Oct. 30, 2009

October 30, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald

www.charlottediocese.org

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Perspectives Musical chairs for Jesus; Prayer — a family affair | Pages 14-15

Established Jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul VI October 30, 2009

Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte

Everyone 15 years of caring is our neighbor

no. 1

Room at the Inn, a national model DAVID HAINS Director of Communication

Office of Economic Opportunity celebrates 10 years of partnership

CHARLOTTE — On the large video screen a woman was starting to cry as she described her unplanned pregnancy. Sobs could be heard among the crowd that gathered for the 15th annual fundraising banquet for Room at the Inn, the Charlotte organization that fosters the culture of life.

Lacy Dodd, the woman on the screen, exemplifies the growing number of unplanned pregnancies among college women. She was a student at Notre Dame when she learned she was pregnant.

The heart-wrenching video was produced by Peter and Ellen Baker, a Charlotte couple who are preparing to enter the Catholic Church through the RCIA program at St. Ann Church.

by JOANITA NELLENBACH correspondent

MURPHY and HAYESVILLE — As birthday celebration themes go, this one didn’t feature a piñata but it did give meaning to 10 years of social justice work in the far western counties of the Diocese of Charlotte.

The theme for the diocesan Office of Economic Opportunity tenth anniversary celebration was “Partnering Ecumenically for Social Action and Justice.”

The anniversary in Murphy was jointly observed with the fourth biennial Bishop Begley Conference on Appalachia Oct. 23-24. The Begley conference took place in nearby Hayesville.

vOLUME 19

Photo by David Hains

More than 1,000 people attended the 15th annual Room at the Inn fundraising banquet October 22. The event which raised more than $200,000 was held at the Charlotte Convention Center.

See INN, page 7

Be Not Afraid

See CELEBRATION, page 5

A network of support for poor prenatal diagnoses JEAN WREN Special to The Catholic News & Herald

photo by Joanita

Nellenbach

Father Larry Snyder, president, Catholic Charities USA, chats with Jan Valder Offerman (center) parishioner of St. Peter Church, Charlotte, and Mercy Sister Gerard Donovan of Belmont during the four th biennial Bishop Begley Conference on Appalachia in Hayesville Oct. 24.

photo courtesy of

Be Not Afraid

Lisa Karleski is shown pregnant with daughter Hailey Grace, who was ultimately diagnosed with Trisomy 13 and silently born at 31 weeks gestation May 27. This photo was arranged as part of a free service by Be Not Afraid, a group that supports mothers with poor prenatal diagnosis who want to carry to term.

“Your baby’s condition is incompatible with life… you have three weeks to terminate.”

The words were unexpected and horrifying. Sean and Lisa Karleski of Mooresville, had anticipated an afternoon of shopping in Charlotte after a

Culture Watch

Around the diocese

Bible brush strokes; Media ignors African synod

Rick Santorum interview; Vision for Catholic education

| Pages 10-11

| Page 4

routine level II ultrasound. At 17 weeks gestation, they were to find out if their baby was a boy or a girl and celebrate with purchases of blue or pink.

“We were past twelve weeks and everything had been fine. Then suddenly the ultrasound tech is saying that she needs to go and get the doctor because she’s seeing some things she doesn’t like,” See LIFE, page 6

Archbishop defends unborn children with Down Syndrome | Page 9

October 30, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald

InBrief

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

cns photo by Paul

Haring

U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke (center), prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature at the Vatican, is pictured at a canonization ceremony at the Vatican Oct. 11. The pope recently appointed him to the Congregation for Bishops, whose members review candidates for bishop and make recommendations to the pope.

U.S. archbishop named to key post Congregation for Bishops helps shape world’s episcopate VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI’s naming of U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke to the Congregation for Bishops was a small but significant appointment that could have an impact on the wider church for many years to come.

The congregation’s members generally meet every two weeks to review candidates for vacant dioceses and make their recommendations to the pope — recommendations that carry a lot of weight. Precisely for that reason, the Congregation for Bishops is known as one of the most important Roman Curia agencies.

Membership on the congregation is a five-year appointment, which could be renewed until a prelate’s 80th birthday.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Archbishop Burke, 61, will be helping to shape the episcopate, not only in the United States but also around the world.

Formerly the archbishop of St. Louis, Archbishop Burke was named in 2008 as head of the Vatican’s highest tribunal, known as the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature. At the time, pundits wondered whether the appointment would in effect sideline someone who had been one of the most outspoken U.S. bishops on moral and political issues.

Archbishop Burke has been anything but silent, however. Since his Vatican appointment, he has insisted that holy Communion be refused to Catholic politicians who actively support legal abortion, has said the Democratic Party in the United States “risks transforming itself definitively into a ‘party of death,’” and has said nothing could justify casting a ballot for a candidate who supports

“anti-life” and “anti-family” legislation.

In mid-October, he celebrated a pontifical high Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica using the 1962 Roman Missal, known as the Tridentine rite — the first time that has happened in almost 40 years.

Archbishop Burke, who is expected to be named a cardinal in coming months, will join about 30 other cardinal and bishop members of the Congregation for Bishops. Unlike several other Roman Curia agencies, which may draw their full membership together only once a year, the Congregation for Bishops meets regularly every two weeks. The meetings last all morning, and typically bishops’ appointments for four dioceses are reviewed at each session.

“It’s a very serious procedure, because a bishop has a heavy responsibility in the church. It’s an exercise in prudential judgment, and the weight of it is felt by everyone involved,” said one Vatican official.

Archbishop Burke joins three other U.S. members of the congregation. Two of them, Cardinal Bernard F. Law and Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, reside in Rome, while the third, Cardinal Justin Rigali, is the archbishop of Philadelphia.

Very occasionally, for a vacancy in a U.S. diocese the U.S. members may have input at an earlier stage, if they are asked by the nuncio to recommend candidates or comment on the state of the diocese.

Congregation members do give particular attention to appointments in their native countries, but more often than not they are looking beyond their home borders: In 2007, for example, of the 179 bishops’ appointments handled by the congregation, only 13 were in the United States.

Archbishop Dolan appointed moderator of Jewish affairs for USCCB WA S H I N G T O N ( C N S ) — Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York has been named moderator of Jewish affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, succeeding Cardinal William H. Keeler, retired archbishop of Baltimore, in that role.

Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, USCCB president, made the appointment, which is effective Nov. 11 and is for five years.

In announcing the appointment Oct. 23, Cardinal George noted the New York Archdiocese’s “long history of cooperation and friendship between Catholics and Jews.”

“Since the Second Vatican Council, important strides in this relationship have been made through dialogue and collaboration in countering racism, antiSemitism and other offenses against human dignity,” Cardinal George said in the letter of appointment.

“Our episcopal conference, through

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

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE CHARLOTTE — Catholic evangelist Steve Ray will visit St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1400 Suther Rd., for three inspiring presentations Oct. 30-31. The first session, “Steve’s Conversion Story,” will take place Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.; the second session, “The Life of St. Paul,” will be held Oct. 31 at 10 a.m.; and the final session, “The Mystery of the Eucharist,” will be held Oct. 31 at 12:30 p.m. Admission for all three sessions is free. For more information, call the parish office at (704) 549-1607.

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Catholic Women’s Group will sponsor a Reflection on Monday, Nov. 2 at St. Vincent de Paul Church on Park Rd. Father Brad Jones, parochial vicar of St. Mark Church in Huntersville, will be the featured speaker and will discuss “Examination of Conscience and the Discernment of Spirits.”

Daily Mass begins at 9 a.m., with the talk following at 10 a.m. Reconciliation will be available. The Charlotte Catholic Women’s Group is an inter-parish organization with its mission to foster in women a greater desire to know, love and serve Jesus Christ and His Church. If you have any questions, please contact Molly Beckert at (704) 243-3252 or mvbeckert@carolina.rr.com.

HUNTERSVILLE — St. Mark Church Office of

the leadership of your predecessors in New York, and especially through the tireless and generous service of Cardinal William Keeler, has sought to contribute to the work of reconciliation between the church and the Jewish people after centuries of mutual estrangement,” he told Archbishop Dolan in the letter.

Cardinal George said news of the appointment will be appreciated by all of the U.S. bishops and by members of the Jewish community who have come to know Archbishop Dolan as a good listener and faithful interpreter of the historic ties binding together the two communities.

“Above all else,” Cardinal George said, the Jewish community will find Archbishop Dolan to be “a friend who communicates the joy of his own faith, while at the same time conveying profound respect for the spiritual gifts of the other.”

Religious Education will present “Sexting: It is Real and Here in our Community”on Wednesday, Nov. 4 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Detective John Randazzo of the Criminal Division of the Huntersville Police Dept. will provide insights as to what parents of students (fifth grade and up) can do about this fast growing problem in our society.

Questions, contact Donna Smith at dsmith18@ bellsouth.net.

CHARLOTTE — The African Affairs Ministry of the Diocese of Charlotte is sponsoring a Black Catholic History Month Celebration on Saturday, Nov. 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School in Charlotte. The theme this year is, ‘We’ve Come This Far by Faith: Black Catholic Spirituality Past, Present and Future’.

Keynote speaker will be Terrial ‘Terry’ Aiken, Youth minister at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in High Point. For more information, contact Sandy Murdock at the Diocese of Charlotte African Affairs Ministry at (704) 370-3267.

CHARLOTTE — St. Matthew Church will sponsor a Christian Coffeehouse on Saturday, Nov. 14 from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. at the St. Matthew Parish Center.

Live Christian contemporary music by Kathy & David with Redeemed, a 10-member band, host and provide the music and entertainment. The event is free and open to everyone. Beer, wine, snacks, soft drinks and desserts are served in a candlelit room with tablecloths and fresh flowers. To reserve a table for 6 or more, call (704) 400-2213 by Friday, Nov. 13.

CHARLOTTE — St. Gabriel Church will sponsor Shekel Savvy on Monday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Ministry Center. A panel of experts will help identify ways to manage your family’s budget and rebuild financial security. Topics include: mortgage refinancing, debt management, expense reduction, and setting personal financial goals. There will be a panel discussion with experts on hand to address individual questions. Childcare with reservation only. Call (704) 364-5431.

October 30, 20 09 Volume 19 • Number 1

Publisher: Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis Interim Editor: Heather Bellemore Graphic DESIGNER: Tim Faragher Advertising MANAGER: Cindi Feerick Secretary: Deborah Hiles 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203 Mail: P.O. Box 37267, Charlotte, NC 28237 Phone: (704) 370-3333 FAX: (704) 370-3382 E-MAIL: catholicnews@charlottediocese.org

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October 30, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald

FROM THE VATICAN

Pope will travel to northern Italy in May to see Shroud of Turin Public viewing to resume VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI will join hundreds of thousands of pilgrims traveling to northern Italy in 2010 to see the Shroud of Turin, which many believe is the burial cloth of Christ.

The Vatican and the Archdiocese of Turin announced Oct. 27 that Pope Benedict will visit the city May 2. “As the first act of his visit, the Holy Father will pause for personal prayer before the holy shroud,” the archdiocese said.

Earlier in the year, the archdiocese had announced the shroud would be on public display April 10-May 23, 2010, offering members of the public their first opportunity to see the shroud since it underwent major cleaning and

CHARLOTTE — Join Father Patrick Hoare for Encyclical Tuesdays in November from 7-9 p.m. in the education wing at St. John Neumann Church, 8451 Idlewild Rd., as he explores Pope Benedict’s third encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate.” This encyclical calls us to see the relationship between human and environmental ecologies while linking charity and truth to the pursuit of justice, the common good and authentic human development. Materials will be provided for this series of workshops. To reserve a space, call (704) 535-4197.

GASTONIA VICARIATE GASTONIA — The youth group of St. Michael Church and students from Belmont Abbey College will meet at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1 at the Belmont Abbey Cemetery to pray for our beloved dead.

Everyone is welcome to attend. The Litany of the Saints and the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary will be prayed. This is for All Souls Day (Nov. 2).

A Plenary indulgence can be gained under the usual conditions and can be for yourself or a deceased person.

GREENSBORO VICARIATE GREENSBORO — A public rosary crusade to honor Our Lady of Fatima and pray for our nation will take place every Saturday in October at the corner of Hwy. 68 and Skeet Club Rd. at 11:45 a.m. St. Louis de Montfort said, “Public prayer is far more powerful than private prayer to appease the anger of God and call down his mercy, and holy mother church, guided by the Holy Ghost, has always advocated public prayer in times of public tragedy and suffering.” Parking is available in the Big Lots parking lot. For more information, contact Ann Keefe at (336) 434 -4174.

HIGH POINT — A fall session of HOSEA (Hope of Seeing Everyone Again) will be held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 4145 Johnson St., Wednesdays from 7:15 to 9 p.m. beginning Oct. 21 and running for six weeks. If you or someone you know has been away from the Catholic Church but might want to come back, HOSEA is a small group setting where one can ask questions, get answers

restoration in 2002.

The work involved removing 30 fabric patches and a fabric backing, known as the Holland Cloth, sewn onto the shroud in 1534 after a fire.

Pope Benedict’s visit to Turin will include the celebration of an outdoor Mass, a visit with a group of sick people and an evening gathering with young people.

The Archdiocese of Turin operates a Web site — www.sindone.org — with information about the shroud, the current state of scientific studies on the cloth and information for tourists, which will include the possibility of making a reservation online to view the shroud during the exposition period.

Vatican, traditionalist Catholics identify key questions for dialogue VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an atmosphere described as “cordial, respectful and constructive,” Vatican officials opened a dialogue with representatives of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X and scheduled twice-a-month meetings over the coming months.

In a statement issued after the first meeting at the Vatican Oct. 26, the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” said the process would focus on key doctrinal issues arising from the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

“The questions due to be examined concern the concept of tradition, the Missal of Paul VI (the post-Vatican II Roman Missal), the interpretation of Vatican Council II in continuity with Catholic doctrinal tradition, the themes of the unity of the church and the Catholic principles of ecumenism, the relationship between Christianity and non-Christian religions, and religious freedom,” the statement said.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi,

Vatican spokesman, said semimonthly meetings represented a “rather intense rhythm” and a serious attempt to heal two decades of separation between the traditionalists and the rest of the church.

In July Pope Benedict XVI placed the pontifical commission under the authority of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and said the commission would be responsible for talks aimed at restoring “full communion” with members of the Society of St. Pius X, founded by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

In January, Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications of four bishop members of the society, who were ordained against papal orders in 1988, and said he hoped the move would open the way for a serious dialogue about doctrinal differences between the church and the traditionalist group.

The pope later said that full communion for the group’s members would depend on “true recognition of the magisterium and the authority of the pope and of the Second Vatican Council.”

and find out what is new since they have been away. For information, call Jan Hitch at (336) 884-5097.

SALISBURY VICARIATE STATESVILLE — St. Philip the Apostle Church is hosting a Parish Mission on Sunday Nov. 8 through Wednesday, Nov. 11 from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. each evening. Father Matthew Habiger, O.S.B. will be leading the mission.

He was ordained a priest in 1968, and in 1985 he earned a doctorate in moral theology at The Catholic University of America. He has served as president and chairman of the board of Human Life International. He writes a weekly column for Catholic newspapers called, “NFP Q & As,” and also focuses primarily upon promoting God’s Plan for marriage spousal love. Child care will be provided. All are welcome. Please contact Barbara Hall at (704) 872-2579 with questions about this event.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN VICARIATE MURPHY — A weekend of healing for divorced Catholics sponsored by St. William Church and Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission will be held Oct. 30-31. The Friday session will take place at St. William Church, 765 Andrews Rd., in Murphy at 5:45 p.m. and the Saturday session will be held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Mission, US Hwy. 64 W., Hayesville, at 12 p.m. The program, facilitated by Dave Tilly, will deal with common misconceptions regarding marriage issues and the Catholic Church. For more information, call (828) 837-2000.

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

cns photo by Paul

Haring

Pope Benedict XVI distributes Communion during the closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops for Africa in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Oct. 25.

Pope urges evangelization in Africa Episcopal

calendar

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

Oct. 30 - Nov. 1 Annual investiture of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Washington, DC Nov. 3 Presbyteral Council Meeting Pastoral Center

Nov. 4 Sacrament of Confirmation Our Lady of Guadalupe, Charlotte

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — At a Mass to close the Synod of Bishops for Africa, Pope Benedict XVI urged the church to be a model of unity and a force of reconciliation throughout the African continent.

To a c c o m p l i s h t h i s g o a l , Catholics must preach Christ as the one savior and, like him, walk the “path of service” toward the suffering populations in Africa, the pope said during the liturgy in St. Peter ’s

Basilica Oct. 25.

“The church is the family of God in which there can be no divisions based on ethnic, language or cultural groups,” he said.

“The reconciled church is the potent leaven of reconciliation in each country and in the whole African continent,” the pope said. With the Holy Spirit, Catholics can help transform the hearts of “victims and persecutors” wherever social injustice occurs, he said.

The Catholic News & Herald

AROUND THE DIOCESE

Reason and faith

A Catholic in politics Rick Santorum speaks out

Vision defined for Catholic education by diocesan vicar of education

By DAVID HAINS Director of Communication

HEATHER BELLEMORE

STATESVILLE — Rick Santorum, a former republican congressman and senator from Pennsylvania, is a Catholic with a strong pro-life voting record.

Although he is not a declared candidate for any office, he made several stops in the Diocese of Charlotte this week, delivering stump-style speeches to small gatherings. He spoke with The Catholic News & Herald while in Statesville. His answers have been edited for brevity.

What are your plans for the future?

The answer is complex. I made a speech in Iowa about a month ago and it got some attention that I was going there. And so, more and more people are thinking of me in the capacity of whether I should run for president.

I can’t say that is something I am pursuing, but it is something I am discerning to see if it is the best way I can serve my country.

What role does your faith play in the public arena where you serve?

I don’t see how you can be one person outside the public arena and another person inside. I hear these people say, “I personally believe this, but I’m not going to vote that way.”

Well, if you personally believe it’s true, you feel compelled to vote that way.

Why would you want to be in public life if you are going around voting on things that you believe are not right?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is on the verge of opposing the health care legislation for a number of reasons, one of which is that the legislation does not have a provision that would provide medical care to illegal immigrants. Do you agree with that position?

I don’t. I understand why the bishops feel this is the compassionate thing to do.

I believe it is misplaced compassion.

People who don’t come here under the rules of the country should not be treated like people who do.

Just like people who violate Church teaching, they need to go to confession and be forgiven, but that doesn’t mean (they) shouldn’t suffer consequences, as the Church teaches they will.

It is the same in civic life; you can certainly be forgiven for breaking the law and coming to this country illegally.

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t suffer the

October 30, 2009

interim editor

Photo by David Hains

Rick Santorum consequences. And in this case justice needs to be done, which means you need to go back home.

Do you find it surprising that within the Catholic faith there were two senators, yourself and (former senator, now vicepresident) Joseph Biden who profess the same faith but who are so divergent in their political views?

If you look at my record and you look at the magisterium and you look at his record and the magisterium, you see two very different things. I actually know what the magisterium says, I know what it teaches and my record reflects that.

With respect to the moral teaching of the Church on life and every aspect of life, I think he has decided that he doesn’t agree with the church, that’s fine, but I think it’s very difficult to go out and say that you are a believing Catholic when you don’t believe what the Church teaches.

Specific direction for Catholic education was set forth in a special presentation by Father Roger Arnsparger, Vicar of Education in the Diocese of Charlotte, at the eighth annual Circle of Celebration Oct. 21.

This celebration honoring donors to the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools (MACS) foundation was opened with a prayer by Bishop Peter J. Jugis, followed with recognitions presented by Benee Hutson, grants committee chair for the MACS Education Foundation. Michael Balbirnie, chair for the MACS Education Foundation, also spoke.

Father Arnsparger said,“The ultimate aim of Catholic education is to invite people not only to know about Christ but to be in intimate communion with Him, to be in love with Him; only He is THE way, THE truth and THE life.”

Father Arnsparger continued, “Our Catholic schools can be the object of our time, treasure and talent to the degree that they continue to develop their two

essential qualities: totally Catholic and academically excellent.

“With reason and faith our schools assist in the understanding of truth and therefore embracing the Truth,” he added.

“The normal result of a Catholic school education for a Catholic student will be the free, loyal, happy and intentional practice of the faith serving Christ in a parish and diocese,” Father Arnsparger concluded.

courtesy photo

Participants smile with a giant check representing this year’s donations to the MACS Foundation at the eighth-annual Circle of Celebration Oct. 21.

3 DATES & LOCATIONS TO CHOOSE FROM! Tuesday, November 10 — Queen of the Apostles, Belmont Check-In: 10:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Presenter: Deacon Matt Reilly Topic: “I Made It…Now What?”

Program: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Cost: $10 per person includes lunch Deadline for Registration: Tuesday, November 3rd

Wednesday, November 18 — St. Paul the Apostle, Greensboro Check-In: 9:45 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.

Presenter: Msgr. Richard Bellow Topic: Cure of Ars — St. John Marie Vianney, “The Priest Among Priests” Program: 10:15 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Cost: $8 per person includes lunch Deadline for Registration: Monday, November 9th

Tuesday, December 3 — St. James, Hamlet Check-In: 10:30 a.m. - 11 a.m.

Presenter: Sr. Ann Marie Wilson, R.S.M. Topic: “Jesus…Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” Program: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Cost: $5 per person includes lunch Deadline for Registration: Monday, November 23rd Register as a group or individually by sending your check (payable to Catholic Social Services) and your parish name to: Sandra Breakfield, CSS Elder Ministry 1123 S. Church St. Charlotte NC 28203-4003

For more information call Sandra at 704-370-3220 or Sherill at 704-370-3228.

October 30, 2009

from the cover

The Catholic News & Herald

Tackling root causes of poverty CELEBRATION, from page 1

photo by Joanita

Nellenbach

Joanne Kennedy Frazer and Monsignor Mauricio West take a break during the fourth biennial Bishop Begley Conference on Appalachia in Hayesville Oct. 24. Monsignor West’s vision and support led to the creation of the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1999. Frazer, then on the staff of the Office of Peace and Justice, helped set up the new organization.

NEW CRUISE: Special price — deadline Nov. 13th!

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Celebrity Cruise Lines’ luxury ship Summit leaves from San Juan, Puerto Rico for your port visits to: St. Maarten – half Dutch, half French with a Caribbean twist; pristine beaches; duty free shopping paradise!

Dominica – lush, stunning tropical flora; whale watching; collectible Carib baskets Grenada – “most colorful” port; jungle waterfalls; long white beaches Tobago – sport fishing, scuba & snorkel; birds & wildlife; quiet beaches Barbados – “incomparable pink sand beaches”; swim with the turtles; hike in a cave; visit the rum distillery – and so much more!

Daily Mass onboard with our own priest.

CALL TODAY: For a brochure/info, Cindi Feerick at the diocese: 704/370-3332 or ckfeerick@charlottediocese.org or Corporate Travel at 800/727-1999.

Travel with your diocese – we take care of the worries – you take care of the fun!

An ecumenical community Monsignor Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte, opened the anniversary celebration with an explanation of the conception of the Office of Economic Opportunity.

“No longer could there be haves and have-nots,” Monsignor West said in his presentation. It was a “struggle [to eliminate] old ways of thinking, to truly place ourselves at the service of the reign of God. This office would move beyond the symptoms of poverty to tackle the root causes of poverty.”

The Office of Economic Opportunity, a program of the Office of Justice and Peace of Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Charlotte, is in the Bishop Begley Center for Economic Development on the grounds of St. William Church.

In serving Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Swain counties, the Office of Economic Opportunity promotes sustainable development and economic justice, partnering with the four counties’ churches and agencies.

“All this is possible because this community put aside differences to alleviate suffering,” Monsignor West said. “We renew our commitment to each other and for each other. Our celebration calls us to accountability and responsibility. We must be alert to condemn injustice wherever we find it, to work together to truly care for each other.”

“Words like ‘there’s room at the table for everyone’ are fine but are meaningless without action,” he added.

“Injustice, poverty and prejudice drive wedges through communities.”

United in faith The remarks of Monsignor West were followed by a dinner, during which Reverend Joseph Mann, director of the Rural Church Division for the Duke Endowment, spoke on “Supporting Collaborations in Rural Church Ministry.”

Reverend Mann said that the positive aspects of ecumenical social action are embodied by the Office of Economic Opportunity. He defined these aspects as vision motivated by a sense of the kingdom of God, a capacity to reach out and include everyone, community acceptance of the ecumenical concept, and a program sustained through “working across all lines” and mirroring the kingdom of God. “You show in your efforts how we need to join hands,” Reverend |Mann said.

He continued to list several challenges to ecumenical social action.

Among them Reverend Mann mentioned communities who don’t look beyond the work of their own denomination. More barriers to community building mentioned were desire for power, discriminations of race and class, inability to discern the difference that community work has made, and limiting work to charity rather than making broader changes.

“Charity must be balanced with making systemic change,” Reverend Mann said.

Sharing the celebration Saturday was devoted to the fourth biennial Bishop Begley Conference, held at the Hinton Rural Life Center.

The printed program noted “the Bishop Begley Conference and Office of Economic Opportunity’s work recall Bishop Michael J. Begley’s commitment to the people of Appalachia.”

The day began with “Work and Witness of Interfaith Partnerships in the CCUSA Network,” presented by Father Larry Snyder, president, Catholic Charities USA. “You have done something very good here,” Father Snyder said of the Office of Economic Opportunity.

“Tearing down walls, reaching out to others. What you have done here is a model that Catholic Charities USA has tried to hold up nationally.”

“What is our goal in working ecumenically?” he asked. “We serve, not because of their religion but because we are Catholics.”

The focus of Jesus’ teaching, Father Snyder said, “is the transformation of the world into the reign of God. If we’re going to be disciples of Jesus, we can’t choose who we respond to; everyone is our neighbor.”

“We are One in Christ in Service to God’s People,” was presented by Father George Kloster, pastor of St. William Church in Murphy.

He spoke of Christian unity in reference to John 17:21, which states “that (Christians) all may be one” so that “the world may believe that you sent me.”

“We work for Christian unity because it’s essential to the authentic message of Jesus,” said Father Kloster. “If we don’t work in a unified way, Jesus’ message is diminished. Christian unity has always been a challenge for Christian people.”

He said one reason ecumenism hasn’t always been a priority is that “authentic ecumenism is very, very demanding, venturing out in faith where they’ve never been before.”

He summed up the way to ecumenism in all things, stating “We have to trust in the Holy Spirit.”

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

The Catholic News & Herald

October 30, 2009

In THe News

Technology advances lead to abortion LIFE, from page 1

remembers Lisa. “‘Incompatible with life’ is the most horrible phrase I have ever heard…I left in tears.”

This is increasingly the experience of parents who are told that their unborn baby has a medical problem or disability. Advances in prenatal screening technologies have allowed for the earlier detection of numerous fetal defects. Conditions that would not have been discovered until birth a generation ago are now detected prenatally. Sadly, this earlier diagnosis does not necessarily offer parents the hope of treatment.

“Parents who would otherwise not consider abortion suddenly find that it has somehow become part of their routine obstetric care,” says Tracy Winsor a peer minister in Charlotte. “Whatever the specifics with the news of a poor prenatal diagnosis (PPD), parents have lost the normal pregnancy and healthy baby they had anticipated. They are shocked and heartbroken and advised to abort…and 80-90% ultimately do, whether the diagnosis is lethal or not.”

Winsor and Sandy Buck, a mom who carried her son Casey to term following the diagnosis of Trisomy 18, developed the service for parents experiencing a PPD under the auspices of Elizabeth Ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte in 2008.

Notes Buck, “As Elizabeth Ministers providing loss support for families that had experienced miscarriage or stillbirth, we were getting these parents after the loss and sometimes after the abortion if they had not carried to term. We felt strongly that if we engaged them during the pregnancy with support for carrying to term, we could make a difference for them and for their babies. We knew we had to do something.”

This service, recently renamed Be Not Afraid, is sponsored by St. Mark Church, Buck’s parish in Huntersville, but relies on the efforts of parent volunteers from various parishes within the diocese as well as the support and assistance of Catholic Social Services and other ministries and community agencies.

“We provide parents with resource materials and assistance in writing birth plans. We help with the details and if they want, we will even be at the birth.

We are there to provide whatever support they need,” shares Winsor. “Because our volunteers have had the experience of carrying to term themselves, they offer unique insight and sensitivity regarding the difficult issues of mourning the loss of the anticipated baby, maintaining hope when a prognosis is poor, and medical decision-making during pregnancy and beyond. We know the experience of stillbirth, and we know how it feels to have a baby in neonatal intensive care or a cardiac unit.”

Adds Buck, “We promote the option of carrying to term and assure parents that they needn’t fear being alone in this journey because we can provide a network of support for them.”

Increasingly, it appears that parents experiencing a PPD are looking for options. On-line websites that provide encouragement and resource information for carrying to term receive thousands of visits per month.

Medical practitioners are also seeing the benefit of supporting parents in carrying to term. A genetic counselor in South Carolina who recently contacted Be Not Afraid for advice and support, noted that the service was “...instrumental in making a positive perinatal grief experience possible...” for a patient who chose to carry a son to term following the diagnosis of Trisomy 18.

However, the biggest challenge faced by the local service has been getting referrals. A new service brochure was recently developed and Be Not Afraid volunteers will be distributing them to area hospitals and medical professionals over the next several weeks.

Sean and Lisa’s daughter, Hailey Grace Karleski, was ultimately diagnosed with Trisomy 13 and silently born at 31 weeks gestation May 27. Lisa was referred to Be Not Afraid and received support from several parent volunteers working with the service.

“At every point in this journey, they were there to listen, or give me a hug, or drive 30 miles to meet my needs. It was a gift from God,” shares Lisa.

Lisa thinks most parents faced with a PPD abort because they don’t know there is another option.

“At my lowest point when the only option offered was abortion, I thought about it because more than anything you just want the unbearable pain to go away,” says Lisa. “Ultimately, what I learned was that either path has pain, and that in accepting the support available to me and in choosing to cherish the precious time we were given with Hailey Grace…we have been changed forever.”

Brad and Constance Merck of Cherryville, N.C. would agree. They were told at 18 weeks gestation that their son, Braylen, had Bilateral Multicystic Dysplastic Kidney Disease.

“Multiple doctors told us that Braylen had no chance…that nothing could save him short of divine intervention,” shares Constance. “The closer we got to my due date, the harder it was and yet I knew that as long as I was carrying Braylen, he was living…and we felt him move and we developed a bond with him that would not have been possible had we not carried to term.”

Braylen Merck was born at 34 weeks gestation July 14.

Adds Constance, “He was here and he lived for six minutes…3 lbs. 2.1 oz and 15 3/4 in. long…and he was perfect in my eyes. I do not at all regret carrying to term.”

In the past year, Winsor has served as a presenter at several different

photo courtesy of

Be Not Afraid

Brad and Constance Merck of Cherryville are shown with their son Braylen in the hospital after his birth July 14. They were told at 18 weeks gestation that Braylen had Bilateral Multicystic Dysplastic Kidney Disease. Nevertheless, Constance carried him to term and he lived for six minutes after his birth. conferences in North and South Carolina, and anticipates providing technical assistance to the National Catholic Partnership for Disability in the development of additional prenatal diagnosis resources in 2010. She is deeply committed to fostering the development of other support services like Charlotte’s Be Not Afraid.

“Families need support on the ground, and parish-based or diocesan ministries can make a difference,” she observes. “These babies are our most

vulnerable unborn and no matter how frail or how brief their lives…no matter how great their disability, we are called to assert their dignity by providing support and encouragement to their parents. That is what we must do if we truly believe that all life is sacred.”

Jean Wren is a parishioner of St. Peter Church in Charlotte. To make a referral to Be Not Afraid, email benotafraidnc@live.com or call Sandy Buck at (704) 948-4587.

Pro-Life and Marriage Enrichment Speaker

Two opportunities to hear

Father Matthew Habiger, OSB HOPEFUL – INSPIRING – INFORMATIVE Father Matthew Habiger, OSB, former president and chairman of the board for Human Life International, currently is serving with Natural Family Planning Outreach. He has been a guest on EWTN and lectured on life issues in 55 countries.

* Learn how contraceptives cause unplanned pregnancies * Learn how Natural Family Planning creates virtue and strengthens marriage * Meet practicing couples and teachers of Natural Family Planning * Natural Family Planning is healthy, effective and empowering FRIDAY, November 6 7-8pm Speaker (refreshments at 6:30pm) Our Lady of Grace School Library Greensboro

SATURDAY, November 7 10-11am Speaker (refreshments at 9am) St. Francis of Assisi Parish Hall Mocksville

RSVP by November 4: 252-917-4263 or cssnfp@charlottediocese.org Co-sponsored by Catholic Social Services Natural Family Planning Program Pre-registration is required.

October 30, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald

From the Cover

Teen hero for life

Room at the Inn awards honors

By SUEANN HOWELL Special to The Catholic News & Herald

In an age when most teenagers are texting incessantly on their cell phones and spending hours jamming to music with earbuds stuffed into their ears, there is one teen that has put aside her own interests for a bit to shed light on a greater issue in our society – that of abortion and the path of destruction it leaves in its wake.

Erin Ferris, a recent graduate of Charlotte Catholic High School and freshman at NC State, has taken up the cause for life. She has made it her mission to educate her peers on the truths of abortion and how it hurts both women and children through the production of a video that was previewed last year by the 1400 students at CCHS. “Erin demonstrated passion and courage in developing this video,” said Chuck Curtis, vice president of Room at

‘Hero for Life’ Award recipient Erin Ferris, a recent Charlotte Catholic High School graduate, accepts her award from Chuck Curtis, vice president of Room at the Inn, at the 15th Annual Room at the Inn Banquet at the Charlotte Convention Center on Oct. 22.

the Inn in his remarks before presenting the ‘Hero for Life’ Award to Ferris at the 15th Annual Banquet at the Charlotte Convention Center on Thursday, Oct. 22. Room at the Inn, a safe haven for pregnant mothers and their children in Charlotte, grants this $2,000 educational scholarship annually to teens whose service project best champions the unborn and respect for human life.

The award also provides a mentoring opportunity with Thom Tillis, from the NC House of Representatives, in Raleigh, NC. When asked what motivated her to create the video Ferris shares, “I gave a speech as part of a public speaking course at Charlotte Catholic High School, and when I began, I asked the class to separate on two sides of the room. One side pro-life, one side proabortion. The students were split half pro-life, half pro-abortion. After I gave them the facts during my speech, every student but one switched to the pro-life side of the room. That’s when I knew people should know the truth so they can make the right choice.”

When asked about the school’s reaction to the video after the screening, Ferris relates how students came up to her afterward saying things like, “Wow! That was really awesome,” and, “I had no idea that is how it really is.”

As for the future, Ferris adds, “I have always been passionate about this subject, and in college winning this award will make me want to do more because this is where more women are vulnerable.”

For young women facing this choice, she encourages them to “go talk to someone who can help you get through it, there are other options than abortion.”

Two additional awards given at the Room at the Inn Banquet included the Monsignor William Wellein Award, for outstanding pro-life work in the Charlotte area, awarded to Tina Witt, parishioner at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Charlotte; and the Outstanding Service Award given to Ron Fischer, parishioner at St. Therese Church in Mooresville , for his dedication to Room at the Inn.

Kate Bach holds daughter Ellie.

Banquet — a fundraising success INN, from page 1

Baker’s company, 1060 Creative, shot and edited the video gratis. “Coming into the Catholic Church and the pro-life issue, I wanted to do something to help,” Peter said.

The video was among several highlights of the evening that raised more than $200,000. The money is used to operate the Room at the Inn facility in Charlotte, which offers a safe haven for women with unplanned pregnancies, and an alternative to abortion.

The Most Reverend Peter J. Jugis, Bishop of Charlotte, delivered an invocation that emphasized the grace of God. “We bless you for helping us to extend your love and mercy to mothers and children in their time of great need,” proclaimed the bishop.

Bishop emeritus William G. Curlin and Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey were also in attendance, along with more than a dozen diocesan priests.

David Bereit, the featured speaker at the banquet, is the founder of the 40 Days for Life organization that holds prayer and fasting vigils outside abortion facilities in an ongoing effort to close them down.

“Nowhere else in this nation have I seen a maternity and after-care ministry that is even close to what you have here with Room at the Inn,” Bereit said to a hearty round of applause.

“I just wanted you to know,” Bereit continued, “that what you have is an inspiration to other cities all across the country who look to Room at the Inn as the answer to one of the greatest crises facing this nation, the crisis of abortion.”

The 40 Days for Life observance

in the Diocese of Charlotte is part of a coordinated nationwide effort during October, Respect Life Month. The observance is scheduled to conclude November 1.

Although there was no charge for a ticket to the banquet, after dinner and the talk by the main speaker the crowd of more than 1,000 people was asked to make a substantial donation to the ongoing operation of Room at the Inn. Father Timothy Reid, pastor of St. Ann Church, made the appeal with a combination of humor and a plea that, despite the tough economic times, funding is needed more than ever for Room at the Inn. Jeannie Wray, executive director of the organization said a few days after the event that it raised more money than last year.

To address the ongoing problem of unplanned pregnancies among college women, Room at the Inn is involved in the construction of the nation’s first college-based maternity and after-care center. It will provide pregnant college women with the option of continuing their education while having a baby.

The new facility is under construction on land donated by the monks of Belmont Abbey, near Belmont Abbey College.

Room at the Inn executive director Jeanie Wray emphasized that the organization will continue its outreach work from its headquarters in Charlotte.

As the event concluded, Kate Bach of Fort Mill stepped outside the banquet hall in the Charlotte Convention Center with her three-month old infant, Ellie, her seventh child.

The Bach family was introduced to Room at the Inn upon moving to the Carolinas from Savannah, Georgia.

Kate summed up the sentiment of the evening by saying, “Room at the Inn is an amazing organization that saves babies and promotes family life.”

The Catholic News & Herald

around the diocese

My country ’tis of thee

October 30, 2009

Christian character rewarded

Courtesy photo

St. Ann Catholic School students display their Christian Character Awards.

Courtesy photo

The Charlotte school recently started an awards program to recognize students

Students in Mrs. Burke and Mrs. Beiles’ fourth-grade class of Our Lady of

who show outstanding Christian qualities including: caring, kindness, honesty,

Mercy School in Winston-Salem showcase countries of the world on Oct. 23.

self-control, forgiveness, acceptance, compassion, empathy, faithfulness and

Each student selected a country to research and then created a map, flag, travel

perseverance. Students received the awards following Mass on Oct. 23. Front

brochure and other items of interest. The students also prepared dishes from

row: Max Barrata, Katie Baker, Lauren Kroeger and Colette Morgan. Back

their countries and shared them with the parents, teachers and each other.

row: Jack Boone, Christian Pampillonio, Isabel Booty and Grace Mathis.

Bless this house

T-shirt and a smile

Courtesy photo Courtesy photo

Mary Kiser displays her winning T-shirt design Oct. 10. Mary, who is an

Bishop Peter Jugis (fourth from right) stands with the staff and representatives

eighth-grader at St. Michael Catholic School (SMCS) in Gastonia, submitted

from the Rectory Building Committee at St. James Church in Concord

her design as part of the Fun Fair at the school. The T-shirt depicts SMCS

Oct. 24. Bishop Jugis dedicated the new rectory for the parish. Pictured from

as a part of the tree of life that feeds the branches and leaves, the students,

left; Reba Stanko, John and Susan Green, Redemptorist Father Vang Cong

with faith and knowledge. Faith and knowledge are the dividends that will

Tran, Redemptorist Father Joseph Dionne, pastor; Teresa and Victoria

stay with the students for life. The students are like the leaves as they scatter

Sibley, and Redemptorist Father Francis Ezhanikatt, parochial vicar.

throughout the world and share their faith and knowledge with others.

October 30, 2009

in the news

Children with special needs deserve chance at life, archbishop says Down Syndrome diagnoses lead to rise in abortions PHOENIX (CNS) — Children with special needs deserve a chance at the full range of what life has to offer, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver told the Phoenix Catholic Physicians Guild.

“Studies show that more than 80 percent of unborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome now get terminated in the womb. They’re killed because of a flaw in one of their chromosomes — a flaw that’s neither fatal nor contagious, but merely undesirable,” he said in an Oct. 16 address to the group.

While some doctors deliver the news of “an increased likelihood” of Down syndrome “with sensitivity and great support” for the woman, he added, “too many others seem more concerned about avoiding lawsuits, or managing costs, or even, in a few ugly cases, cleaning up the gene pool.”

He focused on the situation of children with Down syndrome as a way, he said, to talk about “the kind of people we’re becoming” and the “struggle within the American soul.”

Archbishop Chaput said, “In practice, medical professionals can now steer an expectant mother toward abortion simply by hinting at a list of the child’s possible defects. And the most debased thing about that kind of pressure is that doctors know better than anyone else how vulnerable a woman can be in hearing potentially tragic news about her unborn baby.”

The archbishop said prenatal testing can detect up to 95 percent of the pregnancies with a strong risk of Down syndrome, although no “firm” conclusion about an individual pregnancy can be given. There also is the risk of “false positives” in which an unborn child may be wrongly diagnosed in the womb with Down syndrome, he said.

Still, “raising a child with Down syndrome can be hard,” Archbishop Chaput said. “None of us is perfect. No child is perfect.

“The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is between love and unlove; between courage and cowardice; between trust and fear,” he continued. “That’s the choice we face as a society in deciding which human lives we will treat as valuable, and which we will not.” As a result, “we’re witnessing a kind of schizophrenia in our culture’s conscience,” Archbishop Chaput said.

According to the archbishop, about 5,000 U.S. children are born with Down syndrome each year, and there are about 400,000 people in the United States with Down syndrome.

“That population may soon dwindle,” Archbishop Chaput said. “And the reason why it may decline,” he added, alluding

to abortion, “illustrates, in a vivid way, a struggle within the American soul. That struggle will shape the character of our society in the decades to come.”

He said, “I’m not suggesting that doctors should hold back vital knowledge from parents. Nor should they paint an implausibly upbeat picture of life with a child who has a disability. Facts and resources are crucial in helping adult persons prepare themselves for difficult challenges.”

But pediatricians who have treated children with disabilities, parents of children with special needs, and special education teachers and therapists “often have a hugely life-affirming perspective,” Archbishop Chaput said. Doctors, counselors and medical school professors, he added, should have these people “on staff — or at least on speed dial.”

“Just as some people resent the imperfection, the inconvenience and the expense of persons with disabilities, others see in them an invitation to be healed of their own sins and failures by learning how to love,” he said.

“Every child with Down syndrome, every adult with special needs, in fact every unwanted, unborn child, every person who is poor, weak, abandoned or homeless — each one of these persons is an icon of God’s face and a vessel of his love.”

How society treats these people — “whether we revere them and welcome them, or throw them away in distaste” — shows what individuals and the nation as a whole “really believe about human dignity.”

Archbishop Chaput said Catholic public officials “who take God seriously cannot support laws that attack human dignity without lying to themselves, misleading others and abusing the faith of their fellow Catholics.”

He said Catholic doctors “who take God seriously cannot do procedures, prescribe drugs or support health policies that attack the sanctity of unborn children or the elderly; or that undermine the dignity of human sexuality and the family.”

And Catholic citizens “who take God seriously,” he said, “cannot claim to love their church and then ignore her counsel on vital public issues that shape our nation’s life.”

He told his audience that everyone who serves in the medical profession “has a sacred vocation.” He said “that vocation of healing comes from Jesus Christ himself.”

Archbishop Chaput urged them to be the best doctors, nurses and medical professionals they can be. But first, he said, they must strive to be the best Catholics they can be.

The Catholic News & Herald

Bishops respond to Rep. Kennedy’s criticism of health care stance PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) — Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York strongly criticized remarks

by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., about the U.S. bishops’ role in the health reform debate.

In an interview with Cybercast News Service Oct. 22, Kennedy said the bishops were fanning “the flames of dissent and discord” by insisting that health reform not include abortion funding.

“I can’t understand for the life of me how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time, where the very dignity of the human person is being respected by the fact that we’re caring and giving health care” to the millions of people who are currently uninsured, Kennedy said in the CNSNews.com interview.

“You mean to tell me the Catholic Church is going to be denying those people life-saving health care?” he added. “I thought they were pro-life. If the church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health care reform because it’s going to provide health care that is going to keep people alive.”

Bishop Tobin called Kennedy’s comments “irresponsible and ignorant

of the facts” in an Oct. 23 statement and said the congressman “owes us an apology.”

“The bishops of the United States are indeed in favor of comprehensive health care reform and have been for many years,” the bishop said. “But we are adamantly opposed to health care legislation that threatens the life of unborn children, requires taxpayers to pay for abortion, rations health care, or compromises the conscience of individuals.”

Archbishop Dolan commented on the controversy Oct. 26 in his blog at www.ny-archdiocese.org, calling Kennedy’s remarks “sad, uncalled for and inaccurate.”

“The Catholic community in the United States hardly needs to be lectured to about just health care,” he added. “We bishops have been advocating for universal health care for a long, long time.

“All we ask is that it be just that — universal — meaning that it includes the helpless baby in the womb, the immigrant and grandma in the hospice, and that it protects a health care provider’s right to follow his/her own conscience,” Archbishop Dolan said.

New international statement focus of Catholic-Oriental Orthodox talks RIVERDALE, N.Y. (CNS) — The new statement of the international dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox churches and the fostering of vocations were the main topics of discussion at the annual national dialogue between the two communions.

Paulist Father Ronald G. Roberson, associate director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and a member of the international Oriental OrthodoxRoman Catholic dialogue, presented the new international agreed text, “Nature, Constitution and Mission of the Church,” at the dialogue, held Sept.

30-Oct. 1 in Riverdale.

The document outlines broad areas of consensus on such topics as the church as communion, the attributes of the church,

the bishops and apostolic succession, the nature of councils, and the mission of the church. It also identifies points that need further study.

“Full communion is the ultimate goal of the ecumenical work of all our churches,” the document says.

The document also says that each group will need further explanation of the other group’s terminology.

The Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation was established in 1978, and is sponsored jointly by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches America, which includes representatives from the Armenian (Catholicossate of Etchmiadzin), Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syrian Orthodox churches.

October 30, 2009

10 The Catholic News & Herald

Culture Watch

A roundup of Scripture, readings, films and more

Biblical history in brush strokes New exhibit of late Catholic artist’s work WASHINGTON (CNS) — The late Karen Laub-Novak was fascinated by biblical history — and visitors to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington can see how the Catholic artist captured narrative from the Bible in her paintings, lithographs and sculptures.

Laub-Novak has been recognized as an inspirational and world-class artist, and officials at the cultural center were eager to display her colorful, dark and often haunting paintings and sculptures, said Luis Peralta, exhibit associate.

Knowing the 71-year-old artist was battling cancer, Peralta said he was hoping to open the exhibit during LaubNovak’s lifetime.

Sadly, the opening came after her Aug. 12 death in her Washington home.

“She left a legacy of work behind that we’re all so fortunate to experience,” Peralta said. “We can see her interpretation of the word of God.” Visitors to the cultural center near The Catholic University of America campus in the northeast section of Washington will be awestruck by the vivid images in the exhibit, which officially runs through Nov. 15. Peralta said he hopes to extend the showing through December.

“Karen’s artwork is passionate and fierce,” Peralta said. “It’s about strength and life. It’s about struggle and the human nature to strive for better.”

Laub-Novak’s daughter, Jana Novak Miller, said her mother didn’t consider herself a religious artist but was indeed fascinated by the periods of uncertainty and doubt that are so prevalent throughout

the Bible.

“Those moments are when she felt we truly live — and learn — and are therefore the most important moments in life,” Miller said. “She did her best to illustrate these moments of true reality and emotion in her art, as both snapshots of real life, and as inspiration for others.”

In a written statement about her own paintings, Laub-Novak said: “My primary concern is to express certain human emotions: Our attempt to find ourselves.

Our struggles with hope and despair.

Our moments of love and separation, sexuality, isolation, suffering, death. I am constantly excited and frustrated by tensions between verbal and nonverbal, mind and emotions, intellect and body, silence and communication, privacy and community.”

Catholic blogger Santiago Ramos in September wrote that Laub-Novak’s “most memorable works are lithographs inspired by the written word: on St. John’s biblical Apocalypse; on Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Duino Elegies’; on T.S. Eliot’s ‘Ash Wednesday.’”

Peralta said Laub-Novak had the unique talent of capturing the word of God and illustrating biblical stories in great depth by the careful strokes of her paint brush — and the creative molding of her sculptures.

“One of my favorite series is that of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” he said. “In this series we get to see how we as human beings get to suffer the wrath of God because of our sins and thank God for Jesus Christ who was sent to us as a savior” so we can be redeemed.

WORD TO LIFE Sunday Scripture Readings: Nov. 8, 2009

November 8, Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle B Readings: 1) 1 Kings 17:10-16 Psalm 146:7-10 2) Hebrews 9:24-28 3) Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

Giving from faith JEFF HEDGLEN catholic news service

It is amazing when a Gospel story comes to life in modern times as it did for me recently when a friend told me about something that happened at her place of work.

One of her co-workers was in an auto accident and would be out of work for a number of weeks. Before the accident, this person had been getting by nicely but without much room to spare in her budget. Now, with her car totaled and medical bills coming due, times were going to be rough.

The office staff decided to collect donations to help offset some of the bills, and — here is where we see the Gospel come alive — as contributions started coming in, it became evident that the employees on the lower end of the pay scale were the ones who gave the majority of the money, while those

in the upper tiers of the company hardly gave at all.

One employee even said, “I just got married and do not have any extra cash, but I have this department store gift card for $20,” and that is what she gave.

This Sunday’s readings all speak about how the best gifts are gifts of self.

Such sacrificial gifts are exemplified by the widow and her son in 1 Kings, who gave what little food they had left to Elijah, and the poor woman in the Gospel of Mark who gave just a couple of cents to the temple treasury.

In Hebrews, the total gift of self, made perfectly by Jesus, is explained in heavenly terms.

In each of the passages from the Lectionary, as with the giving by my friend’s co-workers, the gift that was offered came, not from the surplus of the giver, but from the depth of his or her faith. Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel that this is the preferred attitude when giving.

These are challenging words that call us to look at how we give and what motivates our giving. There is unending need in our world, and we certainly cannot solve all of it on our own with our checkbooks, but we are being called to do our part.

Gifts are now being accepted, anywhere from two cents to one’s whole self.

Questions: What are some ways you have given of your time, talent or treasure for the poor or your church community? Name a cause or organization you would love to support: How can you support it in the coming week?

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE Scripture for the week of November 1-7 Sunday (All Saints), Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14, 1 John 3:1-3, Matthew 5:1-12; Monday (All Souls), Wisdom 3:1-9, Romans 5:5-11, John 6:37-40; Tuesday (St. Martin de Porres), Romans 12:5-16, Luke 14:15-24; Wednesday (St. Charles Borromeo), Romans 13:8-10, Luke 14:25-33; Thursday, Romans 14:7-12, Luke 15:1-10; Friday, Romans 15:14-21, Luke 16:1-8; Saturday, Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27, Luke 16:9-15.

Scripture for the week of November 8-14 Sunday (Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time), 1 Kings 17:10-16, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44; Monday (The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome), Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12, 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17, John 2:13-22; Tuesday (St. Leo the Great), Wisdom 2:23-3:9, Luke 17:7-10; Wednesday (St. Martin of Tours), Wisdom 6:1-11, Luke 17:11-19; Thursday (St. Josaphat), Wisdom 7:22-8:1, Luke 17:20-25; Friday (St. Frances Xavier Cabrini), Wisdom 13:1-9, Luke 17:26-37; Saturday, Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9, Luke 18:1-8.

cns photo courtesy of the Pope John Paul

II Cultural Center

A painting of Moses by artist Karen Laub-Novak is displayed Oct. 26 during an exhibit at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington. Novak, who died in August at age 71, was a well-known Washington artist and political activist. The exhibit, which officially runs through Nov. 15, may be extended through December.

The Catholic News & Herald 11

October 30, 2009

Cardinal says media has ignored work of African bishops’ synod

cns photo by Paul

Haring

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa, standing, leads prayers during a session of the synod of Bishops for Africa, attended by Pope Benedict XVI, right, at the Vatican Oct. 23. Napier recently said that the media did not give enough coverage to the synod.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Three weeks of intensive discussion among African bishops about the challenges they face in their poor and often war-torn countries have been largely ignored by the media, a South African cardinal said.

Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, archbishop of Durban and a copresident of the Synod of Bishops for Africa, also has complained that news about Africa in newspapers and on television in the rest of the world is usually bad news, and that positive stories are rarely reported.

The Vatican’s daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, asked Cardinal Napier Oct. 23 whether sufficient attention had been given to the synod; he replied, “Absolutely not. It’s been very little.�

Some Catholic newspapers and radio stations across Africa covered the synod, which closed Oct. 25, but “as far as the rest of the media is concerned, I don’t think they are doing much,� the cardinal said. “Spiritual or religious things are not reported, unless they are controversial,� he said. “In that case,� he added, “they are sure to be published!�

The 275 members of the synod have discussed a vast array of topics

regarding the church’s work in Africa, including economic injustice, war, hunger, Christian-Islamic dialogue, family life, environmental exploitation and the particular plight of women, just to name a few.

Even before the Vatican newspaper interview, Cardinal Napier had taken a gentle swipe at the media for ignoring the positive aspects of the continent while emphasizing disasters and tragedies. “Africa is much more,� he told journalists Oct. 14. “It embodies values and abilities that can offer spiritual richness, even to the rest of the world.�

He admitted in the L’Osservatore interview that the bishops themselves during the synod presented the difficulties faced in Africa, often dramatically. “We are trying to describe the African reality, and unfortunately it must be said that in many parts there are serious problems,� he said.

But, the cardinal said, “there are also positive realities,� like the reconciliation processes in Rwanda, Burundi and South Africa. “We should ask the media to announce good news as well,� he said.

An example of good news that most media outlets would tend to ignore, he said, “is the growth and deepening of the faith there.�

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REGISTRATION FORM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2009 BLACK CATHOLIC HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION SAVE THE DATE AND REGISTER NOW! ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED IN ORDER FOR LUNCH TO BE PROVIDED! Fill in the information below and mail the registration form no later than November 8, 2009.

NAME ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TELEPHONE ___________________________________________________________________ TOTAL NUMBER OF REGISTRANTS ________________ INCLUDE NAMES OF ALL REGISTRANTS __________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dietary restrictions ?________. Explain ______________________________________________________ Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Pick up times: 7:30am St. Benedict, Winston Salem (15 seats); 8:00 am Immaculate Heart of Mary, High Point (15 seats) ; 8:30am-St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Greensboro (18 seats). Please check here if you plan to take the bus __________. How many? _______ Mail to: Mrs. Marie Castillo, Chairperson 6004 Boxelder Cove, Greensboro, NC 27405 Contact information: 336 790-2116

WORCESTER, Mass. (CNS) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The Eternal Word Television Network will tell the story of Audrey Santo, a Massachusetts woman known as Little Audrey, who was a silent soul who exhibited wounds in her hands and feet that resembled the wounds of the crucified Christ.

Johnnette Benkovic, host of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Abundant Life,â&#x20AC;? said she is scheduled to present an hour-long program called â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Cross in Our Lives: Living in Hope and Confidence,â&#x20AC;? during the week of Nov. 2. The program is scheduled to air at 10 p.m. Nov. 2, 4 a.m. Nov. 3, 2 p.m.

Nov. 4 and 10 a.m. Nov. 6. (All times are in Eastern Standard Time.)

Information on â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Abundant Lifeâ&#x20AC;? is available on the Web site www.LHLA.org.

The program will tell the story of Audreyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. Benkovic interviewed Linda Santo, Audreyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother, in the Santo home in Worcester.

The television network wanted to show, through the story of Audreyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, the way God uses suffering for the greater good. Benkovic said Mother Angelica, a member of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration and the founder of EWTN, used to call the Santo home from time to time and many at the network are familiar with her story.

Audrey fell into a swimming pool Aug. 9, 1987, when she was 3, and was rushed to a hospital where, her family said, she was overmedicated

and lapsed into a coma.

When she came out of the coma, she couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t move or speak. Rather than place her in a nursing home, her family decided she would receive better care at home, where she lived until her death at age 23 in April 2007.

During that time, thousands of people from across the country and around the world made pilgrimages to the Santo home. Some considered her a â&#x20AC;&#x153;victim soulâ&#x20AC;? who suffered for others or claimed that her prayers brought healing. In her home, consecrated hosts were said to ooze blood and oil and some statues reportedly bore what resembled transparent oil, bloodlike marks or sparkles.

In 1998, Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, who retired as Worcesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bishop in 2004, established a commission to investigate these things. The first phase ended with a January 1999 report that did not substantiate any miraculous happenings, but Bishop Reilly said the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dedication to Audrey was â&#x20AC;&#x153;the most striking evidence of the presence of God in the Santo home.â&#x20AC;?

Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus issued a letter in September 2008, which gave diocesan recognition to an association promoting sainthood for the young Massachusetts woman.

The association is known as the Little Audrey Santo Foundation; its Web address is www.littleaudreysanto.org.

12 The Catholic News & Herald

October 30, 2009

around the diocese

Raffle benefits homeless women and children

Diocesan presenters on national stage

Courtesy photo Photo National Catholic Reporter/Toni-Ann Ortiz

Jacqueline Crombie,(right) Western Regional Office and Legal Immigration Director for Catholic Social Services, and Antonio Garcia, Coordinator of Hispanic Ministry for the Asheville Vicariate of the Diocese of Charlotte, make a presentation Oct. 15. The presentation entitled, “Meeting the Challenge of Providing Social

Loni Kay Templeton of Gastonia is the proud owner of a new car. Templeton’s $5 raffle ticket won a 2009 Honda Fit. Proceeds from the raffle will benefit Catherine’s House, a ministry of the Sisters of Mercy. Catherine’s House, located in Belmont, provides transitional housing for women and children who are homeless.

Service Ministries in Today’s Parish” was made at the National Catholic Reporter Summons to Build Conference held in Kansas City, Mo.

EDITOR

Mass for Our Lady of the Rosary

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Director of Music – Asheville, NC St. Eugene Catholic Church, a parish of over 1,000 families (English and Spanish), seeks to fill an immediate opening for a music minister who can balance between contemporary and traditional Catholic liturgical music.

Responsibilities include weekend and holy day liturgies, funerals and weddings, directing adult and youth choirs, scheduling cantors and musicians. Keyboard skills and ability to work collaboratively with church organist are essential. Compensation and benefits are commensurate with experience.

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Send resume to Music Search Committee, St. Eugene Catholic Church, 72 Culvern St., Asheville, N.C. 28804.

Web site: www.steugene.org

Priests, seminarians, deacons and sisters smile after a Mass in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary at the Cathedral Church of Saint Patrick in Charlotte Oct. 13. The Mass was sponsored by the Te Deum Foundation, which provides material and spiritual

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October 30, 2009

around the diocese

The Catholic News & Herald 13

A modern day saint Local parishioner remembers her work in St. Damien’s mission HEATHER BELLEMORE interim editor

courtesy photo

Volunteers hand out sleeping bags, blankets, and warm clothing in front of St. Peter Church in Charlotte Oct. 24. The annual event is organized to help those in need prepare for cold winter nights.

Blanket Banquet heeds the call of Matthew 25 LINDA FLYNN Special to The Catholic News & Herald More than 300 homeless men and women are sleeping a little warmer on the streets tonight because of the 5th Annual Blanket Banquet celebrated at St. Peter’s Church in Charlotte Oct 24.

The six Charlotte area parishes of St. Gabriel, St. Ann, St. Patrick, St. Matthews, St. Peters and St. Luke collected sleeping bags, blankets, and warm clothing which were then distributed to help those in need prepare for the cold winter nights ahead.

Volunteers, including several children, shared in this special afternoon of solidarity with a simple meal, live music, and fellowship.

Kristan Seaford, first-time volunteer and parishioner of St. Luke Church in Mint Hill, said her heart was very moved when one gentleman said, “I have been homeless for years. I have been served hundreds of times, but this is the first time I have seen and felt so much joy!”

A married couple who is living in a tent wept in gratitude when they were given two sleeping bags.

Another man said, “I have not made very good choices in my life, but being around people like you makes it all a little better.”

Kevin, a guest who makes his residence at the uptown men’s shelter, expressed appreciation for the respect and dignity shown to the guests. He said that is not common in his everyday experience.

The uptown men’s shelter has a total of only 65 beds. According to Charlotte’s Urban Ministries, there are approximately 6,500 people in Mecklenburg County without reliable and safe places to sleep — including those who live on the streets, in shelters, under bridges, in the woods or in their cars.

“We are feeding the hungry, clothing the unclothed, welcoming the friendless,” said one of the banquet’s organizers. “It’s what Jesus says we ought to do.”

Linda Flynn is a parishioner of St. Luke Church in Mint Hill and co-founder of Blanket Banquet with Cindy Platko, also a parishioner of St. Luke Church.

LENOIR — “It’s startling,” said Betty Matthews, parishioner of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Lenoir, upon realizing that her path in ministry had followed the footsteps of the recently canonized St. Damien de Veuster.

In the summer of 1985, Matthews was teaching physical education in a public school in Chicago. She decided she wanted to “give back” and began a search for health-related volunteer opportunities.

With the help of the school librarian, Matthews discovered St. Damien’s mission tending communities with leprosy in Hawaii, managed at the time by the Sisters of St. Francis.

Matthews scraped together her savings and spent the summer completing various housekeeping duties for the patients in the Hawaiian mission.

Lasting impact St. Damien, a missionary priest from Tremelo, Belgium, ministered to patients with Hansen’s disease, commonly know as ‘leprosy’, on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, where they were banished to the settlement of Kalaupapa. Renowned for treating patients with love and compassion, St. Damien ultimately contracted Hansen’s disease and died in 1889.

Just a few days prior to St. Damien’s Oct. 11 canonization, President Barack Obama, who lived for awhile in Hawaii, expressed his “deep admiration” for St. Damien.

“Following in the steps of Jesus’ ministry to the lepers, Father Damien challenged the stigmatizing effects of the disease, giving voice to the voiceless and ultimately sacrificing his own life to bring dignity to so many,” Obama said in his statement.

The president drew parallels between leprosy and diseases such as HIV/AIDS that afflict millions around the world today, saying “we should draw on the example of Father Damien’s resolve in answering the urgent call to

heal and care for the sick.”

The House of Representatives passed a resolution Oct. 14 honoring St. Damien for his recognition of the human rights and dignity of all and his work in Hawaii.

Delegate F.H. Faleomavaega, a Democrat who represents American Samoa in the House, urged his colleagues to “honor the life and accomplishments of Father Damien and his legacy of self-sacrifice.”

The resolution was approved

by House members in a unanimous voice vote.

An amazing experience Matthews’ return to Chicago was filled with new purpose. She retired from teaching, sold belongings to pay her way, and returned to Hawaii to volunteer full time.

While volunteering, Matthews became good friends with Sister E l i g i a E i h o l z e r, m e m b e r o f t h e Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse and nurse and administrator of the hospital at Kalaupapa.

Matthews’ connections were instrumental in her procurement of a permanent job within a year. Her volunteer duties continued on a fulltime, paid basis with the Hawaii State Department of Health, which had taken over management.

In 1991, seven years later, Matthews returned to the states and settled in Lenoir with a retired member of the Sisters of St. Francis. She still keeps in touch with Sister Eligia, who retired to Syracuse to be near family.

When Matthews read of the canonization of Father Damien, she was struck by the immediacy of her experience with his mission.

“I walked around on Kalaupapa on the same paths Father Damien walked around on,” explained Matthews.

“We all hear about past saints’ lives but it’s amazing to think that you walked the same paths as a current saint.”

Catholic News Service contributed to this article.

cns photo by Paul

Haring

A tapestry of St. Damien de Veuster hangs from the Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican during the saint’s canonization ceremony Oct. 11. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Oct. 14 honoring the 19th-century Belgian missionary for his work with victims of Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. St. Damien, who contracted the disease after years of working with the sick, is considered a martyr of charity.

October 30, 2009

14 The Catholic News & Herald

Perspectives

A collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

There’s a remedy for individualism Understanding relationships

On a recent driving trip in British Columbia, Canada, my wife and I were the only two guests at a B&B near Victoria. We had the full attention of Peter, the innkeeper, breakfast chef extraordinaire and raconteur.

British-born, still suffering a childhood leg injury received when a bomb fell on his elementary school during World War II, an educator who spent his career in Asia, Peter was never at a loss for a topic.

“Help me understand why everyone who wants to can own a gun in the United States,” he said one morning. His attempt to delve deeper into the national trait that would allow, if not encourage, such a practice was earnest.

I began with the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, the various court decisions, when he interrupted, “Yes, yes, I know all that, but help me understand why.”

We tossed it around some more. Peter offered his explanation: an individualism peculiar to the U.S. and, as he firmly believed and stated repeatedly, an overemphasis on rights, an under-emphasis on responsibility.

It is instructive to deal firsthand with another’s perception of our culture.

Although he was speaking in the context of health care, a remark by a Dominican theologian, Father Charles Bouchard, offers an explanation: “Americans think so differently about these things. We have a kind of prevailing ethos or cultural mindset of a type of individualism that does not sit well with anything that smacks of the common good or of social goods,” he said.

An individualism overdone, as

Consider This STEPHEN KENT CNS Columnist others see us, may be the effect of the self-reliant, “can do” independence stemming from pushing to frontiers.

There is a need to understand relationships better, how society depends on relationships.

In his recent book, “The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion and Culture,” Cardinal Francis George of Chicago makes the point that an “ideology of individualism” is leading people to emphasize personal rights at the expense of responsibilities and their duties to their communities.

“The Gospel’s injunction to surrender oneself to Christ and to others in order to be free has become largely incomprehensible,” he wrote in the book’s introduction.

“Catholicism offers a remedy by emphasizing the fact that people are who they are because of their relationships with God and with one another,” said Cardinal George.

That’s a good remedy for each of us to bring to daily life — evangelization by example.

Kent is the retired editor of archdiocesan newspapers in Omaha and Seattle. Contact him at: considersk@ comcast.net.

In good conscience I want to commend Father Matthew Buettner on his very well written article “Birth control could help combat climate change?” in the Oct. 2 issue.

Nothing speaks more loudly and clearly to me than does the truth! It is no matter if it is unpopular or seemingly “politically incorrect” — it is the truth no less!

We all have a duty to take care of

the earth as God would have us do —but not at the expense of going against the teachings of the church. Birth control is an evil and it could never be used, in good conscience, for any reason, let alone for an excuse to combat climate change by lowering the birthrate.

Like it says in Father Buettner’s article, God did not create the earth so that we would become enslaved to it.

Africa: Turning statistics and facts into real people Continent is more than war and suffering Whenever I’m at my favorite independent bookstore, I browse by the shelf that has “Oprah’s Picks.”

Oprah has taken some criticism lately for falling for a variety of questionable self-help promotions and sometimes being a little New Agey. But usually, if you’re unsure of the book you want, you can find a decent suggestion among her picks, and no one can deny she brings gold to an author.

That’s why I was thrilled when the book by Nigerian Jesuit Father Uwem Akpan was selected as an Oprah pick.

Father Akpan studied at Creighton University, my alma mater, and at Gonzaga University, my daughter’s school. He’s practically family.

“Say You’re One of Them” is a collection of short stories that packs a wicked punch. Even if I hadn’t known that already, I was determined to buy the book to show my support for a Jesuit author.

Father Akpan describes African kids and their suffering in disparate parts of the giant continent, from a child whose poverty draws her to prostitution in urban Kenya to a boy on a terrifying bus ride through Nigeria to children caught in the slaughter of Rwanda.

But I had only to pick up this morning’s paper to find that, along with the morning coffee, tales out of Africa are not just fiction.

An Associated Press story told of children being condemned as witches by certain evangelical Christian faiths that are making inroads in Africa. Some 15,000 children have been accused of witchcraft, tortured and killed, often by their own families.

A picture of young Somalia men playing cards was on the opposite page.

Each man was missing a hand or a foot, cut off, in accordance with strict Shariah law, for stealing. You can find an echo of this practice in Father Akpan’s book.

Somalia, according to the New York Times, has been without a government longer than almost any country in

For the Journey EFFIE CALDAROLA CNS Columnist

modern history. Lawless, it is a place where pirates roam the coastlines and where, in the words of the article, alQaida hopes to construct “a global jihad factory.”

Then there’s Darfur. And the neverending war in the Congo. And the Lord’s Resistance Army, recruiting young boys for unspeakable violence.

Poor Africa, this child of colonialism and exploitation.

And yet, I’m reminded of the Nigerian family that attends my church.

They are well-educated and come to Mass dressed so finely they make the rest of us look like beach bums. When they first arrived at our parish, a lovely church, their reaction, according to the matriarch of the family, was, “This is just like the church we left at home.”

In other words, not everything in Africa is destitution and poverty. I think it’s important not to lose sight of that.

Maybe Alexander McCall Smith’s “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency,” with its homey, cheerful Botswana, should make our reading list as well.

Father Akpan writes beautifully, and he brings children to life. He turns statistics and facts into real children we care about. This book deserves to be promoted, and it deserves to change hearts and move people as well as their pocketbooks.

But somewhere in this Jesuit, who grew up in Ikot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria listening to the stories of his family and his elders, are more stories of Africa, maybe gentler and more hopeful.

I look forward to them all.

Write a Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor Could some people have forgotten that God is in control of everything, earth included?

As a good and holy priest put it so well in his homily today, “the world does not rest on our shoulders, it rests on God’s.”

— Amy Tarr Lenoir NC

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October 30, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 15

A game for winners For every team that wins a championship, there is a losing team.

Only the most aggressive, the fastest and the most physically fit make it to the championship platform. Along the hard road to the victory chant ‘We’re number one!,’ the victors stand on the shoulders of their beaten foes.

Most of us experienced the model of only one winner when we were introduced to the game “musical chairs.”

Children dance and skip around chairs in the center of a room while music plays.

When the music stops everyone rushes for a chair.

The problem is that there are more children than there are chairs. The slowest children are quickly sidelined to watch the others play. Call it the kindergarten version of the TV show Survivor. This continues until two bullies are left to stare each other down over the remaining chair. When the music stops, they fight over the chair until the strongest one wins.

When we got out of kindergarten, the game didn’t change much. There are not enough promotions for everyone in the company, so only the most aggressive, brightest or ruthless get selected.

As we have witnessed lately in the housing market there are not enough houses for sale to make all realtors wealthy, so only the well-connected, aggressive or really motivated ones survive.

And what happens to the losers?

They must settle for second best, or they are driven from business. They watch from the sidelines as the survivors scramble for the remaining seats.

Does this sound familiar to you? If you are in such a game, is it wearing you out? Or if you won, are you wondering why you have fewer friends? Could there be another way to play the game?

There is.

Jesus called his followers to take up a cross, not a champion’s platform. He told his disciples they could find greatness only by serving others, beginning with the weak and those less fortunate.

Jesus came to teach us another way to play the game of life. He taught us that relationships are more important than accomplishments, that service is more important than possessions and that humility is more important than winning.

Imagine a game of musical chairs in a kindergarten played by Jesus’ rules.

When the children start to dance around the chairs, once again there are more children than there are chairs. But when the music stops, the rule of His game is that everyone still gets a seat, meaning that the children have to share a seat or a lap.

What will happen? The smallest children will no longer be the first ones pushed to the sidelines. They will be the favorites because they do not take up as

Prayer, a family affair My mother wasn’t able to give birth to my older sister, Lauren Elizabeth, because of umbilical cord complications.

I grew up wondering how our family would have been different if Lauren was alive. One of my first childhood friends was named Lauren; I often thought I got a second chance of having a sister through her. From time to time, I think of my sister and ask her to pray for me.

One day last January, in the midst of graduate school, I received a disappointing letter in the mail – a rejection to discern my vocation with a religious community. As I walked across campus from the post office, the tears came.

“Are you OK?” a fellow student asked, as she passed me on the sidewalk.

“I’m fine,” I replied, wanting to continue moving, desperate for the solitude of my apartment.

“Are you sure?” She completely stopped walking and turned towards me.

“Yeah, I just got some disappointing news. Not life or death or anything.”

“Can I pray for you?” Not being able to refuse a prayer, I mumbled the first intention that popped in my head: peace of heart. And she began praying over me.

“Do you want a hug?” she asked.

I allowed myself to smile and agreed, thankful for the human contact and consolation. As we were about to part

ways, she suggested we pray for each other.

I told her my name, and she smiled, “I’m Lauren.”

Walking to my apartment, I couldn’t shake the gut feeling that I just encountered my sister.

Do you ever get the sense that you’ve gotten a message from someone who died? Or heard their voice? Or felt their presence? That’s because though the body may die, the soul lives.

As Catholics, we believe in the communion of saints and the resurrection of the body – everlasting life. Even though we don’t see them in the flesh, the ‘souls of the faithful departed’ are not gone or lost. We can still talk to them, pray for them and ask for their prayers.

We’ve all experienced death in some way – a relative, close friend, mentor or neighbor.

While it is often painful and difficult to grasp the reality of a person’s death, especially a faithful servant of Christ, there should be rejoicing for the person’s transition into eternal life. These men and women now have an incredible vantage point to intercede for us.

On November 1 we celebrate All Saints’ Day followed immediately by All Souls’ Day. It’s a time of honoring those who have gone before us. The saints are our brothers and sisters in Christ – regular

Guest Column DEACON GUY PICHÉ Guest Columnist

much space in a shared seat or weigh as much on someone’s lap.

The longer the game goes on the more fun it gets, as more and more kids figure out ways to keep everyone in the game with fewer and fewer seats until finally the entire class sits on one long lap or one large chair.

As always, the Lord cheers for everyone. In Jesus’ game of life, everyone wins. Isn’t this a great game?

The weakest are protected. The strong and the smart use their gifts to keep everyone else in the game. And the music and the laughter never seem to stop. Everyone is number one.

Jesus is looking for children and adults who want to play and live this way.

Would you like to play?

Rev. Mr. Guy Piché is a Deacon at St. Helen’s Mission in Gastonia and is the diocesan Director of Properties.

Guest Column LINDSAY TRAPP Guest Columnist

people, like you and me – who dedicated themselves to seeking out the truth and serving Christ. The saints are ordinary people who did extraordinary things because of their faith and obedience to God (CCC 2683).

During All Saints’ Day, we should spend time with the saints through their writings or biographies of their lives.

They lived in our world and are our examples and role models, showing how it is possible to look past earthly fame and riches to grow in our understanding and love of God. Those who have died are eager to pray for us; we just have to ask for their help. Like my sister, they have ways of providing peace and teaching us lessons as we carry our crosses.

“Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life”. – a dying St. Dominic to his brothers.

Write to Lindsay Trapp at: lindsaymtrapp@gmail .com

Pope calls attention to Gospel The Pope Speaks POPE BENEDICT XVI VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI invited all Catholics to listen more carefully and prayerfully to the Gospel readings, especially during Sunday Mass, and to set aside a bit of time every day to meditate on the word of God. “A purely theoretical, profane reading is not enough in order to reach the heart of sacred Scripture. One must read it in the spirit in which it was written and created,” he said during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 28.

The pope began a new cycle of talks by dedicating his catechesis to the renewal of theology during the 12th century.

Two basic models of or approaches to theology emerged at the time: monastic and scholastic theology, he said.

God’s word is there to be welcomed, meditated upon and practiced in everyday life, he said.

Applying reason to one’s approach to sacred Scripture “creates a faith that is deep, more personal and, therefore, also more concrete in a person’s life,” he said.

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

In our catechesis on the Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages, we now turn to the renewal of theology in the wake of the Gregorian Reform. The twelfth century was a time of a spiritual, cultural and political rebirth in the West.

Theology, for its part, became more conscious of its own nature and method, faced new problems and paved the way for the great theological masterpieces of the thirteenth century, the age of Saints Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure.

Two basic “models” of theology emerged, associated respectively with the monasteries and the schools which were the forerunners of the medieval universities. Monastic theology grew out of the prayerful contemplation of the Scriptures and the texts of the Church Fathers, stressing their interior unity and spiritual meaning, centered on the mystery of Christ. Scholastic theology sought to clarify the understanding of the faith by study of the sources and the use of logic, and led to the great works of synthesis known as the Summae.

Even today this confidence in the harmony of faith and reason inspires us to account for the hope within us (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) and to show that faith liberates reason, enabling the human spirit to rise to the loving contemplation of that fullness of truth which is God himself.

October 30, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 16

in the news

Pope names Ghana’s Cardinal Turkson head of justice, peace council

by CAROL GLATZ Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — During a special synod dedicated to peace and justice in Africa, Pope Benedict XVI named African Cardinal Peter Turkson as head of the Vatican’s justice and peace council.

When the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, announced the appointment Oct. 24 at the start of a synod press conference, the 61-year-old cardinal smiled broadly and giggled as journalists applauded. The personable and enthusiastic cardinal told the press that he accepted the new post with humility and thanked the pope for giving him the opportunity to serve the church in this new role.

The pope also announced the appointment later that day during a special luncheon with bishops attending the synod.

The former archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, succeeds 76-year-old Cardinal Renato Martino, who has retired as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Cardinal Turkson, Ghana’s first cardinal, enjoyed a high profile during

the Oct. 4-25 second special Synod of Bishops for Africa. He served as the synod’s recording secretary — a key role many had already seen as a clear sign of papal favor.

During the synod he spoke very candidly to reporters Oct. 5 about condoms being unreliable in preventing the transmission of the HIV virus and said they may even facilitate the spread of the disease by giving people “a false sense of security” and thereby fostering promiscuity.

He spoke out on the need for the Catholic notion of justice in Africa and the world.

God’s justice does not demand payment for wrongdoing “because God overlooks our transgressions…and admits us into communion,” he said during the Oct. 5 press conference.

When Christians think like God does, they begin to forgive one another and recognize each other as brothers and sisters no matter what their nationality or ethnicity, he said.

Cardinal Turkson gained brief global attention at the 1994 Synod of Bishops for Africa, where he said the church should pay more attention to the “signs and wonders” of the faith and not limit

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CNS photo by Paul Haring

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Cape Coast, Ghana, center, and retired Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, right, former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, attend the closing Mass of the Synod of Bishops for Africa in St. Peter’s Basilica Oct. 25. Pictured at left is Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops. On Oct. 24 Cardinal Turkson was named as head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. its teaching to “books and catechisms.”

He encouraged a rediscovery of the Christian ministry of healing.

Pope John Paul II showed his admiration for Cardinal Turkson by making the 55-year-old archbishop a cardinal in the 2003 consistory.

Cardinal Turkson has been active in interreligious dialogue in Ghana and said in a 2007 interview that Catholics there were being taught the Quran, the sacred book of Islam, and Islamic scriptures to further dialogue and community cohesion.

He said the church has adopted a “dialogue of action” in which Muslims and Catholics come together to cooperate on concrete projects such as drilling wells and building schools.

In a 2005 interview, he said that while the church was thriving in Africa, traditional cultures and values had not been transformed by the Gospel. “We need a more deeply rooted experience of conversion,” he said.

The challenge for the church, he said, is to find a way to make an impact in the secular world “on the political

level, in terms of good government and political conflicts that degenerate into tribal conflict.”

In Ghana, Cardinal Turkson led the effort to establish the country’s first Catholic university where he has served as chancellor.

Cardinal Turkson has served as a member of the Vatican’s justice and peace council since 2008.

He is also a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, the permanent council of the Synod of Bishops, and the Supreme Committee of the Pontifical Missionary Societies.

He was president of the Ghanaian bishops’ conference and has served as president of the association of English-speaking bishops’ conference in West Africa. He has served on an international Catholic-Methodist dialogue commission and was treasurer of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, the continental body of bishops’ conferences in Africa.

NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING CLASSES

sponsored by Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Charlotte

London – Copenhagen – Berlin – Tallinn – St. Petersburg – Helsinki – Stockholm

Your 13-day excursion includes: - Round-trip airfare from Charlotte to London

Research studies have found Natural Family Planning to be 97-99% effective when used correctly. Engaged and married couples, clergy and anyone interested in learning more about Church-sanctioned methods of natural family planning are welcome to attend. Engaged couples can receive verification of attendance to fulfill diocesan pre-Cana requirements.

- All meals while onboard the Norwegian Sun luxury ship

INTRODUCTION CLASSES

- Port taxes paid for visits to all of the following:

Gastonia - St. Michael Church November 14 - 6:30 pm November 15 - 11:30 am Concord - Northgate Family Medicine November 18 - 7 pm Salisbury - Sacred Heart Church November 19 - 7 pm Charlotte - Zitel Family Chiropractic November 20 - 7:30 pm

Dover, England – Copenhagen, Denmark – Berlin, Germany – Tallinn, Estonia – St. Petersburg (2 full days!) – Helsinki, Finland – Stockholm, Sweden - Airport and pier transfers in London - Daily Mass onboard ship with our own priest

PLUS - SPECIAL OPTIONAL LONDON STAY: July 8 & 9 — hotel/breakfast/city tour -- just $350!

Early Booking Price —INCLUDING AIRFARE and PORT TAXES – starts at just $2,699!

Price is per person (based on double occupancy) and $350 deposit before December 1, 2009. Government fees and fuel charges are an additional $251 (subject to change before departure).

For a brochure or info: Cindi Feerick at the diocese -- 704/370-3332 or ckfeerick@charlottediocese.org.

Travel with the diocese— we take care of the worries – you take care of the fun!

Take a local class or learn from the convenience of your home with a FREE home-study course CD. Keep your NFP charts online or use your iPhone!

Information: (704) 370-3230 cssnfp@charlottediocese.org

Pre-registration is required.

www.cssnc.org/naturalfamilyplanning.html