Oct. 8, 2010

October 8, 2010

catholicnewsherald.com charlottediocese.org S E RV I N G C H R I ST A N D C O N N EC T I N G C AT H O L I C S I N W E ST E R N N O R T H C A R O L I N A

Modern slavery Think it doesn’t happen here?

Think again.

How Catholic Social Services has joined the fight against human trafficking in North Carolina.

10-11

Respect Life Sunday

FUNDED by the parishioners of the diocese of charlotte THANK YOU!

More than 200 members of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte stood in support of life during Respect Life Sunday. Parishioners from across the diocese prayed along busy streets in their communities in silent witness for the unborn during Life Chain. More photos, 9 SUEANN HOWELL | Catholic News Herald

Alex Gutierrez | Catholic News Herald

Calendar 4 Diocese 3-9

FAITH 2

mix 14 Schools 12-13

A cloistered nun makes her final vows. 3 Viewpoints 18-19 World & nation 16-17

Call us: 704-370-3333 E-mail us: catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

Our faith 2

CATHOLIC news herald

charlottediocese.org/catholicnews | October 8, 2010

A saintly life

Pope Benedict XVI

True happiness is found in close friendship with Christ

T

rue happiness can be found by strengthening one’s friendship with God through a love for sacred Scripture and the sacraments, Pope Benedict XVI said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 6.

In his catechesis, the pope described the life of the 13th-century Benedictine mystic, St. Gertrude the Great. Far from being a historical figure stuck in the past, this “remarkable woman” remains for today’s faithful “a school of Christian life, a principled life, and she shows us that at the heart of a happy and real life is friendship with Jesus,” he said: “Our catechesis today focuses on St. Gertrude the Great, a remarkable figure associated with the monastery of Helfta, where so many masterpieces of religious literature were born. St. Gertrude is the only woman of Germanic descent to be called “Great,” an honor due to her exceptional natural and supernatural gifts. As a youth, Gertrude was intelligent, strong and decisive, but also impulsive. With humility she asked others for advice and prayer.

Eventually, she experienced a deep conversion: in her studies she passed from worldly pursuits to the sacred sciences, and in her monastic observance she moved from concern with external things to a life of intense prayer. In her writings, she sought to explain the truths of the faith with clarity and simplicity, while not failing to develop spiritual themes associated with Divine Love. In her religious practice, she pursued prayer with devotion and faithful abandonment to God. Dear friends, may we learn from St. Gertrude the Great how to love Christ and His Church with humility and faith, and to cultivate our personal prayer through an intense participation in the Holy Mass and the sacred liturgy.”

Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks from his Wednesday general audiences can be found online at www.vatican.va/ holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/index_en.htm.

Jesus’ crucifixion is at the heart of the Gospels

Feast day: Monday, Oct. 11

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born to pious parents in Italy on Nov. 25, 1881, the fourth child of 14. His religious education was entrusted to his godfather, who instilled in him a deep response to the mystery of God. He entered the minor seminary in 1892 at 11, became a Secular Franciscan in 1896 and in 1901 he entered the Pontifical Roman Seminary.

Ordained in 1904, he taught history, patrology and apologetics in the seminary.

His great friends during this formative period were St. Charles Borromeo and St. Francis de Sales, two outstanding intellectuals in the same seminary and also formidable pastors.

He served as a military chaplain during World War I, and in 1921 served as the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

In 1925 Pius XI made him a bishop and sent him to Bulgaria. For his episcopal motto he chose “Oboedientia et Pax” (“Obedience and Peace”).

In 1935 he was assigned to Turkey and Greece, where he ministered to the Catholic population and engaged in dialogue with Orthodox Christianity and Islam.

During World War II, he used his diplomatic means to save as many Jews as he could by obtaining safe passage for them.

He was elected pope Oct. 28, 1958, after Pope Pius XII died. When it became apparent the conclave was going to elect him pope, he spent the night weeping in his cell. “Horrefactus sum!” he exclaimed. “I am horrified!” Nevertheless, when the words “Habemus Papam” announced his election to the thousands waiting in St. Peter’s Square, there he was: jovial and full of energy.

Bernard Safran, who painted Pope John XXIII for the 1962 “Man of the Year” issue of Time magazine, also later did this sketch. He was a great admirer of Pope John XXIII and thought the pontiff had a wonderful, expressive face.

“Good Pope John” was an example of a “pastoral” pope, a good shepherd who cared deeply for his sheep. He manifested this concern for human rights and justice in his social encyclicals, especially “Mater et Magistra” (“Mother and Teacher”) and “Pacem in Terris” (“On Peace in the World”).

His greatest act as pope, however, was undoubtedly the inspiration to convoke the Second Vatican Council, which he opened on Oct. 11, 1962, despite knowing that he was dying of cancer. He died less than a year later on June 3, 1963.

On his deathbed he said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have ... were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.”

Pope John Paul II beatified him Sept. 3, 2000.

— Catholic News Agency

Your daily Scripture readings SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK OF OCT. 10 – OCT. 16

Sunday, 2 Kings 5:14-17, 2 Timothy 2:8-13, Luke 17:11-19; Monday, Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1, Luke 11:29-32; Tuesday, Galatians 5:1-6, Luke 11:37-41; Wednesday, Galatians 5:18-25, Luke 11:42-46; Thursday (St. Callistus I), Ephesians 1:1-10, Luke 11:47-54; Friday (St. Teresa of Jesus), Ephesians 1:11-14, Luke 12:1-17; Saturday (St. Hedwig, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque), Ephesians 1:15-23, Luke 12:8-12

SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK OF OCT. 17 – OCT. 23

Sunday, Exodus 17:8-13, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, Luke 18:1-8; Monday (St. Luke), 2 Timothy 4:10-17, Luke 10:1-9; Tuesday (St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues and Companions), Ephesians 2:12-22, Luke 12:35-38; Wednesday (St. Paul of the Cross), Ephesians 3:2-12, Isaiah 12:2-6, Luke 12:39-48; Thursday, Ephesians 3:14-21, Luke 12:49-53; Friday, Ephesians 4:1-6, Luke 12:54-59; Saturday (St. John of Capistrano), Ephesians 4:7-16, Luke 13:1-9

Jesus’ death reveals most clearly His identity and His mission – especially when we see it from the perspective of Easter. The crucifixion is the centerpiece of the Gospels.

The cross shadows all four narratives from the beginning – in the fate of John the Baptist, the first actor on the stage in Mark and whose destiny Luke links to Jesus from their conceptions; in Matthew’s account of the slaughter of the innocents; in the dark mention of rejection in John’s Prologue.

We cannot know who Jesus is, the Evangelists insist, until we know how He died. Our conception of Jesus’ death colors our vision of God, our sense of Jesus’ mission and our understanding of human suffering and death.

— AmericanCatholic.org

Why are there four Gospels?

Of the many gospels written in antiquity, only the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are canonical.

Insistence on these four Gospels, and no others, was a central theme of Irenaeus of Lyons, c. 185. In his central work “Adversus Haereses,” Irenaeus denounced some groups that used only one gospel. He declared that there were four “Pillars of the Church.” His image, taken from Ezekiel 1, or Revelation 4:6-10, of God’s throne borne by four creatures with four faces – “the four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and the four had the face of an ox on the left side; the four also had the face of an eagle” – equivalent to the “fourformed” gospel, is the origin of the symbols of the Evangelists: lion, bull, eagle, man.

The canon was affirmed at the Council of Rome (382), the Synod of Hippo (393) and two Synods of Carthage (397 and 419).

OUR PARISHESI

A bride of Christ

The facts of faith

Blessed Pope John XXIII

Our parishes

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

“Madonna with rosary” by Guido Reni, 1596

The rosary originates from an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Dominic in 1208. Its name originates from the Latin word “rosarium,” which means garland or garden of roses.

Pray the rosary this month October is the month of the Rosary, and Oct. 7 is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Established by Pope St. Pius V in 1571 and originally called the feast of “Our Lady of Victory,” it marks the naval victory of the Holy League over the Ottoman Turks at Lepanto on Oct. 7, 1571 – when the Turks’ expansion into the Mediterranean was stopped and Rome was saved from invasion. The victory was attributed to the intercession of Mary because a rosary procession had been offered on that day in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for the success of the mission.

Pope Gregory XIII changed the feast’s name to “Feast of the Holy Rosary” in 1573, and in 1969 Pope Paul VI changed the name again, to “Our Lady of the Rosary.”

“In celebration of this day, Catholics are encouraged to pray the rosary to invoke God to bring peace to the world and eliminate injustice and violence,” notes Sister Patricia Durbin of the Diocese of Charlotte Media Center.

ROSARY, SEE page 15

Correction

In the story “Monroe among several parishes, schools to get foundation grants” in the Oct. 5 edition, Marvin Enderle was incorrectly identified. He is a member of the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation Board.

— Wikipedia We regret the error.

SueAnn Howell | Catholic News Herald

Sister Marie Thérèse, PCPA, (right) receives a ring from Bishop Peter J. Jugis during her solemn profession at Mass at St. Patrick Cathedral Oct. 1.

Poor Clare takes her final vows SueAnn Howell Staff writer

‘This was the moment I had been longing for ...’

Sister Marie Thérèse PCPA

CHARLOTTE — Every girl dreams of having the perfect wedding. For Sister Marie Thérèse of the Divine Child Jesus, Oct. 1 was not only her patron saint’s feast day, but the perfect date for her “wedding” – her solemn profession as a Poor Clare of Perpetual Adoration.

She made her final vows at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, which was filled with friends and family for the special occasion.

Bishop Peter J. Jugis, bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte, celebrated the Mass and presided over the rite of solemn profession – his second as bishop. Ten priests concelebrated the Mass.

Sister Marie Thérèse wasn’t the typical bride that the cathedral usually hosts. There were flowers, candles and Scripture passages speaking of love, but her bridegroom was not physically present. She was being joined in spiritual marriage to her bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

During the ceremony four priests draped a large pall over Sister Marie Thérèse, who lay prostrate before the altar to represent her giving her life to God and the Church, while the congregation sang the Litany of the Saints.

Then as most brides do, Sister Marie Thérèse recited her vows. Hers were vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. She then received a

wedding ring, which was placed on her right hand by Bishop Jugis to signify her lifelong commitment to Christ and His Church.

“This was the moment I had been longing for the past seven years,” Sister Marie Thérèse said.

“The entire time of discernment and formation in the rule and spirit of our order culminates in the beautiful day of solemn profession.”

That is because before they can take their final, or solemn, vows, the Order of Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration requires that women spend one year of postulancy, two years of novitiate and three to six years in temporary vows that are renewed annually.

Sister Marie Thérèse grew up in Leeds, Ala., the oldest of five children. Her father works for the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), so she spent much of her childhood amidst Mother Angelica and the Poor Clares.

“From the age of 3, I dreamed of one day being a nun myself, and my mom made me a little habit that I would wear to Mass,” Sister Marie Thérèse said.

Reverend Mother Dolores Marie, abbess, accepted Sister Marie Thérèse’s petition to make her solemn vows. “During our time of preparation as a community for Sister Marie Thérèse’s vows, we prayed a novena to St. Thérèse of LiPOOR CLARE, SEE page 15

More online View more photos from Sister Marie Thérèse’s final profession of vows online at www.charlottediocese.org.

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OUR PARISHES

charlottediocese.org/catholicnews | October 8, 2010

Diocesan calendar

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

Oct. 9 – 5 p.m.

Deacon Recommitment Mass Catholic Conference Center, Hickory Oct. 10 – 3 p.m.

Rosary Rally St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte Oct. 11 – 7 p.m.

Sacrament of Confirmation Our Lady of Mercy Church, Winston-Salem Oct. 13 – noon Rite of Dedication of Immaculate Conception Church Forest City Oct. 14 – 6:30 p.m.

Room at the Inn – Charlotte Charlotte Convention Center Oct. 15 – 10 a.m.

Diocesan Finance Council meeting Pastoral Center, Charlotte Oct. 17 – 2:30 p.m.

Heritage Society Mass St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte

QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES CHURCH, 503 N. Main St. — Blessing of the animals, front lawn, after 8 a.m. Mass Oct. 9, animals must be up to date on vaccines. Pictures or proxies of pets are also welcome. Call Marilyn Whitney at 704-830-4484.

— Centering Prayer Sessions, Education Building Room B, 7-8:30 p.m. Oct. 11, 18 and 25, and Nov. 8, 15 and 22. Contact Peggy Geiger at dokgee16@gmail.com or 704-865-0898.

— Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) Class, 10-11:15 a.m. every Sunday. Call Cam Tracy at 704-53-0654.

BRYSON CITY ST. JOSEPH CHURCH, 316 Main St. — “Planning for your heavenly journey home,” an adult education program for those coping with aging, illness and preparing for the last stages of life, begins with 4 p.m. Mass Oct. 13, followed by a light supper and presentations.

CHARLOTTE CAMPUS MINISTRY, 9408 Sandburg Road — Wednesday Dinners, 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday, open to all college students. Visit www.sco.uncc.edu/catholic.

ST. GABRIEL CHURCH, 3016 Providence Road — Bridges Out of Poverty Seminar, Ministry Center Room A, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 16. Bring your own lunch.

— Catholic Identity Workshop, presented by Dr. Joe Paprocki, 8:45-noon Oct. 23. RSVP by Oct. 19 to RSVP@stgabrielchurch. org or 704-362-5047, ext. 228. Be sure to reference “Catholic ID program.”

ST. JOHN NEUMANN CHURCH, 8451 Idlewild Road — The Holy Sacraments Q&A: Baptism and Confirmation, Parish Hall, 9:30-11 a.m. or 7-8:30 p.m. Oct. 26 ST. MATTHEW CHURCH, 8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy.

— Moving on After Moving In, gathering of women to support one another in a time of transition, NLC Room 239241, 10:30 a.m.-noon, every Wednesday until Nov. 10. Child care is available. Contact Maureen Regele at Maureen@ southcharlotteliving.com or 704-541-0101.

— Welcome Home for Returning Catholics, support and friendship to guide the returning individual to full communion with the Body of Christ, a ministry tailored to meet individual needs and schedules. Contact Deacon Jim Hamrlik at jhmrlik@stmatthewcatholic.org or 704-543-7677, ext. 1040, or Julie Jahn at urblessed@carolina.rr.com or 704-560-9202.

ST. LUKE CHURCH, 13700 Lawyers Road — Blessing of the animals, 10 a.m. Oct. 9 — Annual Fall Festival and Craft Extravaganza, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Oct. 16

This week’s spotlight: Pray the rosary OUR LADY OF CONSOLATION CHURCH, 2301 Statesville Ave., Charlotte, Public Square Rosary Rally, noon Oct. 16. Contact Hyginus Okechukwu at 704-969-0982 or 704-408-7321.

OUR LADY OF GRACE CHURCH, 2205 W. Market St., Greensboro, Rosary Rally, front lawn, after 8 a.m.

Mass Oct. 16.

OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION CHURCH, 4207 Shamrock Dr., Charlotte, rosary before Mass, 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Contact Juanita Thompson at 704-536-0784.

ST. ANN CHURCH, 3635 Park Road, Charlotte, Joyful Mystery Sung Rosary, 7 p.m. Oct. 8.

ST. LAWRENCE BASILICA, 97 Haywood St., Asheville, public rosary in honor of Our Lady of Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun, in the parking lot across the street from the basilica, noon Oct. 16.

Contact Lisena Maria Moss at jemoss@charter.net or 828-254-4526.

ST. MARY CHURCH, 812 Duke St., Greensboro — Rosary before Mass, 20 minutes before each weekend Mass in October.

— Rosary on the phone, 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday through October. Call 605-475-4900, pass code 467422#.

ST. PATRICK CATHEDRAL, 1621 Dilworth Road E., Charlotte — Rosary before Mass, 15 minutes before all weekend Masses in October. If you would like to lead a rosary, contact info@stpatricks.org or 704334-2283.

— 69th Semi-Annual Rosary Rally, 3 p.m. Oct. 10, will include the rosary, a Eucharistic Procession and Benediction. For information, or if children aged 7-17 would like to participate in the procession, call Tina at 704-846-7361.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CHURCH, 1400 Suther Road, Charlotte — Rosary for life, Chapel, 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays — Rosary for priests and vocations to religious life, 5 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Mass at 5:30 p.m.

ST. PATRICK CATHEDRAL, 1621 Dilworth Road E. — Eucharistic Adoration, following the 12:10 p.m. Mass and concluding with Benediction at 6 p.m. every Wednesday ST. PETER CHURCH, 507 S. Tryon St. — Ignatian Retreat for Young Adults: “Come, follow me…,” Benedict Hall, 2-5 p.m. Oct. 23. Free parking in the Green parking garage adjacent to the church. Register at retreat4youngadults@gmail.com or 704-332-2901.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CHURCH, 1400 Suther Road — Unemployed Support Group, Aquinas Hall, 10 a.m. every Monday. Contact Steve Basinski at jbas@carolina.rr.com or 704-456-7434.

Bishop Jugis to dedicate new Immaculate Conception church FOREST CITY — Bishop Peter J. Jugis, Father Herbert T. Burke (pastor), and members of Immaculate Conception Church in Forest City will celebrate the dedication of their new 11,120-squarefoot church on Wednesday, Oct. 13. Look for full coverage in the Oct. 22 edition.

GREENSBORO OUR LADY OF GRACE CHURCH, 2205 W. Market St. — Charismatic Healing Mass, sponsored by the Flames of Fire Prayer Group, 1-3 p.m. Oct. 16. Call Ben D’Apollo at 336-8123730 or Lorraine Brown at 336-292-5186.

IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY MISSION, Hwy. 64 W. — Bereavement Group, Church Commons, 10-11:30 a.m.

Wednesdays through Nov. 3. Contact Shirley Moran at shirleygrahlmoran@windstream.net or 706-896-1358.

HIGH POINT IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH, 605 Barbee Ave. — Hope of Seeing Everyone Again (HOSEA) Program, for non-practicing Catholics, new session begins Oct. 14, for six weeks. Contact Jan Hitch at 336-884-5097 or the church office at 336-869-7739.

HUNTERSVILLE ST. MARK CHURCH, 14740 Stumptown Road — Centering Prayer Group, Chapel, 8:15 a.m. and 6 p.m. every Wednesday

WINSTON-SALEM HOLY FAMILY CHURCH, 4820 Kinnamon Road — Catholics Returning Home, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10, 17, 24 and 31.

For non-practicing Catholics interested in returning to the Church. Contact Sean or Kelly Hines at hinesnc@adelphia.net or 336-940-6053.

Is your parish or school hosting a free event open to the public? Deadline for all submissions for the Diocesan Planner is 10 days prior to desired publication date. Submit in writing to catholicnews@charlottediocese.org or fax to 704-370-3382.

October 8, 2010 Volume 19 • Number 38

1123 S. Church St., Charlotte, N.C. 28203-4003 catholicnews@charlottediocese.org 704-370-3333 PUBLISHER: The Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis, Bishop of Charlotte

The Catholic News Herald is published by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte 35 times a year.

COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT/CIRCULATION: Denise Onativia 704-370-3333, catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

NEWS: The Catholic News Herald welcomes your news and photographs for publication in our print and online PDF editions.

Please e-mail information, attaching photos in JPG format with a recommended resolution of 150 dpi or higher, to catholicnews@ charlottediocese.org. All submitted items become the property of the Catholic News Herald and are subject to reuse, in whole or in part, in print, electronic formats and archives.

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CHARLOTTE — Local leaders of the faith formation program for people with developmental disabilities, called Special Religious Development Program or SPRED, gathered at St. Matthew Church Sept. 25 to hear a nationally-recognized priest speak about the program and its theological foundations.

Holy Cross Father Richard Hockman’s speech, “Why SPRED? Back to Basics,” also described the differences in the For more way people with information, developmental contact Jan disabilities learn, Clemens, and how the coordinator use of everyday of the Special experiences Religious and symbols Development is essential to Program at the catechetical St. Matthew process.

Church, at Father Hockman 704-246-7102 has bachelor’s or domani@ and masters carolina. degrees in special rr.com. education from Boston College, and a Masters of Divinity from Notre Dame University. Now affiliated with King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., he has 32 years of experience with SPRED and is much in demand as a speaker about the program.

Members of several parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte attended his presentation, including those that already have SPRED (St. Vincent de Paul, St. Mark, St. Paul the Apostle and St. Matthew churches), as well as churches wishing to gain a deeper understanding of the program, including Immaculate Conception in Hendersonville, Queen of

Learn more

Tom Allison | Catholic News Herald

Sister Terry earns award for community outreach

Father Christopher Gober, pastor of St. Bernadette Church in Linville, blesses Gladys Lester as she receives a pilgrim image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on loan from the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., to take home for a week.

HAYESVILLE — Sister Terry Martin, CND (pictured at left), is one of two recipients of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia’s 2010 Bishop Sullivan Award. She and Sister Mary Dennis Lentsch, PVBM, received the award from Bishop Emeritus Walter Sullivan of the Diocese of Richmond during a celebration at St. Patrick Church in Hinton, W.Va., Sept. 18.

Sister Terry serves as a community outreach worker in Cherokee and Clay counties in western North Carolina and is a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Hayesville. She has served in Appalachia for more than 33 years.

— Mary A. Herr

‘Señor de los Milagros’ procession planned The popular Hispanic celebration of “Señor de los Milagros,” or the “Lord of Miracles,” is being marked this month.

St. Ann Church in Charlotte held a Mass Oct. 3, and there will be another MORE News, SEE page 15

EDITOR: Patricia L. Guilfoyle 704-370-3334, plguilfoyle@charlottediocese.org

Jan Clemens Special to the Catholic News Herald

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CHURCH, 6828 Old Reid Road — Annual Health & Wellness Fair, Msgr. Pharr Activity Center, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 10. Contact Peggy Gibbons at peggy@ weddingsbypeggy.com or 704-588-5870.

HAYESVILLE

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SPRED ministry leaders gather to learn more

In Brief

BELMONT BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE, 100 Belmont-Mt. Holly Road — “Faith, Society, the Corporation and our Collective Carbon Footprint,” Student Commons Mezzanine, 6:30-9 p.m. Oct. 12.

Contact Mercy Sister Rose M. Tresp at rtresp@mercysc.org or 956-324-7057.

OUR PARISHESI

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

Parishioners host image of Our Lady of Guadalupe Jo-Anne Allison Correspondent

LINVILLE — Parishioners at St. Bernadette Church in Linville have been enjoying the rare privilege of a blessed pilgrim image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, taking the image home with them for a week to encourage them to pray more fervently for the unborn and for the sanctity of all human life.

The pilgrim image is on loan this year from a member of St. Thérèse de Lisieux Church in the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla. The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is well known. In 1531, Mary appeared to a humble indigenous American named Juan Diego on a hill near Mexico City. An image of herself was miraculously imprinted on the poor man’s tilma, or cloak. The apparition and the image of Mary spurred

BEGINNING SPANISH

Learn Spanish by listening and repeating at home or in your car.

the widespread conversion of the native population to Christianity, and this primitive cloth shows no sign of decay 479 years later.

The image is particularly aligned with prayers for the sanctity of human life. In the image itself, Mary is shown pregnant with Jesus – symbolized by the black sash at her waist. In 1999 when he declared Dec. 12 the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to Mary’s loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born.

Families at St. Bernadette take the reproduced image home with them for one week, to be blessed by her presence and prompted to prayer for both personal and universal intentions. Host families or OUR LADY, SEE page 15

SPRED, SEE page 15

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CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

My Day in a �icaraguan

charlottediocese.org/catholicnews | October 8, 2010

I didn’t know which was worse: the smell of burning tires and decomposing trash or seeing a 3-year-old, with no shoes and a dirty face, digging through that trash. My stomach sank as I held back tears. I had only been in Chinandega’s garbage dump for a few hours and I was desperate to leave.

I had seen developing-world poverty before in Haiti and east Africa, but it paled in comparison to what I saw in this 20-acre garbage dump in northern Nicaragua. Maybe it was the hopeless look in their eyes, or the immediacy of their poverty that sent me reeling. It’s hard to get much lower than living in a garbage dump, and more than 300 families in Chinandega have been doing it for a decade. Most are refugees whose homes were destroyed during Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Left without jobs, houses, or help, these families turned to the dump for survival.

They live in dilapidated shacks made from scraps of cardboard, wood, and tin collected from the dump, which offer little protection during the rainy season. Their days are spent scavenging the dump for plastic bottles, aluminum cans, bits of steel and glass, and pieces of paper to sell to recycling

companies so they can feed their families. Some of the children attend school, but most work alongside their parents in the dump.

The area next to the dump where these families live is called El Limonal, but people in Chinandega

off of his foot, leaving the large, oozing sore we were all staring at. Finally, his father carried him home to “put some cream” on his foot. (They were too poor to go to the clinic.) I spent the rest of the trip wondering if that boy would lose his

catholic news heraldI

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Rescuing the Poor in Uncertain Times American Catholics are embracing God’s economy as they help the poor in Latin America

An Eyewitness Report by Rachael Joyner have another name for it: the Triangle of Death. It gained this nickname because the triangular piece of land where they live is surrounded by the dump, an overflowing cemetery, and a contaminated river where the city’s sewage is dumped. The nickname is not an exaggeration.

The first thing that hit me as I walked through the dump was the overwhelming smell and the smoke, a kind of thick haze that engulfs everything. It stung my eyes and, with each breath, burnt my throat.

It reminded me of Dante’s description of the Inferno in his book the Divine Comedy. There were people everywhere digging through mounds of garbage and little children rifling through bag after bag of trash. I watched one little boy, who couldn’t have been older than 4, pull a rotting banana peel from a bag and chew on it. He had probably not eaten yet that day because his family was too poor to buy food, and now he was turning to garbage to ward off his hunger.

It was hardest seeing the children in the dump.

Most of them had no shoes. Their clothes were tattered, and a thick layer of dirt covered their bodies. When I first got to the dump, a crowd of people were gathered around a young boy, who was maybe 8 or 10. He had a hole in his foot the size of an orange. Though he was shaking from the pain, he didn’t make a sound. Like many in the dump, he didn’t have shoes and made the mistake of stepping in a pile of trash that was still burning underneath. The heat burnt the skin right

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Garbage Dump The following is an excerpt from the field report of Rachael Joyner, a writer for Cross International Catholic Outreach. During a recent trip to �icaragua she experienced the harsh realities facing hundreds of families struggling to survive the horrifying conditions of a city garbage dump...

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

Rachael Joyner (photo at left) waits with children beside a dump truck full of trash. When it empties its load, the scavangers will go to work, searching for food and useful items.

foot or spend the next six months dealing with an infection that could have been prevented with something as simple as a pair of shoes.

Health hazards such as these abound in the dump, and children are especially susceptible. As the families pick through the garbage, they inhale toxic fumes from routine waste burning, which cause respiratory problems, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, and pneumonia. Parasites from the garbage cause intestinal problems and bleeding.

Bugs burrow into the families’ skin, causing rashes and sores. Though most of these are treatable ailments, the majority of families are too poor to go to a clinic or buy medicine, so they suffer for years and some die.

That’s when I realized the desperation of these families’ situations. As one woman put it, “I work in the dump because I have no other options. I live in a house made of cardboard because it is all I have.” These people have nothing. I hardly lasted four hours in the dump, and these families have been living here for years.

The desperation of the families and the graphic images of the dump are what led John Bland, founder and executive director of Amigos for Christ, to quit his job in the U.S. and devote his life to helping them.

“I had never seen such hopelessness until I came here,” said Bland, a devout Catholic whose Nicaragua-based organization has been ministering for nearly a decade to the poor families living and

working in Chinandega’s garbage dump. “These people desperately needed help. And I thought, why not me?”

Since its founding, Amigos has helped hundreds of poor Nicaraguans start a new life in communities outside of the dump. In addition to a sturdy new house, these poor families receive health care, education for their children, and vocational training and micro-credit loans to begin new jobs — all the things these families need to rebuild their own lives. Bland also mobilized the local Catholic Church, who now works closely with Amigos to tend to the spiritual needs of the people.

As Bland led me though the dump that day, he explained that none of this life-changing work would be possible without the financial support of organizations such as Cross International Catholic Outreach and its generous Catholic donors in the U.S. “We could not do this work without Cross International Catholic Outreach. We need help with the resources to accomplish the work and that’s one of Cross Catholic’s strengths. Working together is tremendous... because something very positive that glorifies our awesome God comes out of it.”

As we discussed Amigo’s newest project, building homes for 50 families from the dump, Bland was overjoyed that Cross Catholic’s donors were willing to support him in his life-changing work. I felt a lift from the conversation too. It made that terrible day bearable.

To make a tax-deductable contribution to Cross International Catholic Outreach and its work with Catholic ministries overseas, use either the enclosed postage-paid brochure or send donations to: Cross International Catholic Outreach, Dept.

AC00667, 490 White Pond Drive, PO Box 63, Akron, OH 44309-0063.

Sandra Maria, 54, goes to work each day even though she knows it is slowly killing her.

Maria, a mother of five and a grandmother, spends each day scavenging in a city garbage dump in northern Nicaragua for recyclables, which she later sells for money to buy food. The work is hard — toxic fumes rising up from the mounds of putrid garbage sting her eyes and burn her throat as hoards of mosquitoes buzz around her body — but not having food for her family is harder.

“The smoke is killing us and we bathe in dirty water,” says Maria, who lives in the shanty town inside the garbage dump with her family. “We would do anything to get away from the dump, but right now it is the only way for us to make money to survive.”

Maria’s family is one of hundreds who scrape by a living each day in Chinandega’s 20-acre garbage dump. In many Latin American countries, the poor flock to city garbage dumps because it is often the only steady work they can find and they can earn at least enough to guarantee their children a meal. Still, the pay is meager — the equivilent of between $2 and $10 U.S. dollars a week.

The dire situation in Chinandega is just one example of the intense poverty plaguing Latin America. A millennium study by the World Bank found that nearly 40 percent of the 569 million people living in Latin America live below the poverty line. Haiti, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Guatemala are often cited among the poorest countries in the world. The fact that families are turning to garbage dumps for survival, is an indication of how serious the situation has become.

“Garbage dumps and dirty streets are terrible playgrounds for children to be growing up in,” says Jim Cavnar, president of Cross International Catholic Outreach, whose ministry supports several aid programs across Latin America for families struggling to survive intense poverty. “If we don’t do something to break the vicious cycle of poverty these children are trapped in, they are doomed to become adults — still living in the same deadly environment.”

Despite the dismal statistics and fear over the future of an uncertain economy, dozens of local outreach ministries run by strong Catholic missionaries are tapping into God’s economy to help the poor in Latin America. And, already, they’ve seen great returns as lives are being restored.

One such life is Maria Elena. The mother of four used to work in the horrific 42-acre garbage dump in Managua, Nicaragua. She barely made enough money to feed her children, let alone send them to school. They often came to work with her in the dump, which she hated because it made them sick.

Elena is now part of a jewelry-making program run by a local Catholic ministry where she earns enough money making necklaces and bracelets from recycled material to comfortably support her family — even send her children to school.

“This program has been a great help,” she says.

“I don’t know what we would have done without it.”

The simple program that changed Elena’s life is

Sandra Maria (top right) is one of many dump scavangers who have been helped by Cross. She fears for the children who work on the smokey, dangerous site and prays they’ll have a better future. one of several projects in Latin America supported

by Cross Catholic. Thanks to contributions provided by its U.S. donors, Cross Catholic is able to partner with Catholic ministries in the field who are running great programs but don’t have the funds to sustain them. Support from American Catholics keeps these important projects up and running.

“We’re amazed by the unwavering compassion and generosity of these donors. Even at a time when people are hurting here in the U.S. because of the economy, they are still giving to help the poor around the world,” says Cavnar, president of Cross Catholic. “They show great faith, and we are seeing the positive returns of that faith in the lives of the poor.”

Those positive returns are especially visible in the fight against world hunger. For example, monthly financial support from Cross International Catholic Outreach allows Las Mercedes Nutrition Center in Honduras to feed more than a hundred poor, malnourished children who they find abandoned in garbage dumps and in the streets.

Cross Catholic also feeds thousands of poor children through the support of school feeding

programs and food shipments to countries such as Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

“It is amazing what God can do when you trust him,” said John Bland, executive director of Amigos for Christ, a Nicaraguan ministry founded to minister to the people living and working in Chinandega’s city garbage dump in the northwestern part of the country.

With help from Cross Catholic, his ministry plans to build 50 homes for families living in the garbage dump — families such as Sandra Maria’s, who are wondering if they’ll be able to collect enough plastic bottles tomorrow so they can buy food.

“The poor have unbelievable faith, as do these Catholic ministries serving in the field, helping them each day,” Cavnar says. “We count it a privilege to help them and, in doing so, live out our faith.”

To make a tax-deductable contribution to Cross International Catholic Outreach and its work with Catholic ministries overseas, use either the enclosed postage-paid brochure or send donations to: Cross International Catholic Outreach, Dept.

AC00667, 490 White Pond Drive, PO Box 63, Akron, OH 44309-0063.

How to Help: Your help is needed for Cross International Catholic Outreach to bring Christ’s mercy to the poorest of the poor. Use the enclosed postage-paid brochure to mail your gift or send it to Cross International Catholic Outreach, Dept. AC00667, 490 White Pond Drive, PO Box 63, Akron, OH 44309-0063.

8

OUR PARISHES

charlottediocese.org/catholicnews | October 8, 2010

Candidate survey from North Carolina’s bishops is online David Hains Director of Communication

Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh informed participants of Catholic Voice North Carolina that the results of a candidate survey are now available online.

The 336 candidates who are vying for seats in 184 districts of the N.C. General Assembly and the U.S. Congress were sent questionnaires by Catholic Voice North Carolina in August. The results of the questionnaires for the candidates in each district are online at Catholic Voice North Carolina’s Web site, www.CatholicVoiceNC. org.

In their letter the bishops stated, “We are committed to forming Catholics in the truths of our faith so that these truths may shape

their conscience and provide focus for their decisions.”

Questions on the survey covered topics that included the defense of human life and dignity, the promotion of human rights, peace, the family, community life, the poor, the vulnerable, the right to work, human solidarity and creation.

Catholic Voice North Carolina is the nonpartisan voice of the state’s two bishops on matters where public policy and Church teaching intersect. This is the second candidate survey conducted by the group.

The last time was prior to the 2008 elections.

Catholic Voice noted on its Web site that the information gathered in the survey is for educational purposes only. Catholic Voice North Carolina does not endorse or oppose any political candidates, political party or political action committee.

OUR PARISHESI

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

9

People gather to pray on Respect Life Sunday More than 80 members of Our Lady of Grace Church joined about 600 participants in the Greensboro Life Chain Sunday. photo provided by David Foppe

photo provided by Louise Thoreson

Thousands of people across the Diocese of Charlotte and the U.S. participated Sunday in Life Chain, standing in prayer and silent witness for the sanctity of life from natural conception to natural death. Members of St. James the Greater Church in Concord, above, stand in front of Hilbish Ford in Kannapolis.

THE ORATORY

Barbara Case Speers and Jennifer Krawiec | Catholic News Herald

(Right) More than 60 parishioners of all ages from St. Aloysius Church and their pastor, Father Robert Ferris, joined Patty Beigay, state director of Life Chain of North Carolina, Sunday on the busiest highway in Hickory to bear silent witness for the rights of the unborn during Life Chain. Cars honked, people waved, and there were lots of thumbs-up for the participants holding signs protesting abortion. The best response: a woman motorist who rolled down her window and yelled, “Thank you, thank you, for speaking up.” (Left) Bob Hall of the Knights of Columbus Council 6451 sets up crosses on the lawn of St. Aloysius. Each October, the Knights set up more than 400 crosses to commemorate Respect Life Month. The crosses represent the more than 4,000 abortions performed each day in the U.S.

434 Charlotte Avenue, P.O. Box 11586 Rock Hill, SC 2973-1586

(803) 327-2097

rockhilloratory.com

Return to Your Heart Saturday, November 13 9 – 11:45 am Kathleen Ciani – RN, BSN, PRH Educator

Bill Washington | Catholic News Herald

Thanks to the Sisters of Mercy Nine Sisters of Mercy were honored at a Mass Oct. 2 at Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury in thanksgiving for their service to the parish. Pictured are Sisters Ann Marie Wilson, Maureen Dees, Jill Kathrine Weber, Paulette Rose Williams, Mary Rosalind Picot, Theresa Susana Dandison, Martha Elizabeth Hoyls, Mary Robert and Mary Monica Perez.

Personality and Human Relationship (PRH) is a school that teaches people “how to be,” how to relate to oneself, others and God – a method of self-discovery for adults. Kathleen is a licensed PRH educator.

David Hains | Catholic News Herald

More than 100 parishioners of St. Mark Church in Huntersville also maintained an hour-long Respect Life vigil Sunday at the church on Stumptown Road. Many of the drivers who passed by the vigils honked car horns and showed signs of support.

photo provided by Steve Schmugge

Jerry Schmugge of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte participated in Life Chain along Sharon Road Sunday.

Cost: $15

10

FROM THE COVER

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

Broken promises, hidden lives

Catholic Social Services and others aid victims enslaved by human trafficking “[T]he sexual exploitation of women and children is a particularly repugnant aspect of this trade, and must be recognized as an intrinsic violation of human dignity and rights.

The disturbing tendency to treat prostitution as a business or industry not only contributes to the trade in human beings, but is itself evidence of a growing tendency to detach freedom from the moral law and to reduce the rich mystery of human sexuality to a mere commodity.”

— John Paul II from a letter to Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran on the occasion of the international conference, “Twenty-first Century Slavery – The Human Rights Dimension to Trafficking Human Beings”

SUEANN HOWELL STAFF WRITER

Ruth Santana, coordinator of the Charlotte Human Trafficking Task Force, says victims of human trafficking can be found working as maids, nannies, janitors or farm laborers, or working in hair salons, nail shops, restaurants, massage parlors or strip clubs.

They are threatened, beaten, raped and starved by their captors. They may be forced to assume identities as wives, students or tourists. They often do not flee out of fear for the safety of their families back home, or fear of being deported if

federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000. It protects victims, giving them sanctuary in the U.S. as refugees; punishes traffickers with strong penalties; and enCHARLOTTE — “Christina” was 9 when courages ways to prevent trafficking. her family entrusted her to her aunt, who Under the law, victims can receive brought her to western North Carolina special visas and be eligible for Medicaid, from her native Africa in 2000 to escape food stamps, legal aid and other services as abject poverty. She was promised an edurefugees. That’s how CSS and the team of cation and a better life. other agencies get involved.

What “Christina” found over the next The U.S. bishops state in their document 10 years was round-the-clock domestic “On Human Trafficking”: “As a global servitude in her aunt’s home. As she got institution that is present in source naolder and could braid hair, a 12-hour shift tions as well as nations that serve as at a beauty salon was added to her markets for human trafficking, the domestic duties. She was under Catholic Church is well positioned to constant surveillance, a prisoner in identify and rescue survivors of huher aunt’s home when she wasn’t man trafficking. In fact, the Catholic working at the salon.

Church provides important social serThis is what slavery looks like in vices to survivors in the United States the 21st century – around the world and around the world.” and right here in North Carolina.

The U.S. bishops have brought together The Catholic Social Services Refumore than 20 Catholic organizations to gee Office in the Diocese of Charlotte attack the problem from many direcis working with a team of national, tions, known as the “Coalition of Catholic state and local agencies – called the Organizations Against Human TraffickCharlotte Human Trafficking Task ing.” In Charlotte, government and social Force – to help victims of human service agencies along with CSS recently trafficking flee their captors and banded together as the Charlotte Human rebuild their lives.

Trafficking Task Force.

“Human trafficking is more than It meets every other month at the what you may think,” said Linda Pastoral Center in Charlotte to share Campbell, an employment specialist resources and plan ways to aid vicwith the CSS Refugee Office. “It’s not tims. The FBI, Charlotte Mecklenburg just sex trafficking.”

Police Department, Salvation Army, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, How serious is the problem? state agencies, social service agencies FREE THE SLAVES and some local churches all take part.

Trafficking is the exploitation of Linda Campbell and the CSS Refupeople through forced labor or comgee Office help find legitimate employmercial sex.

Of the estimated 14,500 to 17,500 people trafficked into the U.S. ment for adults who come to them According to estimates from the each year, about half are forced into prostitution and the other through a program organized by the U.S. Department of State, more than half is forced into jobs such as janitors, nannies, or hair and nail task force.

12 million men, women and children salon workers. Half of all the people trafficked into this country As the U.S. bishops concluded in around the world are forced, coerced are children, government officials estimate. The largest source of their document “On Human Traffickor tricked into performing jobs or U.S. trafficking victims: East Asia and the Pacific Rim countries. ing,” “Human trafficking is a horrific prostitution by the human traffickcrime against the basic dignity and ers who prey on them. Trafficking rights of the human person. All efforts discovered. They feel scared, ashamed and generates $32 billion in profits annually, must be expended to end it. In the end, we helpless. They often blame themselves the government estimates. must work together – Church, state, and for being deceived, and they do not trust The U.S. bishops note that this country community – to eliminate the root causes authorities to help them. And often, they is a “major trafficking magnet” – 14,000 to and markets that permit traffickers to can’t speak English.

18,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. flourish; to make whole the survivors of “This area of crime against human pereach year, half of them children. this crime; and to ensure that, one day sons can be difficult to detect due to lanWho are the victims? soon, trafficking in human persons vanguage barriers and the surveillance of the ishes from the face of the earth.” victims by the perpetrators,” Santana said.

Trafficking victims are mostly women But, she adds, not only immigrants are and children – often poor, malnourished and victims. Runaway children and homeless desperate, living in countries with collapsed people are exploited as well. economies or suffering from armed conflict.

Ten percent of all trafficking victims ALSO INSIDE How is the Church helping? found each year are unaccompanied Church beatifies ‘mother of the exploited,’ Anna children – usually girls in their mid- to late Maria Adorni, Oct. 3. See page 17.

Greater awareness of human trafficking teens forced into the sex trade. has been spurred by the passage of the

Byy the numbers

Modern slavery

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What can we do?

IF YOU THINK you have encountered a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s toll-free hotline, 1-888-373-7888. The hotline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

MORE INFORMATION about human trafficking can be found at the U.S. Department of State’s Web site, www. state.gov. Look under Secretary For Democracy and Global Affairs, Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

GO ONLINE to learn more about modern anti-slavery advocates such as www.freetheslaves.net and www. iabolish.org.

THE U.S. BISHOPS have also collected a variety of resources online at www.usccb.org/mrs/trafficking.

What does the Church teach?

■ THE DIGNITY OF PEOPLE THE DIGNITY of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God; it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude. It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment. By his deliberate actions, the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience. (CCC 1700) FREEDOM IS exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognized as a free and responsible being. All owe to each other this duty of respect.

(CCC 1738)

■ A JUST WAGE A JUST wage is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave injustice. (CCC 2434)

■ SLAVERY THE SEVENTH commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason – selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement of human beings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to their productive value or to a source of profit. St. Paul directed a Christian master to treat his Christian slave “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother,… both in the flesh and in the Lord.”

(CCC 2414, cf. Philem 16)

■ PROSTITUTION PROSTITUTION DOES injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. … Prostitution is a social scourge. … While it is always gravely sinful to engage in prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by destitution, black-mail, or social pressure. (CCC 2355)

Our schools

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CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

charlottediocese.org/catholicnews | October 8, 2010

Holy Trinity Bulldogs honor one of their own

In Brief Middle School Youth Day

The eighth-grade Holy Trinity School football team honored its biggest fan, Casey O’Mara, Oct. 2 by making him an honorary captain and giving him his own team jersey. Casey O’Mara is Bulldog football player Brian O’Mara’s big brother, and he suffers from autism. The team also has raised more than $4,500 through fundraisers over the past month to support “Casey’s Bulldogs,” which the players created to benefit Autism Speaks, an organization whose mission is to increase awareness while searching for causes and better treatments.

The team is 6-0 as of this week, in first place and the only undefeated team in its conference.

Team members are: Andrew Auger, Andrew Baalman, Marco Baeza, Chris Bauer, Taylor Beuerlein, Josh Boll, Luke Bottrill, Patrick Brinson, Seamus Byrne, Michael Byrnes, Elliot Chambers, Dan Crotty, Alex Davis, Matt Dean, Nick Elchert, Jack Fassler, Chris Fiato, Isiah Foster, Brett Gendoes, Steven Gileta, Nick Grindstaff, Kaleb Harmon, Richard Killian, Matt Kowalewski, Alex Lapiana, Joey Lapiana, Migs Lavarro, Jake Lavender, AJ Levy, Ben Litton, Patrick McElravey, Braedon Mead, Ryan Miller, Quinn Mulligan, Felix Muniz, Will Nolan, Brian O’Mara, James Powers, Jake Priester, Nick Rizzieri, Nick Rudd, Lance Schact, Gavin Shoop, Patrick Smith, Jack Speidel, Drew Tomich, Connor Trantham, Jacob Trumpower, Christian Vinson, Cole Weaver, Ryan Webb Coaches: Steve Gileta, Scott Miller, Nick Starcevic, Gary King, Pat Dean, Mark Mead, Herb Auger, Doug Vinson and Jay Spence.

CLEMMONS — The Diocese of Charlotte’s Youth Ministry will host the Middle School Youth Day for grades 6-8 Saturday, Oct. 16. The event will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Holy Family Church in Clemmons. Learn about our faith, and enjoy “extreme” games, music, prayer, new friends and good food. Cost is $25 and includes lunch. Call 704-370-3259 or e-mail Paul Kotlowski, director for Youth Ministry, at pjkym@ymail.com.

‘Smart discipline’ workshops

photo provided by Diane Gileta

Debut Season of Concert Series to

Open with Celtic Music

Sunday, November 7, 4 pm St. Ann Catholic Church, 2625 Park Road, Charlotte

St. Ann Catholic Church is most pleased to support the area's outstanding performance artists by presenting a Sunday afternoon concert series entitled Gaudium Musicae. Our debut season of four concerts will include classical guitar, antiphonal brass, gifted youth and children's voices, and will open with Celtic music.

Please join us on Sunday, November 7, at 4 p.m. for an exciting hour of Celtic music with the highly acclaimed and superbly entertaining duo Earl's Chair.

Tickets: $12 for adults, $8 for students and children (under 18). Subscriptions for entire series: $40 for adults, $25 for students and children.

For info, tickets or to sponsor a performance: St. Ann business office -- 704-523-4641, ext. 221

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

CLASSIFIED FOR SALE CEMETERY PLOTS: Two Lawn Crypts, two Interment Rights, one Companion Memorial. Meditation Garden – Forest Lawn West. Charlotte. 704/663-2168

GREENBORO — On Thursday, Oct. 21, Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro will host two Smart Discipline workshops – one designed for teachers and one for parents. This nationally acclaimed program has been featured on PBS and NPR and in Parents magazine and is based on the work of Dr. Larry J. Koenig, author of the book “Smart Discipline.”

The program for teachers will explore a variety of techniques to help teachers instill positive behavior in their students.

It will be held at 3:30 p.m., and is free to all pre-kindergarten to fifth-grade teachers.

The parenting program will cover how children pick up beliefs about themselves and gives parents tools to encourage cooperation in the home. It will run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Advance registration is required, and the cost is $12 per person.

For details, call 336-275-1522.

photo provided by Lisa Clark

Sacred Heart students take science to new heights Students in Steve Pring’s sixth-grade science class at Sacred Heart School in Salisbury have been learning a lot, and to help make sure that the lessons would not soon be forgotten, he enlisted the help of the Salisbury Fire Department.

Each student had to design and build a cardboard box using lessons on design that they had been taught in class. The boxes could not exceed 18 centimeters on any side. Each box was then filled with packing materials such as bubble wrap, tissue paper and foam peanuts – and an uncooked egg. The 25 students’ goal was to design a box that would sufficiently protect the egg when the box was dropped from varying heights.

With the help of the fire department’s hook and ladder truck, each box was dropped from a height of 30 feet. Ten boxes escaped damage from the 30-foot fall, so then they were dropped from 50 feet high. The 50-foot drop left just four eggs intact. The students then finished the project by troubleshooting their results and redesigning their boxes.

According to sixth-grader William Clark, “The goal of the experiment was to learn how to design a product, evaluate the product, and then explain the process of design modification. But it was also to have fun!”

We welcome your school’s news. E-mail items to Editor Patricia Guilfoyle at plguilfoyle@charlottediocese.org.

THE TRUTH OF THE EUCHARIST REVEALED …

See and Hear the Story Unfold!

A powerful, fact-based case for belief in the REAL PRESENCE in the Eucharist!

(Recorded live at Transfiguration Catholic Church, West Milton, Ohio – September 2009)

*DVD includes exclusive interview with the Investigative Team! photo provided by Pat Burr

To order the “Science Tests Faith” DVD at the Introductory Price of $10 including shipping and handling, send payment and order to: Love and Mercy Publications, PO Box 1160, Hampstead, NC 28443

www.loveandmercy.org

A fair full of fun at St. Michael School St. Michael School students in Gastonia celebrated their annual Fun Fair Oct. 1-2 with a pep rally in the school gym. Firstgraders sang “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and marched around the flag. Pictured are students enjoying music provided by The Music Man. Fifth-grader Houston Tolbert won the fair’s T-shirt design contest, depicting Catholic School education as getting an “A+.”

catholic news heraldI

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Mix 14

CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

charlottediocese.org/catholicnews | October 8, 2010

‘God in America’ recounts history of religious liberty John Mulderig Catholic News Service

NEW YORK — “Americans,� observed Alexis de Tocqueville, writing in the early days of the Republic, “combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.� The crucial influence of faith in shaping U.S. history, and in molding the national character, receives a searching

A Franciscan monk is pictured in New Mexico in a scene from the upcoming PBS documentary series “God in America.�

CNS | courtesy PBS

analysis in the six-hour miniseries “God in America.� The documentary – a joint presentation of “Frontline� and “American Experience� – premieres on PBS Monday, Oct. 11, 9-11 p.m. EDT. Through interviews with scholars, archival images and dramatizations, the initial episode screened recounts how the religious heritage of the Old World – first brought to the future United States by Catholic missionaries moving north from Mexico – was radically reshaped by a series of all-tooworldly conflicts among believers of various stripes.

Puritan leader John Winthrop’s rejection of Anne Hutchinson’s innovative views, which resulted in her banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony he ruled as governor, for instance, is portrayed as having at least as much to do with Winthrop’s desire for social cohesion in the fledgling community as with any zeal for Calvinist doctrinal purity.

Similarly, the preaching of evangelical pioneers such as George Whitefield was perceived as a threat to the power and financial security of Anglicanism, the established religion of the Southern colonies. A third struggle, pitting Virginia Baptists against that commonwealth’s Anglican Church, saw Thomas Jefferson enter the fray on the side of the Baptists, some of whom had been imprisoned for preaching without a license.

A few decades after religious freedom was enshrined in the Bill of Rights, Protestant Americans’ loyalty to this cornerstone principle was put to the test by the arrival of large numbers of Catholic immigrants in their midst.

Nativist prejudice led to riots and to a more peaceful, but nonetheless significant, battle over the denominational slant of the curriculum in New York City’s public schools. Leading the Catholic forces in this crusade was the city’s first archbishop, John Hughes (1797-1864). The program presents Hughes as a sympathetic figure, eloquently appealing to his Protestant fellow-countrymen to live up to their constitutional responsibilities.

The program, rated TV-PG (parental guidance suggested), continues Tuesday, Oct. 12, and concludes Wednesday, Oct. 13, 9-11 p.m. EDT each night.

On TV n Sunday, Oct. 10, 1:302:30 p.m. EDT (EWTN) “Jesus of Nazareth.� A meditative look at the life of Jesus of Nazareth in painting, featuring portrayals of the passion and death of Jesus set against a backdrop of classical music. n Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1-2:30 p.m. EDT (EWTN) “Brother Andre.� The struggles and miracles in the life of Holy Cross Brother Andre Bessette (1845-1937) – whose canonization is scheduled for Oct. 17 – are detailed in this biographical profile.

From his modest position as doorman, Brother Andre not only increased devotion to St. Joseph, but built an oratory to this great saint in Montreal, a place of worship which has inspired Catholics in Canada and around the world. It is the largest shrine dedicated to St. Joseph in the world.

John Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service. More is online at www.usccb.org/movies.

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Depart Wednesday, March 23 for Cairo, Egypt. Tour includes a full day excursion to the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Next, transfer to Memphis and Sakkara to the Step Pyramid. Travel to Alexandria, visit the Catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa, Pompey Pillar, Roman Amphitheater, and Alexandria’s Library. Fly to Amman, Jordan. Visit Petra via Madaba, Mt. Nebo, Jordan Valley, Kerak Castle, Corinthian Tombs (Treasury); cross into Israel from Agava crossing and drive to The Dead Sea for afternoon float. On drive to Jerusalem, visit Masada Museum, Qumran, and Ahava Factory. On day 10, tour the old city of Jerusalem. On day 11, enjoy a morning tour of the new city of Jerusalem; and that afternoon travel to Bethlehem for sightseeing. Next, visit Megiddo, Bet She’an and Tiberias (three nights). Cruise the Sea of Galilee. Then visit Haifa and Tel Aviv before flying home. *Per person, double occupancy, space is limited. Reservations are confirmed with deposits only, on a first received basis. Airfare is extra.

For Information, reservations, brochure, and letter from your Chaplain, with his phone number, Call 7 Days a Week:

YMT Vacations 1-800-736-7300 America’s best choice for affordable travel since 1967!

MORE NEWS: FROM PAGE 5

Mass at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, at St. Mark Church in Huntersville. There will also be a procession starting at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, at St. John Neumann Church in Charlotte. “SeĂąor de los Milagrosâ€? is a mural depicting the crucified Christ painted by a black slave in the 17th century and venerated in Lima, Peru. Each October, the faithful celebrate the Lord of Miracles in a religious procession through the streets of Lima, which are draped in purple. It is the main Catholic festivity in Peru and one of the biggest processions in the world.

‘Blanket Banquet’ helps 250 homeless CHARLOTTE — Every year at the close of the Eucharistic Congress, local Catholics unite to serve the homeless a meal and much-needed personal items in uptown Charlotte. Known as the “Blanket Banquet,� this celebration is both a witness and a response to the Eucharistic mandate to “go and serve the Lord and one another.�

This year members of seven parishes distributed new backpacks, undergarments, toiletries, gently used clothes and shoes to more than 250 homeless men and women. “This year was not without its challenges,� says Cindy Platko and Linda Flynn, both of St. Luke Church. “We normally have the

ROSARY: Events FROM PAGE 3

Special events going on this month are:

n Rosary Congress coming this weekend KANNAPOLIS — The 2010 N.C. Rosary Congress will be held Oct. 7-9 at St. Joseph Church in Kannapolis. Learn more about the rosary and our Blessed Mother from internationally known speakers and enjoy sacred and contemporary music by local vocalists. Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin will speak about Mary’s intervention in our world through her apparitions with emphasis on Our Lady of Lourdes. Rev. Monsignor Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor of the diocese, will celebrate Mass. The congress will also include exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, a musical rosary, and a rosary fiesta by the Filipino-American Rosary Groups of the Carolinas.

Registration fees are $15 or $20. For details, contact Joy Brennan at 704-9208473 or brennankan@yahoo.com, or Nancy Policastro at 704-960-4121 or nejp2002@ hotmail.com. — Christine DePascale

catholic news heraldI

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews celebration at St. Peter’s Catholic Church but had last-minute complications due to the Blues, Brews and BBQ Festival.� Organizers instead brought the party to their “guests� and moved the banquet to “The Wall,� a popular hangout for the homeless.

Ann Hatton, a parishioner of St. Matthew and a Charlotte Catholic High School mom, has participated in every banquet, bringing her children and their friends in tow. “It always is an honor to be a part of this wonderful gathering of friends,� she said.

Some wondered why the Blanket Banquet did not have any blankets this year, which had to do with the early fall date of this year’s Eucharistic Congress. “The backpacks were a huge hit but next year we’ll go back to blankets as our signature item,� Platko said. “We hope that even more people will come to share the love of Christ, on Sept. 24, 2011, when the next Eucharistic Congress and Blanket Banquet take place.� — Linda Flynn

New women’s guild officers installed at Our Lady of Lourdes MONROE — Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe installed the officers of its women’s guild Aug. 15 and held a celebratory social. New officers are: Tona Vitale, president; Carol Ford, vice president; Myra Vlach, treasurer; and Linda StedjeLarsen, secretary. Other members are Grace Keller, Elaine Gumlak, Betty Sommerfeld, MaryEllen Spohn, June Bullock, Jackie Geoffroy and Jeanie Enderle. — Vonn Stone

n Rosary rally at cathedral CHARLOTTE — The 69th Semi-Annual Rosary Rally will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 10 at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1621 Dilworth Road East, Charlotte. This 34-year diocesan tradition will include the rosary, a Eucharistic Procession and Benediction.

Homilist will be Bishop Peter J. Jugis. Come honor Our Lady and pray for our country.

For information or if children aged 7-17 would like to participate in the procession, call Tina Witt at 704-846-7361.

n Pray the rosary for reparation MOUNT AIRY — A Public Square Rosary Rally will be held at noon Saturday, Oct. 16, at the Ararat River Trail on Riverside Drive. (Meet by the new skate park.) This Public Square Rosary, sponsored by America Needs Fatima, will be one of 5,000-plus rallies taking place across the U.S. Please join in offering reparation for the sins and offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to fervently pray for the conversion of the U.S. Participants will take a short walk on the trail while praying the rosary as a group. Please wear comfortable walking shoes.

For details or to volunteer to help, call Holy Angels Church member Peggy Bowes at 804-814-8738. — Editor Patricia Guilfoyle

POOR CLARE: FROM PAGE 3

sieux, entrusting to her a wide variety of intentions,â€? Mother Dolores Marie said. “One in particular was for those who would witness the solemn profession ceremony. We knew that this would be a time of great grace not only for Sister Marie ThĂŠrèse and for our community, but for the whole Diocese of Charlotte and for the world. Just as one person’s sin impacts the whole world, so does one person’s holiness. Therefore, the closer we are to Christ, the more completely we belong to Him, the more profound and effective is our witness as Christians,â€? she added.

Sister Marie ThĂŠrèse, as does every bride, rejoiced in the moment. “I am overwhelmed at Our Lord’s goodness to me, in calling me to this awesome vocation, to be His bride and to adore Him in the Holy Eucharist for the rest of my life. There is an incredible joy and peace in placing my entire life and being without reserve into God’s hands, that I may be an instrument for His glory and the spreading of His Kingdom through my life of prayer.â€?

Learn more

More information about the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration of St. Joseph Monastery in Charlotte can be found online at www. stjosephmonastery.com.

OUR LADY: At home FROM PAGE 5

individuals often sign up for particular dates such as birthdays, anniversaries, and often for the anniversary of a loved one’s death. Informative historical literature and traditional prayers accompany the image.

Each Sunday following the end of Mass, Father Christopher Gober, St. Bernadette’s pastor, calls forward that week’s faithful recipient, offering a blessing with grace for the week ahead.

In each visit Our Lady is treated as an honored guest but present to the ordinary, or extraordinary, events of daily life. To date, the host families all agree on one thing: the peaceful presence this blessed Our Lady of image has brought Guadalupe into their homes.

Hosts have described communications opening between estranged relatives, seeing special prayers answered, having emotional wounds healed and numerous other

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SPRED: FROM PAGE 5

the Apostles in Belmont, Sacred Heart Mission in Wadesboro and St. Thomas Aquinas.

SPRED, which began more than 40 years ago in Chicago, is a small group ministry for people of all ages with developmental disabilities. In this ministry, they come together with a spiritual friend/helper to share a oneon-one relationship and form a faith community with others.

SPRED fosters and nourishes spiritual and personal growth by helping the participants discover God’s action and presence in their lives. SPRED gives parishioners with mental challenges opportunities for celebration and worship, and it prepares them for the sacraments.

St. Matthew was the first parish in the Southeast to start a SPRED program, and it serves as a center for the training of parishes wishing to start programs.

Claire Durkin, catechist-helper in the St. Matthew SPRED program, said, “The training deepened my understanding that SPRED is based upon a solid foundation of Church teaching. The most important thing to me is that in loving our special friends, we bring them to God’s love. Bringing our special friends to God is what Jesus wants us to do.�

Jan Clemens is a member of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte and leader of the parish’s SPRED ministry.

blessings, all attributed to the intercessory presence of Our Lady.

Our nation

16

CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

charlottediocese.org/catholicnews | October 8, 2010

Pro-lifers decry Michigan’s new embryonic stem cell line

In Brief Vocation directors report increased interest WASHINGTON, D.C. — New revelations of clergy sex abuse and the Vatican apostolic visitation of U.S. communities of women religious have not discouraged Catholics from considering a religious vocation, with the majority of vocation directors seeing an increase in inquiries for the fourth straight year, according to a recent survey.

The survey, commissioned by the Chicago-based Vision Vocation Guide, also found that vocations directors reported some positive impact on their work from Pope Benedict XVI’s call for atonement for the church’s failings, the Year for Priests and the canonization or beatification of a particular saint.

Conducted Aug. 30-Sept. 23, the survey received responses from 431 “vocation inquirers” and 175 vocation directors.

The majority of the vocation inquirers said they were very serious about choosing religious life, with 18 percent saying they planned to enter a religious community in the next year.

Nearly 84 percent of the respondents considering a vocation said prayer was the most essential element in their decision-making process.

State Dept. official raises awareness about nuclear arms WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rose Gottemoeller, assistant secretary of state and lead U.S. negotiator of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, has been speaking to her fellow Catholics on college campuses lately.

Last month, she spoke at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and her alma mater, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., about recently completed negotiations between Russia and the U.S. to reduce nuclear weapons.

Gottemoeller It’s important to discuss the topic with students, she said, because so many of them do not see it as a critical issue today.

She noted that when START was initially ratified in 1992, the concern was about more than 12,000 stockpiled nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union and the U.S. The goal of the new START pact aims to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to a maximum of 1,500 deployed weapons.

— Catholic News Service

CNS photo | Joshua Roberts, Reuters

Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and Chief Justice John Roberts leave the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., following the Red Mass Oct. 3. The service is held each year before the start of the Supreme Court term.

Archbishop: Human dignity among guiding principles Mark Zimmermann Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the annual Red Mass, those who work in administering justice were reminded that the law rests on principles including respect for human dignity.

Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, delivered the homily at the Oct. 3 Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., which is held annually the day before the Supreme Court begins its session.

“Positive law rests on certain principles, the knowledge of which constitutes nothing less than a participation in the divine law itself: the pursuit of the common good through respect for the natural law, the dignity of the human person, the inviolability of innocent life from conception to natural death, the sanctity of marriage, justice for the poor, protection of minors, and so on,” Archbishop Di Noia said.

He noted that “a consensus about these principles inspired the founders

of modern democracies.”

Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl was the main celebrant. The 1,200 people at the Mass included Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and five current members of the U.S. Supreme Court: John G. Roberts Jr., the U.S. chief justice; and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Stephen G. Breyer and Samuel A. Alito Jr. The annual Mass, which seeks to invoke the blessings of the Holy Spirit on those who work in the administration of justice, was attended also by government officials including other judges, and by local attorneys and deans and students from Washington-area law schools.

In his homily, Archbishop Di Noia traced the 700-year history of the Red Mass, noting that the tradition of a special Mass at the opening of the judicial term “is as old as the legal profession itself.”

A Red Mass was celebrated in Paris in 1245 and in Westminster, England, in 1301. The Mass got its name from red-colored liturgical vestments worn by the celebrants, since fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and red was also the color of early judicial robes.

Our World Evangelization not competition with other religions

Synod aims to bolster Church in the Middle East

Irish leaders called to Rome

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‘Mother of the exploited’ beatified in Rome

In Brief

VATICAN CITY — As Catholics pursue their missionary duty, they must understand the Church is not in competition with other religious groups or ideologies trying to win over believers, but is working to make the Gospel accessible to everyone, Pope Benedict XVI said Oct. 4. Evangelization is not an attack Catholic News Agency on religious freedom because it does not impose anything on another person’s ANN ARBOR, Mich. — After the conscience, he said.

University of Michigan announced the “Sometimes we find this objection: creation of a new embryonic stem cell to impose a truth, even if it is the truth line, pro-life critics decried the move as “dishonorable,” arguing that human lives of the Gospel, to impose a way, even if were destroyed for “unproven research.” it’s the way to salvation, can be nothing but an assault on religious liberty,” he On Oct. 3, the University of Michigan said. To answer that objection, the pope wrote in a press release that “after several attempts,” the school successfully quoted Pope Paul VI’s 1974 “Evangelii Nuntianti”: “It would certainly be created a new embryonic stem cell an error to impose something on the line known as UM4-6. The act was consciences of our brethren. But to made possible by Michigan voters in propose to their consciences the truth November 2008, who approved a state of the Gospel and salvation in Jesus amendment allowing scientists to use Christ, with complete clarity and with surplus embryos from fertility clinics.

The university stated that work on UM4-6 a total respect for the free options which it presents – without coercion, or began in May, was completed in late dishonorable or unworthy pressure – far September and was conducted without from being an attack on religious liberty federal funds. is fully to respect that liberty.”

The university’s announcement was made as the World Stem Cell Summit convened in Detroit earlier this week.

“This historic achievement opens the door on a new era for U-M researchers, one that holds enormous promise for the treatment of many seriously debilitating VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is and life-threatening diseases,” said setting the stage for another Synod of university president Mary Sue Coleman. Bishops in mid-October, this one aimed Michigan Right to Life condemned the at turning a spotlight on the Christian act, arguing that the university’s “several communities of the Middle East. There attempts” means that “several human is a sense of urgency about this synod: beings were killed in order to obtain this Pope Benedict XVI convened it rather stem cell line.” unexpectedly a year ago, after Church “Based on previous attempts to create leaders from the region – particularly embryonic stem cell lines by other Iraq – requested the special assembly. institutions such as the University of The minority Christian churches in the Wisconsin and the Jones Institute,” stated Middle East face problems including the group, “researchers likely killed emigration of Christians, conflict, between 4-10 human embryos.” economic hardship, travel restrictions Michigan Right to Life president and discrimination.

Barbara Listing added, “We are saddened to know that human beings were sacrificed without their consent for this unproven research. Embryos who do VATICAN CITY — Irish archbishops not have a voice are human enough for are traveling to Rome to meet with experimentation, but not human enough Vatican officials to plan the apostolic to be given a chance at life.” visitation of their dioceses ordered

by Pope Benedict XVI in response to the priestly sexual abuse scandal.

Irish bishops last met with the pope in February, after the independent study “the Murphy Report” found the Church Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron decries had a “culture of secrecy” in dealing with the destruction of embryos as the World abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Dublin Stem Cell Summit met this week. See page 18. from 1975 to 2004.

— Catholic News Service

Read more

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October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

CNA/EWTN News

CNS | Henry Romero, Reuters

Residents walk past the site of a mudslide Sept. 29 in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca. Bishop Hector Guerrero Cordova of Mixes said the 17 parishes in his prelature were collecting food, clothing and other materials to help residents of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, where the Sept. 28 mudslide claimed at least 11 lives.

Mexican dioceses urge response to landslides David Agren Catholic News Service

MEXICO CITY — Catholic dioceses across southern and eastern Mexico are urging generosity in response to widespread flooding and landslides that have claimed dozens of lives in some of the most impoverished pockets of the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Bishop Hector Guerrero Cordova of Mixes said the 17 parishes in his prelature were collecting food, clothing and other materials to help residents of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, where a Sept. 28 mudslide claimed at least 11 lives.

The damage was enormous, although the local St. Mary of the Assumption Parish was left largely intact and three priests – including the parish pastor – were serving the indigenous village of subsistence farmers.

“There are a lot of houses that are on the brink of collapsing,” Bishop Guerrero said, adding that the landslide victims were living in temporary shelters and that accessing the area was still difficult because of washed-out roads and bridges.

Heavy and unrelenting rains are believed

to have provoked the mudslide – one of many weather-related calamities in southern and eastern Mexico and farther south in Guatemala.

Priests in the Mixes region of Oaxaca said heavy rains had left the area of steep hills and deep valleys prone to mudslides – and most likely provoked the tragedy in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec.

The Archdiocese of Oaxaca appealed for donations and established collection centers to assist the landslide victims and the more than 100,000 state residents impacted by floods. The Diocese of Huajuapan de Leon, also in Oaxaca, turned its more than 70 parishes into collection centers for helping flood victims.

Catholic leaders in neighboring Chiapas issued an urgent appeal for prayers and assistance after mudslides provoked by tropical depression Matthew claimed 16 lives in the indigenous municipality of Amatan.

The archdiocese planned to hold collections for its local Caritas chapter on consecutive Sundays.

The disasters in Oaxaca and Chiapas followed Hurricane Karl storming through Veracruz state in mid-September and floodwaters once again rising in the lowlying Gulf state of Tabasco.

ROME — Anna Maria Adorni, a mother, widow and consecrated religious, was beatified Oct. 3. The 19th-century Italian blessed is remembered for her maternal charity to the needy, especially those in jail.

Archbishop Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Vatican’s congregation for saints’ causes, presided over the beatification liturgy in the cathedral of Parma, Italy.

In an article published in the Oct. 2 edition of “L’Osservatore Romano,” the postulator for her cause for canonization, Father Guglielmo Camera, remembered how, despite many hardships, she did not give in to despair.

She was born in 1805 and at 39 years old, after her husband’s passing and having suffered the early deaths of five of her six children, she took up a life of charity and relief for those in jail at her confessor’s encouragement.

Other women followed her example and their work expanded to the care of women released from jail, at-risk children and orphans through their house called the Institute of the Good Shepherd. In 1857, together with eight companions, she founded a religious congregation which “called and considered themselves the ‘Handmaidens of Blessed Mary Immaculate’,” wrote Adorni’s postulator.

Father Camera added that Blessed Adorni, who died in 1893, “is considered the mother of the marginalized, exploited, of all who are subject to new forms of slavery and, in particular, of the incarcerated and women offended in their human dignity.”

Pope Benedict XVI also remembered Blessed Adorni in his address before the recitation of the Angelus Oct. 3, calling her and “an exemplary spouse and mother” who later “dedicated herself to charity to jailed women and those in difficulty.”

“Mother Adorni, because of her constant prayer, was called the ‘living Rosary’,” the pope recalled as he urged the faithful to seek fortification in the prayer as she did, especially during the Marian month of October.

Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, bishop of Parma in the times of Anna Maria Adorni, wrote after her death that “her charity was without limits, it shone also in the darkest place of expiation, deprived of the light of truth.”

Blessed Adorni’s is the latest of a series of beatifications in recent months.

ViewPoints

18

CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD

charlottediocese.org/catholicnews | October 8, 2010

M Poverty in the U.S.: One in seven Americans, or 14.3 percent, is living in poverty.

Archbishop Allen Vigneron

Embryonic destruction is reprehensible

Kevin Roeten

I

started out as an embryo. So did you and everyone else who shares this planet with us. And there is great significance to this irrefutable fact beyond the shared experience. Time magazine’s Oct. 4’s cover story about the influence of life in the womb states the case: “We are the way we are because it’s in our genes: the DNA we inherited at conception.” Yes, upbringing and environment have a huge impact on our lives, but one thing never changes until our last natural breath: our DNA. Each human embryo is unique – it does not have the same DNA of the mother or father. That cell not only becomes who we are, it is who we are.

This reality is critical context as the World Stem Cell Summit meets in Detroit. Progress in research on umbilical cord blood cells and adult stem cells is to be saluted and supported. Patients and advocates alike can look to the growing number of cures and treatments discovered through research that does not destroy the living human embryo. Conversely, experiments on human embryonic stem cells deserve our scrutiny and scorn. If not us, who will speak for our fellow citizens-to-be?

We are blessed to live in a country with some of the most extraordinary founding documents in history. If, indeed, we believe we were “created equal,” doesn’t that belief extend to the indefensible living embryo in a Petri dish? “Unalienable rights” means they can’t be taken away by the state.

Doesn’t that apply to science as well?

And what of “life” in “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”? First, it must begin.

Embryonic stem cell researchers will attest that it is imperative to preserve an embryo because it is a living cell. It is after the living embryo is preserved STEM CELLS, SEE page 20

CNS graphic | Emily Thompson

2009 poverty spike raises concerns at Catholic agencies WASHINGTON, D.C. — Catholic organizations expressed dismay over the Sept. 16 announcement from the U.S. Census Bureau that the number of Americans living in poverty in 2009 rose to 43.6 million, or 14.3 percent of the population.

The Catholic Health Association, Catholic Charities USA and the Catholic social justice lobby Network issued statements concerning the data that reflect the highest poverty rate since 1984.

The 2009 data contrasts with 2008 statistics that showed 39.8 million people – 13.2 percent of all Americans – lived in poverty. A record number of Americans – about 50.7 million – carried no

health insurance. The number of uninsured is the highest since the Census Bureau began compiling such data in 1987.

The statistics on the uninsured “provide fresh evidence that health reform was a necessary and important step toward creating a system that works for everyone,” Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, said in a statement.

“The new data is not surprising given the toll the recession has taken on working individuals and families,” the statement said.

Catholic Charities USA also reported that more than 9 million people nationwide sought services

in 2009, a 7.5 percent jump from 2008.

Father Larry Snyder, Catholic Charities’ president, called the census numbers “staggering.”

“Unfortunately, (they) come as little surprise to those who have been working closely with the growing population for whom poverty has become a daily reality,” Father Snyder said. “We have not seen numbers like these since President Lyndon B. Johnson waged his war on poverty and frankly, are astounded the nation has done so little to address the poverty crisis that is sweeping our country.”

— Catholic News Service

Letters policy The Catholic News Herald welcomes letters from readers. We ask that letters be originals of 250 words or fewer, pertain to recent newspaper content or Catholic issues, and be in good taste.

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

The Catholic News Herald does not publish poetry, form letters or petitions.

Items submitted to the Catholic News Herald become the property of the newspaper and are subject to reuse, in whole or in part, in print, electronic formats and archives.

Mail: Letters to the Editor Catholic News Herald 1123 S. Church St. Charlotte, N.C. 28203 E-mail: catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

19

Today, miracles still occur before our very own eyes iracles occur daily. One such miracle happened to Ron Garcia in Hendersonville.

Garcia was a member of the Professional Golfers Association, considered one of the elite. He worked as a golf pro at Waynesville Country Club for three millionaire country club owners.

Why would a miracle be given to him by Our Lady of Lourdes, who is known to have appeared to a peasant girl named Bernadette Soubiroux in 1858? Little was it known that her apparition occurred 18 times in 1858 in that same diminutive grotto outside of Lourdes in the south of France.

Ron, a life member of the PGA, still lives in Hendersonville with his family. A cradle-Catholic who regularly attends Immaculate Conception Church, Ron has been known to say the rosary and recite Hail Marys in difficult situations. But Ron’s trip through life took a distinctly different course, thanks to the Blessed Mother’s promptings. In his earlier years, he had three major events in his family that primed him for what was coming next. He detailed his story in a 2007 book, “Another Blessing from Lourdes.”

In 1974, Ron played in a high profile golf game at the Waynesville Country Club. Prior to the game he became very worried, and he went back to the hotel the night before and prayed a rosary. The next day on the 15th hole, he hit a rock-solid shot. The ball cleared the trees and a “dog-leg” which everyone else took, stayed inbounds without going outside to the left or right of a very narrow green, missed the sand trap and road in front of the green, landed on the green, and rolled into the cup. At the time, his hole-in-one on the 305-yard par-4 hole was the longest in the world.

For 12 years after 1970, Ron won 16 Florida Winter Tournaments and other mini-tours, set five course records (three of which are still intact), and shot a double-eagle on a 511-yard par-5 hole.

Despite his professional successes, his health was failing him.

Ron felt the onset of vicious allergies and asthma, which nobody in his family had ever had before. His quality of life depreciated significantly.

By the numbers

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October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

Asthma attacks, bronchial infections, cortisone shots and ocular (eye) pressure were almost a daily onslaught. These symptoms began to attack him year-round, and many times he wound up in bed. When Franciscans in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., suggested that he try some water from the miraculous spring at Lourdes, Ron jumped at the idea. He had heard about Lourdes, but it was a world away. He was desperate at this point, and after trying the water he went into what one would call an uncontrollable dream – a ‘trance’-like state.

Ron had vivid “flashbacks” immediately after applying the water.

After each “flashback” he heard an inner voice that explained why he was feeling those symptoms and essentially told him what to do about it.

May marked the 15th anniversary of Ron’s freedom from symptoms of asthma and debilitating allergies. Ron is essentially free of asthma and year-round allergies after application of water from Lourdes. Even though his connection to the PGA is as solid as ever, he is now more impelled in his work to spread the word about the Blessed Mother, the 15 promises of Mary to Christians who recite the rosary, and her unwavering faith towards her son, Jesus Christ. Ron wants to accomplish as much of this as possible before he dies.

As impressive as his experience is, Ron feels he owes a detailed explanation of his transformation to anyone who will listen. It’s interesting that it’s relatively unknown in Hendersonville but his book about his Lourdes experience earned a five-star rating and rave reviews on Amazon.com. One recent review on the Web site stated, “I found Ron Garcia’s story to be uplifting, inspiring and most importantly, full of hope. It also inspired me to turn to my faith and to turn to prayer as a part of dealing with my son’s allergies.”

Kevin Roeten is a member of St. Barnabas Church in Arden. He can be reached at roetenks@charter.net. Check out Ron Garcia’s book, “Another Blessing from Lourdes,” online at www.amazon.com.

Catechetical Sunday and the start of faith formation It’s the start of a new faith formation year! Children enrolled in the faith formation program at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Maggie Valley check out the Joseph, Mary, Jesus triptych blessing: “St. Joseph, bless our work. Mary, fill it with love. Jesus, make it holy and pleasing to the Father above.”

Pictured above from left are Sebastian Quigley, Ava Grace Quigley, Ryan Quigley and Elena Clark.

Faith formation programs across the diocese got under way recently, and faith formation teachers and assistants were recognized during Catechetical Sunday, Sept. 19. At St. Margaret of Scotland, 17 teachers and assistants were commissioned by Father John T. Denny, OSA, at Mass that day. They are: Sarah Graham, Judy Chapman, Carmela Egan, Maria Clark, Christine Mallette, Carlie Egan, Dennis Chapman, Sonia Holley, Tami Quigley, Roseann Pulaski, Dawn Tox, Tracey Fowler, Tom Mallette, Vinnie Cioffi, Diane Franklin, Beth Maier and Carol Peterson. Betsy McLeod is the faith formation coordinator. The Knights of Columbus, Father Michael Murphy Council 12478, provided a special pancake breakfast for the catechists and their families after Mass.

— Betsy McLeod

Danielle Bean

I

Rosary beads save soldier’s life

s God with us, even in the small details of our everyday lives? I love stories like this one that affirm for me that He is.

Glenn Hockton, 19, now home from a seven-month tour of duty with the Coldstream Guards in Helmand Province, was on patrol when his rosary suddenly fell from his neck.

His mother Sheri Jones said: “He felt like he had a slap on the back. He bent down to pick up his rosary to see if it was broken. As he bent down he realized he was on a landmine.”

Glenn had to stand there for 45 terrifying minutes while his colleagues successfully managed to get to him.

Mrs. Jones, 41, from Tye Green, Essex, Great Britain, said she was physically sick when her son rang to tell her of his ordeal.

Glenn’s mother had given him the rosary “for protection” before he left for duty.

Even more fascinating is the fact that Glenn’s grandfather has a similar story.

His great-grandfather Joseph “Sunny” Truman also credited a rosary with saving his life in a World War II blast that killed six members of his platoon.

He was with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and after being captured towards the end of the war, he and other prisoners were forced to march away from the advancing Allied armies.

Mrs. Jones recalled, “He was walking across a field with half a dozen of his platoon. He bent down to pick something up and was the only one to survive a sudden bomb blast. He had picked up a rosary.”

I don’t know if this family practices Catholicism or not. And of course there is a danger here of a string of rosary beads appearing to be something like a “lucky charm” for people who hear about the way these men’s lives were spared.

But I prefer to think of this story as a wake-up call – certainly to the family involved but to all of us as well. It’s a wake-up call to recognize the power of Mary and of the rosary to save us. Not just by protecting our bodies from land mines, but by providing us with the spiritual armor we need in taking on our modern world.

Have you read Mary’s 15 promises to

photo provided by Betsy McLeod

ROSARY, SEE page 20

STEM CELLS: with its human DNA signature that it is dissected, cloned, destroyed or discarded.

True democracy is built on life, not death.

Ours is not the first country or culture to selectively pursue a moral calculus that justifies taking a life to enable scientific experiments. We know from sad experience that dangers follow when we put human hands on the switch of life and death.

Embryos are the genesis of human life, and it is morally unacceptable to intentionally destroy them, even if the scientist is trying to cure a debilitating disease or parents are responding to a difficult challenge in their

family life. The country we live in defends human rights at home and abroad. That defense must extend to the laboratory.

In Michigan’s Compiled Laws, the fetal protection act is precise on punishing individuals who harm or kill a fetus – or embryo! – during an intentional assault.

How can there be such a disconnect with what happens in an assault case and what occurs in a laboratory when a human life is destroyed? The person who harmed an embryo in an assault is charged with a felony. The person who destroys an embryo in a Petri dish is held harmless and likely considered some sort of medical pioneer. Yet the results were the same: two fewer people in the world who had no power to stop what was happening to them and had no voice in their demise.

ROSARY:

where to begin, EWTN’s Guide to the Rosary is a good place to start.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!

FROM PAGE 18

catholic news heraldI 20

October 8, 2010 | charlottediocese.org/catholicnews

The question is called.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron leads the Archdiocese

of Detroit. This editorial first appeared in the Detroit Free Press Oct. 3, as the World Stem Cell Summit convened in Detroit.

Romans 10:9

FROM PAGE 19

those who pray the rosary faithfully? And even if you have read them before, have you read them lately? They’re inspiring stuff.

If you are a beginner and aren’t sure

Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is editorial director of Faith & Family and a columnist for the National Catholic Register. She is a nationally known speaker and the author of several books, most recently “Small Steps for Catholic Moms” with Elizabeth Foss. Check out her blog at www. daniellebean.com.

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