Sept. 10, 2004

September 10, 2004

The Catholic News & Herald 1

www.charlottediocese.org

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Scroll Mass

Equestrian Order of Holy Sepulchre welcomes members | Page 5

Established Jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul VI SEPTEMBER 10, 2004

Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

Bringing faith to a new home

Vatican official says terrorism has unleashed ‘fourth world war’

Small Christian

Christian to respond with God’s love, says cardinal

communities invite faith into lives, homes

by CINDY WOODEN catholic news service

JOANITA M. NELLENBACH correspondent

MILAN, Italy — Defining the Cold War as the “third world war,” Cardinal Renato Martino said terrorism appears to have unleashed the “fourth world war” in a way that touches almost everyone in every part of the globe.

ANDREWS — Nearly 20 people crowded into Daniel Hernandez’s living room, filling two white-sheetcovered sofas and a love seat and overflowing into the trailer’s kitchen.

An Our Lady of Guadalupe wall hanging, covering the front of the television, was anchored to the TV’s top with tall glass votives depicting religious figures. As the service began, Jose Martinez played his guitar and everyone sang of God’s magnificent love.

It was the evening of Aug. 21, and the people had come for a prayer service led by Mother María Trinidad Villaran, mother superior of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mercy.

See VILLARAN, page 7

no. 42

Terror of war

Visiting nuns spread Gospel to North Carolina Hispanics

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vOLUME 13

See TERROR, page 13

Suffering in Sudan Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach

Mother María Trinidad Villaran, mother superior of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mercy, visits with Hispanics in Andrews during a prayer service Aug. 21. Mother Villarin and another nun from El Salvador spent several weeks in August ministering in western North Carolina.

SOMETHING TO SQUAWK ABOUT

OEO assists many in western N.C. Center to celebrate fifth anniversary this month by

Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach

Debi Gaffey communes with a green-cheeked conyer. Enrolled in the Office of Economic Opportunity’s ABLE matched-savings program, Gaffey expanded her business of selling jewelry and birds.

JOANITA M. NELLENBACH correspondent

MURPHY — Debi Gaffey’s independence is growing.

“When I was down and out, people didn’t treat me very well,” she said. “It was almost like they wanted me to be needy and to ask for help. As I get more independent, they’re much nicer.”

Her change is based on her own initiative and the help she’s receiving through See OEO, page 9

CNS photo from Reuters

A Sudanese child reaches for a medicine bottle in a refugee camp in Sudan’s Darfur province. Thousands of Sudanese children suffer from malnutrition because obstacles are delaying vital food.

See story on page 8.

Celebrating heritage

In Our Schools

Perspectives

Hibernians convene, elect officers

Asheville teacher to visit Japan; programs benefit schools

Bible’s ‘hidden’ books; value talk

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2 The Catholic News & Herald

September 10, 2004

InBrief

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

Mourning after

CNS photo from Reuters

Local residents walk past flowers Sept. 6 and view the gym where heavily armed rebels held hostage hundreds of school children and adults in the town of Beslan in the Russian province of North Ossetia. At least 335 people were killed in the siege that ended Sept. 3 in a firefight between the hostage-takers and police. The pope called the school takeover a “vile and heartless act.”

Pope prays for siege victims, VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope John Paul II prayed for the more than 330 victims of the Russian school siege, calling their deaths a “cruel epilogue” to a savage attack.

In a telegram Sept. 4, the pope said the takeover of the school in the North Ossetia province town of Beslan was a “vile and heartless act of aggression against defenseless children and families.”

The pope once again condemned “every form of terrorism” and said he hoped that a “spiral of hatred and violence would not prevail.”

The school siege ended Sept. 3 in a shootout between police and the hostage-takers, believed to be Chechen rebels. More than 700 people were injured and some 450 hospitalized.

About half of the dead and injured were children.

Some feared the tragedy could set off revenge attacks in the area. Most residents of North Ossetia are Orthodox Christians, while the neighboring breakaway republic of Chechnya is predominantly Muslim.

The papal telegram offered prayers for the eternal repose of the victims and words of comfort for the families.

He also expressed his affection for the Russian people “in this moment of anguish.”

He prayed that the Virgin Mary, “so deeply venerated by the Christians of Russia,” would inspire wisdom and

efforts toward reconciliation in the region.

At a papal Mass in Loreto, Italy, Sept. 5, the pope and others offered prayers “for the Russian people, stricken by the inhuman violence of this tragic hostage-taking, for all the dead, for the wounded, for the many innocent young victims, and for the families so sorely tried.”

When reports of the death toll began to arrive at the Vatican Sept. 3, the pope, who was staying at his residence outside Rome, went to a private chapel to pray, a spokesman said.

In Milan, Orthodox Bishop Teofan of Stravropol and Vladikavkaz, the Russian Orthodox diocese that includes the town of Beslan, described to hundreds of religious leaders from around the world how he personally carried wounded and dead children away from the school.

The bishop spoke Sept. 5 at a meeting on religions and peace sponsored by the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio.

“How can they claim to be fighting for freedom when they kill children?” he said.

The bishop asked all people of good will to unite “against the evil of terrorism, which can strike in New York as well as in Madrid or in Beslan or anywhere.”

CORRECTIONS from Sept. 3 issue

Rev. Mr. Harold Markle was incorrectly identified as “Father.”

The Aug. 21 dedication of Divino Redentor was misdated in photo captions.

The date when Christopher Columbus planted a cross in San Salvador should have read 1492.

Election materials available for students, parishes, individuals WASHINGTON (CNS) — Three religious organizations have produced nonpartisan materials to educate voters about political responsibility.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Relief Services and the Interfaith Alliance each has made election-related materials available recently.

The USCCB released a bulletin insert that summarizes the bishops’ teachings on the role of Catholics in the public arena, drawn from their document: “Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility.”

It can be ordered by calling USCCB Publishing at (800) 235-8722 or online at www.usccb.org/publishing.

CRS is offering a 12-week program to guide college students through political issues addressed in “Faithful Citizenship.” The program includes election issues such as trade and foreign aid and how they relate to church teaching.

Diocesan planner ASHEVILLE VICARIATE ASHEVILLE — Join us as we pray the rosary and support our sidewalk counselors who offer real help to women going in for abortions at FEMCARE in Asheville, at 62 Orange St., Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 a.m., Saturdays at 8 a.m. No prayer is ever wasted. The Culture of Life needs you. Call (828) 689-9544 for more information and directions.

ASHEVILLE — The St. Martin De Porres Dominican Laity Chapter meets the fourth Monday of each month at 7 p.m. in the rectory building at the Basilica of St. Lawrence, 97 Haywood St. Inquirers are welcome. For more information, contact Beverly Reid at (423) 6338-4744 or bebereid@adelphia.net.

BOONE VICARIATE NORTH WILKESBORO — If you have a special need for prayers, or would like to offer your time in prayer for others’ needs, please call the Rosary Chain at St. John Baptist de La Salle Church. The Rosary Chain is a sizable group and all requests and volunteers are welcome. For details, call Marianna de Lachica at (336) 667-9044.

SPARTA — St. Frances of Rome Church, Hendrix and Highlands Rds., sponsors the Oratory of Divine Love Prayer Group in the parish house the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 1 p.m. Call (336) 372-8846 for more information.

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE CHARLOTTE — For Better, For Worse — a marriage enrichment workshop to strengthen

The online sessions are designed for students, campus ministers or university faculty and staff. Materials can be printed from the Web site, at www.crscampusconnection.org. Information also is available by calling Kevin Kostic, CRS campus ministry coordinator, at (410) 951-7430.

The Interfaith Alliance, a nonpartisan, grass-roots public advocacy organization of more than 75 faith traditions, has produced an election year program, “One Nation, Many Faiths. Vote 2004.”

It offers five questions for candidates about faith, religious liberty and pluralism. There also are guides for candidates and houses of worship on how churches, synagogues and mosques may be involved in the election process without violating U.S. law and tradition.

Information can be found online at www.interfaithalliance.org or by calling (202) 639-6370.

healthy marriages will be offered by Catholic Social Services Oct. 9, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at St. Luke Church, 13700 Lawyers Rd. Contact Sherry Luc at (704) 370-3232 to register or for additional information.

CHARLOTTE — A Women’s Talk will be held Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Rd. Father John Starczewski will be the guest speaker. For more information, call Peggy at (704) 588-7311.

CHARLOTTE — New Creation Monastery will host a four-session Spiritual Growth Seminar this fall. The sessions will meet Sept. 30, Oct. 7 and 28 and Nov. 4, 7-8 p.m. For more information, call Father John Vianney Hoover at (704) 541-5026.

HUNTERSVILLE — Elizabeth Ministry is forming a group at St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown Rd. Elizabeth Ministry offers confidential, one-to-one contact, information, comfort and healing for women who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or early infant death. Please call Sandy Buck at (704) 948-4587 for more information.

CHARLOTTE — Fun and Fitness after 50 classes are being offered at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd. This program of gentle exercise promotes joint flexibility and muscle strength. Registration is not necessary. For more information, call Maureen Benfield at (704) 362-5047, ext. 221.

CHARLOTTE — Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is available for all members of the clergy and laity at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd. Any parishioner interested in the Apostolate and who would like to make a firm commitment to adoration for one hour a week is welcome to join the Perpetual Adoration Society. For details, call Kathleen at (704) 3665127 or e-mail at terridugan@earthlink.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2 0 0 4 Volume 13 • Number 42 Publisher: Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis Editor: Kevin E. Murray Staff Writer: Karen A. Evans Graphic Designer: Tim Faragher Advertising Representative: 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.

The Catholic News & Herald 3

September 10, 2004

FROM THE VATICAN

Vatican official says, especially on kids, assisted suicide is Bishop Sgreccia said children under age 12 are not capable of making an informed request, nor are they “capable of evaluating or defining ‘unsupportable’ suffering.”

When doctors and parents find a child’s level of pain to be too much, “is it not perhaps their suffering” and not the patient’s that they find overwhelming? he asked.

In the case of children, Bishop Sgreccia said, “one cannot talk about ‘helping them to die’ or of ‘assisted suicide,’ but rather death inflicted to ‘free them from pain,’ which is precisely euthanasia” and not assisted suicide.

Extending the assisted suicide laws, he said, is a misguided attempt to deal with suffering “with the violence of an early death.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With the race for the White House under way,

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church believes assisted suicide is murder, especially when discussing patients under the age of 12 who, in no way, can be said to make an informed request for help in dying, a Vatican official said.

Bishop Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, wrote an article for L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Sept. 3 condemning attempts to extend the Netherlands’ assisted suicide law to patients under the age of 12.

Italian newspapers in late August reported a judge had authorized a pediatrics clinic to extend assisted suicide to children, something outlawed under Dutch law enacted in 2002.

The current law allows assisted suicide for patients 12-16 years old suffering from an incurable disease or uncontrollable pain if the patient and the patient’s guardians formally request it.

CHARLOTTE — The Charismatic Prayer Group of St. Matthew Church will host a Prayer Service for the Sick at St. Matthew Chapel, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., the third Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. For more information, contact Barbara Gardner at chlt5nc@aol. com.

SALISBURY VICARIATE

CHARLOTTE — The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, St. Brigid Division 1, an IrishCatholic group of women dedicated to their faith, country and Irish heritage, meet the third Wednesday of each month. Anyone interested in membership, call Jeanmarie Schuler at (704) 554 0720.

GASTONIA VICARIATE BELMONT — All middle and high school youths are welcome to join Dennis Teall-Fleming for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Tuesday, 5-6 p.m. in the Adoration Chapel at Belmont Abbey College for an hour of prayer and devotion. For details, contact Dennis at (704) 825-9600, ext. 26 or e-mail teallfleming@ yahoo.com.

GREENSBORO VICARIATE HIGH POINT — Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 512 Montlieu Ave., offers free “Gentle Fitness” classes Wednesdays and Fridays, 1:302:30 p.m. The classes are structured to the fitness levels of seniors and anyone wanting lowimpact aerobic workout. For more information, call Deana Collis at (336) 885-7029.

HICKORY VICARIATE NEWTON — The Little Flowers Catholic Girls’ Group is for all Catholic girls ages five and up.

The group meets the fourth Monday of each month at St. Joseph Church, 720 West 13th St., at 4 p.m. in the Holy Family Hall. For more details, call Debbie Vickers at (828) 495-2039.

HICKORY — A Grief Support Group meets the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the parlor of St. Aloysius Church, 921 Second St. NE. For more information, call the church office at (828) 327-2341.

Episcopal

calendar

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

CONCORD — Discover how beautiful God’s plan for marriage really is! Natural Family Planning classes are being offered at St. James Church, 251 Union St., Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m.

Learn a natural method that is just as effective as the Pill and is in accord with Catholic teaching. Contact Susan Chaney at (704) 7200772 for more information or email questions to sujo94@aol.com.

Not on the radar: No one at Vatican asks about Bush, Kerry U.S. bishops at the Vatican for their “ad limina” visits found it strange than no one asked them for their opinions on who the next president will be.

“It’s just not on their radar,” said Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H., Sept. 2, the last day of the Republican National Convention in New York.

“I’m really surprised no one is asking,” said Ukrainian Bishop Basil H. Losten of Stamford, Conn.

While the presidential race did not come up with Vatican officials, the bishops from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut did talk about it among themselves, Bishop Losten said.

Although specific candidates were not named during their Sept. 1 visit to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the bishops did discuss publicly denying the Eucharist to Catholic politicians who support abortion.

“The Holy Office thinks the statement the U.S. bishops made (in June) does agree with and complement the statement of Cardinal (Joseph) Ratzinger, even though some people want to believe it doesn’t,” Bishop McCormack said.

Cardinal Ratzinger, congregation prefect, sent the bishops a letter before their June meeting outlining the circum-

stances under which a bishop or priest could deny Communion to Catholic politicians who consistently support abortion.

A few days later, the U.S. bishops approved a statement saying that politicians who act “consistently to support abortion on demand” risk “cooperating in evil and sinning against the common good.”

While making it clear that those who cooperate with evil should not present themselves for Communion, the bishops said that the decision to publicly impose sanctions on a person, such as denying Communion, rests with each bishop in his own diocese.

While the Republican convention and politics topped the news at home, the New England bishops were focused on prayer, their meetings with Pope John Paul II and their discussions with Vatican officials.

“We are not here to give a business report, but to express our faith, have our faith strengthened by the successor of Peter and to return home, in turn, to strengthen the faith of others,” said Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn.

Remembering a missionary

WINSTON-SALEM VICARIATE KERNERSVILLE — Holy Cross Church, 616 South Cherry St., will hold their annual parish picnic Sept. 19 at 3 p.m. There will be entertainment for the kids and adults with plenty of great food for all. We will gather on the picnic grounds. The Stewardship committee will have tables set up so that they can share information with the parishioners.

CLEMMONS — Holy Family Church, 4820 Kinnamon Rd., offers Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Thursday. Exposition begins at 6 p.m. and benediction is at 9 p.m.

Is your parish or school sponsoring a free event? Please submit notices for the Diocesan Planner at least 15 days prior to the event date in writing to Karen A. Evans at kaevans@charlottediocese.org or fax to (704) 370-3382.

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

Sept 8 — 19

Colloquium for newly appointed bishops Rome, Italy

Sept 23 — 9 a.m. Mass

Our Lady of the Assumption School, Charlotte

Sept 25 — 5 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation St. Lawrence Basilica, Asheville

CNS photo from Reuters

Orphaned children cared for by the Missionaries of Charity walk past a portrait of Blessed Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, Sept. 5, the seventh anniversary of her death. Mother Teresa was beatified

by Pope John Paul II last October.

4 The Catholic News & Herald

September 10, 2004

around the diocese

Celebrating heritage

division in June 1998. The St. Brigid Division 1, which meets at St. John Neumann Church, has more than 20 members from around the Charlotte area.

The convention was overshadowed in part, however, when Father Patrick Healy, senior priest at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Scranton, Pa., and deputy national chaplain of the Hibernians, became ill July 8, the first day of the convention, and died the next day. He had been a priest for 53 years.

“That naturally put a bit of a sadness on the convention,” said Schuler.

Two former mayors of Belfast, Northern Ireland, attended the meeting

Courtesy Photo

Members of the LAOH’s St. Brigid Division in Charlotte meet with Father Joe Pierce, the organization’s new chaplain. Pictured are (from left) Julie Byrne, financial secretary; Janice Donaghue, president; Father Pierce; Jeanmarie Schuler, vice president; and Mary Kay Crotty, mistress at arms.

to praise the work of Father Aidan Troy, chairman of the board of governors of Holy Cross School in North Belfast, who received the Hibernians’ JFK Medal.

At the convention, delegates approved resolutions opposing Senate ratification of the proposed extradition treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom and reaffirming the organization’s opposition to abortion.

The closing Mass in the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul was concelebrated by more than a dozen priests and followed with the installation of both the AOH and LAOH national officers.

Catholic News Service contributed to

Gathering of faith

AOH, LAOH meet in Philly, re-elect officers by

KEVIN E. MURRAY editor

PHILADELPHIA — Several members of the Diocese of Charlotte attended the Ancient Order of Hibernians’ 92nd biennial convention in Philadelphia in July.

“It was quite an experience,” said Jeanmarie Schuler, vice president of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians’ St. Brigid Division 1, based in Charlotte.

Schuler attended the convention with women from her division and the Our Lady of Knock Division in Greensboro.

“The sisterhood among the members was evident,” said Schuler. “Although I came home exhausted, I am also inspired to try and live up to our motto: Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity.”

The AOH, founded in 1836, describes itself as the oldest lay Catholic

organization in the United States. The organization promotes Irish culture and defends the Catholic faith.

Held every two years, the Hibernian conventions include business meetings, elections and other social activities.

“This wonderful gathering of over 1,200 Irish Americans ... was truly an inspiration to me and to the other officers to continue our work,” said Ned McGinley of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., who was re-elected as AOH president.

The LAOH, a nonprofit organization comprised of Catholic women of Irish descent, was founded in 1884 as the Daughters of Erin to protect young immigrant Irish girls. The group officially became the LAOH in 1984.

Schuler was one of the original founders of North Carolina’s first LAOH

Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach

Bishop Peter J. Jugis offers Communion to Bill Tennant during the first Mass on the new property of St. Joan of Arc Church in Asheville Aug. 1. Some 150 parishioners lined up with their folding chairs on the 13.3-acre site located on Asbury Road.

In his homily, Bishop Jugis reflected on the day’s readings focusing on the necessity to “seek what is above.”

“Keeping busy about matters of the spirit, and that’s exactly what we’re doing today as we celebrate the first Mass on this new property,” Bishop Jugis said. “The Eucharist will be the central focus of life on this new property. ... Everything we do as a parish family flows out from this altar into our daily lives, in everything we do. And everything is brought back to the altar of the Lord, the center of our spirituality.”

Concelebrating Mass was Father John Pagel, pastor. Assisting was Rev. Mr.

September 10, 2004

around the diocese

Long-standing order

Holy rolling

Donated cart allows Holy Angels to cruise the outdoors

Courtesy Photo

Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem gather Aug. 7 for a Mass and reception welcoming and honoring members. Bishop Peter. J Jugis, Father Paul Gary and Father John Putnam concelebrated the Mass. All are members of the order.

Scroll Mass confirms membership into Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of by

KAREN A. EVANS staff writer

CHARLOTTE — Scrolls were recently presented to seven Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

The scrolls are significant in welcoming and honoring members in the long-standing lay order.

The Scroll Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral Aug. 7 was concelebrated

by Bishop Peter. J Jugis; Father Paul Gary, rector of the cathedral; and Father John Putnam, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury. Bishop Jugis, Father Gary and Father Putnam are all members of the Holy Order.

Bishop Jugis and Lieutenant John Piunno presented four scrolls from Rome confirming admission to Kerney and Jane McNeil of Asheville and Raymond and Lois Paradowski of Salisbury.

Promotion to the rank of commander was confirmed to General Albert Esposito and Theresa Esposito of Winston-Salem; and Joseph A. Tronco, Jr. of Charlotte.

Thirty-five area Knights and Ladies attended the Mass and reception, as well as the 2004 nominees for investiture, William Augerot, Jane and Michael Balbirnie

The Catholic News & Herald 5

and Philip Witt, all of Charlotte.

The history of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre dates to 1099, when the Knights were established

by Godfrey de Bouillon to guard and protect the Holy Sepulcher, the tomb in Jerusalem in which Jesus is believed to have been buried.

According to Alice Cella, regional representative for the Diocese of Charlotte, the Order, whose members must be invited to join, continues its work in the modern world. The weapons of today are prayer and funding aimed at supporting and aiding the church and the Catholic faith in the Holy Land. The propagation and preservation of the faith are coupled with assistance to the Catholic missions in that area.

It sustains the efforts of Catholic working to exist in a land torn by strife and bloodshed, laboring to make their lives more tolerable. Generous aid to the weak and those without protection, striving for justice and peace are the characteristic virtues of the Order of Holy Sepulchre.

Contact Staff Writer Karen A. Evans by calling (704) 370-3354 or e-mail

BELMONT — Holy Angels now has a new set of wheels.

A specially designed wheelchairaccessible limousine golf cart has been donated to Holy Angels, a nonprofit corporation that provides programs and services for child and adult residents with varying degrees of mental retardation.

The cart, named “Holy Rollers” and donated by Carolina Golf Cars, will take residents for trips around the campus while enjoying the built-in radio system.

Gary Babcock, president of Carolina Golf Cars and longtime supporter of Holy Angels, worked on this cart since before Christmas 2003. He, his family and staff took the time and effort to ensure the comfort and safety of the residents in the cart.

He also wanted to make sure they have a great time and experience unique opportunities.

“When I was in college, I visited a place for children with disabilities.

Ever since then, it is important for me, my family and company to do something special for people that are less fortunate,” said Babcock.

After meeting with Regina Moody, president and CEO of Holy Angels, and the staff and residents, Babcock said he conceived a “stretch golf cart

designed for wheelchairs that would be fun and something different.”

“To have the kids get outside and have an opportunity to ride around and see a few different sights appealed to me and hopefully to all the people and staff of Holy Angels,” he said.

“We are so grateful to Mr. Babcock and his family and staff for their dedication and personal commitment to the residents of Holy Angels,” said Moody. “He has demonstrated a generous and kind spirit with his donation of this cart and his attention to every detail about the cart.”

“Holy Angels is dedicated to providing unique opportunities for our residents to experience the highest quality of life regardless of disability,” she said. “We are able to do this because of the generosity and thoughtfulness of our friends such as Mr. Babcock who understands our mission.”

Holy Angels was founded in 1956 by the Sisters of Mercy. Holy Angels’ residents have varying degrees of mental retardation and physical disabilities, and many are medically fragile.

Programs include the Holy Angels Residential Center, four Community Group Homes, four Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded group homes, Little Angels

Courtesy Photo

Residents and staff of Holy Angels in Belmont enjoy a spin on the new “Holy Rollers” wheelchairaccessible limousine golf cart.

6 The Catholic News & Herald

September 10, 2004

in our schools

Nihon wa ikimasu

Free money

Asheville Catholic teacher to visit Japan

Community programs provide valuable support for Catholic schools

ASHEVILLE — Pamela Budd, librarian at Asheville Catholic School, will be among 200 educators from across the United States to attend a three-week program in Japan this November.

“I can’t wait. It’s something that I’ve been preparing for,” said Budd. “I read every night about the country.”

Budd was selected from a national pool of more than 2,000 applicants by a panel of educators to take part in the Fulbright Memorial Fund (FMF) Teacher Program, which allows distinguished primary and secondary educators in the United States to travel to Japan in an effort to promote greater intercultural understanding between the two nations.

In total, 600 educators from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia will visit Japan (in groups of 200) in June, October and November this year. Upon their return, the educators will share what they have learned about Japan with their students and communities through a variety of outreach programs.

“I feel this is such a great opportunity for me professionally, as well as for personal growth,” said Budd.

Beginning in Tokyo, Budd and her group will receive a practical orientation to Japanese culture and meet officials and educators. Next, they will travel in groups of 20 to prefectures (states) outside of Tokyo to meet with local teachers and students at primary and secondary schools.

“When I return, I’ll target the seventh-grade, which is studying Japan,” said Budd. “I hope to make Japan more real because I’ve been there.”

She plans to compare and contrast U.S. schools and Japanese schools, religion, food and other cultural aspects.

She said she also would take “hundreds of photos” to “give the students a sense that Japan is a real place as opposed to a faraway place.”

Budd’s group is scheduled to visit cultural sites and local industries; in addition the educators will spend a night with Japanese families.

“I’ll be taking Japanese at a local community college, so hopefully I’ll be able to communicate with the family,” said Budd.

The program is sponsored by the Japanese government and was launched in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. government Fulbright Program, which has enabled more than 6,000 Japanese citizens to study in the United States on Fulbright fellowships

Courtesy Photo

Pamela Budd, librarian at Asheville Catholic School, discusses a quilt with student Jessica Kuehl. The quilt is similar to one third-graders will make for Budd to present as a gift to a third-grade class in Japan during Budd’s threeweek visit in November as part of the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program.

for graduate education and research.

The program is administered by the Japan-United States Educational Commission. The Institute of International Education, the nation’s largest nonprofit educational and cultural exchange agency, coordinates FMF in the United States.

To date, more than 4,000 primary and secondary educators have visited Japan through the FMF Teacher Program.

Educators throughout the United States can apply to take part as guests of the Japanese government in one of the three scheduled trips to Japan in 2005. Teachers and administrators of all disciplines are encouraged to apply. Applicants are not required or expected to have prior knowledge of Japanese culture.

Want to Go? Educators may apply online at www. iiee.org/fmf, or call (888) 527-2636.

by

KAREN A. EVANS staff writer

CHARLOTTE — Candles, magazines, wrapping paper. For almost as long as children have attended school, their loving parents, grandparents and even cash-strapped aunts and uncles have been asked to purchase such items during annual fundraising campaigns.

There are many items people can purchase to help schools, including bread, milk, cereal and juice.

Bread, milk, cereal and juice?

Through programs such as Harris Teeter’s Together in Education, Bi-Lo’s A+ for Schools, Food Lion’s LionShop & Share, Campbell’s Labels for Education and General Mills’ Box Tops for Education, contributing to schools can be as easy as buying a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.

“It’s a simple way to make a donation without opening your checkbook,” said Lisa Kehoe, a parent of a second-grade student at St. Patrick School in Charlotte.

Through the store-sponsored programs, every time a customer purchases certain products, the store contributes a portion of the proceeds to the schools that customer has registered to support.

These programs are available to schools throughout the Diocese of Charlotte, but individual schools must register with each store to receive contributions.

Customers need not live in the same city as the school they are supporting. For instance, someone shopping in Boone, where no Catholic school exists, can sign up to support Sacred Heart School in Salisbury.

Customers can also collect the labels from Campbell’s products and box tops from General Mills products and turn them into the school they want to support. Schools then redeem Campbell’s labels for supplies to be used in the classroom. For each box top received, General Mills contributes 10 cents directly to the school.

In the six years since it instituted the Together in Education program, Harris Teeter has donated $5,049,604.

Each supermarket program works differently in terms of how many schools a customer can sponsor, how long each enrollment period lasts (from three to nine months) and which products qualify for donations.

Harris Teeter contributes a portion of the sale of select non-perishable Harris Teeter products. Customers can designate up to five schools they want to support by “linking” their VIC card to those schools and must re-link their VIC cards annually.

Each time a customer shops at Food Lion and uses the MVP card, LionShop & Share donates a portion of the total grocery purchase to the school, church or other local not-forprofit organization the customer selected. Customers may register for one organization per quarter, but have the option to change the organization they wish to support before each new quarter begins. There is a limit of $350 per organization per quarter.

Bi-Lo customers can support up to three schools using their Bi-Lo BONUSCARD. Like Food Lion, Bi-Lo contributes a portion of the total grocery purchase.

Customers can designate their schools for Together in Education in the store or online. Enrollment for LionShop & Share and A+ for Schools can be done online or by calling a tollfree phone number.

Angela Montague, principal of St. Patrick School, estimated they received $3,500-$4,000 from the various programs during the 2003-04 school year. This school year, their goal is to collect $8,000.

Joe Puceta, principal of St. Michael School in Gastonia, said the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization uses the donations to purchase science equipment and materials for teachers.

“These programs provide an unexpected income that always helps, especially for enrichment activities for our students,” Puceta said.

Contact Staff Writer Karen A. Evans by calling (704) 370-3334 or e-mail kaevans@charlottediocese.org.

Want to Help?

To enroll in Harris Teeter’s Together in Education program, visit your local store or www.harristeeter.com.

To enroll in the Bi-Lo A+ for schools program, call (800) 862-9293 or visit www.bi-lo.com. To enroll in the Food Lion’s LionShop & Share, call (704) 633-8250 or visit www.foodlion.com.

September 10, 2004

The Catholic News & Herald 7

from the cover

“The need for outreach to our own people and to others who speak Spanish is very great.”

El Salvador nuns spread Gospel to N.C. Hispanics VILLARAN, from page

Eduardo Bernal, Hispanic ministry coordinator for the Smoky Mountain Vicariate, invited Mother Villaran and one of her nuns, Sister Maribel Ruiz, from El Salvador to work in western North Carolina Aug. 4-23.

Mother Villaran spent her time in Andrews in Cherokee County. Sister Ruiz worked in Cashiers, Sapphire Valley and Glenville Lake in Jackson County. They visited several families or groups each day.

“We announce the Gospel of Jesus,” Mother Villaran said. “It’s a very good experience for me (here) because this is my work in El Salvador — to announce the Gospel, the salvation from Jesus Christ.”

“The need for outreach to our own people and to others who speak Spanish is very great,” said Father Carl T. Del Giudice, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Brevard and its mission, St. Jude Church, in Sapphire Valley.

The small faith communities in the United States engage mainly in faith sharing, but in Latin America, they also train people for various ministries such as music and Eucharistic ministers.

“Everything is guided by the church,” Mother Villaran said.

In El Salvador, a nun from the Franciscan Missionaries of Mercy visits a community for a week to invite the residents to start a small Christian community (SCC), a parishbased group that meets to pray, study Scripture and help others. The nuns spend about 15 weeks establishing the community, after which they have a

Photos by Joanita M. Nellenbach

Mother María Trinidad Villaran leads a small faith community prayer service in Andrews Aug. 21. Jose Martinez plays guitar for the opening hymn. Also attending are Claudia Huerta and her son Guadalupe.

Mother Villaran listens as Claudia Huerta makes a point during a discussion of the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus at a prayer service Aug. 21. conversion-to-Christ retreat. Following that retreat, SCC members can evangelize others.

While Martinez and others at the prayer service attend Holy Redeemer, many feel having an SCC is important.

Martinez explained that people are in church for an hour a week, but the small faith community is where they live their faith the rest of the time.

“In the small communities, we are here to hear not only the word of God but to hear the needs of others,” he said.

“It’s a way to bring people’s faith and their relationship to Jesus right

into their homes,” said Father Michael Kottar, administrator of Holy Redeemer Church in Andrews and Prince of Peace Church in Robbinsville. “It makes it very personal.”

The Franciscan Missionaries of Mercy, an order formed three years ago, have seven sisters, who work in Santa Tecla and Mizata, El Salvador.

They minister to the very poor, including war refugees and farmworkers looking for urban jobs. They give food and clothing to the unemployed, but their main work is evangelization.

During the Aug. 21 meeting, Martinez read the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus (Luke 19), while the others followed along in their Bibles. They reread the story in silence, then discussed it.

Mother Villaran explained that it’s not enough to hear God’s word, but that one must act upon it. Zacchaeus, she said, didn’t keep Jesus to himself but invited others to share, so those present at this meeting should not keep Jesus just for themselves but should invite others to the community.

Claudia Huerta said she did not read the Bible much in Mexico because she didn’t understand it, but the discussions she has heard in the small faith community have helped her to understand it more.

The small Christian community, she said, is a unique experience and has a spirit she hasn’t felt before.

“It was a great help what (Mother Villaran) was doing with the evangelizing, visiting the trailer parks and bringing God’s word (to people),” said Father Kottar.

“It was nice to see the presence of a Spanish-speaking nun, and she worked with some of our core people in the Hispanic community,” he said.

The prayer service concluded with everyone joining hands in a circle, praying for special intentions and saying together the “Our Father,” “Hail Mary” and “Glory Be to the Father.”

Afterward people stayed to chat and share a meal of roast pork and spicy refried beans.

This SCC started on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, celebrated on June 19 this year, so the community took that as its name.

Another SCC, composed of about a dozen men, has formed since Mother Villaran’s visit.

“When Mother comes back,” said Guadalupe Martinez, Jose’s uncle, “I hope she will find two or three communities established.”

Contact Correspondent Joanita M. Nellenbach by calling (828) 627-9209 or e-mail jnell@dnet.net.

8 The Catholic News & Herald

September 10, 2004

from the cover

In northeastern Chad’s heat and rain, refugee graves are added Thousands flee war, devestation

by STEPHEN STEELE catholic news service

FARCHANA REFUGEE CAMP, Chad — About 100 graves of Sudanese refugees line the cemetery of the Farchana refugee camp in northeastern Chad.

New bodies are added every day, with most of the deceased being young children or the elderly who have succumbed to the harsh conditions of the African desert. The young adults buried there are women.

Missing are the young men: The bodies of those who were killed are buried or rotting throughout the Darfur region of neighboring Sudan, where government-backed Arab militias have waged a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the black Africans who inhabit the region.

“This cemetery is the symbol of our suffering,” said Abdullah Abdulaye.

In northeastern Chad, temperatures reach 130 degrees. Dirt roads washed away by unrelenting rains prevent food and other supplies from reaching the refugees.

In Farchana and Bredjing, the refugees say they do not receive enough food and that their children suffer from chronic diarrhea and other maladies. Their tents are no more than 8-feet-by-10-feet, with new arrivals — families as large as 11 — placed in 4-foot-by-6-foot tents.

U.N. officials describe conditions in Farchana as “good.”

One Doctors Without Borders official said 30 percent of the 1,200 patients the agency sees each week in Bredjing suffer from chronic diarrhea. The official said those numbers were “alarming” and could indicate a potential for more serious maladies, such as dysentery or cholera.

“We want to give them more food, but we can’t,” said Couldjim Madibe, camp director of Farchana. “We have to work within the (U.N.) guidelines,” he said.

Those guidelines include per-personper-day servings of 425 grams of cereal; 50 grams of beans; 25 grams of a corn-soy mix; 25 grams of oil; 15 grams of sugar; and 5 grams of salt.

CNS photo from Reuters

Sudanese refugees wait for aid near the Kounoungo camp in Chad Aug. 30. About 200,000 refugees have fled from western Sudan into Chad to escape Arab militias who have killed more than 30,000 non-Arab Africans.

More than 12,000 refugees are in Farchana. In Bredjing, the numbers have swelled to more than 40,000, with new refugees arriving every day.

About 200,000 Sudanese refugees are in Chad, with a million more displaced within Sudan. The United Nations estimates that about 30,000-50,000 people have been killed since early 2003.

The World Health Organization said Aug. 31 that in Darfur hepatitis cases have increased due to insufficient clean water and poor sanitary conditions, with more than 2,400 cases and more than 40 deaths

reported since late May. In Chad, about 30 deaths have been linked to hepatitis, the U.N. agency reported.

Sudan is under intense international pressure to control the Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed. A U.N. deadline to improve the situation in Darfur expired Aug. 30, leaving Sudan facing international sanctions.

The United Nations says Darfur is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Farchana was the first refugee camp for Sudanese in Chad. Now 11 camps

are under the direction of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and other unofficial camps have been established along the Chad-Sudan border.

Abdulaye said he arrived at Farchana in late May. He fled his village of Guerendi in February during a latenight ambush by the Janjaweed and government forces.

He drew lines in the sand to describe how Sudanese soldiers in vehicles surrounded his village while the Janjaweed on camels attacked.

Government aircraft shot at fleeing villagers.

“If you succeed in escaping, the planes follow and shoot at you,” he said.

His story is similar to the stories other refugees and the displaced have told humanitarian aid workers for months. Sometimes the government aircraft dropped bombs on villages, followed by a militia raid. Others say the Janjaweed arrived first, with government aircraft finishing the job.

Many of the Farchana refugees said they wanted to return home, but realized it might be a long time before peace is restored to Darfur.

“How do we forget what we witnessed? People killed by planes, women and children shot. How do we forgive such a thing? It is clear in my mind, I want revenge,” he said.

“Every day we are dying as a people,” Abdu Gammar said Aug. 28 as he pointed to the grave of a young mother buried earlier that morning in Farchana.

September 10, 2004

from the cover

The Catholic News & Herald 9

OEO assists many in western N.C. OEO, from page 1

the diocesan Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) at the Bishop Begley Center for Economic Development in Murphy.

Gaffey is enrolled in the OEO’s Assets Building Matched Savings Program (ABLE), which will help her to expand her small businesses: selling silver jewelry at a local flea market and building an aviary to house the cockatiels, macaws and conyers she raises and sells.

ABLE — which promotes economic self-sufficiency through training and savings programs for schools, businesses and housing — is just one way that the OEO reaches out to residents of Cherokee, Swain, Graham and Clay counties.

Since Catholic Social Service’s Office of Justice and Peace in the Diocese of Charlotte founded it in 1999, the OEO has given grants totaling $101,000 to 47 nonprofit and faith-based organizations and community groups.

The OEO will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year with a festival in the pavilion behind St. William Church in Murphy Sept. 24-25.

Granting community The OEO, said Father George Kloster, pastor of St. William in Murphy and Immaculate Heart of Mary in Hayesville, is “a visible sign by the Catholic Church that we are concerned about the people in this area, especially the poor, who have been left behind in many ways.”

The OEO, he said, shows that the Catholic Church wants to partner with people to help them achieve better lives.

“This region is being forced to make an adjustment from a traditional wage labor economy to a service-oriented ‘9 to 5’ career track,” an ABLE brochure states. “Without some assis-

tance through this transition period, families are left behind.”

The “adjustment” is forced by the fact that there is little industry in the four western counties.

“The growth areas (now) are small entrepreneurs and heritage tourism,” said Joan Furst, the OEO’s director.

“OEO does a wonderful job,” said Claudie Burchfield of the Graham County Travel & Tourism Authority (GCTTA). “Joan (Furst) and (Father) George (Kloster) are really involved.

It makes a difference in these small western communities.”

The GCTTA in Robbinsville and the Cherokee County Cooperative Extension Service in Murphy received grants this year toward fairs that help preserve the area’s heritage and bring needed dollars into the community.

A $2,500 grant helped revive the Graham County Heritage Festival, held July 4. More than 1,000 people attended, some from as far away as Florida. Events included logrolling, Appalachian music and dance, vendor booths and booths focused on activities of local community organizations, a Native American exhibit and a “taste of Robbinsville,” with tickets sold to allow purchasers to sample food at various restaurants.

Any money taken in, over and above festival costs, went back into the community, this time to buy beds for Emergency Medical Service workers to use during their long shifts.

“We’ve really had nothing that’s used to grow community,” Burchfield said. “It was just a wonderful event. It brought people together, and we’ve already had a spinoff. We’ve having a festival of trees, which will be held in conjunction with our Christmas parade.”

During the three-day tree festival, people will buy and decorate trees for display in the town. Tree-purchase proceeds will buy Christmas gifts for needy children and groceries for the local food pantry.

“People were really skeptical about

Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach

Debi Gaffey feeds baby jenday conyers. Handfeeding makes the birds easier to handle. Enrolled in the Office of Economic Opportunity’s ABLE matched-savings program, Gaffey expanded her small business by saving money and completing training programs. what the festival could be — until after the event,” Burchfield said. “Now, everybody’s talking about how much bigger and better it can be next year.”

A $1,700 grant helped the continued revival of the Cherokee County Heritage Fair, held Sept. 4.

“We’re trying to rekindle what we used to have,” said Jessica Roberson, family and consumer agent with the Cherokee County Center of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

“I remember growing up here in the ’70s when we had a county fair.”

In the early 1980s, the fair was discontinued. Last year, though, it returned, combined with the county’s third annual heritage walk. More than 3,000 people attended the combined event.

At least as many came this year.

Ribbons went to the best vegetables and canned goods, flowers, needlework and woodcarving. A cakewalk and auction were held; clubs and homemaker groups were exhibited.

“It went very well,” Roberson said.

“Everybody seemed to like the fair and the walk. People kept pouring in.”

Gaffey hopes that people will pour into the businesses she’s expanding through ABLE. When an ABLE participant has saved $1,000 — to start or expand small businesses, build a house, or further his or her education — ABLE doubles that with another $2,000. Participants can save more but only $1,000 is matched.

Matching success Gaffey, divorced and raising a 12-year-old daughter, suffers from fibromyalgia and mild lupus.

Nothing has stopped her entrepreneurship, however. Despite setbacks, including the driver who crashed into her front yard about 18 months ago, taking out her car, well and pump and damaging a storage shed, she’s forging ahead.

“I make jewelry and I’m planning things all the time that I would like to

do if I had the resources,” she said.

Those resources would include a computer so that she could expand her jewelry business. At present, she has to use the computer at the local public library to order her materials. She could advertise her products if she had a Web site.

Gaffey enrolled in ABLE, began saving and completed the small-business training program through the Consumer Counseling Service of Western North Carolina Inc. that ABLE requires of all participants. The course teaches a variety of skills, including budgeting and money management, and each participant completes a business plan. Those who don’t complete the training get back their savings but without the matching funds.

The materials Gaffey acquired during her training have helped her organize her businesses. “I know where I am at any time,” she said. “I never did that before.”

ABLE requires participants to save at least $20 a month. Gaffey is saving $20 a week and will finish saving in March 2005, just in time to buy birds for spring breeding.

“There have been a couple of weeks,” she said, “when I thought, ‘I can really use that money for something else, but I haven’t taken it; I’ve put it in (the bank).”

Contact Correspondent Joanita M. Nellenbach by calling (828) 627-9209 or e-mail jnell@dnet.net Want to Go? The Office of Economic Opportunity will celebrate its fifth anniversary in the pavilion behind St. William Church in Murphy 6-9:30 p.m., Sept. 24, and 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Sept. 25. The event, free and open to the public, will include storytelling, music, arts and crafts, children’s games, face painting, food and drink.

Directions: Take Hwy. 64 to Murphy.

Turn off Hwy. 64 on Bulldog Drive (road between Murphy High School and the BP station). At the bottom of the hill, turn left at traffic light. Go about 300

1 0 The Catholic News & Herald

September 10, 2004

Culture Watch

A roundup of Scripture, readings, films and more

U.S. bishops back FCC bid to make stations tape their shows Procedure to help fight indecency in television CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON — A representative of the U.S. bishops said the bishops back a Federal Communications Commission proposal to compel radio and TV stations to keep tapes of what they’ve broadcast in case citizens make complaints against them for airing indecent material.

“The current procedure for indecency complaints, which puts the initial burden on listeners and viewers to obtain a transcript from the broadcaster of the program at issue but does not require the broadcaster to provide it when requested by the listener or viewer, inhibits the appropriate enforcement of indecency rules,” said Katherine Grincewich, assistant general counsel to the U.S. bishops, in testimony delivered Aug. 27.

“Absent a transcript or tape, the (Federal Communications) Commission is forced to make its initial decision based on a listener’s or viewer’s memory alone, a situation unfair to the complainant, the broadcaster and the commission,” Grincewich added.

“The fleeting nature of indecent broadcast programs — and the need for the proposed new program archives — has, of course, been known from the incipiency of the commission’s regulation of indecent broadcasts,” she said.

Archiving programs would help community groups determine whether to challenge the renewal of a broadcaster’s license, Grincewich said. She asked for rules to be developed “so that citizens will have much-needed information” on which to base such a challenge.

In its drive to deregulate broadcasting, the FCC in 1981 and 1983 “eliminated much of the documentation formerly required of broadcast renewal by

applicants,” according to Grincewich.

Since then, she said, “the public must rely instead on time-consuming and elaborate viewer — or listener — logs of programs or on broadcasters’ vague quarterly program/issues lists.”

The FCC itself, Grincewich added, “has recognized that licensees can easily defeat petitions to deny based on the quarterly lists by providing information they did not include on those lists.”

Should the FCC approve the new archiving rule, Grincewich suggested “on-air, primetime announcements and notices on station Web sites are two methods of educating the public of its right to acquire copies of programs.”

Grincewich asked the FCC to “take the next necessary step by defining what ‘program content’ will satisfy the statutory requirement that broadcasters serve the public interest.”

“The commission must move decisively ... to establish clear, enforceable requirements that broadcasters determine the needs and interests of their communities of license, air at least a minimum amount of public affairs, news and independently produced programs which meet those needs and interests, and report to the public their actions,” she said.

In a July interview with Catholic News Service, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said the proposed rule became necessary because broadcasters did not respond to an FCC request to voluntarily make and keep tapes.

“The industry could do so much more if it would voluntarily step up to the plate,” he said.

WORD TO LIFE

Sunday Scripture Readings: sept. 19, 2004

Sept. 19, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Cycle C. Readings: 1) Amos 8:4-7 Psalm 113:1-2, 4-8 2) 1 Timothy 2:1-8 3) Gospel: Luke 16:1-13

by DAN LUBY catholic news service

Political candidates all seem to want voters to see them as champions of the middle class. Since most Americans consider themselves part of this socio-economic group, it’s unsurprising when candidates situate themselves as tireless defenders of middle-class rights and privileges.

Most of us have worked hard for what we have, and a candidate who makes defense of our hard-won comfort is appealing.

But that’s not the kind of thinking that motivates the Hebrew prophets, especially not Amos, tree-surgeonturned-incendiary prophet, who speaks in the first reading of Sunday’s liturgy.

For Amos — as for Jesus and an unbroken line of his followers up to the present day pope — those needing courageous and plainspoken defense

against the depredations of unjust and corrupt power are the most voiceless among us. In Amos’ time, about 750 years before Christ, the scandal of Israel was the heartless treatment of widows, children, servants, tenant farmers, laborers, peasants. Such people had no voice in the corridors of power.

Those who held the reins of economic and social and religious influence had grown so deaf to the cries of the poor that they not only ignored their plight, but actively exploited their powerlessness. Even the byproducts of agricultural production — chaff from threshed wheat — were denied the hungry, for the sake of profit.

Amos’ fiery prophecy aimed to shake the privileged from their complacency and confront them with the God who is the champion not of the comfortable and secure, but of the poor.

In the remaining days of the political campaign, let Amos shake us from our complacency as well. Let us mirror God’s passionate concern for the defenseless — children (born and unborn), the elderly poor, the mentally handicapped, all those with little or no access to political and economic clout.

Let us challenge candidates at every level to be champions of those most in need.

Questions:

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE Scripture for the week of September 12 - September 18

Sunday (Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time), Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Luke 15:1-32; Monday (St. John Chrysostom), 1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33, Luke 7:1-10; Tuesday (Exaltation of the Holy Cross), Numbers 21:4-9, Philippians 2:6-11, John 3:13-17; Wednesday (Our Lady of Sorrows), 1 Corinthians 12:31—13:13, John 19:25-27; Thursday (St. Cornelius, St. Cyprian), 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 7:36-50; Friday (St. Robert Bellarmine), 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, Luke 8:1-3; Saturday, 1 Corinthians 15:35-37, 42-49, Luke 8:4-15 Scripture for the week of September 19 - September 25

Sunday (Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time), Amos 8:4-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Luke 16:1-13; Monday (St. Andrew Kim Taegon, St. Paul Chong Hasang & Companions), Proverbs 3:27-34, Luke 8:16-18; Tuesday (St. Matthew), Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13, Matthew 9:9-13; Wednesday, Proverbs 30:5-9, Luke 9:1-6; Thursday, Ecclesiastes 1:2-11, Luke 9:7-9; Friday, Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, Luke 9:18-22; Saturday, Ecclesiastes 11:9—12:8, Luke 9:43-45

The Catholic News & Herald 11

September 10, 2004

These ‘Clouds’ are dreary

Missionary’s fight against Mexican drug dealers made into

by GEORGINA STARK catholic news service

CNS photo from Sony Classics

Stuart Townsend and Charlize Theron star in “Head in the Clouds,” about the unorthodox relationship of a free-spirited photographer, a Cambridge graduate and a Spanish model in Europe in the 1930s and ’40s. Overall freewheeling attitude toward sex, a fleeting orgy tableau, intense sexual encounters, some rough and crude language, nudity, sadomasochism, torture, a gory shooting and a crude episode of urination, the USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Prayer was often all Oblate Father Ted Pfeifer could fall back on while working as a missionary among poor communities in the mountainous state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

When he arrived in 1963, he never imagined the area would be taken over by gun-toting drug traffickers, who forced his dirt-poor parishioners to grow heroin poppy and marijuana.

His defiance of their violence and manipulation eventually led to the drug traffickers, known as “narcos,” turning their AK-47s on him.

He survived the attack. “Only the Eucharist and prayer are what kept me going.

I had nothing else,” said Father Pfeifer, now 71.

Father Pfeifer’s story has been made into an independent film, “The Oath,” which was shown in a private screening Aug. 6 at the Texas Independent Filmmakers Festival in San Antonio.

Father Pfeifer began working with the poor Zapotec Indians in the town of San Pedro Martir di Quiechapa in Oaxaca a few years after his 1959 ordination in San Antonio as an Oblate of Mary Immaculate priest.

The area was home to around 25,000 Catholics, scattered in small villages across a large mountain range. The villagers had never seen electricity or running water, and had not had a priest in more than 40 years.

More than 30 missions “needed to be visited, by mule or on foot because there were no roads at that time and they were scattered,” said Father Pfeifer.

The residents had no health care facility or doctors, so he became a paramedic and set up a clinic. He eventually lost count of the hundreds of babies he delivered and baptized.

“We saved a lot of lives, especially infants who often suffered from diarrhea which could kill them in hours,” he said.

In 1975, the priest started noticing visits from northern Mexicans looking forv families to grow the red heroin poppy.

The priest said the families did not know what they were involved in by growing the drugs, except that it paid them 10 times what they could make

from their vegetables and beans.

The traffickers had confiscated the Indians’ choicest lands, leaving them little acreage to grow the food they subsisted on. The traffickers used violence against those who complained, whose drug crop was not up to par or who disagreed over payment.

In an area with no police force and no telephones, they abused the women and started assassinating the local people.

Father Pfeifer began keeping a record of his murdered parishioners — up to 150 names in 10 years.

Father Pfeifer turned in information of the murders to the attorney general in Mexico City and the district attorney in Oaxaca. He even turned in the names of traffickers believed to be responsible, but complained that officials did little.

In 1987, six traffickers attempted to assassinate the priest on a mountain road.

Word had already gone around the villages that the “narcos” had a contract out on the priest.

Father Pfeifer wondered how the townspeople would react to the shooting.

His answer came when the parish called a meeting to ask their priest what they could do for him. He offered to leave, knowing that they might also be targeted just to get to him. But they begged him to stay, and he did for eight more years.

The violence continued, along with Father Pfeifer’s efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.

But he saw little being done. He suspected many of the officials to whom he turned in names were involved in the drug trade or had been bribed.

The stress, paranoia and lack of sleep from living in fear took its toll on Father Pfeifer’s health. “My blood pressure shot way up and I’m like a walking pharmacy with all the stuff I have to take,” he joked.

Maria Luisa Zapata, the director and writer of the film, “The Oath,” said she was inspired after hearing him give an account of his missionary work in San Antonio. Plans for release of the movie are still in the works.

“It’s an exciting story of someone who truly believes in the Gospels, of God working through a dedicated missionary,” said Father Pfeifer’s brother, Bishop Michael D. Pfeifer of San Angelo.

1 2 The Catholic News & Herald

around the diocese

September 10, 2004

THIS MONTH IN —1995 Little Flower blossoms in Charlotte The Little Flower assisted living residence had its groundbreaking ceremony in Charlotte Sept. 6, 1995. The Little Flower residence, named for St. Therese of Lisieux, was the first Catholic-oriented assisted living residence in the Diocese of Charlotte. It was opened to accommodate senior adults who could no longer live comfortably on their own or as safely as they would like, but did not require 24-hour medical care of a nursing home.

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Rates: $.70/word per issue ($14 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.

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September 10, 2004

in the news

Vatican official: Terrorism has unleashed ‘fourth world war’ TERROR, from page 1

The cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, spoke Sept. 6 at an interreligious meeting for peace sponsored by the Romebased Community of Sant’Egidio.

Terrorism on the scale seen since Sept. 11, 2001, has become a type of war outside the bounds of “all of the

political and juridical canons consolidated by a very long tradition” for defining war and regulating combat, he said.

The reaction, the cardinal said, particularly in the “preventative war” on Iraq proclaimed by the United States and its coalition partners, is also outside the bounds of traditionally accepted definitions of national self-defense.

Cardinal Martino previously has said that the war on Iraq was not justi-

fied, but that once the coalition forces invaded they had an obligation to stay and to provide security while the new Iraqi government is formed and consolidated.

The cardinal said two aspects of “the war of terrorism and the war on terrorism” are completely new.

The first regards the ability of terrorists to strike in one place, yet make an “interruption” into the daily lives of people around the globe, he said.

The immediacy of news coverage brings images of the attacks into every-

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“The war ... is particularly disturbing because these acts sometimes are committed in the name of God.” Cardinal Renato Martino one’s homes, the cardinal said, and the unexpected and horrifying acts make people feel that they may not be safe anywhere, including their offices or their schools.

“With terrorism, war is no longer a far-off event, but is terribly close,” Cardinal Martino said.

The cardinal also said that, while war always has been horrible and has “sinisterly shone light on the abyss” of human hearts, “the war we are living through at this moment is particularly disturbing because these acts sometimes are committed in the name of God.” Cardinal Martino said neither politicians nor people of faith could afford to be simplistic when looking at what triggers or contributes to terrorism.

The new world tensions combine more than one motivation: historical tensions among peoples, “economic recriminations caused by great poverty,” the search for new political assets, “the vindication of cultural diversity,” or other factors, he said.

The cardinal said people also cannot ignore the fact that the international arms trade makes it easy for disgruntled groups to get weapons, frequently using them against the country that provided them.

Because the factors contributing to terrorism are so complex, he said, the response must be as well. Because the causes are complex, “they can be removed only with joint action by a number of local and international actors,” he added.

The Christian contribution, he said, must be a more concerted effort to teach and live the truth that God is love and demands that those who believe in him love all men and women.

1 4 The Catholic News & Herald

September 10, 2004

Perspectives

A collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

Cathedrals and stadiums Modern structures share similarities with ancient cathedral, they were being built. Cathedrals are a way of saying, “Thanks, God, for giving me the brains to dream this up and pull it off.”

On the other hand, a stadium only says, “Let’s have a tailgate party and then watch some wealthy muscular men beat the stuffing out of one another.” Sports, unfortunately, are a religion for many.

Perhaps the best thing about our faith when comparing cathedrals to the frenzy of the new religion of sports is the fact that the cathedrals have withstood so much. Stone statues of the Apostles are built into the facade of the front entrance of Salisbury Cathedral in England. Peter, James and John and all the rest are weathered by time but they still peer out to all who enter.

And once inside a cathedral, what did the people, whose lives were short and hard, do? They knelt and prayed.

On the other hand, to be admitted to a stadium you must first pass through a metal detector. Once inside, video screens flicker images that change every few seconds. Your space within is a comfortable seat complete with its own cup holder.

Perhaps the trump card in this discussion is the fact that the cathedrals have survived. Salisbury Cathedral is more than 775 years old. Most stadiums are described as hopelessly outdated after 20 or 30 years and the wrecking ball is called.

I like football and tailgate parties and the Carolina Panthers. But an awesome game isn’t even close to the awe I feel when I attend Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral a mile and a half away or even at the gymnasium that serves as a church at St. Mark in Huntersville.

So if your plans this fall include attending a big game, enjoy the weather and the spectacle that unfolds before you. But don’t forget that every church in the Diocese of Charlotte is a cathedral to God’s glory. Don’t miss out on the awesome miracles taking place there.

David Hains is the director of communications for the Diocese of Charlotte.

Contact him at dwhains@charlottediocese. org.

Catholics & the Media DAVID HAINS Guest Columnist

The Bank of America football stadium is a short punt from the diocesan Pastoral Center in Charlotte. Driving by its concrete and steel majesty makes me wonder: What does this building remind me of?

Maybe it is elegance on a grand scale, like an ocean liner that has somehow docked itself in the center of a city, ready to take on passengers for a weekly excursion into a fantasy war game.

Other times, when I am hungry, it looks more like a giant cereal bowl, waiting for its breakfast of champions. And then I thought of a cathedral. Whoa! Now there’s an interesting comparison.

In the Middle Ages when Europe went on a church construction binge, cathedrals were the stadiums of the day.

Cathedrals represented the collective wisdom and state of the art engineering skill of people who wanted to create a monument to the most important thing in their lives — their relationship to God. Inspiring spires built by puny men and women, without the benefit of a sky crane or a welding torch, soared hundreds of feet to the heavens. A cathedral was at the center of a community. It was its most important structure.

If you look at the skyline of a modern American city, the monuments are made of steel, glass and concrete, nearly all of them erected to further commerce.

Thanks to media hype, community pride is literally and figuratively built upon the foundation of these structures.

Like the cathedrals of yore, the stadiums of today are built with large amounts of donated funds. In modern times, we refer to these contributions as taxes and municipal bonds.

But then the similarities between the two structures drift. Craftsmen often labored a lifetime without seeing their cathedral completed. Modern work crews erect a stadium in 30 months after condemning the houses, usually of poor people, to “progress.”

But the big difference between the two structures is, oddly enough, the chief reason for the existence of each. Both were built for worship. It is a fitting tribute to our Lord that as soon as humans had the wherewithal to envision something as grand as a

Pope says slaughter of children ‘cannot leave anyone indifferent’

by Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The slaughter of Russian schoolchildren and the countless examples of the killing and exploitation of children around the world “cannot leave anyone indifferent,” Pope John Paul II said.

Marking the Sept. 8 feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the pope called on Catholics to stand before her cradle and take seriously “the obligation we all have to safeguard and defend these fragile creatures and to build for them a future of peace.”

The pope turned his weekly general audience into a prayer service for the more than 320 children and adults killed Sept. 3 at a school in Russia’s North Ossetia province and for all children around the world who suffer at the hands of adults.

Celebrating Mary’s birth, he said, “How can we not think of the many defenseless little ones from Beslan, Ossetia, who were barbarously taken hostage and tragically slaughtered?”

“They were in a school, a place for learning the values that give meaning to the history, culture and civilization of peoples: mutual respect, solidarity, justice and peace,” he said.

“But, instead, within those walls, they experienced abuse, hatred and death — tragic consequences of a ruthless fanaticism and of an insane contempt for the human person,” Pope John Paul said.

The pope asked the estimated 7,500 people at his audience at the Vatican to be mindful of “all the innocent children who, in every part of the world, are the victims of the violence of adults.”

The Pope Speaks POPE JOHN PAUL II

He prayed for children who are forced to take up weapons “and educated to hate and to kill,” for children forced to beg, for those who are physically or sexually abused, for those who are abandoned, for those killed in war and for those who die of hunger each day.

An official of the Vatican Secretariat of State then led the assembly in prayers, first for the children killed in Beslan, for their parents and friends.

More than 1,200 people were taken hostage in the incident, and more than 700 were injured.

Audience participants also prayed that “the Lord would soften the hardness of heart” of those who make children suffer.

They also prayed for the increasing number of civilians kidnapped in Iraq, including two 29-year-old Italian women working for a volunteer organization who were kidnapped Sept. 7 in Baghdad.

The pope closed the service with his own prayer: “God, our father, you created men and women to live in communion with each other. Make us understand that every child is a richness for humanity and that violence is a dead end that does not lead to the future.”

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September 10, 2004

All this talk about First it was George Bush, then John Kerry, and then it was just about every media commentator. Doing what? Talking about values.

I was maybe one of the few listening Americans who rather liked the idea that candidates for the nation’s highest office were talking about values. I have long taken that word, in its spiritual meanings, quite seriously.

On the other hand, in the term’s material definitions, like “value investing,” or monetary worth — such as “this house, furniture, jewelry, etc, has a value of ...,” I have been left quite cold. There’s a simple reason why. It’s because such value can change with the wind. What was valuable one day might be trash the next.

Not so with spiritual values. These are enduring, and, boy, do we need enduring values like honesty, respect for others, justice, forgiveness, nurturing care for the earth and praise for the God who gave us life and everything needed to maintain it.

In the presidential campaign now entering its final weeks, we’re probably going to hear less about values. My guess is that the media has made such fun of the presidential candidates’ use of that word that they won’t want to take the risk. We’ll probably hear about “American values” a few times because

The Bottom Line ANTOINETTE BOSCO CNS Columnist that sounds patriotic. But I doubt we’ll hear anyone get up and say, “Hey, values are important because the quality of our lives depends on the values of the society we live in.”

I really got interested in this matter of values back in the late ’60s when society was undergoing quite a shakeup. The question of values was coming up then in high volume. Family life was shaken by what was called the “authority crisis” resulting from the “generation gap.”

Teens were “rebellious,” many becoming “hippies,” and no one knew where the “new sexual freedom” was taking us.

Anti-Vietnam war protesters were challenging national leaders and the whole political system, and seriously questioning what many felt were the overwhelming material values of our society.

As a reporter for the Long Island

Catholic, I did some major stories on the question of what values are and why we should be concerned about them.

I interviewed a university student who said, “You have to question the material values of a society where millionaires get off tax free and the poor get the basics of life slashed to an impossible minimum, as in the recent New York state welfare cuts. It’s human sacrifice all over again for the preservation of the ‘haves.’”

That was written 35 years ago.

Back then I asked a philosophy professor, Stephen Pepper, why we should be concerned about values. We “had better” study them, he said, because the basic question always challenging humans as we confront each new situation, individually and in society, is, “What is a more just and moral society, and how are we going to get it?”

That’s a values question.

Columnist Sidney Harris once wrote about values, saying that the crucial questions are “‘What does it mean to be a human person?’ And, ‘What kind of society will best fit the needs of this person?’...

Unless these two [questions] are worked out, society will extinguish itself by the ignorant mishandling of the very tools technology has provided us with.”

I hope our candidates are equally insightful when they speak of values.

Examining the Bible’s ‘hidden’ books presence of Greek people and culture in Jewish territories.

Probably around 130 B.C., the most influential translation of the Old Testament into Greek, called the Septuagint, was completed in Alexandria, North Africa, and it included the so-called apocryphal books. This was the version widely accepted by the early Christian church. Most quotations from the Old Testament in the Gospels, for example, whether spoken by Jesus or someone else, are based on the Septuagint.

The aprocryphal books were not accepted, however, by the Pharisees, who, about the year 100 A.D., established the list of canonical books for dispersed Jewish communities. Because they were written in Greek and because they originated rather late in the Old Testament period, perhaps 150 or 200 years before Christ, it was not considered proper to include them in the Jewish Scripture.

The history of these apocryphal books in Christianity is long and complex. Eventually, however, in the 16th century, the Protestant reformers desired to return as much as possible to biblical purity. Accepting only the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament, without the books in the Greek version, seemed one way to do that. Thus began this difference between “Protestant” and “Catholic” Bibles.

Interestingly, the aprocrypha often found their way into Bibles published under Protestant auspices. Martin Luther himself included them as an appendix to his translation, noting that they “are useful and good to be read.”

Question Corner FATHER JOHN DIETZEN CNS Columnist Q. In our interfaith Bible-study group, we frequently run into problems with the apocrypha, books that are in the Catholic Bible but not in the Protestant Bible. If one of us refers to the book of Maccabees, for example, someone else will say that’s not really part of the Bible.

What exactly are these books? Why do some Bibles have them and others don’t?

(Florida) A. Catholic Bibles contain all or part of several books in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) that are not recognized in Protestant biblical tradition. These books include Tobias, Judith, Baruch, First and Second Maccabees, Ben Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Wisdom, and parts of Daniel and Esther.

Typically, Protestants refer to them as apocryphal (“hidden”) books.

Catholic biblical literature generally calls them deuterocanonical, or second canon, books.

Most of the Old Testament was, of course, written in some idiom of Hebrew. Eventually a Greek translation was needed because of the growing

Early English Bibles, including the King James version, regularly contained the apocrypha at least in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments. Only in 1644, under Puritan influence, were these books excluded.

All the books discussed above are considered apocryphal by Protestants and recognized as authentic Scripture

by Catholics.

It is important to distinguish these, however, from a host of other writings which both Catholics and Protestants view as nonbiblical, apocryphal literature. A number of them originated in the centuries before our Lord, but many were written by early Christians. Some are Gospels (the Gospels of Thomas, Peter, Nicodemus, James, for example), some are Acts (Acts of John, Paul, Andrew, Peter, purporting to portray certain aspects of Christian life and teaching); others are letters or apocalyptic writings.

Nearly all of these apocryphal writings betray the influence of gnosticism or other heretical tendencies which beset early Christianity. While they often provide valuable windows into conditions under which the first Christian generations lived, they are not part of Scripture.

Questions may be sent to Father Dietzen at the same address, or e-mail: jjdietzen@aol.com.

What? No special place for campers at Uncle Dan DAN MORRIS CNS Columnist If you are an inveterate camper like myself, you have probably wondered the same thing I have: If parishes can have “crying rooms” for families with youngsters prone to tantrums during Mass, why could we not also have a “Campers’ Room”?

They could be equipped with things like bandages, fish-lure resistant pews, Handi Wipes and breath mints.

I was wondering that last Sunday when an unfamiliar family arrived at our church. I suspected they had come to Mass during a camping vacation in that the 5-year-old’s hair was matted with burned marshmallow, and there was a slight scent of campfire smoke and mosquito repellent surrounding the group.

The father’s eyes looked like two tiny pepperoni pizzas and the mother’s hair was tied into a ponytail with 10-pound fishing leader. The toddler was playing with a plastic tent peg, doing his best to stick it into his brother’s ear.

It sure took me back to the days when we camped with our children. We would desert life’s comforts for the thrills of sleeping with small boulders jammed against our kidneys, cooking-kerosene flavored pancakes and slapping mosquitoes on our foreheads. It was great.

The family sat in front of us.

“Daddy,” whispered the 10-year-old, “Jason’s breath smells like fish guts.”

“Does not,” responded the accused.

“Shh you two,” said the mother.

“Mommy,” said Miss Marshmallow, “is it OK to say ‘fish guts’ in church?”

“Only if you’re the priest,” said dad.

“Be quiet and pray.”

Three seconds of silence, then: “I pray that Killer doesn’t get sick in the van like he did when we left him in there the last time we went to church when we were camping,” one of the kids said.

“Is that him I hear barking?” the mother whispered.

“Does the priest really say ‘fish guts’?” giggled Miss Marshmallow.

“Jason, go check on Killer,” instructed the father.

“But don’t breathe on him or you’ll make him sick,” said his sister.

“Can I go with Jason?” asked Miss Marshmallow.

“No” and “Yes” said mom and dad simultaneously.

I loved it. Maybe a Campers’ Room would not be such a good idea after all.

Oh, Killer was just fine.

September 10, 2004

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PARISH PROFILE

St. Joan of Arc Church celebrates 76 years of Catholic ministry St. Joan of Arc Church 919 Haywood Road Asheville, N.C. 28806 (828) 252-3151 Vicariate: Asheville Pastor: Father John Pagel Number of Households: 252

Father John Pagel St. Eugene.

In 1960, Bessie Prime, an elderly St. Joan of Arc parishioner who lived in a stately home, bequeathed her residence to the church. The house, a block from the church and school, became a convent for the sisters teaching at St. Joan of Arc School.

During the 1962-63 school year, St. Joan of Arc School built a brick addition that housed additional classrooms, a kitchen and gymnasium/cafeteria to serve the 210 students in kindergarten through eighth grades. The Gardner House was demolished for a parking lot.

In 1968, the Franciscans could no longer shoulder the financial strain of operating St. Anthony School in south Asheville for African-American children. St. Joan of Arc School accepted all the children who wanted to continue with their parochial education.

A decline in religious available to teach in the parochial school led to St. Joan of Arc School’s closing in 1980; students transferred to the renamed Asheville Catholic School at St. Eugene Church.

The convent became offices for Catholic Social Services after the school closed and later became the church’s rectory when CSS moved their offices in 1997.

Although St. Joan of Arc Church was the smallest of Asheville’s three parishes, it continued its tradition of reaching out — to Hispanics and other minority Catholics, to seniors, to gay and lesbian Catholics and

Photo by George K. Cobb

St. Joan of Arc Church in Asheville began as a 12-room house purchased in 1927. to AIDS and HIV-positive individuals — through its Caring Hearts ministry.

Father John Pagel, assigned as St. Joan of Arc Church’s 23rd pastor in 1998, balanced the parish budget but discovered that the former school buildings constituted a large and continuing financial drain on the parish.

A parish planning committee organized “listening” sessions to discern the hopes of the parishioners and launched an evaluation of the options facing the parish.

Doing nothing meant the eventual demise of the parish, but money was not available to renovate the obsolete buildings or rebuild in place.

Although there is a great deal of affection for the “little brown church,” the parish agreed that relocating was the only viable option. It will become affordable with help from the diocese and the sale of the commercially valuable property on Haywood Road.

By moving 10 minutes to the west, St. Joan of Arc Church will be centrally located to serve what the diocese expects to be an explosive growth in Catholic families, making it one of those rare parishes that is ahead of

ASHEVILLE — In its 76th year, St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church is breaking the mold.

On Aug. 1, 2004, Bishop Peter J. Jugis came to a farm field west of town — the site for a new St. Joan of Arc Church — to both celebrate Mass and lend his support to what the parish calls “Our Journey of Faith.”

The first Catholic churches in the

eastern United States and their attendant parochial schools were built in the urban centers by first- and second-generation European immigrants.

As these families worked their way up into the suburbs, they rebuilt their churches where they lived. The continuing migration of Catholics meant overcrowded parishes had to expand or relocate — a process that continues today.

The difference with St. Joan of Arc Church is that it is moving in advance of the demographic wave. The reasons lie rooted in the history of the parish.

In 1927, to serve the growing Catholic population in west Asheville, a group of St. Lawrence Church parishioners, under the leadership of Father Louis Bour, purchased the 12-room Gardner House at Blue Ridge Avenue and Haywood Road.

One room was remodeled as a chapel; the rest served as the first parochial school in western North Carolina.

Bishop William J. Hafey of Raleigh named it for St. Joan of Arc. About 70 youngsters comprised the student body.

A year later, Father Frank Gallagher was appointed as St. Joan of Arc Church’s first pastor.

In 1936, St. Joan of Arc Church built an auditorium that became the temporary chapel, the plan being to build a permanent church “within a year or two.” But the remodeled and expanded “auditorium” remains the worship area today.

In 1950, the first part of the present brick building — four classrooms and an auditorium — was built.

In 1955, St. Lawrence Church opened its own parochial school in north Asheville.

The bishop decided to split the St. Lawrence parish, establishing St. Eugene Church next door to the school and changing the school’s affiliation to