuromuscular/ALS-MDA Center.

He knew ALS was a cause that was close to Rucker’s heart. Rucker’s grandfather was diagnosed with ALS when he was 9 years old.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord resulting in muscle weakness and atrophy, according to the ALS Association Web site.

Petrilli and Charlotte Catholic campus minister Mary Jane Dawson came up with the idea of hosting a lunch with Rucker at the school.

Any student who supported the cause through the purchase of an ALS wristband could attend the event.

“It’s always good to see the youth find a cause,” said Rucker, who spoke at the event on May 27.

He recalled how the situation with his grandfather taught him what it meant to be a family.

“As a young kid it showed me the strength it took and the dedication,” he said.

The Petrilli family is a testament to that strength.

“This whole situation — as bad as it is — helps you realize the importance of your faith, family and friends,” said Ally’s mother, Sherri Petrilli.

“You can’t tackle something this huge without that support,” she said.

This year, students at Charlotte Catholic have raised $6,500 for the ALS Association’s Jim “Catfish” Hunter Chapter in North Carolina.

“It’s been great to see my family, friends and school community come together to support such a worthy cause — to support my dad,” said Petrilli.

During the last six years of his career, Rucker helped raise a quarter of a million dollars for ALS through his fundraiser “SACK ALS.” “I felt like it was time to do my part,” he said.

Through the program, supporters pledged to contribute a set amount of money per sack each season. The more sacks he collected, the more money he raised.

Now that he is retired, Rucker said he will have to come up with a new way to raise money for ALS. In the meantime he said, “I enjoy talking to the youth and raising awareness.”’

He said he likes to see the creative ways young people, like Petrilli, are able to raise funds.

“It starts in the heart,” he said. “And through small projects.”

May 30, 2008

10 The Catholic News & Herald

Culture Watch

A roundup of Scripture, readings, films and more

The North Carolinian and his cousin, the saint Two families, an ocean apart, reunited

by St. Gaetano by

NADIA MARIE SMITH catholic news service

PHILADELPHIA — Not many people can say they have a cousin for a saint. But Justin Catanoso, a parishioner of St. Pius X Church in Greensboro, can.

Catanoso wrote about it in his first book, “My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family and Miracles,” published this May. The book brings to life one of the church’s newest canonized saints, St. Gaetano Catanoso, an Italian parish priest who served in a rural region with extreme poverty and a high rate of illiteracy and was a breeding ground for crime.

Canonized in October 2005, the Italian diocesan priest was one of five men in the first group of saints proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. He lived from 1879-1963.

Known for a spirit of charity, humility and sacrifice, St. Gaetano was dedicated to the holy face of Christ. He revived Marian and eucharistic devotions in his local parish and founded an organization to help subsidize education for poor seminarians.

He also opened an evening school for children in his parish who had to work at home or on the farm during the day.

His devotion to the Holy Face led him to found the Daughters of St. Veronica, Missionaries of the Holy Face, in 1934. St. Veronica is the woman who approached Jesus as he carried his cross and gave him her veil so he could wipe his face.

“Padre Gaetano came to believe he could do no less than to love with the same kind of intensity that Jesus loved. How else could he soften so many hardened souls?” Catanoso writes in his book.

“Like St. Veronica, herself, Padre Gaetano would fall in step with the many, many poor hobbling all around him. He would wipe their faces of tears and blood. He would love them blindly, radically, unconditionally.”

In his book, Catanoso uncovers the paths of his sainted cousin and that of his grandfather, Carmelo. The only Catanoso family member to emigrate to the United States, Carmelo established the American branch of the family in this country.

The 2005 canonization of St. Gaetano spurred a family reunion and set author Catanoso on a personal journey of faith.

Until then, he had been a self-described lapsed Catholic, more of a cultural Catholic than anything else.

“I remember sitting there, in the middle of St. Peter’s Square, at this most extraordinary ceremony on this pictureperfect day with 100,000 people in the square, thinking, ‘The faith is so palpable in the square and I am a spectator to it.

WORD TO LIFE

Sunday Scripture Readings: June 8, 2008

June 8, Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Cycle A. Readings: 1) Hosea 6:3-6 Psalm 50:1, 8, 12-13, 14-15 2) Romans 4:18-25 Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13

Jesus taps into people where they are

by JEFF HEDGLEN catholic news service

That’s not good enough. I am going to give this a try,’” Catanoso recalled.

At that moment, he said, he promised himself he would start going to church and understanding the Mass, which was so central to St. Gaetano’s life.

As he began that spiritual journey, he was approached to write a book about his cousin. So Catanoso, a Pulitzer Prizenominated journalist and journalism instructor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, set off in “search of faith, family and miracles.”

The resulting book has been hailed as “a glorious book,” by Jesuit Father James Martin, the author of “My Life With the Saints” and acting publisher of America magazine.

“Part spiritual journey, part detective story, part travelogue, Justin Catanoso’s engrossing new memoir shows how discovering God always leads to discovering yourself,” Father Martin wrote in his review of the book.

Catanoso spoke about his cousin and his family May 29 at St. Cornelius Church in Chadds Ford, Pa. Msgr. Gregory Parlante, the pastor, attended St. Gaetano’s canonization and his family is related to the Catanosos through marriage.

WANT TO LISTEN? Justin Catanoso talks about his book and St. Gaetano Catanoso on this week’s docPod, the podcast of the Diocese of Charlotte. To listen, go to www.charlottediocese.org/podcasts.html.

The Tejano music is streaming out of the sound system, there is a margarita in my hand, it is Cinco de Mayo and I am mingling with about 100 young adults in a local bar.

The clincher is that I am not cruising for a date. I’m at a church event. The event is called “Theology Oon Tap.” All around the country, “”Theology Oon Tap”” gathers young adults in a relaxed setting to bring the message of Jesus’ love to those who may not have darkened the door of a church since their confirmation.

There is some controversy about this. After all, this is a church-sponsored event at a bar! This Sunday’s Gospel offers us a glimpse into the theology behind the “Tap.” Some of Jesus’ followers were asked, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus, overhearing the question, replied: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. ...... I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Jesus is the master of meeting people where they are. He does not expect them to change before he accepts them. Quite the contrary, he makes the first move and offers healing.

This night in the bar, Jesus moves, too. The speaker is talking about the Resurrection and poses the question: “What difference does it make for me?”

As I gaze around the room, I see the faces of young Catholics eager to learn more and believe more.

They may not be perfect, but at least they are seeking. They seek the Resurrection; they seek people who are like them in age and faith background; they seek fulfillment for their life; they seek peace; and they seek belonging.

All of what they seek is found in the person of Jesus and in his body that is gathered — tonight in a bar here, every Sunday at Mass. Let’s pray that the former leads to the latter!

Questions: Where do you think Jesus would go to minister to people if he had come now instead of 2,000 years ago? Is anyone bringing the Gospel to those places in your town?

What can we do to bring the light of the Gospel to the dark places in our world?

Scripture to be Illustrated: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11)

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE Scripture for the week of June 1-7 Sunday (Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time), Deuteronomy 11:18, 26-28, 32, Romans 3:21-25, 28, Matthew 7:21-27; Monday (Sts. Marcellinus and Peter), 2 Peter 1:2-7, Mark 12:1-12; Tuesday (St. Charles Lwanga and Companions), 2 Peter 3:12-15, 17-18, Mark 12:13-17; Wednesday, 2 Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12, Mark 12:18-27; Thursday (St. Boniface), 2 Timothy 2:8-15, Mark 12:28-34; Friday (St. Norbert), 2 Timothy 3:10-17, Mark 12:35-37; Saturday, 2 Timothy 4:1-8, Mark 12:38-44.

Scripture for the week of June 8-14 Sunday (Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time), Hosea 6:3-6, Romans 4:18-25, Matthew 9:9-13; Monday (St. Ephrem), 1 Kings 17:1-6, Matthew 5:1-12; Tuesday, 1 Kings 17:7-16, Matthew 5:13-16; Wednesday (St. Barnabas), Acts 11:21-26; 13:1-3, Matthew 5:17-19; Thursday, 1 Kings 18:41-46, Matthew 5:20-26; Friday (St. Anthony of Padua), 1 Kings 19:9, 11-16, Matthew 5:27-32; Saturday, 1 Kings 19:19-21, Matthew 5:33-37.

Scripture for the week of June 15-21 Sunday (Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time), Exodus 19:2-6, Romans 5:6-11, Matthew 9:3610:8; Monday, 1 Kings 21:1-16, Matthew 5:38-42; Tuesday, 1 Kings 21:17-29, Matthew 5:43-48; Wednesday, 2 Kings 2:1, 6-14, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18; Thursday (St. Romuald), Sirach 48:1-14, Matthew 6:7-15; Friday, 2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20, Matthew 6:19-23; Saturday (St. Aloysius Gonzaga), 2 Chronicles 24:17-25, Matthew 6:24-34.

Attention Readers!

Have a Story to Share?

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

If so, please share them with us.

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

The Catholic News & Herald 11

May 30, 2008

Cellular Catholicism This photo illustration shows Pope Benedict XVI and a text message on a GSM cell phone. The pope will send daily text messages directly to pilgrims with GSM cell phones during World Youth Day July 15-20 in Sydney, Australia.

CNS illustration by Emily Thompson and Paul Haring

Pope to send daily text messages during World Youth Day

by DAN McALOON catholic news service

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI will send daily text messages directly to pilgrims during World Youth Day July 15-20 in Sydney, said youth day organizers.

The pope’s text messages of hope and inspiration will be carried by World Youth Day’s official communications partner, Telstra, said a World Youth Day statement May 7.

The Vatican has not commented.

“We wanted to make WYD08 a unique experience by using new ways to connect with today’s techsavvy youth,” said Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney, World Youth Day coordinator.

The Telstra partnership, he said, means that Sydney “will be the most

innovative World Youth Day to date.”

A Telstra spokesperson said the GSM cell-phone networks running for World Youth Day “will mean many cell phones used by pilgrims from the United States will also work here.”

Pilgrims also can purchase a prepaid SIM card for their cell phones when they arrive in Australia. However, a Telstra spokesman noted that CDMA phones do not accept their SIM cards.

In addition to its official Web site — www.wyd2008.org/index.php/en — World Youth Day also will offer an online social networking site www.xt3.com.

The site’s social network will be launched in coming weeks, although pilgrims already may visit the site and ask to be notified via e-mail when registration opens.

Archdiocese of Indianapolis sues Facebook over phony Web page

by DENNIS SADOWSKI catholic news service

WASHINGTON — The Archdiocese of Indianapolis is suing the online social networking site Facebook to learn the identity of the person who developed a phony Facebook page that targeted a high school administrator by using his name without his permission.

The suit was filed May 9 on behalf of Tim Puntarelli, dean of students at the archdiocesan-run Roncalli High School in Indianapolis.

Archdiocesan spokesman Greg Otolski told Catholic News Service May 15 that the suit was filed after Facebook failed to turn over information about who established the Web page and sent inappropriate messages to students.

Facebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif., allows users to communicate with friends, fellow students, co-workers and others. Users can post photos and messages on individual Web pages.

The phony Web page’s anonymous developers must be identified in order for the archdiocese to determine if additional legal action is required to protect and restore Puntarelli’s reputation, Otolski said.

“One of the reasons we want to see who did it is to decide how we would proceed,” Otolski said.

Archdiocesan officials want to know “if it’s kids who thought it was a practical joke and didn’t realize the seriousness of it, or if it was someone who had it out for him to ruin his reputation and ruin his career,” he said.

The Web page was discovered April 18 and was taken down within two days after the school’s technology director contacted Facebook, according to the complaint filed in Marion County Superior Court.

The suit alleges that the user, identified only through an e-mail address as mclovenjesus@yahoo. com, created a profile for Puntarelli and defamed him through photos and inappropriate messages sent to Roncalli High School students.

The postings included invitations to 31 students to become Puntarelli’s “Facebook Friends” and a message suggesting that Puntarelli may take disciplinary action and/or administer a drug test to a student, the suit said.

The complaint also alleges that the user transmitted false and misleading messages about the archdiocese.

“We’re not looking to infringe upon anybody’s First Amendment rights in any kind of way,” Otolski said. “But I don’t think in this case he’s a public figure.

He’s not somebody who would be well known to a large group of people.”

The court issued a temporary restraining order May 9 preventing Facebook from destroying information regarding the identity of the Web page’s creator.

“We’re still talking with Facebook’s lawyers and we’re still hoping that Facebook will give us the info we need to identify the creator of the page,” Otolski told CNS. Facebook declined comment on the case.

Jesuit magazine criticizes ‘Big Brother’ TV show for its disservices VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The “Big Brother” television series risks creating a new generation of gladiators when people act not according to ethical standards but according to what is necessary to survive, said an influential Jesuit journal.

The influence the reality television show has on today’s culture and future generations means alternative ways must be found that teach young people “more dignified” role models, it said.

In a May 17 article released to journalists May 15, La Civilta Cattolica gave a lengthy description of the “Big Brother” series that started in the Netherlands in 1999 and soon spread to other parts of the world.

The Rome-based biweekly journal is reviewed by the Vatican Secretariat of State before publication.

In the United States, the 10th season of “Big Brother” will air in July; the eighth season wrapped up in Italy this spring.

The article, written by Jesuit Father Francesco Occhetta, said the “Big Brother” formula is reminiscent of ancient pagan sacrifices, where the god being worshipped is the brother’s allseeing eye, the altar is the stage, and participants are regularly “sacrificed” in

these new temples.

Whereas the world of Big Brother in George Orwell’s book, “1984,” sought to create a society of inclusion in which everyone fit in and did not get out of line, the reality series is based on “exclusion: pinpointing the people who don’t fit the role assigned to them” and tossing them out “like a bouncer” weeding out the “undesirables.”

A third definition of “big brother,” the article said, must be promoted — that of being an older sibling to someone, being responsible for others’ needs and willing to sacrifice oneself for the other.

It said the severity of the difficulties, dangers and exploitation the participants experience is demonstrated by the fact that participants are offered several sessions with professional therapists after their stint on the show is over.

Parents, church groups and teachers must work together to “unmask the underlying dynamics” at work on the show and teach youths that reality television is a moneymaker, not something serious upon which to model their lives.

“Otherwise the risk is to train new ‘gladiators’” to fight it out in the public arena with the aim of eliminating one another, it said.

12 The Catholic News & Herald

May 30, 2008

in our schools

Aspiring actors

Courtesy Photo

Third-grader Leo Pichardo (left) and sixth-grader Chiefo Nwachukwu, students at St. Michael School in Gastonia, rehearse a scene from “Macbeth” with an actor from the Hampstead Players Stage Company at the school May 20. The students — who volunteered — and actor portrayed the three witches in the William Shakespeare play, which was performed for students, faculty and guests and sponsored by the school’s Parent Teacher Organization. “Macbeth” is a well-known Shakespearean tragedy that tells of the dangers of the lust for power and the betrayal of friends.

The Hampstead Players Stage Company is a nonprofit group that tours to educate youths by bringing classic literature to life through live theater.

Something to ‘Honk’ about

Courtesy Photo

The student cast of “Honk! Jr.” is pictured at St. Pius X School in Greensboro in this March photo.

Student production a success, says director GREENSBORO — The St. Pius X Players, middle-school students at St. Pius X School in Greensboro, presented “Honk! Jr.” to rave reviews and sellout crowds as part of the school’s fifth annual spring production March 13-15.

“Honk!” is an award-winning musical retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen story “The Ugly Duckling,” mixed with a theme of pro-tolerance. “Honk! Jr.” was a revised version tailored for middle school-age students.

“It is a great story for all ages, teaching us how to accept people the way they are and that being different can be a good thing,” said Tracy Shaw, middle school religion and drama teacher, who directed the production. “I chose this

musical, because of the great songs and the underlying message that it gave: ‘We are all unique and special.’”

This year’s production was the largest yet, according to Shaw. The sixth-througheighth-grade performers rehearsed for six weeks, four days a week, to prepare for the show in the school’s auditorium. Art teacher Sharon Nosal designed the set and resource assistant Cindy Basel designed the costumes.

Shaw said the show was a huge success.

“I was blown away by the performances of my actors. I am blessed with a very talented group of students who are willing to take risks for the sake of art,” she said.

Classifieds FOR SALE

FOR RENT

NATURE’S SUNSHINE PRODUCTS: All your natural health solutions. Inner health, outer beauty.

Visit www.mynsp.com/theresabesthealth. For more information, call (336) 650-1278.

BEACH HOUSE: On channel in Cherry Grove (NMB). Week of June 29 (July 4th). 4 bedrooms, 2 baths. Sleeps 12. $1200. Call 828/328-3323.

Classified ads bring results! Over 140,000 readers! Over 53,000 homes!

Rates: $.80/word per issue ($16 minimum per issue) Deadline: 12 noon Wednesday, 9 days before publication How to order: Ads may be E-mailed to ckfeerick@charlottediocese.org, faxed to (704) 370-3382 or mailed to: Cindi Feerick, The Catholic News & Herald, 1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203.

Payment: For information, call (704) 370-3332.

May 30, 2008

CCHS Alabama, U of Reagan Morley Olivia Wagstaff

Appalachian St. U Cameron Amiri Ryan Brzycki Natalie Cates John Coudriet Alessandra Gileta Eric Gleeson Patrick Holder Christian Hunt Jacqueline Iuliano Edward Levins Colleen Longo Emily Nauman Gregory Priest Alexander Raab Max Steele Laura Stewart Wesley Stringfield Sarah Young

Arizona State U. Christine Gabriel

advertisement

Kristin Echave Allison Flehan Molly Garvey Andrew Hoyt Madison McGlone Michael Muscatell Ashley Serio Kimberly Ward Michael Warmbold

Coastal Carolina U. Stephanie Neal Elizabeth Sigurdson

Colorado, U. Corey Flynn

Connecticut College Albert Perley

Dayton, U. of Kelli Graham

Dean College Katelyn Babey

Denison University Elizabeth Peterson

Duke University

Eric Kopfle Eva Nansen Christopher Stolz

Georgia Southern U. Ali Walton

Georgia, U. of Bridget Gilligan Kyle Goddard Matthew O’Neil Robert Price

High Point U Kelsey Jones

Indiana University Nathaniel Vezolles

James Madison University Laura Butler Sonja Webster

John Carroll University Christian Murphy

Johnson & Wales University

Cory Byrnes

Kristin Hogan John Luttrell

Brianna Potestivo Katherine Smith Evan Sweeney

Art Institute of Charlotte

East Carolina U.

Kentucky, U. of

Arkansas, U. of

Adriana Randazzo

Auburn University Jennifer Burak Mary Hancock Virginia Kramer Morgan Little Samantha Mazzuca Jennifer Steele

Belmont Abbey College Andrew Fowler Kristan Mylett Brian Norton Alyson Shire Lauren Smith Mary Thierfelder

Berklee College of Music Stefan Kallander

Boston College Collin Thilo

Brevard College Zachary Frye

Catawba College Joseph Selland

Catholic U of America Christopher Daileader Kaitlyn Ferris RJ Sweeney

Central Piedmont CC Gabriel Albuquerque Kristen Allan Daniel Allison Rachel Alvarez David Hefferly Austen Huls Sarah McAlpine Charlie Ohnstad Charles Rigano Peter Townsend

College of Charleston Aaron Blackshaw Katherine Carroll Palmer Conrad Brittany Errico Kathleen Madden

Clemson University Jordan Decot

The Catholic News & Herald 13

Kathryn Aderhold Brianna Baker Michael Binetti Jonathan Breton Brett Buening Robert Eichorn Dylan Ellett Christian Finley Jeffrey Forman Caitlin Friedrich Mary Greene Nick Iyoob Katie Lasnicki John Leech Jenifer Marinello John McDermott Ryan McFetters Katherine Murphy Kaitlyn Myers Stephanie Radding Kelsey Raskob Edie Reardin Katelyn Reiser Tyler Shear Christine Stawicki Alexandra Truslow Richard Truslow

Eckerd College Anthony Arico

Elon University Mary Bedard Jessica Duffy Kelly Mead Evan Peleaux Megan Riddle Lauren Sandberg

Sydnee Moore Elizabeth Overman Megan Presley

La Salle University Emily Biggins

Lees-McRae College Stephen Lewis

Lenoir-Rhyne College Kathryn Turner

Louisiana State U. Taylor Jacobsen Jeffrey Levasseur Natalie Nikonovich

Loyola College in Maryland Sarah Dennstaedt Michael Sawyer Richard White

Maryland, U. of

Christopher Harris Keagan Maryman

Marymount Manhattan College Arianna Knox

Meredith College Amanda Herron

Miami University Jordan Koletic

Emory University

Miami, U. of

Ian Jones

Sandy Kugbei

Five Towns College

North Carolina A&T State U.

Carlos Castillo

Florida State U. Meghan Griffith

Furman University Margaret McBride Daniel Tobben

George Washington U. Dylan Hahn

Georgia Institute of Technology Abigail Brown

Chelsea Washington

UNC-Asheville Alexandria Ellis Claire Outlaw

UNC-Chapel Hill Christina Austin Paul Bouchon Kelly Burgess Rachel Carrier Katelyn Clark McKenzie Cox Daniel Gassaway Rebekah Gould

Kanishka Gunadasa Lauren Ives Shannon Kelley Katherine Knish Ryan Kula Kelsey Ludwig Justin May Kerianne McAfee Casey McCormick Jennifer McFadden Meagan Metkowski Rylan Miller Danica Motuz Thomas Myrick Dan-Thanh Nguyen Joseph Parker Morgan Parra Allison Petrilli Alyssa Pham Matthew Sabatini Kristin Sadler Patrick Stokes Christina Strittmater Stephanie Sutton Kelly Thomason Taylor Watt

UNC-Charlotte

William Borst Erin Brooks Neil Bryska Davide Carpano Kar Chin Colin Connors Christopher Cook Jacob Cushing Michael Hefron Lillian Huson Victoria Jaskiernia Sarah Lee Michael Lopez-Ibanez Mark Mann Erin McLaughlin Nicholas McOwen Daniel Perrine Ian Pierson Mary Ashley Shell Christina Stevens Daniel Swiger Peter Ta Christopher Wetterer Jessenia Williams

UNC- Greensboro Rachel Ainsworth Calli Lewis Iris Nguyen Nickolas Sweet Christopher Totman

UNC-Pembroke

Brennan Manion Nicholas Santiago

UNC- Wilmington

Alexandria Andresen Kenneth Bahr Kelsey Crowder Michael DelCasino Valerie Derrick Kaitlyn Elliott Michelle Flemming Stacy Flemming Marcus Infanti Sara Kaloudis Daniel Kossler Andrew McMahon George Miranda Michael Pearl Fred Reed Christina Stevenson Maria White Megan Zban

NC State U.

Catherine Acitelli Andrew Birch Mary Brehm Ryan Forcina Brian Freeman Carolyn Grady Gregory Hesler Matthew Hogan

Kristen Keane Ryan Klochany Kevin Kovacs Lauren Melcher Kendra Obimah Christopher Ohnstad Joshua Pauli Kelsey Penrose Patrick Phillippi Michael Rizzo Nicholas Sanders Kelsey Scala Brooke Shoaff C. J. Thornton Sara Wilkins

Tulane University

Duke University

US Marine Corp

East Carolina University

Notre Dame, U. of

Sarah Trautmann

Andrew Brazas Ellen Peralta

Oklahoma, U. of Patrick Piscitelli

Pennsylvania State U. John Vinkler

Presbyterian College Nicholas Parks

Queen’s U./Ontario, Can. Kerry Noonan

Queens University Caitlin Echave Marina Elia

Richmond, U. of Patrick Jones Bryce Lane

Savannah College of Art & Design Caitlin Cheney

South Carolina, U. of Jenna Babler Jacob Beeman Brennan Benfield Lauren Bragg Michael Broderick Cory Busker Alexis Butler Hannah Danahey James Eichorn Stephanie George Tyler Gile Kelsey Gottcent Nicholas Heeg Lauren Heitbrink Robert Herford Ham Hollett Shannon Minick Kallie Mullis Alina Niederer Alexandra Pietras Christopher Pirko Sarah Roach Christopher Schlaff Chelsey Seidel Cody Sento Nadia Soussi Taylor Underwood Ashley Warren Madison Williams

Southern Methodist University

Brian Geiger

Frank Roberts

US Merchant Marine Academy Brian Wahl

US Naval Academy Mark Lascara James Hetzel

Vanderbilt University Villanova University Christian Culicerto

Virginia Military Inst.

Colin Bosse

Virginia Poly. Inst.

James Donahue Emily Erickson Anthony Goco Christopher Haake Michael Huber Christopher Kelsey Sarah Kreshon Alyssa Morrison

Wake Forest Univ.

Daniel Gallagher Mary Gigler Elizabeth Horne Lindsay Launey

Washington U. in St. Louis Kourtney Woodward

West Virginia U. Ashley Tisdale

Western Carolina U.

Aylish O’Sullivan

Tennessee, U. of

Margaret Campbell

Texas A&M University Dustin Ernest

Gardner-Webb University Andrew Stanley Robinson

Gaston College

Brittany Dawn Amerson

Green Mountain College Joseph John Grzyb

Guilford College

Peter O’Day

Wofford University Joseph Ready

BMCHS

Alabama, Univ. of

Joanna Kathleen Braeckel

American University

Casey Lynn Moore Patrick Anthony Schweighart

Appalachian State Univ.

Lloyd McForrest Cheek III Melea Ashleigh Foley Taylor Hewett Christopher Michael Laraway Tracy Stearns Martin Kellylynn McGee Sean Patrick O’Shea Megan Marie Rembielak Alexander Brooks Crowder

Art Institute of Charlotte

High Point University

Drew Jonathan Embler Adam Hoffman Christopher Lawrence Moore

James Madison University Melissa Anne Horne

Kansas, Univ. of

Kentucky, Univ. of

Lenoir-Rhyne College

Benjamin Thacker Barrow Megan Elizabeth Maddox

Lynchburg College

Katherine Rebecca Latta Mary Julian Donahue Emma Kristine Dull

Mars Hill College Kristina Dawn Hite

Meredith College

Anne Elizabeth Fischer

NC State University

Breanne Elizabeth Long Anna Maria Vargas Ifeanyi Sharon Walson

New York University Laura Gene Luempert

Philadelphia University Anna Marie Morgan

Saint Mary’s College Mary Margaret Ronan

Brooke Lynae Keller

School of Art Inst./Chicago

Jordan Marie Moore

Chowan University

Kyoung Min Lee

Drexel University

John Michael Curnes

US Military Acad., West Point

John Royce Valitutto Samuel Devos Wharton

US Air Force Academy

Cape Fear Com. College

Gabrielle Leesett Clara Stewart

Michael English Graban Lauren Elena Hill Cassandra Marie Preudhomme Abigail Andra Rajkumar Dominique Hillard Robbins Daniel Paul Spottl

UNC - Pembroke Thomas Gerard Parcell

UNC - Wilmington Stephanie Grace Stavola

Daniel Thomas Causey Christina Lynn Oliveira Valentina Pavone Garic Roane Williams

Guilford Tech. Com. Col.

Sanford University

Dayton, Univ. of

UNC - Greensboro

University of South Carolina

David Joseph Reilly Jr.

Amber Celeste Lyles

Justin Robert Balser Jason Gerard Cibelli Ashley Elizabeth Ciriano Mallory Hope Gardner Matthew Weyher Gavigan Dana Kathleen Nigro Justin Matthew Vanderpool Andrew John Walker

Sarah Marie McKaughn Tara Leann Turman

Evin Elizabeth Torney

Belmont Abbey College

Stonehill College

Milena Isabel Alvarez Mallory Paige Hinzman

Wisconsin, U. of

St. Louis College of Pharmacy

David Anderson

Elon University

Michaeline Nichols

Ryan Bailey Farrington

St. Olaf College

Michael Lloyd Alphonso Sean Wesley Brannan Rebecca Ann Edmonds David Adams Enos Mary Kathryn Lee Christopher James Lyons Margaret Kathleen O’Hare William Jeffrey Russell

Shelby Leigh Haller

Andrew Brydon

Rebecca Gilene

Brian Harper Rice

UNC - Chapel Hill

Joshua Paul Chen Heather Lynn Hofmann Matthew Joseph O’Neill William Cooper Scott

UNC - Charlotte Erik Stephen Anderson

Kelsey Luise Callaghan Patrick Seton Lawler

Sarah Boyes Thomas

Virginia Tech

Eric Scott Dischinger George Matthew Englebretson Grace Hall Benjamin Minkyo Kirby Rebecca Ann McCunniff

Wake Forest University Elle Christine Merrill Molly Ann Riazzi

Wingate University

Timothy Russell Kane

Xavier University Holly Elyse Navarro

Foreign Exchange Students

Ulrike Rita Wieland, Germany Alexandra Celine Martin, France

Undecided Alexis Christina Aguirre Christopher Holt Jackson

May 30, 2008

14 The Catholic News & Herald

Perspectives

A collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

There are more pressing questions about life on earth Coexistence of science and religion must be considered You know what’s coming when you see news stories with the words “Vatican” and “aliens” in the same sentence. It’s raw material for Leno and Letterman, another opportunity to make Catholics appear silly.

And so it was with a recent interview with the Vatican astronomer whose main premise is this: It is difficult to exclude the possibility that other intelligent life exists in the universe.

That carefully nuanced statement then appeared in secular headlines as “Vatican OKs alien life,” “Vatican says OK to believe in aliens” and “Vatican says little green men are part of creation.”

“In my opinion this possibility exists,” Jesuit Father Jose Funes, the director of the Vatican Observatory, told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. “This is not in contrast with the faith because we cannot place limits on the creative freedom of God.” God created multiple forms of life on earth, and there may be diverse forms throughout the universe.

The Bible “is not a science book,” and looking for scientific facts on the universe and its origin doesn’t cast doubt on God’s role in its creation, he said.

Father Funes said the big-bang theory is the most “reasonable” explanation of the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, superdense point that contained all matter.

Astronomers believe the universe is made up of 100 billion galaxies, each consisting of 100 billion stars, he said.

So think about it: Is it presumptuous to hold that intelligence can exist only on Earth, one planet among billions? Is it proper to say that we are the best that God can do?

As intriguing as these considerations

Write a Letter to the Editor The Catholic News & Herald welcomes letters from readers. We ask that letters be originals of 250 words or fewer, pertain to recent newspaper content or Catholic issues, and be in good taste.

To be considered for publication, each letter must include the name, address and daytime phone number of the writer for purpose of verification. Letters may be condensed due to space limitations and edited for clarity, style and factual accuracy.

The Catholic News & Herald does not publish poetry, form letter or petitions. Items submitted to The Catholic News & Herald become the property of the newspaper and are subject to reuse, in whole or in part, in print, electronic formats and archives.

Send letters to Letters to the Editor, The C a t h o l i c N e w s & H e r a l d , P. O . B o x 37267, Charlotte, N.C. 28237, or e-mail catholicnews@charlottediocese.org.

Extra!

Extra!

STEPHEN KENT cns columnist

may be, there are more important and pressing questions about life on earth and the relationship of religion and science.

The U.S. bishops will consider at their June 13-15 meeting a brief policy statement on embryonic stem-cell research.

“The issue of stem-cell research does not force us to choose between science and ethics, much less between science and religion,” the draft document says. “It presents a choice as to how our society will pursue scientific and medical progress.”

It would be good if this moral issue would attract as much attention in a serious vein as does extraterrestrial life.

The policy statement addresses three arguments of proponents, the most chilling of which says “that which is destroyed is not a human life, or at least not a human being with fundamental human rights.”

If not inherent upon creation, then when are such rights conferred and by whom? Can it be argued that what can be granted can also be revoked?

These are serious questions.

If it is reasonable to believe that the universe began with the explosion of a single point that contained all matter, is it any less reasonable to believe that a human being — with the full complement of human genes — began as an embryo?

Has a human embryo ever been known to become anything other than a human being?

The church too often is cast as antiscience. It is not.

“Catholic foundations and medical centers have been and will continue to be among the leading supports of ethically responsibly advances in the medical use of adult stem cells,” says the bishops’ draft document on embryonic stem-cell research.

While musings about alien life may open the mind to ponder deeper questions, the questions around embryonic stem cells are more profound and more demanding of serious attention.

It is upon them that the proper coexistence of science and religion will balance.

A silver anniversary worth remembering

U.S. bishops challenged faithful to put Gospel, church teaching first Twenty-five years ago the U.S. Catholic bishops were at their prophetic best. In the midst of the Cold War and a fast-moving arms race, and with nuclear war — mutually assured destruction — threatening the world, they courageously challenged the widely held and dangerous assumption that war is inevitable — even nuclear war!

In May of 1983, the bishops released their landmark pastoral letter “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response.” Immediately it became a lightening rod.

The bishops were highly criticized as being naive churchmen who were playing in a game they neither understood nor belonged in.

But the bishops did exactly what faithful bishops should always be doing: explaining the principles of peace contained in the Gospel and Catholic social teaching and providing authoritative moral applications based on those principles to the grave issues of contemporary war and war preparation.

The bishops insisted that the faithful have an obligation to take their applied teachings most seriously.

They wrote: “The moral judgments that we make in specific cases, while not binding in conscience, are to be given serious attention and consideration by Catholics as they determine whether their moral judgments are consistent with the Gospel.”

However, now as then, it appears that most U.S. Catholics continue to cling far tighter to an unhealthy sense of nationalism — “my country right or wrong” — than to a way of life that strives to make moral judgments that are consistent with the Gospel.

But 25 years ago the U.S. bishops strongly challenged us to put the Gospel and Catholic social teaching first!

They condemned the arms race as a danger to peace and a theft of money and goods needed by the poor. Instead, they called for a just distribution of the world’s resources.

Condemning nuclear weapons, the bishops wrote that nuclear deterrence cannot be considered an adequate long-term basis for peace. However, 25 long dangerous years have passed, and

Making a Difference TONY MAGLIANO cns columnist

nuclear deterrence remains a permanent part of U.S. warfare strategy.

Quoting Pope John Paul II, the bishops declared: “Today, the scale and the horror of modern warfare — whether nuclear or not — makes it totally unacceptable as a means of settling differences.”

One of the five bishops charged with drafting “The Challenge of Peace,” retired Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit, told me that the just-war theory is not workable.

He said its principles of discrimination (non-combatant immunity) and proportionality (going to war cannot cause more harm than good) cannot be met considering the massive destruction caused by modern warfare.

Bishop Gumbleton said the reason most Christians won’t reject war is because they follow the direction of culture more than the direction of the Gospel. He said, “Jesus taught us how to die, not how to kill.” A disciple “doesn’t die with a weapon in his or her hand.”

It would be a great service to the Catholic Church and the world if the present U.S. bishops would seriously reexamine and actively promote the deep insights and prophetic challenges offered by their predecessors in “The Challenge of Peace.”

It would also be very helpful if priests and deacons would periodically weave the peace pastoral’s teachings into their homilies.

A silver anniversary deserves to be celebrated! Let’s dust off “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response” and strive to live out the wisdom and hope it offers our warplagued world!

May 30, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 15

The joys and pains of retiring

Retirement a time to recall from where God has led us, and blessings along way The hors d’oeuvres, wine and flow of compliments seemed to be endless.

One would have thought the person retiring was the messiah who saved the organization he served.

“You will always have your desk; you are always welcomed!” the retiree was promised.

Within months, the desk was occupied by another, and the impression was given that it would be better not to come into the office to allow the new director to find his own way. Being in the loop, telephone calls and travel all ceased!

A somebody had now become a nobody.

This story is lived by millions who retire each year only to face a three-tiered bitter pill: the unwelcome realization that aging can suddenly cut down a regular way of living; achievements stay in the past; daily camaraderie with co-workers becomes a thing of the past too. How do those retiring face this bitter pill?

As much as we tout the golden age of retirement, it is a reminder of twilight years and the death of much we have come to love.

This is shocking and must be faced squarely; otherwise, it can lead to depression.

The shock is realizing that life goes by quickly, that nothing lasts forever.

If peace of mind is to exist, honestly accepting these realities must happen.

After the shock subsides, anger and resentment often set in, making a retiree feel that all the sweat and effort exerted were unappreciated. As one person bitterly told me, “I feel like an old rag that has been used up and is then tossed.”

Once a retiree goes through this kind of purgatory, he or she needs to bolster the hope that retirement can in fact be enjoyable.

In Washington we have the saying, “There is life beyond the Beltway!”

Retirement is a time for finding that other

The conservation of energy: More than a question of economics Stewardship of the environment becoming major theme for Pope Benedict Gas is getting perilously close to $4 a gallon where I live, as it is in much of the United States. And while some countries would call that a bargain, it’s hitting the American pocketbook hard.

So with three cars in my family and two kids with summer jobs, the challenge is not just scheduling the cars but making sure everybody takes a turn filling the tank.

Going out for the evening? Ante up.

Heating fuel and other energy costs are rising steadily, too, so with all this energy inflation it came as a crushing blow — pardon the pun — when an avalanche tore through Alaska’s capital city of Juneau and destroyed major transmission towers, which carry more than 80 percent of the city’s power from a nearby hydroelectric dam.

Boom! Just like that, in a powerful natural disaster, folks in the picturesque city along the coast in Southeast Alaska faced an energy crisis of major proportions.

Until repairs are completed this summer, the city is using mainly diesel fuel, a very expensive alternative.

The new electricity rate is about five times the 11 cents per kilowatt-hour it was before the snow came sliding down

the mountain.

So what’s the result? Well, of course, there’s some complaining, and some pleas for state assistance, which has been sparse so far.

But the big result, as reported in a recent New York Times article, is that Juneau has suddenly become very conservationist. Says the Times: “Juneau has cut its electricity use by more than 30 percent in a matter of weeks, instantly establishing itself as a role model for how to go green, and fast.”

Now, I wouldn’t wish a rampaging avalanche on anyone, much less any other natural or manmade disaster.

But wouldn’t it be great if we could all marshal that kind of resolve to cut energy use for the sake of the planet and to cut our dependency on foreign sources of energy?

Remember the clothesline? I’m not sure my mother even owned a dryer when I was growing up on the farm.

White sheets waving in the hot Nebraska wind were a familiar sight in those days.

But many years later, after Mom moved to a town, she ignored her dryer most of the time and carried the laundry out to the line.

“Don’t these sheets smell good?”

The Human Side FATHER EUGENE HEMRICK cns columnist

life and realizing that it is often better than the one we left.

I can personally vouch that many people who are officially retired don’t actually retire! They move into other jobs, and in many cases they have a much saner rhythm of life.

In retirement, the wisdom of the Bible on aging is ever so important to remember.

Job tells us: “With old age is wisdom, and with length of days understanding” (12:12).

For those with children, the Book of Proverbs reminds us not to forget our blessings: “Grandchildren are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their parentage” (17:6).

Retirement is a time to recall where God has led us from — and the blessings that occurred on that adventure.

For the Journey EFFIE CALDAROLA cns columnist

she’d remark about a freshly made bed.

Do you ever see clotheslines now, except in the oldest part of cities? Some neighborhood covenants purportedly ban them. What a shame.

The conservation of energy is not just a question of economics, although squeezing the wallet can propel us to conserve. More importantly, it’s a question of stewardship, and Pope Benedict XVI has been making that point, even mentioning our responsibility to the earth when he spoke at the United Nations in April.

Stewardship of the environment is becoming a major theme for this pope.

Here are some of the things Juneau is doing to conserve energy, as reported in the Times: stores displaying televisions have them all turned off but one; the public library shut down one of two elevators, lights in public places have been dimmed and thermostats have been turned down during the chilly spring.

Despite the rainy climate, clotheslines are popping up everywhere, and people are dashing to buy compact fluorescent light bulbs.

How many of those things could be done in our own homes and cities?

What a challenge and a gift to the environment it would be to cut our energy use by 30 percent this summer!

Pope says despite threat of war it’s possible to create peace The Pope Speaks POPE BENEDICT XVI VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Despite desperate times and the threat of war, it is possible to create real peace and have hope for the future, Pope Benedict XVI said at his weekly general audience.

During a “disastrous time, indeed, desperate,” St. Gregory the Great “was a man who was immersed in God” and “knew how to create peace and give hope” to his people, Pope Benedict said.

The pope dedicated his May 28 audience talk in St. Peter’s Square to this sixth-century pope and doctor of the church. Pope Benedict said the saint’s hard work, administrative abilities and fatherly concern for people’s welfare meant that he often successfully faced the “grave problems” society and the church were facing, notably the constant threat of a Lombard invasion.

The saint was “immersed in God,” he said, and one could see that his yearning to be with God was “always alive deep in his soul.” He “is a guide for us in our times today,” because his love for God “shows us where the true sources of peace” spring and where true hope lies.

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

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In today’s catechesis we turn to Pope St. Gregory the Great, who governed the church of Rome at the end of the sixth century and is venerated as a doctor of the church. Born of a noble Roman family, Gregory entered the civil service, in which he rose to the dignity of prefect of the city, and then embraced the monastic life.

Gregory’s learning and experience, and his outstanding personal gifts, led to his appointment as the papal representative to the imperial court in Constantinople, and then as the pope’s secretary. In the year 590, Gregory was elected pope.

His papal ministry was marked by tireless energy and a clear vision of the grave problems facing civil society and the church. Gregory made every effort to contain the Lombard invasion, to provide for the evangelization of that people and to establish peace throughout Italy.

In addition to his preaching, teaching and pastoral activity, he also reorganized the management of the church’s goods and ensured a more effective administration of her charitable works.

At a time of great social instability, and despite his frequent ill health, Gregory proved an effective, prudent and saintly pastor, whose life and teaching continue to inspire us today.

May 30, 2008

The Catholic News & Herald 16

in the news

Offering ‘hospitality, not hostility’

South African churches rally to help victims of xenophobic violence

by BRONWEN DACHS catholic news service

CNS photo by Rogan Ward, Reuters

An African immigrant displaced by xenophobic violence feeds her child at Emmanuel Cathedral in Durban, South Africa, May 27. Hundreds of victims of xenophobic violence in South Africa are being housed in church halls in Durban as the country’s faith communities and civil society rally to help those displaced.

Over half full — dont wait to register!

And save $150** before June 13 deadline

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Hundreds of victims of xenophobic violence in South Africa are being housed in church halls in Durban as the country’s faith communities and civil society rally to help those displaced.

“We’re housing more than 430 people, mostly from Zimbabwe, but also from Mozambique, Malawi, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Hupenyu Makusha, a coordinator in the Durban archdiocesan pastoral care for refugees project.

Churches in Durban have made their halls available for temporary housing and many people have donated food, blankets and clothes, Makusha told Catholic News Service in a May 27 telephone interview from Durban.

When the immediate crisis is over, the archdiocesan project will help with “voluntary repatriation for those who would rather go home than stay in the hostile atmosphere in South Africa,” Makusha said.

More than 50 people have been killed in attacks on foreigners in South Africa.

More than 30,000 people have been displaced and hundreds of suspects arrested since the attacks started in mid-May. South African churches, faith communities and civil society are cooperating in their efforts to help the victims of the violence, said Kabelo Selema, who heads the justice and peace department for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Pretoria, in a May 27 telephone interview from Pretoria.

The commission plans for June 22 to be a “day of prayer for those affected by xenophobia as well as for the people in Zimbabwe,” where a runoff presidential election is scheduled for June 27, Selema said.

“We need to reflect on what we, as Christians, can do,” Selema said.

Up to 3 million Zimbabweans are estimated to have fled to South Africa to escape violence, severe shortages of basic commodities and 80

percent unemployment.

Ten million people are estimated to have come to South Africa seeking a better life since apartheid ended in 1994.

Archbishop George Daniel of Pretoria said that attacks on foreigners signal a lack of generosity to receive immigrants and asylum seekers.

“Xenophobia is a serious offense against God precisely because it violates the innate dignity of the human person,” Archbishop Daniel and the priests in his archdiocese said in a May 22 statement.

“At its core, xenophobia is a failure to love our neighbor. Since we cannot claim to love God unless we love our neighbor, we can only be one with God if we reject xenophobia and work aggressively to remove it from our personal lives, our church and our society,” they said.

The priests said they would do all they could to “offer all immigrants the pastoral care they need” and urged Catholics to offer them “hospitality, not hostility.”

The Catholic Church is “extremely diverse, representing races and ethnic groups from every part of the globe,” they said.

Noting that the situation is complex, the priests said South African President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of quiet diplomacy in Zimbabwe “has proven fatal” and blamed the South African government for “not doing everything in its power to avert the causes that led to a looming immigrant crisis.”

Noting that “the systematic lack of service delivery is a breeding ground for crime and lawlessness,” they said, “Let us ensure that all South Africans and immigrants have access to basics: employment, food, shelter and dignity.”

Zimbabwe’s Jesuits called the xenophobic attacks “alarming news for our cross-border traders whose livelihood depends on going to South Africa to buy goods for resale in Zimbabwe.”

Zimbabweans are now “caught between” the violence in their home country that followed March 29 elections and attacks on them in South Africa, they said in their late May newsletter.