Sept. 17, 2004

September 17, 2004

The Catholic News & Herald 1

www.charlottediocese.org

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Gathering of faith Secular Franciscan Order discusses Eucharist, spirituality at annual gathering | Page 5

Established Jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul VI SEPTEMBER 17, 2004

Protecting God’s Children

New facilitators ready to train employees, volunteers Program instituted to prevent child sexual abuse in diocese

Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

Bringing faith behind bars

by

correspondent

See TRAINING, page 4

See PRISON, page 8

editor

Student storm trackers

REV. MR. GERALD POTKAY

CHARLOTTE — New facilitators have been trained to help others protect children in the Diocese of Charlotte.

Susan Chestnut, a consultant for VIRTUS, led an intensive two-day training session at the diocesan Pastoral Center for the facilitators Sept. 9-10.

The twelve facilitators are now certified to present

KEVIN E. MURRAY

no. 43

Prison ministers attend inaugural gathering

HICKORY — Those who bring God to prison inmates recently gathered to reflect and share.

“Today we see the fruits of our ministry,” said Rev. Mr. Ben Wenning, coordinator of the diocesan permanent diaconate. “This is the first of many times we will get together. We are here to share our stories.”

More than 30 permanent deacons and others involved in prison ministry gathered

by

vOLUME 13

Photo by Kevin E. Murray

A student tracks Hurricane Ivan on St. Ann School’s WeatherNet computer system Sept. 13. St. Ann School is one of two schools in Mecklenburg County to become a WeatherNet reporting station.

‘A global emergency’

CCHD director speaks Catholic students use technology on HIV and AIDS to monitor hurricanes Disease affects entire planet, says priest by

CHARLOTTE — As remnants of Hurricane Frances whipped through Charlotte Sept. 7, students at St. Ann School tracked the storm on the school’s WeatherNet computer site.

On the roof of the south Charlotte school, a sophisticated set of instruments collected weather data and transmitted it to the American Weather Ser-

In Our Schools

Common faith

Remembering 9/11

CCHS teacher visits NASA; Catholic students help Florida school

Polish priest visits Arden parish, celebrates feast day

Catholic schools pay tribute to victims, heroes

staff writer

Photo by Karen A. Evans

Father Robert Vitillo speaks on HIV and AIDS at Just Second Fridays in Charlotte Sept. 10.

by PEGGY ANDERSON special to the Catholic News & Herald

were able to follow Hurricane Frances and see how it changed from a hurricane to a tropical storm,” said Lisa Horton, St. Ann School computer science teacher. “They were so excited.

It gives them real, hands-on science that they can touch and feel. You can’t get that from a book.”

The weather instruments at St. Ann School measure temperatures, wind speeds, rainfall amounts, humidity and air pressure. Data is collected automatically and fed through a computer to AWS, which

KAREN A. EVANS

CHARLOTTE — Since the first case of AIDS was diagnosed more than 20 years ago, some 20 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses and 37.8 million more are living with the disease.

“The spread of the pandemic continues at an unabated pace and destroys the lives of individuals and families as well as causes serious tears in the See AIDS, page 9

Data collected helps local TV news, national weather service vice (AWS), the world’s largest private weather network.

A year ago, St. Ann School and Providence Day School in southeast Charlotte became the only two elementary schools in Mecklenburg County to install AWS WeatherNet reporting stations.

“My fourth grade students

| Pages 6-7

| Page 13

See WEATHER, page 7

| Page 16

2 The Catholic News & Herald

September 17, 2004

InBrief

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

Judge’s decision against partialbirth abortion ban called ‘callous’ WASHINGTON (CNS) — Terming it a “callous opinion,” a spokeswoman for the U.S. bishops criticized a federal judge’s Sept. 8 ruling that the law prohibiting the procedure known as partialbirth abortion is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf in Nebraska said the 2003 law should have included an exception allowing that type of abortion to be used in cases where the woman’s health is in danger.

The only exception to the ban is when the mother’s life is at risk.

In a statement, Cathy Cleaver Ruse, director of planning and information in the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, said Kopf’s decision shows the reach of an “abortionist’s veto” that she said was established by the Supreme Court in a ruling four years ago.

In a 5-4 decision June 28, 2000, the high court struck down Nebraska’s law banning partial-birth abortion.

The wrath of Ivan the terrible

Diocesan planner

CNS photo from Reuters

A child stands near his family home destroyed by Hurricane Ivan outside Kingston, Jamaica, Sept.

12. At least 68 people lost their lives to the violent storm as it made its way across the Caribbean.

Grenada bishop says after Hurricane Ivan diocese must be rebuilt PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CNS) — The bishop of the Caribbean island of Grenada said the entire diocese will have to be completely rebuilt after being devastated by a powerful hurricane churning its way toward the United States.

Bishop Vincent Darius of St. George’s in Grenada said all church structures there had been damaged following the passage of Hurricane Ivan, the most powerful storm to hit the region in a decade.

“Like all the other buildings here, our churches, presbyteries, convents and schools have received structural damage,” he said Sept. 12.

Ivan, traveling through the Caribbean, killed at least 68 people, including 19 in Grenada and 19 in Jamaica.

Ninety percent of Grenada’s buildings were flattened or badly damaged, and the Red Cross estimated 60,000 of the island’s 90,000 people were left homeless.

Bishop Darius said the roof of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in St. George’s had caved in. The eye of “Ivan the Terrible” — as the hurricane has been dubbed by locals — passed directly over the capital Sept. 7.

More than 200 inmates of the island’s prison escaped during the hurricane as its roof blew away; some were recaptured.

Looting of businesses and homes per-

sisted, and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed.

Bishop Darius said few parishes celebrated Mass Sept. 11-12 because of the damage, but many hoped to resume services the weekend of Sept. 18-19.

He described the situation as “chaotic” because electricity, water and communications had not yet been restored.

“I think people are still in a state of shock,” he said. “Many are concerned about what will happen tomorrow in terms of their survival.”

Bishop Darius said he was currently working on putting together a diocesan disaster relief committee to coordinate the distribution of incoming relief to parishes on the predominantly Catholic island.

He said residents might be shaken but “we have not lost our faith.”

“Life has changed, and people are now talking about living as one in community,” he said.

After leaving Grenada in its wake as a Category 3 hurricane with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour, Ivan gathered strength over the Caribbean Sea and clipped Jamaica Sept. 11. On Sept. 13, it had strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane and was headed for western Cuba and, eventually, the United States.

ASHEVILLE VICARIATE 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.

HENDERSONVILLE — The St. Francis of the Hills Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order meets the fourth Sunday of each month 2:30-4:30 p.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, 208 7th Ave. West. Visitors and inquirers are welcome. For more information, call Joanita Nellenbach, SFO, (828) 627-9209 or jnell@dnet.net.

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE CHARLOTTE — The Women’s Guild of St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Rd., will host its Annual Tea Party Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Msgr. Pharr Center. For For more information, contact the church office at (704) 554-7088.

She said with their majority decision, the five justices ruled “that the Constitution will allow no legal protection for children from the violence of partial-birth abortion, as long as there are abortion doctors who favor it. Judge Kopf’s ruling shows this ‘abortionist’s veto’ in action.”

She said the Supreme Court “should be untainted by abortion ideology and respectful of the right to life of every human being without exception.”

Kopf is the third federal judge this summer to declare the law unconstitutional.

The partial-birth abortion cases are expected to be appealed eventually to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court typically declines to take appeals where lower courts are in agreement.

Rd., 10:15 -11:30 a.m. Call Gigi at (704) 895-3310 or Merry at (704) 947-9547 for more information.

HUNTERSVILLE — Women’s Catholic Scripture Study meets Wednesdays, 9:30-11:30 a.m., at St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown Rd. The class will focus on the book of Exodus and will meet through May 2005. For details, call the church office at (704) 948-0231.

CHARLOTTE — A support group for caregivers of a family member with memory loss meets the last Monday of each month, 10-11:30 a.m. at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Rd. For more information, contact Suzanne Bach at (704) 376-4135.

CHARLOTTE — Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is offered in the chapel of St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy., each Friday following the 9 a.m. Mass until Saturday at 9 a.m. Adorers are needed, particularly during the hours of midnight-6 a.m. for more information, call Charles and Bernice Kish at (704) 8 46-7387.

CHARLOTTE — Thank God It’s Friday (TGIF), a weekly support group for separated and divorced women, meets every Wednesday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the New Life Center building, room 114, of St. Matthew Church, 8015 Ballantyne Pkwy., including a potluck dinner. Divorced men are invited every third Wednesday of the month. TGIF is a healing ministry sponsored by Catholic Social Services, Charlotte Regional Office and St. Matthew Church. For details, call Karen Wepasnick at (704) 541-1891 after 3 p.m.

CHARLOTTE — The 57th Semi-Annual Family Rosary Day will be held Oct. 3 at 3:30 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Rd. Father Philip Scarcella, pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church, will be the speaker. For more information, contact the church office at (704) 554-7088.

GASTONIA VICARIATE

HUNTERSVILLE — The Newcomers Women’s Ministry of St. Mark Church invites women who are new or still feel new to the area to “Moving On,” based on Susan Miller’s book “After the Boxes are Unpacked.” We will talk about the spiritual, emotional and practical needs associated with moving.

Classes meet Wednesdays through Nov. 17 in Room 200 of St. Mark Church, 14740 Stumptown

BELMONT — Faithful Citizenship Sessions will be held at Queen of the Apostles Church, 503 N. Main St., Oct. 7, 7-8:30 p.m.; Oct. 16, 6-7:30 p.m.; and Oct. 17, 12:30-2 p.m. in the Parish Family Center. Each session will cover politics, elections, candidates and issues. No pre-registration or fees, just bring yourself, and a friend, too! For details, contact Dennis Teall-Fleming, director of faith formation, at teall-

SEPTEMBER 17, 2 0 0 4 Volume 13 • Number 43 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 17, 2004

FROM THE VATICAN

Nuncio says resumed IsraeliVatican negotiations result in

in the resumed talks with Israel’s Foreign Ministry Sept. 6-9. But two major sticking points still persist: guaranteeing church property rights and tax exemptions.

“All the Catholic Church wants is for the agreement to include a sentence that says, as a property owner, the church has the right to access to the courts” to protect any of its property, said Franciscan Father David Jaeger, an expert on church-state relations in Israel.

U.S. government officials helped persuade Israel to restart negotiations with the church this year, and Father Jaeger said the United States must continue to encourage Israel to resolve the current impasse.

The next round of talks between the Holy See and Israeli delegates is scheduled in late October.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Under the banner headline, “Darkness in the hisfleming@yahoo.com or (704) 825-9600, x 26

GREENSBORO VICARIATE GREENSBORO — The Greensboro Council of Catholic Women announces the start of its 2004-2005 fiscal year with a luncheon on Sept. 22 at 11:30 a.m. at Cardinal Country Club. The speaker will be Jan Laughinghouse, clinical director at Mary’s House.

All ladies are welcome. For more information, please contact Marie VanKleef at (336) 644-1142.

GREENSBORO — Terry Aiken will present a “Protecting God’s Children” workshop Sept. 25, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 605 Barber Ave. “Protecting God’s Children” is a program designed to heighten awareness of the issue of child sexual abuse. Participants will be informed of potentially dangerous situations with specific suggestions to reduce the risk of children becoming victims of such abuse. To register for this free workshop, visit www.Charlottediocese.org and click on “Protecting God’s Children.”

HICKORY VICARIATE HICKORY — The Fraternity of Brother Francis will present two spiritual events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi — the stigmata and transitus — Oct. 3 at 3 p.m. at St. Aloysius Church, 921 Second St. NE. Refreshments and a biographical video will follow.

For more information, contact Ruth Thoni at (828) 466-1664.

HICKORY — St. Aloysius Church, 921 Second St. NE, is offering a weekly Catholic Scripture Study beginning Sept. 15. Catholic Scripture Study is a program whose members not only learn the Scriptures, but come to a deeper understanding of their faith in a setting that builds Christian fellowship. Evening and daytime classes will be held each at the church, Wednesdays, 6:45-8:30 p.m., and Thursdays 9:3011:15 a.m. For more information, call Ann Miller at (828) 441-2205, or email stalscss@charter.net.

ROME (CNS) — Stalled negotiations between Israel and the Holy See resumed in Jerusalem and resulted in “considerable progress,” said the region’s papal nuncio.

“A few difficulties persist, but I hope the willingness to fulfill the ‘fundamental agreement’ fully continues,” Archbishop Pietro Sambi said Sept. 10.

Israel and the Holy See signed the “fundamental agreement” in 1993; they established diplomatic relations in 1994.

Concordats within the agreement were to follow to guarantee the rights and freedom of the Catholic Church in Israel, but Israel has not enacted the agreement.

Further negotiations over the bilateral accord came to a standstill when Israel withdrew its delegation from talks in August 2003.

Archbishop Sambi, the pope’s representative to Israel and the Palestinian territories, headed the Vatican delegation taining biblical advice and clear-headed counsel, is based on the book “After the Boxes are Unpacked”

by Susan Miller. Both morning and evening sessions will be offered with baby-sitting provided at the morning sessions. For further information, contact, contact Lois Yaniero at (704) 892-4326 for morning sessions and Connie Evans at (704) 658-0521 or Tori Springate at (704) 662-9122 for evening sessions.

York and Washington, the newspaper highlighted later terrorist attacks: the October 2002 bombing in Bali, Indonesia, which left 202 people dead; the March bombing of several trains in Madrid, Spain, in which 191 people died; and the deaths of more than 320 people, mostly children, Sept. 3 after they were taken hostage in a school in Russia.

To the terrorists, “it matters little if the victims are tourists or commuters on their way to work,” the newspaper said. “The important thing, in the terrorists’ perverse strategy, is to spread a generalized feeling of panic.”

The newspaper quoted what Pope John Paul II said at his general audience the day after the U.S. attacks: “Even if the forces of darkness seem to prevail, believers know that evil and death will not have the last word.”

The certainty that goodness will triumph, the newspaper said, must be the force that “sustains humanity at this troubled moment of history.”

Ranger Rosaries

WINSTON-SALEM — The Secular Franciscans will host the Blessing of the Animals at Winston Square, adjacent to the Sawtooth Building, 226 N. Marshall Street, on Oct. 2 at 11 a.m. All family members and their pets are welcome to attend. For more information, call (336) 725-3751 or email plstudio@webtv.net KERNERSVILLE — Holy Cross Church, 616 S. Cherry St., celebrates Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Friday until 7 p.m. Call the church office at (336) 996-5109 for more information.

MT. AIRY — Holy Angels Church, 1208 N. Main St., offers Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Wednesday, 6:30-7:30 p.m., and every Thursday, 10-11 a.m. Adoration concludes with Benediction.

Is your parish or school sponsor ing a

free event open to the general public?

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.

CNS photo by Don Blake, The Dialog

Father Steven McDermott from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia blesses the men and women of the 945th Service Company at the Army National Guard Armory in Milford, Del., Sept. 8. Members of the 945th received rosaries from the Ranger Rosaries group before leaving for Iraq Sept. 10. More than 100 people from nine parishes joined forces recently to put together what are called Ranger Rosaries — they are made of parachute cord and plastic beads and crosses.

MOORESVILLE — Beginning Sept. 8, St. Therese Church, 217 Brawley School Rd., will offer a program designed to provide encouragement for women who have relocated. This is an opportunity to meet others and exchange insights. The 10-week session, con-

calendar

tory of humanity,” the Vatican newspaper remembered the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and subsequent terrorist attacks around the world.

“But the enemies of humanity can never prevail,” said the subheadline in the Sept. 11 edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

The newspaper, distributed to journalists Sept. 10, called for acts of courageous peacemaking and reconciliation around the globe.

“Hope is the only real force that can lead the world toward a future of peace where terrorism is only a sad memory,” the front-page editorial said.

“Now more than ever, there is a need for authentic peacemakers, for men and women who have the courage to build bridges and not to dig ditches between peoples. It is a courage that only hope can increase,” the newspaper said.

“On Sept. 11, 2001, a threatening shadow was spread over humanity, darkening it,” the newspaper said.

In addition to the attacks on New

WINSTON-SALEM VICARIATE

SALISBURY VICARIATE

Episcopal

Remembering Sept. 11, Vatican says enemies of humanity won’t prevail

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

Sept. 23 — 9 a.m. Mass Our Lady of the Assumption School, Charlotte

Sept. 25 — 5 p.m. Mass Sacrament of Confirmation St. Lawrence Basilica, Asheville

A SAINT YOU SHOULD KNOW Matthew the Apostle

Matthew was probably born in Galilee and was working as a tax collector when Christ called to him, “Follow me.” He became one of the chosen Twelve Apostles and author of the first Gospel. It is said that he preached in Judea and then in the East. Matthew is venerated as a martyr, although the circumstances of his death are unknown. His feast is Sept. 21.

4 The Catholic News & Herald

around the diocese

Facilitators to train adults to protect God’s children TRAINING, from page 1

three-hour Protecting God’s Children awareness programs, mandatory for all employees and volunteers in the diocese.

The course is designed to strengthen faith communities through education, awareness and training on sexual misconduct prevention.

“Our goal is to train our diocesan employees and volunteers, especially those who work with children,” said Rev. Mr. Curtiss Todd, vice chancellor and director of diocesan Human Resources. “We want the people of the Diocese of Charlotte to take steps, recognize, report, prevent abuse and ensure it doesn’t happen.”

“We teach the warning signs of an offender, and teach adults how to protect children through a five-step process,” said Chestnut.

That process, she said, involves: knowing and recognizing warning signs related to sexual abuse of a minor; knowing who has access to children; monitoring programs attended by children; encouraging people to communicate with children; and communicating concerns to children.

VIRTUS is affiliated with the National Catholic Risk Retention Group, an insured, not-for-profit insurance company of which the diocese is a shareholder. Chestnut said it was important to note that VIRTUS’ Protecting God’s Children program began in the late 1990s in an effort to further the work of God’s kingdom.

“It was not established as a result of difficulties befallen on the Catholic Church in the last two years,” she said.

And, she said, the Diocese of Charlotte was one of the first dioceses to institute the program.

It was the fulfillment of a promise made by then-Bishop William G. Curlin who, in April 2002, announced the implementation of the nationally recognized program to train all diocesan employees and volunteers to identify and correctly address aspects of sexual misconduct.

In June and July 2002, priests and principals serving in the Diocese of Charlotte were the first to receive the training.

Then in August 2002, the first group of diocesan facilitators, comprised of 30 diocesan employees and volunteers, was trained and certified; they in turn began training the more than 7,000 clergy, volunteers and employees of the Diocese of Charlotte.

VIRTUS’ training raises awareness in the adult community, “so it’s not on the children to protect themselves but on the adults,” said Chestnut. “If we know the signs of an offender, as a faith community we are all better informed and can better protect children.”

“Those who work with children, no matter what age, must be aware of the signs and the things that can happen to them,” said Mercy Sister Emma Yondura, newly trained facilitator and first-grade teacher at St. Leo the Great School in Winston-Salem.

“The training will help people to think deeper and not take things for

granted (when it comes to children’s safety),” she said.

During the first day of training, videos and in-depth discussions helped the facilitators learn about VIRTUS’ programs, history and online continuing education for employees and volunteers.

“After the three-hour awareness session, people can get more information (on VIRTUS’ Web site) about how to protect children,” said Chestnut.

On the second day, the group covered policies and procedures, challenges that may be encountered during an awareness session and how to present VIRTUS’ online continuing education components.

“One of the great things about this training is we now have people in key locations around the diocese to train others,” said Shannon Ganoe, a Protecting God’s Children program facilitator and human resources assistant with the Diocese of Charlotte.

“By having more facilitators in the parishes, it will make a big difference,” said Barbara Kohler, newly-trained facilitator and coordinator for kindergartenthrough-eighth-grade faith formation at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte.

“It’s imperative and most appropriate for all people who work with children to take this class,” she said. “It’s a wonderful awareness program and one from which we can all benefit.”

“We needed a facilitator in our area,” said Migdalia Ortiz, newly trained facilitator and director of religious education at St. Mary Church in Greensboro.

Ortiz, who is bilingual, will be able to present the training for both English- and Spanish-speakers.

“We have lots of volunteers who need the class. Now, we can hold the training here at St. Mary Church,” she said.

Chestnut, a non-Catholic with a master’s degree in counseling psychology, has seen first-hand how abuse can affect people. She believes the Catholic Church is setting the standard when it comes to combating sexual abuse of minors.

“In five years, the Catholic Church

September 17, 2004

Digging faith

Photo by Kevin E. Murray

Bishop Peter J. Jugis breaks ground during a ceremony for a new community life center at Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte Aug. 29.

Bishop Jugis concelebrated the outdoor Mass with Msgr. Mauricio W. West, vicar general and chancellor; Capuchin Father Jude Duffy, pastor; Capuchin Father Vincent Fortunato, provincial minister of the Province of Stigmata of St. Francis; and Capuchin Friars serving Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville and St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte. Diocesan representatives and city and county government officials were in attendance.

The 14,000-square-foot facility will be used for community outreach programs such as English as a Second Language, Boy and Girl Scouts, senior citizens’ events, Bible study and other educational and cultural enrichment activities.

To be completed in July 2005, the building will house parish offices, a will be a model for protecting children,” she said.

In a Feb. 19, 2004 letter to members of the Diocese of Charlotte, Bishop Peter J. Jugis pledged his ongoing determination to stamp out the sexual abuse of children.

“Please be assured that I am personally committed to the safety of children,” he wrote, “and that our diocese is adhering to the Charter for the Protection of Children

and Young People that was adopted by the (U.S.) bishops in June of 2002.”

Want More Info?

More information about Protecting God’s Children can be found on the diocesan Web site at www.charlottediocese.org by clicking on the link “Protecting God’s Children.”

September 17, 2004

around the diocese

The Catholic News & Herald 5

Gathering of faith

Secular Franciscans discuss Eucharist, spirituality Council elected during annual gathering by

JOANITA M. NELLENBACH correspondent

CHARLOTTE — Singing “I Shall Praise the Savior’s Glory,” 170 Secular Franciscans followed the Blessed Sacrament to the adoration chapel.

Although the Brothers and Sisters of St. Francis Region (BSSF) of the Secular Franciscan Order had had meditation chapels at previous Annual Regional Gatherings, this was the first year for around-the-clock adoration.

Conventual Franciscan Father Linus DeSantis, regional spiritual assistant, placed the Eucharist, in its golden monstrance, on a white-covered table for adoration during this year’s gathering held at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Charlotte Sept. 10-12.

The twelve folding chairs in front of the Eucharist were often full, both with those who had signed up for specific hours and others who dropped in to spend some time. Many visited more than once.

“Franciscan spirituality is marked by a great devotion to Jesus present in the Eucharist,” said Father DeSantis. “[St. Francis’] love for the Eucharist was rooted in his admiration for the humility of God. He was overwhelmed that God would deign to humble himself and to become present to us under the form of simple bread and wine.”

“I think that the Blessed Sacrament has been neglected in many of our churches for too many years,” said Rev. Mr. Dennis Arcand, SFO (Secular Franciscan Order), chosen leader of St. Benedict the Moor Reactivating Fraternity in Macon, Ga.

“We as Secular Franciscans should start here and move from here to changing that in our parishes,” he said.

“I hope we do this every year.”

During the gathering, Father DeSantis spoke about the Eucharist’s power and as the basis of community.

“The Eucharist is what truly allows us to live in community,” he said. “All things are capable of making Christ present. The bread and wine are transformed into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ Jesus. ... When we receive the body and blood of Christ, we are transformed. We must proclaim that transformation.”

In a breakout session, the Secular Franciscans divided into 12 groups to discuss the Eucharist and other key points of Franciscan spirituality: Incarnation, love of Scripture, reliance on the Holy Spirit, devotion to the mother of God, dedication to prayer, communal life, poverty and simplicity, humility, joyful spirit, peacemaking and solidarity with all creation.

The BSSF region encompasses all of North and South Carolina and areas of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

BSSF has 328 professed Secular Franciscans, 71 candidates and 70 inquirers among 24 established fraternities, a reactivating fraternity, an emerging community and six newly forming groups.

Six fraternities are in the Diocese of Charlotte: St. Clare, Asheville; St. Maximilian Kolbe, Charlotte; St. Francis of the Living Waters, Franklin; Franciscan Family of Greensboro; St. Francis of the Hills, Hendersonville; Fraternity of Brother Francis, Hickory.

Photo by Joanita M. Nellenbach

Minister-elect Judy Haupt lights a candle for Flossie Stewart while Bill Stewart waits his turn during the annual gathering of the Brothers and Sisters of St. Francis Region of the Secular Franciscan Order in Charlotte Sept. 10-12. The candlelighting was part of a presentation on apostolates. The Stewarts are members of the St. Francis of the Hills Fraternity in Hendersonville; Haupt is from Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Fraternity in Hilton Head Island, S.C. At the annual gathering, the group celebrated their Franciscan spirituality and community through Eucharist, prayer and fellowship by learning more about apostolates and through spiritual talks. Candles were lighted in honor of 11 Secular Franciscans who had died within the last year and for 31 others who had made their perpetual professions since last year’s annual gathering.

Talking about the Franciscan virtues of poverty, simplicity and humility, Father DeSantis compared Jesus’ and Franciscan poverty.

“The purpose of your promises, my vows, is so that nothing gets in the way (of focusing on God),” he said. “Jesus blesses poverty. We empty ourselves so that we can keep a keen eye on what’s really important. Jesus comes to the shepherds because the shepherds are the lowliest. Who did Francis meet?

The leper.”

Franciscan spirit in encountering “the poor, the fragile, the leper,” he added, “provides an opportunity to know God through a genuine caring presence. Francis mirrors Christ. He sees the beauty, the wealth of each person.”

Father DeSantis; Franciscan Father Louis Canino, director of the Franciscan Center in Greensboro; and Conventual Franciscan Father Terry Pescatore, spiritual assistant to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Fraternity in Burlington, concelebrated Mass

on Saturday and the Mass of installation of the newly-elected regional council on Sunday.

This year’s gathering included election of the new BSSF council.

Every three years, the region elects a minister (president), vice minister, secretary, treasurer, formation director and area councilors. Voters are the fraternity ministers or their designated representatives.

From the Diocese of Charlotte, Skyler Harvey, SFO with the St. Maximilian Kolbe Fraternity, was elected to a second term as regional secretary, and Pat Cowan, SFO with the St. Francis of the Hills Fraternity, was elected as an area councilor.

“It’s a chance to serve my family,” Harvey said. “Franciscans believe in servant leadership.”

“I think that holding us up to the Blessed Sacrament has made all the difference in the world,” Rev. Mr. Arcand said. “I think this will be a momentous start for the new leadership that’s coming in.”

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

6 The Catholic News & Herald

in our schools

September 17, 2004

Dressing down to help out

Shooting for the stars

Catholic students raise funds for Florida school devastated by hurricanes

Courtesy Photo

Libby Lerner, a math teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School, meets Barbara Morgan, who was teacher Christa McAuliffe’s backup in 1986 and is now expected to be the first teacher in space when she rides the space shuttle in 2005. Lerner placed among the top-ranking applicants for the NASA Educator Astronaut position.

CCHS teacher earns top marks at NASA CHARLOTTE — A math teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School has caught the attention of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Libby Lerner placed among the top-ranking applicants for the NASA Educator Astronaut position and also participated in the NASA Educator Astronaut Program’s first Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers (NEAT) workshop in June.

“The workshop was a wonderful experience,” said Lerner. “There were some of the top teachers in the country. We had a lot of sharing of ideas.”

NASA launched the Educator Astronaut Program in January 2003 to recruit and select the best educators from around the United States to become full-fledged astronauts.

“These Educator Astronauts will use the combination of their educational background and astronaut experience to truly ignite the curiosity and desire to learn within our students,” said Adena Loston, NASA chief education officer.

“I would like to get students excited about mathematics, science and technology, and show them the opportunities that are there,” said Lerner.

A team of experts reviewed the credentials of thousands of applicants against specific criteria exhibited by exemplary educators, said Loston.

Lerner was among the 197 applicants referred to the NASA Johnson Space Center Astronaut Office to be evaluated by the Astronaut Selection Board for consideration.

Three of the 197 applicants were selected in May for the Educator As-

tronaut position. While Lerner and the other 193 applicants remain in the “top tier of applicants,” Loston said they are not alternates for the position and would have to reapply during additional selection phases to be considered for a future class of astronaut candidates.

NASA began its first NEAT workshop at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, June 15. The event provided Lerner and the other applicants with knowledge of NASA resources, special access to NASA facilities, strategies for utilizing NASA content in the classroom, components of astronaut training and other NASA mission and education activities.

“During the NEAT workshop, educators also exchanged strategies and ideas with representatives from NASA field centers across the country,” said Loston.

Upon completion of the training, the teachers become active NEAT members.

“The active NEAT teachers have expressed a willingness and commitment to share the NASA information they have acquired with their colleagues and communities,” said Lofton. “They have the potential to foster a remarkable collaborative relationship with NASA Education Specialists that will benefit their assigned schools, school districts and communities.”

“We’ll be working with NASA to develop curriculum for teachers who want to bring NASA into their classroom,” said Lerner.

CHARLOTTE — Students at St. Gabriel School in Charlotte recently raised funds to help a Catholic school in Florida.

Hurricane Charley hit the Florida peninsula Aug. 13 as a Category 4 storm, with winds reaching 145 mph and a surge of sea water 13 to 15 feet.

It devastated the communities of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte.

St. Gabriel School students gave voluntary donations totaling $541 to wear clothes of their choice instead of their uniforms on a dress-down day Sept. 14. Money raised will go to St. Charles Borromeo School in Port Charlotte, just eight miles from Punta Gorda.

“The devastation hit close to home,” said Sharon Broxterman, principal of St. Gabriel School, referring to Michele Snoke, a new first-grade teacher.

Snoke just relocated to North Carolina from Punta Gorda. Her daughter had attended St. Charles Borromeo School in Port Charlotte.

“They lost half the school,” said Snoke. “Many books, teacher resource materials and classrooms were destroyed.”

Snoke shared the devastation with her class; her daughter, a student at St. Gabriel School, shared it with her teacher and class.

“By putting names and faces with the situation, the students know who

they are helping and it makes a bigger impact for them,” said Snoke.

She said the students’ donations will go a long way at St. Charles Borromeo School.

“Many of the teachers lost their homes but came back to work right away to help set up makeshift classrooms,” she said. “The students’ donations will help the school get back up and running.”

Is your Catholic school or Catholic student doing something to help hurricane victims? We want to know. E-mail catholicnews@charlottediocese.org.

September 17, 2004

in our schools

The Catholic News & Herald 7

Students track WEATHER, from page 1

shares the information with more than 6,000 school sites and 100 television stations across the country, including WBTV in Charlotte.

“We use the data from St. Ann School several times a day during our broadcasts,” said Al Conklin, WBTV meteorologist.

“During the heavy rain with Frances, we were able to gauge how much rain was falling in different parts of the city,” said Conklin. “Charlotte is such a huge place, these school sites help us fill in the gaps.”

AWS also has weather stations at WBTV, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Charlotte Douglas International airport.

St. Ann School applied for a grant from the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools Foundation to cover the $5,000 cost of the WeatherNet equipment.

Along with the measuring equipment, the WeatherNet program offers a wideranging curriculum of on-line activities for students of all ages.

“I’ve used it with all our classes, from kindergarten to fifth grade,” said Horton.

“It’s not just for teaching science, either.

We work on math, computer skills, history, geography, graphing. It’s a wonderful tool.”

Last week, a group of third-grade students were eager to share their experi-

ences with a visitor.

“We’ve learned a lot about hurricanes,” said third-grader Nicole Balas.

“The wind and water start spinning and it picks up speed and makes a hurricane.”

Classmate Ella Little pointed to rainfall estimates on the computer screen.

“You can see where the storm took water from the ocean and left it somewhere else,” she said.

Since AWS coordinates efforts with the National Weather Service, the WeatherNet station also provides an opportunity for St. Ann School to assist the U.S. Homeland Security Department in the event of a national emergency, such as a chemical/biological airborne attack.

“In an emergency, our weather station will feed our wind coordinates to the police and fire department, so they can create evacuation routes based on wind speed and direction,” said Horton.

St. Ann School flies a flag below the American flag, which identifies it as a member of the Homeland Security WeatherNet Network.

Last week, as the tornado warnings were cancelled for Mecklenburg County, students at St. Ann were watching and learning.

“You can see that the storms are moving to the north,” said third-grader Caroline Bryson.

Scott Moore, another third-grade student, checked the screen and nodded his head.

“I like knowing that I’m safe,” he said.

Peggy Anderson, a Charlotte-based freelance writer, has two sons at St. Ann School.

Photo by Kevin E. Murray

Lisa Horton, computer science teacher, works with St. Ann School students on the school’s WeatherNet computer system.

High school students invited to enter poster More than $2,000 in prizes to be awarded NEW YORK — Attention all teens!

The Christophers invite all high school students to share their unique ideas and creative talents by entering the Fifteenth Annual Christophers Poster Contest for High School Students.

Students are asked to interpret the theme “You Can Make a Difference” in an original poster.

Last year’s contest drew a recordbreaking 2,752 entries from public, private and parochial schools across the United States and around the world, including Uganda, Bulgaria and Hong Kong. Winning posters included paintings, photographs and computer-generated work.

“This contest is a great opportunity for young people to express themselves creatively and, we hope, think about The Christophers’ message,” said Dennis Heaney, president of The Christophers.

“Each year, the obvious work they put into their entries shows us that they really want to make the world a better place.”

Students in grades nine through 12 are eligible to enter. Posters must be 15 by 20 inches and include the words, “You Can Make a Difference.” They will be judged on overall impact, effectiveness in conveying theme, originality and artistic merit.

Eight prizes will be awarded, with a first prize of $1,000.

Entries must be received by Jan. 21, 2005. Winners will be announced April 22, 2005. Posters become the property of The Christophers and will not be returned.

The Christophers, a nonprofit organization founded in 1945, uses mass media to encourage all individuals to recognize and use their unique abilities to raise the standards of public life. The Christophers’ motto is: “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

Want to Enter?

Complete rules and entry forms are available by writing to: High School Poster Contest, The Christophers, 12 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017; by calling (212) 759-4050; or online at www.christophers. org/contests.html.

8 The Catholic News & Herald

around the diocese

Prison ministers hold inaugural PRISON, from page 1

for the inaugural Prison Ministry Appreciation Day held at the Catholic Conference Center in Hickory Sept.

11.

During the gathering, the new prison ministry logo was unveiled and the Deacon John Gallen Award was presented.

“This ministry is about never ever turning your back on any prisoner because they are not Catholic,” said Rev. Mr. Jim Johnson, permanent deacon at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Morganton and coordinator of diocesan Prison Ministry.

Prison Ministry was established in the Diocese of Charlotte by then-Bishop John F. Donoghue in February 1991.

Ongoing services and programs include the distribution of Bibles, reading and writing materials and greeting cards to inmates imprisoned throughout the diocese; as well as Bible studies and Communion services.

Bill Matevie, who serves as a fulltime chaplain in the Mecklenburg County Jail and as a liaison between the diocese and the North Carolina Division of Prisons, spoke about the various aspects of diocesan prison ministry for

Photo by Rev. Mr. Gerald Potkay

Bill Mativie, a Catholic lay chaplain for the Mecklenburg County Jail, presents the first John Gallen Award to Mary Ann Sullivan for her work in prison ministry at the Catholic Conference Center Sept. 11.

deacons involved in prison ministry) and prison administrators; and soliciting funding for and distributing of inmate resource materials.

During his presentation, Rev. Mr. Johnson shared a letter he received from a young inmate who expressed appreciation for the deacon’s presence at the prison. Rev. Mr. Johnson emphasized that one of the most important aspects of prison ministry was being Jesus to those in need.

“We can bring something positive (for the inmates) to hold on to as they leap into the unknown,” said Rev. Mr. Scott Gilfillan, permanent deacon at St. Joseph Church in Newton, who has been visiting prisoners at Newton’s Catawba Correctional Center for more than three years.

Rev. Mr. Gilfillan said he meets with inmates on a weekly basis and, as a lead sponsor, is permitted to take out prisoners with “leave passes” to attend Mass and have breakfast afterward. He also teaches 40-hour re-entry classes to inmates who are ready for release. Topics include interviewing skills, filling out applications and setting career goals.

He also preaches on Sunday nights at prison religious services.

“You cannot go in and not be changed by those you minister to,” he said. “You become intertwined in their lives. You are there with them.”

“We cannot meet every need,” said Rev. Bill Hall, chaplain at the Western Youth Institute in Morganton. “Our main goal is trying to help the inmates to understand who they are in relation to God.” The John Gallen Award was presented to Mary Ann Sullivan of St. Peter Church in Charlotte for her work in prison ministry.

Rev. Mr. Gallen, explained Matevie, had dedicated his ministry to promoting the development of the diocesan prison ministry before his death in 1991.

“His ministry is best described as one called to minister to the unloved, the unwanted, and the unknown,” said Matevie.

Present at the award ceremony were Mary Gallen, Rev. Mr. Allen’s widow, and his sons and daughters.

“This is very humbling,” said Sullivan. “It is not easy to try to bring the love of God and hope into the lives of these men and women. You are special and each of you merits this award and eternal awards for choosing to serve God in this ministry.”

Rev. Mr. Wenning unveiled the new prison ministry logo, which is in the shape of a shield and designed by inmate Sergio Gomez to expresses the es-

September 17, 2004

Newly elected

Photo by Kevin E. Murray

Bishop Peter J. Jugis, center, stands with the newly elected officers of his presbyteral (priests’) council at the diocesan Pastoral Center Aug. 24. From left: Oblate Father Joseph Zuschmidt, council chair and pastor of Queen of the Apostles Church in Belmont; Father John Putnam, secretary, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury and vicar forane of the Salisbury Vicariate; Bishop Jugis; Father John Schneider, treasurer and pastor of St. Elizabeth Church in Boone and Church of the Epiphany in Blowing Rock; and Father Francis O’Rourke, vice-chair, pastor of Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro and vicar forane of the Greensboro Vicariate.

both inmates and their families, including meeting their spiritual needs, creating and expanding educational opportunities, and one-on-one visits.

Rev. Mr. Johnson, who has served for about 10 years at both the Western Youth Institute and the adult Foothills Correctional Institute in Morganton, has a range of duties as diocesan prison ministry coordinator, including: acting as conducting ongoing training seminars for Catholic clergy and volunteers; assisting in resolving issues involving Catholic inmates, clergy (including permanent

sence of the prison ministry. The logo includes prison walls; praying hands symbolizing the ministers who meet the spiritual needs of the prisoners; a dove symbolizing God’s grace; an altar symbolizing the presence of the Catholic Church to the inmates; a broken chain symbolizing the freedom gained through God’s Word; and a cross with a heart in the center showing that God loves all peoples, including inmates.

September 17, 2004

AIDS affects entire planet, says priest AIDS, from page 1

fected the health sector, said Father Vitillo. AIDS-related illnesses have caused 19 to 53 percent of all deaths among health care workers in several African countries.

God’s unconditional love Father Vitillo expressed his concern at the stigmatization and marginalization of HIV-infected people.

“Attempts to cast out those affected by the disease ... have been experienced in virtually all parts of the world and among all racial and ethnic groups, as well as in all social and economic classes,” he said.

“Sadly, some priests and ministers have refused pastoral care and church burial to the HIV-infected.”

Such discriminatory behavior creates fear and secretive activity, Father Vitillo asserted. In some countries with a high prevalence of HIV, women refuse to be tested, or fail to return for their test results.

Research conducted in Nigeria showed that one in 10 care providers refused to serve HIV-positive patients, Father Vitillo said. In addition, 20 percent believed that many people living with HIV had “behaved immorally and deserved to be infected.”

“Pope John Paul II has made frequent and emotional appeals to avoid discriminatory treatment of people living with HIV and AIDS,” he said. “In his 1989 visit to AIDS patients in the United States, he held out the unconditional love of God himself as the guideline to be followed: ‘God loves you all, without distinction, without limit. ... He loves those of you who are sick, those suffering from AIDS. He loves the friends and relatives of the sick and those who care for them.’”

Bishops of the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference stated in 2001, “AIDS must never be considered as a punishment from God. ... It is for us a sign of the times challenging all people to inner transformation and to the following of Christ in his ministry of healing, mercy and love.”

“Despite the fact that the rejection and scapegoating of people affected by HIV and AIDS finds no basis in theological scholarship, such incidences continue to occur,” said Father Vitillo.

“I believe that members of the hierarchy, clergy and laity alike have the responsibility to stop such poor pastoral practices as soon as they occur.”

Turning the tide While HIV and AIDS are spreading most rapidly in Africa and Asia, 40,000 Americans are infected each year, Father Vitillo said. Many of these newly infected are young, heterosexual and/or African American.

African Americans are infected at 11 times the rate of their representation of the general population.

Although scientists have long advocated the use of latex condoms to prevent the spread of HIV, Father Vitillo emphasized that the sole guaranteed method of

from the cover

prevention is abstinence outside of a marriage between two uninfected spouses.

“The strong and public positions taken by the (Catholic) Church against promoting condom use have led to a mistaken perception among AIDS educators, some governments, health care professionals and the media that the church is obstructing HIV and AIDS prevention efforts and therefore might be a ‘promoter of death,’” said Father Vitillo.

“The fact is that the Catholic Church sponsors some excellent educational programs designed to prevent the sexual transmission of AIDS,” he said.

“Chastity is the only safe and virtuous means to put an end to the tragic plague of AIDS,” Pope John Paul II told Ugandan youth during a 1993 visit.

Recent research indicates the most effective means of reducing the prevalence of HIV and AIDS are methods in line with Catholic teaching: partner reduction, delayed onset of sexual activity and, most importantly, abstinence outside of marriage.

“The Catholic Church has taken a tremendous leadership role in responding to HIV and AIDS,” said Father Vitillo.

“In many countries, the Catholic Church is responsible for up to one-half of the health care (provided).”

According to Father Vitillo, the Catholic Church has been on the forefront of providing home care and orphan care programs; helping families to take of people with AIDS; helping HIV-infected people, many of whom have lost their jobs, to start their own businesses; and, most recently, helping to get anti-retro-viral medications into developing countries.

Global epidemic, local consequences “With our globalized world, no matter how much some Americans want to have this ‘island mentality’ — ‘who cares about those other people?’

— everything that is done anywhere in the world affects other parts of the world, including us,” he said.

“The more the workforces in those countries are affected (by AIDS), the less they’re going to be able to produce for us,” he said.

An example of the effect of this workforce depletion can be found in Zambia, whose population of copper miners has the highest infection rate in the country. With copper extraction as a primary economic source, the economy has been shattered.

Father Vitillo said Americans should lobby pharmaceutical companies to work toward making antiretroviral medications more affordable and more widely available, especially in the poorer nations of the world.

“We must dedicate more of the Church’s economic and human resources to eliminating poverty as well as the tragic consequences of HIV and AIDS,” said Father Vitillo. “Individual Christians and church institutions must, in the words of Pope John Paul II, give not just of their ‘surplus’ but of their ‘substance.’”

very fabric of society,” said Father Robert Vitillo at the Just Second Fridays event at St. Peter Church Sept. 10 in Charlotte regarding “The Human and Pastoral Challenges of HIV and AIDS.” Father Vitillo is the special advisor on HIV and AIDS to Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 162 Catholic organizations working to improve living and working conditions in more than 200 countries and territories. He also is the executive director of Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the U.S. bishops’ domestic anti-poverty, social justice program.

An epic pandemic In sub-Saharan Africa, 10 percent of the world’s population is home to nearly two-thirds of all people living with AIDS. So great is the pandemic that two generations of orphans have been created, Father Vitillo said. Twelve million children have lost one or both parents to the disease.

“In many cases, these children are cared for by grandmothers, but these women themselves often suffer from

The Catholic News & Herald 9

severely limited resources,” said Father Vitillo.

Although AIDS affects every socioeconomic segment of the world population, the poor and hungry suffer most, Father Vitillo said.

“In Southern Africa and Zambia, studies of AIDS-affected households found that monthly income fell by 66 to 80 percent,” he said. “In Thailand, households that saw the AIDS-related death of one of their members showed an overall lifetime income loss of 20 percent.”

HIV and AIDS also have a significant impact on the educator and health care worker populations of Africa.

According to the newspaper The Correspondent, 30 percent of all Zimbabwean teachers are living with HIV; such rates in Zimbabwe and other subSaharan nations will severely affect the future supply of trained teachers in the region. If Namibia continues to train teachers at its current rate of 1,000 per year, it will have a shortfall of more than 7,000 teachers by 2010.

HIV and AIDS have similarly af-

1 0 The Catholic News & Herald

September 17, 2004

Culture Watch

A roundup of Scripture, readings, films and more

Catholics aim to inform voters by Web sites, booklets, by

CAROL ZIMMERMAN catholic news service

WASHINGTON — This year’s election campaign, with religious issues frequently front and center, has prompted a variety of voter guides, booklets and advertisements which aim to inform Catholics on topics they should consider in the voting booth.

For starters, the U.S. Catholic bishops’ document, “Faithful Citizenship: A Catholic Call to Political Responsibility,” outlines the bishops’ teachings on the role of Catholics in the public arena.

The bishops have also recently released bulletin inserts summarizing key issues of contemporary politics in the form of 10 questions for Catholics to consider during the campaign.

Meanwhile, a lay group in San Diego called Catholic Answers published a 10-page booklet, “Voter’s Guide for Serious Catholics.” The booklet, which is also available online at www.catholic. com, identifies five issues the group describes as non-negotiable — abortion, euthanasia, fetal stem-cell research, human cloning and homosexual marriage.

If a candidate supports any of these issues, according to the guide, that person should not be considered. A copy of the voter guide ran as a full-page advertisement in the Aug. 31 issue of USA Today.

In some races, the guide points out, “each candidate takes a wrong position on one or more of the five nonnegotiables.” When this occurs, the guide suggests that voters choose the candidate “who takes the fewest such positions or who seems least likely to be able to advance immoral legislation, or you may choose to vote for no one.”

Jimmy Akin, director of apologetics and evangelization for Catholic Answers, said the voter’s guide has generated a lot of interest and has been purchased in bulk by parishes and a few dioceses.

The guide has been criticized by some who say it does not comply with the Internal Revenue Service guidelines for voter materials that are provided by nonprofit groups.

Akin told Catholic News Service Sept. 3 that Catholic Answers had sought legal advice for this matter and had determined that the guide is “well within U.S. laws and regulations.”

He said the group had never produced a voters’ guide before, but did so this year to help educate Catholics about the need to elect candidates who support “fundamental human rights and values.”

Another Catholic voter guide became available online Aug. 30 at www. votingcatholic.org. The guide, produced by the Catholic Voter Project, a nonpartisan group of lay Catholics, shows how the presidential candidates match up with Catholic social teaching

and public policy issues outlined by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The site includes a quiz to help users evaluate how their views compare with the candidates and the U.S. bishops on a wide range of issues including abortion, the death penalty, war, global trade, nuclear weapons, health care, worker rights, immigration and poverty. It also has a forum to encourage discussion about the upcoming election.

Chris Korzen, a spokesman for the Catholic Voting Project, told CNS that this kind of guide could play an important role in helping Catholics determine how they might vote.

He said it is clear from the bishops’ “Faithful Citizenship” document that “the decisions Catholics face in determining how to vote are incredibly complicated,” and trying to narrow down Catholic doctrine to only a few issues “ignores the integrity and fullness of the Catholic faith.”

John Hartz, who also worked on the Web site, stressed that what they have done with a handful of volunteers provides a “resource for Catholics everywhere in the United States — to help them make sense of this election.”

Religious views in politics have also been appearing in recent full-page newspaper advertisements. The same day USA Today ran the full-page ad

by Catholic Answers, The Washington Times published an advertisement sponsored by the American Life League that accused some Catholic politicians of “fraudulently claiming Catholic faith” while supporting laws favoring abortion.

And on Aug. 30, a full-page ad with the headline “God is not a Republican or a Democrat” appeared in The New York Times.

The advertisement was sponsored

by Sojourners, a Christian organization based in Washington that publishes a monthly magazine and is dedicated to social justice issues. The advertisement stressed that Christians and people of other faiths were not single-issue voters, but instead were concerned about poverty, the environment, war, human rights, the response to terrorism and a consistent ethic of human life.

It said religious leaders who called on Christians to re-elect President George W. Bush were promoting “bad theology and dangerous religion.”

It also published hundreds of names of the 50,000 people who have signed the advertisement, including Franciscan Father Richard Rohr, director of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, N.M., and Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, founder and head of Benet Vision, a spirituality center in Erie, Pa.

WORD TO LIFE

Sunday Scripture Readings: sept. 26, 2004

Sept. 26, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C Readings: 1) Amos 6:1a, 4-7 Psalm 146:7-10 2) 1 Timothy 6:11-15 3) Gospel: Luke 16:19-31

by JEFF HENSLEY catholic news service

I stood by the coffin of a good and godly man last night. Cycil Adrian was a Nazarene pastor of a small church on the West Side of Fort Worth.

Above his casket was a Bible, and it was open to a passage in Timothy — it may have been the one in this week’s reading; the tone and message were, at the least quite similar. The passage consisted of Paul’s instructions to his dis-

ciple and fellow minister to God’s people, Timothy.

Cycil had underlined a portion of the Scripture and claimed it for his own.

More importantly he had lived out his service to God and his people in his little church, a life of fervent devotion, preaching of the Gospel, and attending to the needs, physical and spiritual, of the people he pastored, all the while not neglecting his love for his wife and children.

It is being said by those who knew him and his ministry that Cycil will be impossible to replace, that he “spoiled” his people, rushing to their bedsides whenever illness laid them low.

May we all have the privilege of “spoiling” those we love and serve. M a y we all at our own deaths find that we have been worthy of the instructions Paul gave to Timothy: “Fight the good fight of faith.

Take firm hold on the everlasting life to which you were called when, in the presence of many witnesses, you made your noble profession of faith.”

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE Scripture for the week of Sept. 19 - Sept. 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 Scripture for the week of Sept. 26 - OCT. 2 Sunday (Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time), Amos 6:1,4-7, 1 Timothy 6:11-16, Luke 16:19-31; Monday (St. Vincent de Paul), Job 1:6-22, Luke 9:46-50; Tuesday (St. Wenceslaus, St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions), Job 3:1-3, 11-7, 20-23, Luke 9:51-56; Wednesday (Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael), Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, John 1:47-51; Thursday (St. Jerome), Job 19:21-27, Luke 10:1-12; Friday (St. Therese of the Child Jesus), Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5; Psalm 139:1-3, 7-10, 13-14; Luke 10:13-16; Saturday, (Guardian Angels), Exodus 23:20-23; Psalm 91:1-6, 10-11; Matthew 18:1-5, 10

The Catholic News & Herald 11

September 17, 2004

Vatican presents German director with spiritual filmmaking award CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE VENICE, Italy — A top Vatican official presented German director Wim Wenders with a spiritual filmmaking award during the annual Venice Film Festival.

U.S. Archbishop John P. Foley, head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, praised “the director’s courage in asking the essential questions about man’s existence,” as he presented Wenders with the annual Bresson Prize Sept. 8.

Wenders’ films “offer a starting point for constructive reflection” and “show that cinema is an appropriate instrument for spreading values and culture,” the archbishop said in his speech.

The 59-year-old cinematographer is best known for the films “Paris, Texas” in 1984, “Wings of Desire” in 1987, and the “Buena Vista Social Club” in 1998.

Wenders was attending the northern Italian film festival to present his recent film, “Land of Plenty,” which deals, Wenders said, with “poverty, paranoia and patriotism” in present-day by

America.

Archbishop Foley told Vatican Radio Sept. 8 it was “important the church take part in a showcase like the one in Venice.”

“It is even more important to recognize the role film directors play in cinema, since they can touch people’s hearts,” he added.

In his speech, the archbishop said Wenders’ work helps “people reflect upon the needed task all people are called upon to spread — the universal values which humanity still requires” for its progress.

The Bresson Prize, named after French director Robert Bresson, was established in 2000 to recognize artists who “give significant witness” in the spiritual meaning of life.

The award is organized by the Italian Magazine of Cinematography and the pontifical councils for Culture and Social Communications.

CNS photo by Zade Rosenthal, New Line Cinema

Film and television director Sean McNamara has made his living appealing to young viewers.

McNamara, a Catholic, said it’s possible, despite the target age of 9-12 for most of his TV series and movies, to present relevant issues in understandable ways. He is pictured on a movie set.

Catholic TV director says touchy topics can be made relevant to youth

by MARK PATTISON catholic news service

WASHINGTON — Film and television director Sean McNamara has made his living appealing to young TV viewers and moviegoers.

McNamara, a Catholic, said it’s possible, despite the target age of 9-12 for most of his TV series and movies, to present relevant issues in understandable ways.

He said he’s been able to tackle prejudice, junk food and body image on different episodes of the current Disney Channel series “That’s So Raven.”

In a telephone interview with Catholic News Service from his car in Hollywood, McNamara pointed out that TV and film can tackle sensitive subjects “by couching it in a way people can understand.”

One episode of “That’s So Raven,” he said, featured kids congregating in a mall’s food court and chowing down exclusively on its fast-food fare. By episode’s end, they were sick — and sick of the fast food. McNamara said he was inspired by the recent documentary, “Super Size Me,” in which its filmmaker-subject ate every meal for 30 days at McDonald’s restaurants.

McNamara got his start in this line of work 20 years ago as a producer on a series called “Kids Incorporated.”

Nearly a decade later, he said, “we did a pilot called ‘The Secret World of Alex Mack’ (for) Nickelodeon. And it’s just taken off from there.”

He’s also been associated with the kids’ series, “Even Stevens,” which gave Shia LaBeouf his start, and “Phil of the Future.” He’s part of the creative team of Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, which creates and produces TV series for kids on various cable channels.

McNamara also gave current teen sensation Hilary Duff her first starring role six years ago in the movie sequel “Casper Meets Wendy.” Now,

they’ve teamed up again in the upcoming feature film, “Raise Your Voice.”

He waxes enthusiastic about the young star, saying she’s come a long way in just six years.

When he first directed her, she was just learning to act, he recalled.

“I would give her direction in one scene to ‘hug the couch and hit your mark,’ and every time she did, she’d fall out of the (camera) frame,” McNamara said. “When I got out from behind the camera to see what was going on, I found that she would kneel down and hug the couch, literally,” not walking really close to it as he had meant.

Another scene in “Casper Meets Wendy” called for a goat. The goat’s real name was Meaner. When the goat was in the same scene as Duff, McNamara tried to give the goat direction by calling its name, he said. But when he called out “Meaner, Meaner” about five times, he said, “I turned to Hilary and she’s got this scrunched-up, mean look on her face!”

Back then, McNamara said, Duff “was so cute, she got by on that.” Now, as an established singer and actor, he added, “I think she’s going to be like Sally Field and win an Academy Award one day.”

McNamara is a member of St. Agatha Church in Los Angeles, which is also the parish of fellow director Tom Shadyac (“Bruce Almighty”).

McNamara said he knew Shadyac first through the parish, then later as a fellow filmmaker.

Shadyac’s latest venture isn’t movie-related, but a fund-raising venture, McNamara said. Shadyac sells “H to O” (Help to Others) bottled water, with proceeds going to dig water wells and combat AIDS in Africa.

1 2 The Catholic News & Herald

around the diocese

September 17, 2004

Development down under

Photo by Kevin E. Murray

Tony Sanders (center), fund manager for the Diocese of Wollongong in Australia, consults with Barbara Gaddy, associate director of development, and Jim Kelley, director of development for the Diocese of Charlotte, at the Pastoral Center Sept. 9. Sanders came to learn about how Kelley and Gaddy conduct effective development and stewardship efforts. The Office of Development serves parishes, agencies and ministries of the Diocese of Charlotte in their development efforts. Services reflect a spirituality of stewardship as a way of life — a response to Jesus’ call to discipleship. Kelley and Gaddy have been keynote speakers at stewardship conferences in dioceses in the United States, Canada, Australia and Jamaica. They have also spoken at various five-day stewardship institutes sponsored by the International Catholic Stewardship Council, as well as every national stewardship conference since 1986. Additionally, Kelley and Gaddy have co-authored and co-edited two of ICSC’s stewardship publications

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September 17, 2004

around the diocese

The Catholic News & Herald 13

Common faith

Visiting Polish priest celebrates feast day in Arden that concentration camp where every human being was treated with deep contempt and was trampled upon,” said the pope to some 10,000 youths and young adults during a prayer vigil at the Vatican April 1, 1999.

The Polish saint acted in imitation of Christ, the pope said. But while St. Maximilian’s sacrifice saved the life of one fellow Pole, Christ’s death on

the cross brought life to all men and women.

After his stay at St. Barnabas Church and a visit with his family in Poland, Father Rytel-Andrianik was scheduled to return to Rome for his second year of studies.

ARDEN — St. Barnabas Church recently celebrated the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe with a little help from a Polish priest.

Approximately 100 parishioners celebrated the feast day with Mass and breakfast Aug. 14. The breakfast featured both American and Polish foods in honor of Father Pawel RytelAndrianik, visiting from the Diocese

Courtesy Photo

Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, a visiting priest from the Diocese of Drohiczyn in Poland, enjoys Polish and American food during a celebration on the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe at St. Barnabas Church Aug. 14. of Drohiczyn in Poland.

Father Rytel-Andrianik, who is studying sacred Scripture in Rome, visited St. Barnabas Church June 28Sept. 3. Both Father Rytel-Andrianik and Father Roger Arnsparger, pastor, are involved in promoting the canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a wealthy Italian who gave his money and goods to the poor but maintained an active faith life with his peers in early 20th-century Italy.

As Father Rytel-Andrianik’s bishop wanted him to practice English and experience pastoral life in a U.S. parish, Father Arnsparger invited Father Rytel-Andrianik to visit.

After breakfast, Father Rytel-Andrianik gave a talk on St. Maximilian, the Polish Conventual Franciscan who gave his life to save another prisoner at the former Nazi-run concentration camp of Auschwitz in 1941, and founded in 1917 his Militia of the Immaculate to work for the evangelization and sanctification of all peoples through the mediation of Mary.

Father Rytel-Andrianik also explained the influence of St. Maximilian on Pope John Paul II. St. Maximilian’s action had “a profound resonance in the environment of

Note to Readers Have a stor y from your parish, or photographs of parish events? Submit them to The Catholic News & Herald. To find out how, call (704) 370-333 or e-mail catholicnews@charlottediocese.org.

1 4 The Catholic News & Herald

September 17, 2004

Perspectives

A collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

Despite evil, God’s plan leads toward people’s redemption, says pope

by CAROL GLATZ catholic news service

VATICAN CITY — No matter what destruction is brought about by evil in today’s world, God’s plan leads toward humanity’s redemption, said Pope John Paul II. “The Lord has established his reign, intervening in history with supreme authority,” he said in his Sept.

15 weekly general audience.

Though God has entrusted mankind to be free “to generate good and evil,” history “has as its ultimate seal the choice of divine providence,” said the pope.

No matter what “storms, wounds and devastation” are wrought by evil, “the book of the Apocalypse celebrates the end toward which history is guided through the efficacious work of God,” he said.

For the first time since mid-June, the pope’s weekly general audience returned to St. Peter’s Square, where some 10,000 pilgrims gathered under dark clouds and a sprinkling of rain.

During Rome’s hot summer months, the Wednesday audience is held either in the Vatican’s air conditioned Paul VI hall or in the small outdoor courtyard of the pope’s apostolic palace in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills south of Rome.

The pope focused his Sept. 15 audience talk on a Book of Revelation canticle that looks at the link between

The Pope Speaks POPE JOHN PAUL II history and eternity.

Through the word “Alleluia,” the faithful on earth join their “song of praise” of the Lord “with that of the righteous” in heaven, said the pope.

“This establishes a channel of communication between history and eternity” that unites the earthly and heavenly liturgies in a common song of praise, he said.

With this “communion of praise,” the faithful celebrate God’s saving power and glory, his “divine plan of redemption” and the “nuptial meeting of the lamb, who is Christ, and the purified bride,” which is humanity redeemed, said the pope.

During greetings in Italian at the end of the audience, the pope recalled that Sept. 15 was the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, “who faithfully stood by the cross of Jesus.”

He asked that people “be able to find in her consolation and help to overcome all the obstacles” in their daily lives.

Small is beautiful Fulfillment, meaning gained by taking less for ourselves When I asked my German friend about his impressions of Americans, he replied, “You have big appetites!”

This remark turned our conversation toward the philosophy of E.F. Schumacker, who wrote “Small is Beautiful,” a book that challenges the ideas that bigger is better, more is desired over less.

It is very true that a great many people strive for the bigger, the better and more. How many, for example, have a love affair with big cars, SUVs and fast sports cars that guzzle gas?

To accommodate all this, we have the largest highways ever experienced by humankind.

Our moderately sized homes that

once housed large families are now becoming tear-downs and being replaced by luxury homes that house much smaller families.

Shopping malls are glutted with enormous inventories that never are depleted.

Most restaurant food is twice to three times what we should eat.

Sporting events are jammed by thousands of fans, and each year’s Super Bowl outdoes the past in enormity.

TV screens are now wall size, and their sound systems create noise louder than our ears can endure.

The yearning for bigger, better and more is not solely American. With the exception of poor nations, most coun-

Reflections on marriage and divorce “She changed into a different person,” one friend of mine told me when I, being the nosy Barbara Walters that I am, asked him why his marriage fell apart.

How specifically did she change?

“She got lazy, fat and selfish,” he told me.

Another couple I know just split because, immediately after uttering the words “I do,” he failed to hold a stable job. They went to marriage counseling, they prayed, but the damage was done.

“It’s scary. You roll the dice when you marry,” says a marriage psychologist friend of mine who counsels couples experiencing marital problems.

“You don’t know how that person is going to change.”

His words scare me because I know how true they are. Just the other day my husband and I discussed the marriages of our friends (since we ourselves are so perfect). We classified them as “happy,” “unhappy” and “ask again in a few years.”

We didn’t predict any imminent divorces, but then we realized that in most of the marriages at least one of the partners had been married before, the first marriage lasting anywhere from six months to three years.

There are those statistics again!

As products of two divorced families, my husband and I took our vows pretty seriously. The words “until death do us part” weren’t spoken on a whim but after a period of discernment and deliberation. For nowhere in the Catholic sacrament of marriage are these words written or understood: “unless you or I change too radically or we decide we want something else in life.”

What you see is fortunately or unfortunately what you get.

The Human FATHER Side EUGENE HEMRICK CNS Columnist

tries equal us in this category.

In light of this propensity, what would philosophers like Schumacker have us do?

We should first remember that throughout history civilizations never have been satisfied with the status quo.

They forever were expanding.

Even Christ spoke of expansion when he pointed us to the mustard seed that grows to great size. As it did, so did the church, its monasteries and followers.

Philosophy would counsel us that

Our Turn THERESE J. BORCHARD CNS Columnist Boy, it’s a bad time to be a newlywed, particularly if you’re looking to couples in the news for guidance on how to make it to your silver or golden anniversary. This summer and fall have seen a flurry of pretty horrific examples.

First Mark Hacking reportedly confesses to family members that he shot his wife in her sleep and dumped her in a landfill.

Scott Peterson is accused of murdering his wife Laci and their unborn child while wining and dining his mistress, Amber Frey.

Robert Howard, the Olympic triple jumper, is believed to have stabbed his wife, Robin Mitchell, before he jumped to his own death from a window out of a University of Arkansas dormitory.

And let’s not forget New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s shocking announcement that he is, in fact, gay, and had been involved with another man whom he hired. The governor confessed all this to the public with his wife, mother to their children, by his side.

Of course, you need not open the papers or turn on the tube to learn about cheating, lying and the other rather big termites that eat into a healthy relationship. About half of American marriages end in divorce.

One need only show up at a high school or college reunion to see those statistics at work or talk to some neighbors and friends.

the quest for bigness is an integral part of human nature that, like a new set of tires, needs to be balanced lest they vibrate and self-destruct.

The best way to maintain balance is to block the quest for bigness and more from possessing us and governing our lives. This must not be the primary factor giving meaning to our lives. If it is, we, like so many before us, will wake up and find that we have lived an empty life.

True fulfillment and meaning are gained primarily by taking less for ourselves so that others less fortunate will have more.

Philosophy would also counsel us not to lose our sense of true satisfaction.

Constantly striving for what is bigger, seeking to acquire more, never leaves us time to be satisfied and enjoy what we have.

Yes, small is beautiful when seen through the eyes of philosophy and lived in our everyday lives.

The Catholic News & Herald 15

September 17, 2004

Get out the vote It’s time to vote.

If that message seems to be a couple of months early, you’re half right. Election Day in the United States this year falls on Tuesday, Nov. 2. However, as you probably know, you can’t vote if you aren’t registered.

What’s gotten me excited about this right now are some facts I came across from the U.S. Census Bureau.

They concern the election of 2000 and they really bother me. Only 60 percent of eligible voters in this country registered to vote, and of that number only 86 percent actually went to the polls.

While I wish that 100 percent of eligible Americans would vote (OK, 99 percent to allow for emergencies), what amazes me is the 40 percent who aren’t even registered. I cannot for the life of me figure out how people justify that apathy.

Every vote counts, not just in the so-called “swing” states, not just in presidential election years. Every vote counts in every election for every office. This is your chance to hire the people who run our local, state and federal governments. If that isn’t worth making a little time on your schedule, I don’t know what is.

Too busy? Don’t like the candidates? Just not interested? There is too

Light One Candle MSGR. JIM LISANTE Guest Columnist much at stake in your community, in your country, in your world to excuse your absence from any election.

If you’re a regular voter, good.

Keep it up. If you need to register, do it.

Most states have a deadline about a month before each election. Your local library is a great resource; so is the League of Women Voters and the Web, of course. And when you get the information, spread it around. Surely, you have relatives, friends or coworkers who either boast about not bothering to vote, or make excuses for not voting.

Not this year. This year you’re going to have your own “Get Out the Vote” campaign.

Why? Each of us has a personal responsibility to be an intelligent, involved and

active voter. Educate yourself about issues and candidates; make decisions about what really matters. Accept your obligation to go beyond personal interests, to consider the welfare of others, both now and in the future. Whatever your political party, whatever candidates or issues you favor, how you vote is between you and your conscience, you and God. Yes, your vote, your involvement as a citizen does matter.

James Madison, fourth president of the United States, known as the Father of the Constitution, said, “We have staked the whole future of America, not on the power of government — far from it — but on the capacity of mankind for selfgovernment.”

If I sound a little like a cheerleader for getting out the vote, so be it. But, frankly, how can some people be only too happy to express their opinions, and then not take the time to reinforce their words with a thoughtful decision inside a voting booth.

It seems to me that no citizen has the right to complain — or be complaisant —on Nov. 3, if he or she did not exercise the right to vote on Nov. 2.

For a free copy of the Christopher News Note, “Citizenship 101: Awareness, Commitment, Action,” write: The Christophers, 12 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org.

Giving is an important part of every Catholic’s life Giving is an important part of every Catholic’s life. It is through giving that we grow as Christians and are able to carry out Christ’s work in the world.

Many people don’t feel they have the financial resources to give as much as they would like, while also carrying out their responsibilities to their loved ones and others.

If you have ever felt this way, I believe you will be interested in information and assistance offered by the Diocese of Charlotte’s Office of Planned Giving. In fact, every Catholic interested in making the best use of his or her resources will want to know more about gift planning.

What is gift planning?

Quite simply, gift planning is a process that helps you identify ways of giving that suit you best. Some methods are familiar, such as giving by cash or check, while others may be new to you, such as giving through life insurance or in your will.

The gift-planning process helps you form a giving strategy so that you, your loved ones and others for whom you care will be provided for as you desire. At the same time, you may discover new ways of giving to your parish, Catholic schools, Catholic agencies, the diocese or the foundation that you

Guest Column GINA RHODES Guest Columnist never realized were possible.

For example, by giving through your will, you can fulfill a desire to make a special gift without diminishing financial security for yourself or your loved ones. A bequest can be arranged as part of the will-making process. That simple addition can speak volumes about your faith.

A stronger mission Why does the diocese offer information and assistance with gift planning? First, as people grow in their stewardship life, they realize that limiting their stewardship of treasure to just their income doesn’t really reflect all that they have. Hence, more and more people are including their assets in their long-range plans related to stewardship of treasure.

Second, the diocese hope to provide information that will be helpful to you and your loved ones as you make plans for your future security.

Third, we are ever mindful of the needs for future financial stability to carry out the church’s mission in our diocese and know that gift planning can help strengthen the base of financial support for parishes, Catholic schools, Catholic agencies, the diocese and the foundation.

Ready to help The diocese also has a responsibility to Catholics in our area to provide information about ways to enhance their stewardship. The Office of Planned Giving will be happy to answer questions you may have about methods of giving (at no obligation, of course). We can also work with you and your attorney or other financial advisor as you consider a particular method of giving.

The size of a gift to the church is not what is important. But all believers are called upon to participate in the act of giving and the exercise of good stewardship. Our gift-planning program can assist you to that end.

You may discover surprising benefits for yourself and Christ’s mission.

Gina Rhodes is the director of planned giving for the Diocese of Charlotte.

The length of time Christ is present Question Corner FATHER JOHN DIETZEN CNS Columnist Q. Your article several weeks ago concerning how long Christ is present with us after Communion was somewhat similar to what a priest told me last year.

After Communion, he said, Christ continues present with us for 15 or 20 minutes. This must have been personal conjecture on his part. I had always assumed our Lord remained in us until we lost sanctifying grace by mortal sin. Is there a church teaching on this? (Louisiana) A. Your priest was talking about how long the sacramental presence of Jesus remains after Communion, not how long grace endures.

Catholic doctrine is that when bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist, our Lord’s Eucharistic presence remains as long as the species (appearance) of bread and wine remain.

This means that whenever, for whatever reason, the consecrated bread and wine no longer look or taste like bread and wine, Christ is no longer present as a sacrament.

Obviously, once we receive the consecrated wine and bread in Communion, our digestive processes affect them just as other food, until they are no longer identifiable as the bread and wine we consumed. When that happens, after maybe 15 or 20 minutes, Christ is no longer present as a sacrament.

However, the relationship with the life and person of Christ, which we call grace, is greatly enhanced by our celebration and reception of the Eucharist. It is a major way God invites and unites us to an ever greater friendship with him.

This intimate presence of Jesus, which grows also through the other sacraments, prayer, charitable works and a good life, does not cease when the sacramental presence of our Lord ceases. It continues to develop unless it is diminished or lost by sin, which is a deliberate turning away and rejection of that relationship.

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

September 17, 2004

REMEMBERING 9/11

Churches, schools commemorate anniversary of CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON — Memorial services in churches across the country Sept. 11 marked the third anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan concelebrated a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York in remembrance of firefighters who died while attempting to rescue people in the rubble of the World Trade Center, brought down when terrorists crashed two planes into the center’s twin towers.

The same day, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Kevin J. Farrell told the congregation at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington that the Gospel invites people to create “a new culture of peace.”

“The challenge before us is to bring peace back into the world,” he said.

He also said that terrorism exists by

because of “terrible situations of injustice” and that terrorism will cease when there is equal distribution of benefits in the world.

But he added that no matter how great the injustice, it does not justify violence, pointing out that “violence engenders more violence.”

Bishop Farrell called on individuals to seek peace in their daily lives and in their relationships and to remain tolerant and respectful of views that differ from their own.

The Knights of Columbus called on people of all faiths to join in making Sept. 11 a Worldwide Day of Prayer for Peace. The Catholic lay fraternal organization sponsored fullpage ads in Time magazine and The Washington Post that showed hands folded in prayer. With the image was a message calling Sept. 11 “a day we can all pray for peace.”

Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said the 2001 terrorist attacks “produce many emotions, ranging from anger to

Parochial pledge

Courtesy Photo

Elizabeth Green, student council president, and Mythily Isaac, science teacher, recite the Pledge of Allegiance during St. Leo the Great School’s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony. Faculty, staff and students gathered around the Winston-Salem Catholic school’s flagpole to pay tribute to the victims of the 2001 terror attacks and all who fight to protect the United States. Several students, as representatives of each grade, carried handmade flags. Principal Georgette Schraeder led the gathering in prayer and Elizabeth Green led them in singing “God Bless America.”

The Catholic News & Herald 16

Faith and freedom

Courtesy Photos

Faculty and students of Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro held an outdoor “remembrance ceremony” marking the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed 2,985 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Sept. 11, 2001. profound sorrow. But as we recall the losses of that awful day and honor those who died, we should also remember that peace and understanding, not revenge and retribution, must be our ultimate goal.”

“We can best achieve that goal,” he said in a statement, “by raising our voices to God, reminding him that we share his deep and abiding desire for peace on earth, and asking his divine guidance and help.”

L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, remembered the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States with the banner headline, “Darkness in the history of humanity.”

The front-page editorial called for acts of courageous peacemaking and reconciliation around the globe, saying that “hope is the only real force that can lead the world toward a future of peace where

terrorism is only a sad memory.”

In addition to the attacks on the United States, the newspaper also highlighted other terrorist attacks including: the October 2002 bombing in Bali, Indonesia, which left 202 people dead; the March bombing of several trains in Madrid, Spain, in which 191 people died; and the deaths of more than 320 people, mostly children, Sept. 3 after they were taken hostage in a school in Russia.

To the terrorists “it matters little if the victims are tourists or commuters on their way to work,” the newspaper said.

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