Nov. 20, 2009

November 20, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 1

www.charlottediocese.org

Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte

Perspectives Giving and receiving; Family: seedbed of vocations

Established Jan. 12, 1972

by Pope Paul VI November 20, 2009

Hunger is on the rise Luxury, waste are unacceptable, says pope ROME (CNS) — Opulence and waste are unacceptable especially when hunger — the cruelest form of poverty — continues to rise, Pope Benedict XVI told world leaders at a summit on food security.

The pope condemned the greed that fuels speculation on food prices, aid that debilitates agricultural production, and excessive exploitation of the earth’s resources.

Pope Benedict spoke Nov. 16 during the opening session of the United Nations’ World Summit on Food Security.

The Nov. 16-18 conference, hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, brought together leaders and delegates from countries around the world to find concrete solutions to end the scourge of hunger and malnutrition and find ways to stabilize food prices.

According to the FAO, more than 1 billion people are undernourished and one child dies every six seconds because of malnutrition.

“Hunger is the most cruel and concrete sign of poverty,” the pope said in his address to summit leaders. “Opulence and waste are no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions.”

“Norms, legislation, development plans and investments are not enough, however; what is needed is a change in the lifestyles of individuals and communities,

See HUNGER, page 9

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

The height of faith

vOLUME 19

no. 4

‘Living Your Strengths’ at 19,000 feet SUEANN HOWELL Special to The Catholic News & Herald

photos courtesy of carrie roberts

Jim Daly (right), parishioner of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, navigates Barranco Wall on his way to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, in September. The journey, made with fellow parishioners Carrie and Michael Roberts (left top), was inspired by the ‘Living Your Strengths’ program at St Matthew Church. After their climb, the uncomplicated lives of local children (left bottom) inspired these parishioners to simplify their own lives and focus on service.

For three parishioners of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, the completion of a church-sponsored program began the journey of a lifetime.

Carrie Roberts, her husband, Michael Roberts, and friend Jim Daly took God-given gifts realized during the “Living Your Strengths” meetings to the next level – straight up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, in September of this year.

All three took a strengths assessment as part of a sixweek program created by the Gallup organization and tailored by St. Matthew Church to correspond to the Catholic faith. They discovered methods to identify and cultivate their See CLIMB, page 5

‘We come to give you thanks’ Black Catholic History Month celebration HEATHER BELLEMORE interim editor

Fervent prayers were offered in thanksgiving to “God of our ancestors” by Lettie Polite, parishioner of St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville, at the opening of the 18th annual Black Catholic History Month celebration,

held this year at Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte Nov. 14.

Sponsored by the African American Affairs Ministry (AAAM) of the Diocese of Charlotte, this event gathered attendees from all corners of the diocese. Participants See HISTORY, page 7

photo by heather bellemore

Participants raise hands, hearts and voices in songs of thanksgiving during the 18th annual Black Catholic History Month celebration, held this year at Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte Nov. 14.

Culture Watch

Around the diocese

In our schools

New CD features Pope Benedict’s voice; Bishops meet Google, Facebook reps

Dinner, well done; Stocking stuffers; Happy ending for Mercy

Teaching as Jesus did; Science wiz; Reporting for duty

| Pages 10-11

| Page 12

| Page 4

November 20, 2009

2 The Catholic News & Herald

InBrief

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

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic Charities USA, the national office for more than 1,700 local Catholic Charities agencies nationwide, won the 2009 Catholic Digest Love Your Neighbor award and $5,000 to put toward its mission.

“To us, each annual award is an opportunity to illuminate our church in action, to celebrate and express gratitude for people ... who spend each day making a difference in the lives of others,” said Bret Thomas, Catholic Digest publisher.

In announcing the award to Catholic Charities in October, Thomas said the work of the agency will be featured in a future issue of the magazine to share its mission with Catholic Digest readers. Previous winners are profiled at w w w. c a t h o l i c d i g e s t . c o m / s e c t i o n / catholic-stories.

The award is a joint effort between Catholic Digest and the National Catholic Development Conference. The

Reintegrating inmates

cns photo by joseph kenny, st. louis review

Mark Schreiber, an official with the Missouri Department of Corrections, points out areas of the Missouri State Penitentiary in late August in Jefferson City, Mo., once known as the bloodiest 47 acres in America because of the number of assaults there. Missouri Department of Corrections director George Lombardi recently detailed the system’s history in explaining the importance of the community’s help in returning inmates to society.

Church seen as a partner Faith-based programs reintegrate former inmates into society JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (CNS) — George Lombardi, director of the Missouri Department of Corrections, has quite a selling point.

In his work to enlist the community’s help in reintegrating offenders into society, Lombardi points to one statistic: 97 percent of all inmates someday will return to society.

In recent years the department has partnered with other state agencies and groups, including Catholic and other faith-based groups, on how to assist and prepare these inmates. Lombardi is continuing the effort while forging new partnerships.

Helping offenders cuts across the political spectrum, he told a group at the Missouri Catholic Conference annual assembly in Jefferson City earlier this fall. For every offender diverted from the system, $16,000 is saved by the state, and each crime that is not committed means one less victim.

In Kansas City, he said, business leaders have joined with a former prosecutor and police chief on the Second Chance Foundation that helps ex-offenders.

He cited the difference made by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and similar groups. From housing, jobs and treatment to “simple, everyday things,” they provide ex-offenders hope and a path, Lombardi noted.

He urged faith-based organizations to work together with other organizations,

Catholic Charities USA wins Love Your Neighbor award

including on bigger issues of poverty, sentencing and similar matters, “to make a more powerful voice. There should always be cooperation.”

Lombardi recalled when he first began work in 1972 at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, it was a “bloody and difficult place” with frequent stabbings and murders.

As time progressed more prisons were built and changes were implemented.

The more aggressive offenders were separated from the rest of the population.

And gradually the mission changed from just keeping the peace to helping inmates improve their chances of success once they were released.

Along the way a few bumps occurred, including the deinstitutionalization of the mental health system and the resulting increase in former or would-be mental patients committing crimes and being sent to prison.

Now, Lombardi said, the corrections system works with mental health professionals in getting help for inmates.

Mandatory minimum sentences have contributed to a rise in the prison population, making it even more important to make sure those who are released from prison stay out.

Successes have resulted, including extraordinary gains in lowering recidivism rates through programs operated by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Center for Women in Transition, Project Re-Connect and others.

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

CHARLOTTE VICARIATE CHARLOTTE — The Cathedral of Saint Patrick will host a Couple’s Night Out and advanced screening of the movie “The 13th Day” on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. The event is free, but couples are asked to bring a dessert to share. The movie, not yet released to the public, is a dramatic retelling of the experiences of the three shepherd children during the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. The Cathedral is located at 1621 Dilworth Road East, Charlotte. For more information, please email StPatrickCharlotte@ charlottediocese.org.

CHARLOTTE — St. Thomas Aquinas Church located at 1400 Suther Road, will host St. Cecilia Sing on Monday, November 23 at 7 p.m. in the church. Priests, musicians, and choir members from around the Charlotte Diocese will participate in this special prayer service, which honors St. Cecilia, the patroness of musicians. The service is a part of an annual program sponsored by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Come enjoy listening to old favorites as well as some new music. A light reception will follow in Aquinas Hall. For more information, call (704) 549-1607.

HUNTERSVILLE — On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Msgr. Richard Bellow, pastor of St. Mark

magazine’s readers chose the award winner from a list of the conference’s member organizations. The 2010 list of eligible organizations and a voting ballot will appear in the January issue of Catholic Digest.

Catholic Charities, which has its headquarters in Alexandria, Va., planned to use the award money to continue providing strong leadership and support to enhance the work of local agencies in their efforts to reduce poverty, support families and empower communities.

Runners-up for the award were the Chicago-based Catholic Church Extension Society, an organization that aids dioceses and parishes in U.S. mission regions, and the Christian Appalachian Project, an interdenominational Christian organization in Kentucky that serves people in Appalachia by providing physical, spiritual and emotional support through programs and services.

Church, will walk participants through The Symphony of Rituals and Symbols of the Mass, unveiling both the mysteries and meaning that guide our transformation as people of Christ. This plans to be a wonderful evening for all those who would like to further develop their understanding of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as well as those new to understanding the richness of our Catholic faith. At 6:30 p.m. there will be a short tour of the church located at 14740 Stumptown Road, followed by the presentation at 7 p.m. This evening is appropriate for teens and adults. Childcare is available upon reservation. For more information or childcare reservations, call Colleen Siadak at (704) 577-3408 or email dmsiadak@gmail.com.

CHARLOTTE — St. Gabriel in Transition will host a presentation on How to Network for Hidden Jobs, on Thursday, Dec. 3 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. by Brian Ray, CEO and founder of Crossroads Career Network. The presentation will be followed by open networking and one-onone coaching sessions. Please RSVP in person on the third floor of the St. Gabriel Ministry Center at 3016 Providence Road during business hours, or online at http://www.zoomerang.com/ Su r vey/?p=W EB229U PM PSKQ8. For more information, please contact Bill Conwell at SGIT@ bellsouth.net.

CHARLOTTE — Annunciations: A Guided Ignatian Advent Retreat will be offered by St. Peter Church, 507 S. Tryon St., with the opening session on Saturday, Dec. 5 from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon in Biss Hall (under the church) and the closing session on Saturday, Dec. 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Parking is free in The Green parking garage next door to the church. If you wish to register for the two-week guided retreat, please contact Father Vince at (704) 332-2901 to be paired with a guide.

If you simply wish to attend one or both Saturday sessions, please email retreat4advent@gmail.com.

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Catholic Women’s Group is having its annual Christmas Coffee on Monday, Dec. 7 at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic

NOVEMBER 20, 2009 Volume 19 • Number 4

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

The Catholic News & Herald, USPC 007-393, is published by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203, 44 times a year, weekly except for Christmas week and Easter week and every two weeks during June, July and August for $15 per year for enrollees in parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte and $23 per year for all other subscribers. The Catholic News & Herald reserves the right to reject or cancel advertising for any reason deemed appropriate. We do not recommend or guarantee any product, service or benefit claimed by our advertisers. Second-class postage paid at Charlotte NC and other cities. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to The Catholic News & Herald, P.O. Box 37267, Charlotte, NC 28237.

November 20, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 3

FROM THE VATICAN

300,000 Tamil refugees Pope calls on Sri Lanka to let civilians return home, urges international humanitarian aid VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI appealed to the Sri Lankan government to speed up the process of allowing civilians displaced by the nation’s civil war to return to their homes.

He also urged the international community to offer needed economic and humanitarian aid to the people of Sri Lanka. The pope made the appeals at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican Nov. 11.

In the six months since the end of decades of civil war “that stained Sri Lanka with blood,” the government has been making an effort to allow for those displaced by the conflict to return to their homes, the pope noted “with satisfaction.”

However, he urged government

authorities to “greatly accelerate those efforts.”

After decades of civil conflict, in midMay the Sri Lankan government declared victory when its troops overran the last enclave of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The rebels had been fighting for autonomy for the predominantly Tamil areas of the Indian Ocean island.

Despite the end of hostilities, which claimed more than 80,000 lives, about 300,000 Tamil civilians are still languishing in refugee and detention camps.

Their release has been hindered because the government has said the screening of people in the camps — in an attempt to look for rebels — was not yet complete.

Church. Mass begins at 9 a.m. followed by coffee, refreshments and fellowship at 10 a.m. Father Timothy Reid, Pastor of St. Ann’s, will be our speaker. Reconciliation will be available. The mission of the Charlotte Catholic Women’s Group is 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.

us for sharing, prayer and Bible study every Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. in the parish library, St. Paul the Apostle Church, 2715 Horse Pen Creek Road, Greensboro. For more information contact the church office at (336) 294-4696 or email gmagrinat@pol.net.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN VICARIATE

CHARLOTTE — A National Night of Prayer for Life for an end to abortion will be held at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Tuesday, Dec. 8, beginning with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 9:00 p.m. Following Exposition, the Litany to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the mysteries of the rosary will be prayed. Benediction will take place at 1:00 a.m. Please join your brothers and sisters in Christ united in prayer throughout our country, for all or part of this beautiful, prayerful evening of reparation. For more information, call (704) 334-2283.

MURPHY — Please join us for the free seminar Understanding Our Neighbors – Class Matters on Friday, Nov. 20 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. William Church, 765 Andrews Rd. This is a poverty seminar on class differences which will reveal how the survival-based mentality of poverty impacts learning, work habits, and decision-making. Presenters are Rev. Dr. Paul A. Hanneman, program director, Urban Ministry Center and Wanda Anderson, social worker, UFS Shelter for Battered Women.

Everyone in the community is invited. There will be a light lunch offered at no cost. For more information, call (828) 494-5262.

GREENSBORO VICARIATE GREENSBORO — The Men’s Early Morning Bible Study Group will discuss the Catholic Epistles through November and December. Join

Episcopal

FRANKLIN — St. Francis of Assisi Church invites all parishioners from local parishes to St. Cecilia Sing on Sunday, Nov. 22 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. The church is located at 299 Maple St. For more information on this special prayer service, call (828) 524-2289.

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.

calendar

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

Nov. 21 (2 p.m.)

Sacrament of Confirmation Saint Matthew Catholic Church, Charlotte

VAT I C A N C I T Y ( C N S ) — Christians around the world are called to help their brothers and sisters in the Middle East who lack almost everything, including hope, said U.S. Cardinal John P. Foley, grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

“It is sad to say that the land where our blessed Lord suffered itself still suffers and our beloved fellow Christians continue to suffer from lack of mobility, lack of opportunity, and — it might almost be said — from lack of hope,” the cardinal said Nov. 13.

Opening the meeting of the Grand Magisterium, the Knights’ governing council, Cardinal Foley spoke about the extensive work the order’s nearly 25,000 knights carry out on behalf of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which covers Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus.

The knights fund seminaries, schools, hospitals and social centers throughout the patriarchate.

Cardinal Foley gave special attention to the schools because, he said, they “make a great deal of difference in familiarizing young people with those of different beliefs, in dispelling ignorance and in promoting not only tolerance but also peace.”

Cardinal Foley told the knights’ leadership that two events in 2010 would help bring the situation of Christians in the Holy Land to the world’s attention: Pope Benedict XVI’s scheduled visit to Cyprus in June and a special Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, which is scheduled to take place at the Vatican in October.

“The Holy Land is something and someplace very special; it is the land where our Lord himself lived, died, was buried and rose from the dead,” Cardinal Foley said in a homily before the meeting opened. “We want to visit it and we want to encourage visits to it; we want to guarantee a continued living Christian presence there.”

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 p.m. to 9 p.m. through Dec. 2. 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 and find out what is new since they have been away. For information, call Jan Hitch at (336) 884-5097.

CHARLOTTE — A National Night of Prayer for Life uniting the Feast of The Immaculate Conception with the Feast of St. Juan Diego will be held at St. Ann Church, 3635 Park Rd., Tuesday, Dec. 8, from 8 p.m. to Midnight. This pro-life prayer service will consist of Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, along with a Holy Hour of Reparation from 11 p.m. to Midnight.

For more information, contact Danielle Mathis at tmathis3@carolina.rr.com.

CHARLOTTE — The Abbey Choir from Sussex, England will be performing a Christmas Program, Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Road. This amazing choir of 40 students has previously toured in Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Poland and Ireland. This is their first visit to the United States. The program is free.

For more information, call the church office at (704) 364-5431.

Cardinal says Catholics called to bring hope to Middle East Christians

TO OUR READERS Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, The Catholic News & Herald will not publish on Friday, Nov. 27. Our next edition will be Friday, Dec. 4. We wish everyone a blessed and joyous Thanksgiving.

cns photo by hazir reka, reuters

A Kosovar Albanian votes at a polling station in the Kosovo town of Lipljane Nov. 15. The municipal elections were the first elections since the country declared independence in 2008.

Catholic officials in Kosovo urge Catholics to vote in elections OXFORD, England (CNS) — Catholic officials in Kosovo have reiterated support for the country’s independence despite calls by Serbian Orthodox leaders for a boycott of the country’s first municipal elections.

“We are for independence as the optimal solution for creating a state of coexistence and dialogue,” said Msgr.

Lush Gjergji, editor of the church’s Drita review. “We are against the idea of separate parallel institutions for (ethnic) Serbs and Albanians, and we believe solutions based on universal values

should be found which benefit the whole population.”

Kosovo’s independence has been recognized by 60 countries, including the U.S. and Britain, but not by Serbia and Russia.

In an October pastoral letter, the Catholic Bishop Dode Gjergji of Prizren called on Catholics to exercise their right “to vote according to conscience and responsibility.”

He listed the family, defense of life, justice and interreligious dialogue as guiding issues.

4 The Catholic News & Herald

IN OUR SCHOOLS

November 20, 2009

A virtuous group

Reporting for duty

courtesy photo

Gunnery Sergeant Scott Kimmel gives a presentation about life in the Marines to

courtesy photo

students at St. Michael Middle School in Gastonia Nov. 4. Kimmel spoke about

Immaculate Heart of Mary School in High Point honors its Virtue Students of

his travels to Iraq and showed students a chemical suit, gas mask and MREs.

the Month Nov. 4. Students recognized by teachers and peers for exemplifying

The presentation included pictures of the people and life in Iraq. The students,

the October virtue of self-discipline were, first row, from left: Emma Ware,

who asked lots of questions, appreciated hearing about Kimmel’s service, which

kindergarten; Caitlin Finger, first grade; Lydia Cortes, second grade, and Grace

brought a deeper understanding of Veterans Day.

Forish, third grade. Second row, from left, Charlie Ladka, eighth grade; Sager Elliott, sixth grade; Clay Fetner, fifth grade, and Alex Sargeant, fourth grade.

Science wiz

Teaching as Jesus did

courtesy photo

Joy Meyers, first-grade teacher at Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro, courtesy photo

National Skateboard champion Chad Tim Tim and Lindsay Carnes, a student at Our Lady of Mercy School in Winston-Salem, on Nov. 5 show off Lindsay’s prototype of her skateboard invention, which won first prize in the national Kids’ Science Challenge competition.

This is the first year of the challenge, funded by the National Science Foundation and created by Jim Metzner, the award-winning radio producer of Pulse of the Planet, to encourage students from third to sixth grade.

The winners, chosen from 770 entries, collaborate with scientists and engineers to see their ideas come alive. Lindsay will be working with skateboarders to see what would happen if you used balls for the wheels. Skateboard engineer Michael Bream says: “I’ve never seen anything quite like it in skateboarding before.” Lindsay is currently in the sixth grade but was in fifth grade when she won the contest last year.

attends a Catholic Educators Conference at the Raleigh Convention Center.

On Nov. 10, Meyers presented the session “To Teach as Jesus Did: Staying True to Our Mission,” in which she shared how teachers at Our Lady of Grace collaborate with parents and parishioners to focus on the school’s Catholic mission. Meyers has also been working with Triad-area teachers to conduct research on reading and language-arts programs as they relate to literacy education. She joined 1,200 Catholic educators from across the state for the Nov. 9-10 conference, sponsored by the Dioceses of Charlotte and Raleigh.

November 20, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 5

from the cover

‘Living Your Strengths’ at 19,000 feet CLIMB, from page 1

unique strengths so they could see how God wants to use them. The three all had at least one thing in common.

“We were inspired by a presentation

by Deacon Jim Hamrlik, (a deacon at St. Matthew Church and facilitator for the program),” said Carrie Roberts. “My husband said, ‘I’m going to do it,’ so I decided to do it as well,” she said.

“To me, a mountain is a lot like life,” said Daly. “It starts off fun and exciting, and then you hit difficult physical and mental challenges. You have to get yourself through them.” He continued, “Then you finally attain this heavenly feeling of making it to the top.”

Deacon Hamrlik made the climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, 19,340 feet, in 2008. “My son and I had been planning this for two years, but when the time came, he wasn’t able to go, and I felt like the Lord kept nudging me to do this, so I went alone. It was a very spiritual thing,” he said. “I really didn’t know what I was getting into…but the Lord was prompting me, asking me to journal my experience, and I did.”

Praying up the mountain Carrie Roberts also penned her experiences throughout their trek.

“During the climb you had a lot of time to think. We passed through five climate zones – rain forest, tundra, mountainous, rocky, misty,” she said.

“You had to change your thinking as you went along.” To help with her breathing, she prayed the rosary while climbing, mouthing the words to keep the flow of oxygen going. “I didn’t think about it being a religious experience at first, and when my legs felt tired I thought, ‘Why did I sign up for this?’ But praying the rosary really helped.”

Jim Daly, fellow climber, relates that he also uses prayer to control his breathing when hiking. “I have used this in the past and it works for me,” he said. “Whenever the trail gets difficult I focus on repeating the ‘Hail Mary’. It allows my brain to concentrate at high altitudes and allows me to focus on praying and not thinking how tough the climb is. I attribute my success to all the prayers I said.”

Finding God amidst the clouds When Roberts was climbing and thinking about her four children back home, she recalls that they asked her to “bring home some clouds.” She said, “It was day three or four, and we were going up a pretty rocky area and the clouds were floating past us. All of a sudden I started crying, thinking about our children, missing them…I felt very close to God. We were high above the clouds.

It was a religious experience.”

Daly also had a spiritual experience, which led to evangelization. “I wore my rosary around my neck and a few of the porters who climbed with us saw it. They asked if I was Christian. I told them I was Catholic and it sparked interest. We talked one cold night about Mary; this gave me an opportunity to express why I pray through Mary and let them know about the Catholic faith.”

Deacon Hamrlik’s special moment came in the dark early morning hours when he saw helmet headlights illuminating the trail. He stayed at the camp and observed, “It was pitch black, and I watched the climbers go up, each following closely the person in front of them. I thought, wow, what a ‘God moment’…one step at a time, trusting to get to the top.”

A newfound thanksgiving Carrie Roberts and her husband saw a world much different from theirs during the trip to Africa and to the summit of Kilimanjaro. “Seeing the way they live there, the lack of water, sanitation, dirt, the mud huts…the poverty made me realize how much we have here,” said Carrie Roberts. “Most people there live on $2 per week (and) the porters/guides live on $30 per month,” she added.

When both Michael Roberts and Daly were given the opportunity to help, they gladly donated clothing to porters who desperately needed appropriate gear for their livelihood. “I would have given them my shoes, if they were the right size,” said Michael Roberts.

Thanksgiving and Christmas this year will understandably take on a whole new meaning for their family in light of this experience. “We plan on volunteering to help others somehow,”

photo courtesy of carrie roberts

Carrie and Michael Rober ts and Jim Daly, parishioners from St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, navigate Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa last September. said Carrie Roberts. “We are coming back to simplicity. We’re going to focus on what is most important, and that is helping others.”

Seeking a higher purpose Carrie Roberts wants to use her strengths now to help children affected by poverty. She encourages anyone who feels this same call to “start at home, in the local community…at your children’s schools…there are people right here that need help.”

The next session of “Living Your Strengths” at St. Matthew Church in Charlotte will be in late January. For more information, call Deacon Jim Hamrlik at (704) 543-7677 ext. 1040.

Retirement Fund for Religious “I invite everyone to thank the Lord for the precious gift of these brothers and sisters.”

Pope Benedict XVI

Your tax-deductible gift supports the day-to-day care of thousands of elderly women and men religious.

Please Share in the Care Ninety-five percent of donations to the National Religious Retirement Office aid elderly religious.

To donate: National Religious Retirement Office/CHA 3211 Fourth Street NE Washington DC 20017-1194 Make your check payable to Retirement Fund for Religious

www.retiredreligious.org

Or give at your local parish December 12–13.

©2009 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington DC. All rights reserved. Photographer: Jim Judkis. Photos (top row, from left): Sr. Laurene Toeppe, OSF, 81; Sr. Gertrude Martin, OSBM, 87; Fr. Leonard Blostic, TOR, 75; Sr. Ann Fedyszak, OSBM, 73, Fr. Fabian Sheganoski, TOR, 71; Sr. Elizabeth Jane Tepley, OSBM, 70; (bottom row, from left): Fr. Christopher Panagoplos, TOR, 60; Fr. Mark Reifel, TOR, 81; Sr. Rita Brunner, FSE, 95; Sr. Patricia Ann Froning, OSF, 73.

Papal quotation taken from remarks made following the Angelus in Saint Peter’s Square, February 1, 2009.

6 The Catholic News & Herald

November 20, 2009

In THe News

Bishops’ fall assembly BALTIMORE (CNS) — Cardinal Francis E. Georg e o f C h i c a g o contemplated a scenario of what the church would look like without priests in his presidential address on the first day of the U.S. bishops’ annual fall general assembly in Baltimore Nov. 16-19.

He framed his remarks in the context of the Year for Priests, currently being celebrated in the church through next June.

Wi t h o u t a p r i e s t l y m i n i s t r y rooted in holy orders, he said, the ministry of teaching about the faith would fall primarily to professors, “whose obligation is first to seek the truth in the framework of their own academic discipline and whose authority to teach derives from their professional expertise.”

On their first day the bishops also heard a report on health care reform and reaffirmed as a body the statement that Cardinal George had made soon after the House approved its version of reform legislation Nov. 7, expressing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ commitment to keep health reform legislation in the Senate abortion-neutral.

The bishops also heard a preliminary presentation on the last several items pertaining to a new translation of the Roman Missal. All are part of a yearslong process of updating English translations of the liturgical texts.

In his remarks, Cardinal George said that without ordained priests, the “only instance of real governance in any society would be that of civil and political leaders,” he said, adding, “A civil government has no right to deprive the church of freedom to govern herself by her own laws and under her own leaders.”

Without ordained priests, he added, the role of spiritual counseling would fall to therapists — “dedicated to their clients and skilled in examining the dynamics of human personality, but without consideration of the influence of God’s grace.” Also, without ordained priests “the church would be deprived of the Eucharist, and her worship would be centered only on the praise and

thanksgiving.”

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the C o m m i t t e e on Divine Worship, introduced five liturgical translation items for formal consideration. The translations of the Proper of the Saints, the Roman Missal Supplement, commons, U.S. propers and U.S. adaptations to the Roman Missal were put to a vote Nov. 17.

The bishops also heard preliminary presentations on a pastoral letter on marriage, a statement on reproductive technology, and revisions to ethical and religious directives for Catholic health care facilities that would clarify that patients with chronic conditions who are not imminently dying should receive food and water by “medically assisted” means if they cannot take them normally.

The bishops also heard reports on the activities of The Catholic University of America in Washington, and the bishops’ National Advisory Council.

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York delivered a report on the activities of Catholic Relief Services, which included a four-minute video. He praised CRS, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency, for its “life-saving work.”

The bishops also heard an address from Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican’s nuncio to the United States.

They voted on members of the board of directors of both CRS and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

During a break in the general session, Archbishop Dolan and Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia exchanged T-shirts representing their respective teams, the archbishop’s New York Yankees and the cardinal’s Phillies.

The Yankees bested the Phillies four games to two to become the 2009 World Series champions.

Before the start of the series, the two prelates had placed a friendly wager, with Archbishop Dolan pledging to send a dozen bagels to Cardinal Rigali if the Phillies won and the cardinal promising to send the archbishop a box of Tastykakes, a Philadelphia treat, if

cns photo by bob roller

Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, addresses the bishops’ annual fall meeting in Baltimore Nov. 16. the Yankees won. The cardinal made good on the wager and Archbishop Dolan brought the Philadelphia snack to share with the cardinal at the Baltimore meeting.

On the second day of their meeting, the bishops voted on the Roman Missal items, the marriage pastoral, the revisions to the ethical and religious directives, and the document on reproductive technology, titled “LifeGiving Love in an Age of Technology.”

They also voted on a priority plan titled “Deepen Faith, Nurture Hope, Celebrate Life”; a series of “strategy and operational plans” for its offices and departments for the next two years; a proposed budget for 2010 and the diocesan assessment for 2011. They voted on USCCB committee chairmen.

The bishops also heard a report

on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development; a preliminary report from the bishops’ Committee for Protection of Children and Young People on the causes and context study on clergy sexual abuse of minors conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice; and a report by the National Religious Vocation Conference on a recent study of religious vocations.

AIRPORT SHUTTLE SERVICE

704-449-4279

ON THE WAGON Charlotte Airport: $35 TOTAL, depending on distance Parishioner, St. James The Greater

Providing help. Creating hope. Changing lives.

Catholic Social Services — The Diocese of Charlotte Executive Director: Elizabeth Thurbee (704) 370-3227 Associate Director: Gerard Carter (704) 370-3250 Refugee Office: Cira Ponce (704) 370-3262 Family Life: Gerard Carter (704) 370-3228 Justice and Peace: Joe Purello (704) 370-3225 OEO/CSS Murphy Satellite Office (828) 835-3535 Charlotte Region: 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203 Area Director: Geri King (704) 370-3262 Western Region: 50 Orange Street, Asheville, NC 28801 Area Director: Jacqueline Crombie (828) 255-0146 Piedmont-Triad: 621 W. Second St., Winston-Salem, NC 27108 Area Director: Diane Bullard (336) 727-0705 Greensboro Satellite Office (336) 274-5577 Latino Family Center (336) 884-5858

For information on specific programs, please call your local office.

1123 South Church Street, Charlotte NC 28203 www.cssnc.org

November 20, 2009

From the Cover

photo by heather bellemore

Keynote speaker Terrial Aiken, youth minister for Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point, delivers a personal message of faith during the 18th annual Black Catholic History Month celebration, held this year at Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte Nov. 14.

Preserving tradition, inspiring faith HISTORY, from page 1

arrived by busloads from Greensboro and Winston-Salem, joining others driving in from around Charlotte to learn of historic accomplishments, thrill to sounds born of musical heritage, and be inspired by current contributions of Black Catholic culture.

“It’s wonderful — the music, the presentations, how everybody gets involved,” said Genevieve Weech, parishioner of St. Mary Church in G reensboro. “It’s u n b e l i e v a b l e ; it isn’t just talking, everyone is engaged, motivated.”

Celebrating the journey “We remember that we’ve come this far by faith; we celebrate the love we bear for one another in family,” quoted

Marie Castillo, event chairperson and parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point. The phrase came from Sister Thea Bowman, Franciscan nun, teacher and scholar known for founding the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana.

Keynote speaker Terrial Aiken, youth minister for Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in High Point expanded upon the idea of family using his mother’s favorite saying: “Don’t ever forget the bridge that brought you across.”

Aiken’s strong faith in the Black Catholic tradition was also encouraged by his father, who said, “Whatever you are going to be, it has to start with believing in something.”

When Aiken moved from Upstate New York to an area of North Carolina he called “truly the belt buckle of the Bible belt,” he was amazed to hear his new friends tell him “there are no Black Catholics.” From that point onward,

Aiken developed his mission to spread the history of Black Catholic identity to his friends in the south.

In recognizing the importance of cultural tradition and heritage, Aiken urged the group not to forget that “we are all uniquely inter-related… do not forget to get involved with what makes us similar.” He said, “We have to and we should unite,” referring to his mission to spread knowledge of the Black Catholic tradition to his Protestant friends.

Aiken has a special penchant for spreading that knowledge to Black Catholic youth, saying, “our future is our young church.” He added, “It is our responsibility as family to ensure our young church is recognized for their good deeds,” ensuring the legacy of the Black Catholic tradition is preserved for the future church.

Day of discovery The all-day event surprised many with an extensive list of distinguished Black Catholic figures introduced by Veronica Sartor, AAAM board member and parishioner of St. Lawrence Basilica.

Many of those present were not aware the three popes St. Victor I (A.D. 186-197), St. Melchiades (A.D. 311314) and St. Gelasius (A.D. 492-496) were all African by birth, or that Bishop James Augustine Healy became the first African-American Roman Catholic priest when he was ordained in 1854.

“I mainly enjoyed the history,” said Yvonne Joyner, parishioner of Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte.

When asked whether she planned to come to next year’s event, Joyner responded, “I hope so!”

“I came to learn more about the history, but I am also enjoying the fellowship and music,” said Rochelle Burrell, parishioner of St. Benedict the Moor in Winston-Salem.

The impact of Black Catholic traditions on music was masterfully introduced by Joann Munden, arts educator and parishioner of St. Benedict the Moor Church. Munden’s strong singing voice was accompanied on the piano by Joseph Priester, parishioner of Our Lady of Consolation Church.

The pair had the entire audience up on its feet, swaying and clapping to

The Catholic News & Herald 7

the sounds of chants, spirituals, hymns, and gospel music. During this powerful participatory presentation, Munden explained how the Mass is steeped in African musical tradition. She cited the familiar call and response of psalms, responsorials, and the litany of saints during Mass as examples, along with the use of ululations (alleluias), and pentatonic scales, or melodies that can be played entirely on the black keys of a piano.

“The African gift of sacred songs and chants helped us to preserve our African religious rites and symbols of holistic spirituality, unique rhythms, tones and harmonies, and of the ability to communicate beyond barriers,” said Munden. “It allowed us to console and strengthen each other.”

Bolstering faith “I’m originally from New York, where it seems like there’s a Catholic church every five blocks,” said George Desmond, parishioner of St. Benedict the Moor Church. When he arrived in Winston-Salem and found very few nearby Catholic churches, he said AAAM events have proven informative and restored his sense of community.

Dale Brown, parishioner of Our Lady of Consolation Church in Charlotte, shared that in the world today, there are over 200 million people of African descent in the Roman Catholic Church.

She also said that “during the last four decades there have been great changes within the American Black Catholic community’s growth and reception,” including the first Black Catholic Congress held in Washington, D.C. in 1987.

Brown explained that in the fall of the same year, Pope John Paul II gave a special audience to Black Catholic leaders in New Orleans and wrote several letters to American Catholic leaders about the need for equal racial acceptance.

In July 1990, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (NBCCC) established November as Black Catholic History Month due to the number of dates important to Catholics of African descent.

Dates include Nov. 3, the feast of St. Martin de Porres, the only saint of African descent in this hemisphere; Nov. 13, which marks the birth of St. Augustine, the first doctor of the church from North Africa; and Nov. 20, a remembrance of the death of Zumbi of Falmeres in Brazil, the South American founder of a free state for Blacks.

To assist the Black Catholic community in celebrating this month, NBCCC coordinated a resource book with a special emphasis on the 500th anniversary of evangelization in the Americas, titled “Turning the World Right-Side Up.” It also featured a section on Black Catholic history from the beginning of the church until today.

Referring to the African-American Bishops pastoral letter of 1984, titled “What we have seen and heard,” Brown stated that “we must do more in service and ministry to be one, to be a unified church.” She concluded, “We are part of the history-making now because of contributions that we have made and that we continue to make. We are challenged to evangelize beyond our community.”

8 The Catholic News & Herald

November 20, 2009

IN THE NEWS

Congressman urges Obama to raise issue of forced abortions in China

Says one-child policy is human rights abuse

cns photo by reinhard krause, reuters

A woman prays during Mass at a church near Beijing in early April. While there are signs of hope for Catholics in China, today is still “more a time of sowing than of reaping,” said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone in a letter to all priests of the Catholic Church in China, released to journalists by the Vatican Nov. 16.

Church in China is showing signs of hope, cardinal tells priests VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While there are signs of hope for Catholics in China, today is still “more a time of sowing than of reaping,” said the Vatican secretary of state in a letter to priests in China.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said efforts for reconciliation within the Catholic community and for “a respectful and constructive dialogue” with government authorities in China have led to signs of hope despite the “persisting difficulties.”

However, even two years after the publication of Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to the Church in China, “it does not seem that the time has come to make definitive evaluations,” wrote the cardinal.

To help mark the Year for Priests, Cardinal Bertone sent a letter to all priests of the Catholic Church in China.

Dated Nov. 10, the letter was released to journalists by the Vatican Nov. 16.

The cardinal touched on the many duties and challenges facing priests and how pastors in China could better minister to their people and continue efforts for reconciliation with Catholic clergy who are recognized by the government but have not requested recognition from the pope.

Catholics in China are “a tiny flock” among a large number of people who either believe in other religions or are indifferent or even hostile toward God and religion, he wrote.

It can be easy for clergy to be overwhelmed by all that they must do, the letter said.

Yet there are some very practical

ways priests can make a valuable contribution, he said, for example: — “By visiting Catholic and nonCatholic families frequently, as well as villages, and showing your concern for people’s needs.

— “By increasing efforts to prepare and train good catechists.

— “By fostering greater use of charitable services directed especially to children and to sick and old people in order to show the church’s unselfish charity.

— “By organizing special gatherings where Catholics could invite their nonCatholic relatives and friends in order to become better acquainted with the Catholic Church and Christian faith.

— “By distributing Catholic literature to non-Catholics.”

In his letter, Cardinal Bertone told priests that the Eucharist is a crucial source of strength for carrying out their ministry and is “at the center of your journey of reconciliation.”

“The Eucharist, even if celebrated in a particular community, is never the celebration of that community alone,” he wrote.

A truly Eucharistic community is not a closed, self-sufficient community but “must stay in communion with every other Catholic community,” the letter said.

“In fact, every celebration of the Eucharist presupposes the union not only with the local bishop but also with the pope, the order of bishops, all the clergy and the entire people of God,” Cardinal Bertone wrote.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A U.S. congressman urged President Barack Obama to raise the issue of forced abortions with Chinese leaders and not allow human rights to take a backseat to economic issues when the president traveled to Beijing.

Obama was in China Nov. 15-18, after stopping in Tokyo Nov. 13 and Singapore Nov. 14. He returned to the United States Nov. 19 after a stop in Seoul, South Korea.

“Few people outside China understand what a massive and cruel system of social control the one-child policy entails. ...The system is ‘marked by pervasive propaganda, mandatory birth permits, coercive fines for failure to comply, and, in some cases, forced sterilization and abortion,’” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., quoting the U.S. China Commission.

Smith, a ranking member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, spoke at a hearing on the issue Nov. 10.

“I believe the Chinese government would respond to the president if he were to take the lead in speaking up in defense of human rights in China,” Smith said in an opening statement. “The Chinese government is sensitive to how it is viewed by the rest of the world.”

“The result of this policy is... nightmarish...with no precedent in human history, where women are psychologically wounded, girls fall victim to sex-selective abortion...and most children grow up without brothers

or sisters, aunts or uncles or cousins,” said Smith, a Catholic.

The price for parents’ failing to conform to the one-child policy means “illegal children are denied education, health care and marriage...and fines for bearing a child without a birth permit (which) can be 10 times the average annual income of two parents; those families that can’t or won’t pay are jailed, or their homes smashed in, or their young child is killed,” Smith said.

If the woman still refuses to give up her child, “she may be held in a punishment cell...her relatives may be held and, very often, beaten...(and) she may be physically dragged to the operating table and forced to undergo an abortion,” the congressman said.

“China’s one-child policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth,” said Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, at the hearing.

During forced abortions, women are “kidnapped, (taken) screaming and crying out of their homes, strapped down to tables and forced to have abortions, even up to the ninth month of pregnancy. The violence of these late-term procedures sometimes kills not only the fetuses, but also the women themselves,” Littlejohn said.

“In effect since 1979, the coercive one-child policy is, in scope and seriousness, the worst human rights abuse in the world today,” Smith said.

Our Lady of Consolation Ladies’ Guild

3rd Annual Chat & Chew Luncheon Saturday, December 12 — 11am - 2pm *Lovely holiday gift baskets raffled *Door prizes *Fun and games

$10

New Life Parish Center, 1235 Badger Court – Charlotte Info or tickets: Carolyn Milbourne 704-540-9306;email -ur2close@bellsouth.net.

November 20, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 9

from the cover

‘The most cruel and concrete sign of poverty’ HUNGER, from page 1

cns photo by l’osservatore romano via catholic press photo

Pope Benedict XVI shakes hands with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the U.N. World Summit on Food Security Nov. 16 in Rome. Opulence and waste are unacceptable when hunger — the cruelest form of poverty — continues to rise, Pope Benedict XVI told world leaders at a summit.

“This is truly retirement living with

a new spirit. ”

~ Pennybyrn residents Mary King and Virgina Greecher with Pastry Chef Andrea Torres. ~

“ Had I stayed home after my husband died, I would be alone in a big house,” says Pennybyrn

resident Mary King. “Here, I get to do more, go out more, and stay busier. I like the tours and trips, the food, and the beautiful setting. And I like having others around and keeping busy.”

For Mary, Pennybyrn retirement living meets all her needs. “It truly is the total package.

What else could I want? I’m encouraging all my friends to move here.”

You too can have it all. Call (336) 821-4050 or toll-free (866) 627-9343.

www.PennybyrnAtMaryfield.com 109 Penny Road, High Point, NC 27260 Located less than a mile from downtown Jamestown and only 10 minutes from Greensboro.

PB 316b ad_King_7.625x9_CNH.indd 1

11/5/09 3:34:49 PM

in habits of consumption and in perceptions of what is genuinely needed,” Pope Benedict said.

The transcendental worth of every human being must be recognized if there is to be “the conversion of heart that underpins the commitment to eradicate deprivation, hunger and poverty in all their forms,” he said.

The pope said the growing number of hungry people in the world is not directly linked to an increase in world population.

There is enough food to feed the world, he said, adding that food shortages are caused by the rising price of foodstuffs, “the reduction in economic resources available to the poorest peoples and their limited access to markets and to food.”

“The lamentable destruction of foodstuffs for economic gain” is more proof that “there is no cause-and-effect relationship between population growth and hunger,” he said.

Pope Benedict called for greater action in creating “a network of economic institutions capable of guaranteeing regular access to sufficient food and water.”

Countries must “oppose those forms of aid that do grave damage to the agricultural sector, those approaches to food production that are geared solely towards consumption and lack a wider perspective, and especially greed, which causes speculation to rear its head even in the marketing of cereals, as if food were to be treated just like any other commodity,” he said.

Not enough is being done to lift people out of poverty because some people exhibit “resigned regret, if not downright indifference” to the plight of others and tend to believe hunger is just part and parcel of life in certain countries, he said.

Everyone has a moral responsibility to show solidarity toward the rest of the human family and concretely meet the needs of others “so as to favor the genuine sharing of goods, founded on love.”

The fundamental right to life depends on the right to sufficient, healthy and nutritious food and safe drinking water, he said.

November 20, 2009

10 The Catholic News & Herald

Culture Watch

A roundup of Scripture, readings, films and more

WORD TO LIFE Sunday Scripture Readings: Nov. 29, 2009

First Sunday of Advent Cycle C Readings: 1) Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:4-5, 8-10, 14 2) 1 Thessalonians 3:12 to 4:2 3) Gospel: Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

Share in God’s justice JEAN DENTON cns columnist

cns photo by paul haring

Msgr. Pablo Colino leads the choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome during a performance to preview “Alma Mater” at the Basilica of St. Mary Ara Coeli in Rome Nov. 10. The album, scheduled for worldwide release Nov. 30, features the voice of Pope Benedict XVI.

New CD featuring Pope Benedict’s voice previewed in Rome ROME (CNS) — Under the gilded ceiling of a Roman basilica, a choir performed while the taped voice of Pope Benedict XVI sang the Marian hymn “Regina Coeli” (“Queen of Heaven”).

The performance marked the press launch of “Alma Mater,” a CD featuring the recording of the pope leading the “Regina Coeli” prayer in St. Peter’s Square on May 1, 2005, the first time he had led the hymn as pope.

The disc was co-produced by the Pauline Fathers’ Multimedia San Paolo and Geffen Records, which is part of Universal Music Group. It was scheduled for worldwide release Nov. 30.

The disc features the choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome singing in St. Peter’s Basilica under the direction of Msgr. Pablo Colino and London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing under the direction of Charles Dutoit.

Geffen and the Paulines held a press conference in Rome’s City Hall Nov. 10 before inviting the media to listen to the Rome choir sing selections from the album in the Basilica of St. Mary Ara Coeli.

The recordings of the pope’s voice are the property of Vatican Radio, headed

by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

The Jesuit, who also directs the Vatican Television Center, said the disc is an affirmation “that art is the natural ally of the spirit in a way that goes beyond religious affiliation,” as seen in the fact that the composers, producers

and musicians include Christians of various denominations, a Muslim and nonbelievers.

The Jesuit, who also serves as Vatican spokesman, said he believed Pope Benedict had received a copy of the CD and had listened to it, but he had not heard the pope’s reaction.

The decision of Vatican Radio and the Vatican Television Center to allow the Paulines to use the pope’s voice and image was approved by the Vatican Secretariat of State, Father Lombardi said.

The approval came because of Pope Benedict’s interest in “finding and experimenting with new ways and means for transmitting a religious, spiritual message in this world that needs it so badly. And also to find new ways to bring the voice and the person of the pope closer to a wider public,” he said.

“Music is an effective language for communicating today with a vast public of young people, and not only with them,” he said. “And the creative effort of allying both traditional and modern music with wise and spiritual words is certainly worthy of respect and encouragement,” Father Lombardi said.

Even after agreeing to the project, the Vatican reserved the right to approve how the pope’s voice and image were used and stipulated that Geffen was to donate a portion of its profits to charity, he said.

My daughter’s face glowed with the blush of a new romance as she hung up the phone after talking to her boyfriend.

“He said he was thinking about us saving the world together,” she smiled, admiring his idealism. Such enthusiasm is not unusual in college-age people like this pair.

But she admitted he was more altruistic than she. Laughing, she pointed out in the vernacular of the day, “Of course, he was all thinking ‘save the world,’ and I was all thinking ‘together.’”

It was years ago, but that insight into human nature comes back to me every so often when I consider varying attitudes regarding relationships.

It resonates in the readings for this first week of Advent. They call us to share in God’s justice — to work together with God for a promise he made from the beginning of his

covenant with humankind.

In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reminded the early Christian community of the instructions Jesus gave us for our part: to increase in love for one another and for all.

His exhortation carries the echo of Psalm 25 saying that God shows sinners the way to justice. “All the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.”

This is an invitation to participate in salvation. We are invited to prepare ourselves for Jesus’ gift of redemption by loving as he loves and practicing justice in the ways he has given us. Saving the world is about being together. It is about our relationship with God and with others, especially the least among us.

As Advent begins, we are reminded to examine our lives and redirect ourselves to the coming of “the Lord our justice.” We hope that if we accept his offers of strength and guidance, we also will receive his blessing to save the world together.

Questions: How can you help “save the world” where you are here and now? Who are the people you encounter in your daily life who cry out for justice and can be answered through your acts of love?

Scripture to be illustrated: “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and for you I wait all the day” (Psalm 25:5).

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE Scripture for the week of November 22-28 Sunday (Christ the King), Daniel 7:13-14, Revelation 1:5-8, John 18:33-37; Monday (St. Clement I, St. Columban, Bl. Miguel Agustin Pro), Daniel 1:1-6, Luke 21:1-4; Tuesday (St. Andrew DungLac and Companions), Daniel 2:31-45, Luke 21:5-11; Wednesday (St. Catherine of Alexandria), Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28, Luke 21:12-19; Thursday, Daniel 6:12-28, Luke 21:20-28; Friday, Daniel 7:2-14, Luke 21:29-33; Saturday, Daniel 7:15-27, Luke 21:34-36.

Scripture for the week of November 29-December 5 Sunday (First Sunday of Advent), Jeremiah 33:14-16, 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2, Luke 21:2528, 34-36; Monday (St. Andrew), Romans 10:9-18, Matthew 4:18-22; Tuesday, Isaiah 11:1-10, Luke 10:21-24; Wednesday, Isaiah 25:6-10, Matthew 15:29-37; Thursday (St. Francis Xavier), Isaiah 26:1-6, Matthew 7:21,24-27; Friday (St. John of Damascus), Isaiah 29:17-24, Matthew 9:27-31; Saturday, Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26, Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5-8.

MAGICAL IRELAND TOUR with Father Ed Sheridan

July 19-July 30, 2010 10 nights in Ireland including Killarney, Dublin, Tipperary, Westport, Kinsale, Bunratty -- Visiting Kilkenny, Kylemore, Dingle, Blarney Castle and more! A Great Christmas Gift! $2,948 plus departure charges ($215 pp). Deposit $500. Space is limited!

Includes Irish breakfast daily and 5 dinners, and medieval banquet, plus first class hotels.

Email dianepbrennan@earthlink.net or call Diane 704-364-5131 or bdengler@stgabrielchurch.org or call BJ 704-847-9001.

The Catholic News & Herald 11

November 20, 2009

Monks’ thriving coffee business helps attract young men to monastery WASHINGTON (CNS) — A small Carmelite monastery in Clark, Wyo., has seen its coffee sales take off in the last couple of years, and the growing awareness of its coffee business has brought an added benefit to the community — more members.

“In the past two years, the monks themselves have grown from six to 15 monks and all the new monks are under 25, some right out of high school,” said Susie George, a neighbor of the monks who helped with marketing and computer work for the coffee business, in a letter e-mailed to Catholic News Service.

One young man from Australia said he has found his place in life there.

Carmelite Brother Paul Marie told CNS in a Nov. 4 phone interview that

he was searching for more in life than just “conforming to society” and the Wyoming religious order has provided that for him.

Brother Paul said he discovered the monastery by searching for religious orders online but was initially attracted to the Carmelite order because of the joy and spiritual aspect of the community and the fact that some of his favorite saints — including St. John of the Cross and St. Therese — were Carmelites.

He also found he has a place in the cloistered monks’ coffee business.

Brother Paul started his work in packaging and then helped in operations, shipping the coffee products and ordering coffee beans. They call their product Mystic Monk Coffee. cns photo courtesy indianapolis museum of art

Looking for bigger role on Web, bishops meet Google, Facebook reps VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an effort to understand how the church can make better use of the Internet and its search engines and popular social networking tools, European bishops met with representatives from Facebook, Google, YouTube and Wikipedia.

The bishops and their communications experts also met with a former hacker and an Interpol official to get an inside look at cybercrime and how to defend Web sites from attack.

The meetings came during the plenary assembly of the European episcopal commission for media held at the Vatican Nov. 12-15. Some 100 delegates attended the meeting dedicated to “The Internet Culture and Church Communications.”

Bishops, media officers and spokespersons from European bishops’ conferences met with multimedia representatives such as Google

and Identica — a self-described “microblogging service” — in order to learn more about how people use these tools and what developments these companies have in store for the future.

“The Internet is as important as the invention of the printing press,” said the president of the bishops’ commission for media, Bishop Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri of Gap, France.

Just as the printing press helped make the Bible available to everyone who could read, the Internet can make the Gospel accessible to everyone who uses the Internet, he said through a translator during a press conference Nov. 13.

The Internet provides a unique opportunity for the church to learn about people’s needs, ideas and desires, he said, because it acts like “a sounding board” of what is happening in the world and what people are thinking and feeling. “We should learn to listen,” he said.

Mary’s Garden TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC BOOKS & GIFTS Advent & Christmas items now in stock

Over 6000 Items in Stock

Choose a gift that helps keep CHRIST in Christmas (The Charlotte Metro’s most complete Catholic store is seeking a new owner - serious inquiries only)

Phone: 704 823 7244

SAVE GAS - WE SHIP

3816 South New Hope Rd, Suite 27 Gastonia, NC 28056

Toll Free: 866 823 7244 Tuesday to Friday 10 AM to 6 PM Saturday 10 AM to 4 PM

Indianapolis Museum of Art conservator Christina Milton O’Connell works on restoring the “Virgin of Guadalupe” in early June to prepare the painting for display in the museum’s “Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World” exhibition. The oil-on-canvas painting was created by an unknown artist in Mexico in about 1700.

‘Sacred Spain’ exhibit features historic Catholic artwork, artifacts INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — The curator of a new Indianapolis exhibit of historic Catholic artwork and artifacts would like to see visitors “not just looking at the images but also contemplating them.”

“Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World,” a unique, one-time exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, is an incredible assembly of 17thcentury paintings and other objects from Spain and Latin America.

The exhibit, which opened Oct. 11 and runs through Jan. 3, was specially created for the museum and will only be shown there, said Ronda Kasl, senior curator of painting and sculpture before 1800.

It provides viewers with an opportunity to reflect on the original context, use and significance of historic religious artwork and artifacts from Spanish-speaking countries, with explanations on bilingual labels.

Tickets for admission are free, made possible by a $1 million grant from the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation.

“Sacred Spain” features 70 works arranged in six galleries. There are paintings, polychrome sculpture, metalwork and books; many of the items have never before been seen in the United States.

During a recent tour of the exhibit, Kasl said her “interest in this subject comes out of a long-standing preoccupation with how works of art function in the context of belief, which is slightly different from the ways in

which works of art are typically viewed in art museums.”

At the entrance to the first gallery, titled “In Defense of Images,” there is this explanation: “In 1563, faced with allegations of idolatry and abuse, the Council of Trent (1545-63) reaffirmed the usefulness of images as a means for the instruction and edification of the faithful.”

Paintings in the gallery address complicated theological and doctrinal matters such as the Immaculate Conception, Kasl said, which wasn’t formally declared by the church as a defined dogma of faith until the 19th century.

The gallery titled “True Likeness” explores the idea that some sacred images exist because of their miraculous origin.

St. Luke the Evangelist is recognized in the exhibit as the first Christian painter.

Particularly notable is a painting of Jesus, titled “Holy Face,” by El Greco and his workshop in Toledo dating to 1586-95. It reproduces the miraculous image seen on “Veronica’s cloth,” believed to have been imprinted with Christ’s features when he wiped blood and perspiration from his face on the way to Calvary.

Another gallery is called “With the Eyes of the Soul,” taking its name from St. Teresa of Avila’s writings. Images of St. Teresa, St. John of God, St. Bernard, St. Rose of Lima and St. Francis of Assisi illustrate their visionary experiences.

Still another gallery, “Visualizing Sanctity,” pays tribute to some of the saints that serve as models of Christian holiness.

12 The Catholic News & Herald

November 20, 2009

around the diocese

Happy ending for Mercy Stocking stuffers

courtesy photo

At Our Lady of Mercy School in Winston-Salem, brothers Jake and Ben Babcock hold the newest member of the family, a puppy named Mercy, on Nov. 5. Mercy was rescued from the side of the road by an Our Lady of Mercy student and given to the Forsyth Humane Society Oct. 3. Students led a drive to raise the $1,000 needed for the very sick puppy’s care at Animal Emergency Services of Forsyth County. So far, close to $4,000 has been raised and donations are still coming in to the “Mercy Fund” at the Humane Society. Mercy, once diagnosed as “having just about everything wrong with her that a dog could possibly have wrong,” has turned the corner.

courtesy photo

Daisy Troop 1010 of St. Gabriel Church of Charlotte shows off Christmas stockings the group completed for the needy Nov. 15. For their service project, the first-graders picked one child and bought items to fill a stocking. The troop plans to bake cookies for the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s food boxes in December.

Dinner, well done

Evangelization event

courtesy photo

The Knights of Columbus Council 8509 thanks the chef and her assistants for a fund-raising dinner at Holy Cross Church in Kernersville Oct. 10. The dinner raised $375 for Michael Castrilli, the parish’s seminarian for the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. From left, Brenda Belline thanks Margie Vita (chef), Sal Vita (recorder) and Tony Belline (Grand Knight). courtesy photo

Father Roger Arnsparger, vicar of education for the Diocese of Charlotte, leads a workshop on the context and meaning of evangelization at the Catholic Conference Center in Hickory Nov. 12. The audience for the Education Vicariate In-Service on the National Directory for Catechesis included about 45 faith formation leaders, youth ministers, campus ministers, school principals, pastors, Hispanic coordinators and Catholic school teachers. According to Father Arnsparger, evangelization is to be directed to you and me, to those who never made a commitment to Christ, to those formed by secularized society, to those lost, to the alienated, to all human cultures.

Classifieds Classified ads bring results! Over 160,000 readers! More than 55,000 homes!

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

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

November 20, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 13

IN THE NEWS

Deacon discusses miracle Experience led to beatification of Cardinal Newman LONDON (CNS) — An American deacon has recounted how he was suddenly and inexplicably cured from a severe spinal condition after he prayed for healing to Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Deacon Jack Sullivan, 71, of Marshfield, Mass., told a Nov. 9 press conference in London that he was transformed after praying to Cardinal Newman, a 19th-century theologian and former Anglican who died in 1890.

In July Pope Benedict XVI announced the beatification of Cardinal Newman after the Congregation for Saints’ Causes decided Deacon Sullivan’s healing was a miracle due to his intercession. The beatification ceremony is set for May 2, 2010 at the Birmingham Oratory, which he founded after he became a Catholic in 1845.

Deacon Sullivan said doctors told him he was on the “brink of complete paralysis” because several of his lumbar vertebrae were crushing his spinal cord.

Even after surgery in August 2001 in Boston the protective lining around Deacon Sullivan’s spinal cord was badly torn, leaving him in “incredible pain,” he said.

He said surgeons told him it would take up to a year before he could be able to begin to walk again.

Deacon Sullivan said he was

upset by the prognosis because he had trained for three years to be a deacon for the Boston Archdiocese and wanted to be ordained with his class the following year. He said he prayed: “Please, Cardinal Newman, help me to walk, so that I can return to my classes and be ordained.”

The deacon explained how “suddenly I felt hot all over, very tense and a tingling over my body that lasted a long time.”

“I also felt a sense of joy and peace that I had never experienced before in my life and a sense of God’s presence and I had no willpower of my own,” he said.

“I was just standing there and all these things were happening to me. I had no control and then I developed a sense of confidence and determination that finally I could walk.”

He recalled how he shouted to a nurse that his pain had disappeared even though he had been in agony moments earlier.

“The pain had left me and I was left with a feeling of entire joy and confidence that something special was happening to me,” he said.

Deacon Sullivan said he was not only able to walk unaided but was moving so quickly that the nurses had to tell him to “slow down.”

Doctors studying his case in the

cns photo by marcin mazur, courtesy catholic communications network

U.S. deacon Jack Sullivan speaks to British journalists as Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster looks on in London Nov. 9. Deacon Sullivan recounted in detail how he was inexplicably cured from a severe spinal disorder after he recited a short prayer to Cardinal John Henry Newman, a 19th-century theologian and convert to Catholicism who will be beatified May 2, 2010 at the Birmingham Oratory. following months determined that Sullivan had regained the lifting capability of a 30-year-old man. They were baffled by his recovery and after an array of tests in October 2001 admitted they had no explanation for it.

At that point Sullivan decided to write to Father Paul Chavasse, postulator for Cardinal Newman’s sainthood cause, at the Birmingham Oratory.

On Sept. 14, 2002, the day of his ordination as deacon, he received notification that his case had been selected by the fathers of the oratory as the possible

miracle needed to beatify Newman.

“To my mind that was a sign that this process happened in a wondrous way,” Deacon Sullivan told the London press conference.

He spoke to journalists at the start of a visit to England at the invitation of Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster. The deacon afterward preached a homily at a Mass in London’s Westminster Cathedral.

During his visit Deacon Sullivan toured the oratory and visited other sites associated with Cardinal Newman’s life.

DECEMBER 5: ABBOT PLACID SOLARI AND FATHER DWIGHT LONGENECKER LEAD AN ADVENT MORNING OF REFLECTION Come “prepare the way of the Lord” in your mind and heart with our very special Advent Morning of Reflection, beginning at 9 a.m. on December 5th in the Haid Theatre at Belmont Abbey College.

Our reflection leaders will be Abbot Placid Solari, O.S.B., and Father Dwight Longenecker.

Abbot Placid acts as the spiritual father of the monks of Belmont Abbey, and instructs the youngest monks in The Rule of Saint Benedict. He is also the Chancellor of Belmont Abbey College and is much in demand as a mission and retreat leader.

Father Longenecker is a married former Anglican priest who converted to the Catholic faith in 1995 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 2006. He is the author of ten books, including Listen My Son, a daily Benedictine devotional book which applies The Rule of Saint Benedict to the task of modern parenting. He is also a very popular retreat leader.

So attendees are in for quite a spiritual treat.

Admission is free to the public. However, donations to help us defray the cost of the event won’t go unappreciated!

Our seating capacity is limited so please register online by December 1 at http://alumni.belmont abbeycollege.edu/AdventMorningReflection. If you have any questions, please call Joan Bradley at (704) 461-6009 or email her at JoanBradley@bac.edu.

Come give yourself a much-deserved early Christmas gift. One that will leave you feeling full of joy, love, peace and hope.

BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE 100 Belmont-Mount Holly Road (Exit 26, I-85) Belmont, NC 28012

November 20, 2009

14 The Catholic News & Herald

Perspectives

A collection of columns, editorials and viewpoints

Pulling and preaching people into the confessional Actively searching for Christ’s lost sheep St. John Vianney’s confessional became the most besieged one in the history of the Church: he prayed and sacrificed so much for sinners that God, it seems, not only heard but rewarded those prayers, drawing hundreds of thousands of penitents from all over France to confess to a priest who shared his own zeal to reconcile his prodigal sons and daughters.

While prayer should always be the first act of a Christian, it’s not meant to be the only action. Accordingly, the patron saint of priests did not stop at praying for sinners, but constantly labored to invite, persuade, and, when the circumstances demanded it, push and pull people to take advantage of God’s great sacrament of mercy.

Whenever he heard that there was someone in need of the sacrament who was reluctant to come, he went out in search of him. Once a wife who had brought her ill boy to him told him that her husband was standing at the door, unwilling even to enter the Church. The Curé of Ars left the sacristy and started calling for him by name, asking others to bring him to him. At the third call, the husband entered the Church and approached the saint, who grabbed him by the hand and led him behind the altar where there was a special confessional normally reserved for bishops and priests. He pointed to the confessional and said, “Put yourself there.” “I don’t feel like it,” the husband replied. The priest looked at him and with loving firmness said, “Begin.” At that point, overcome by the supernatural force of the emaciated cleric, the man began and the saint helped him make his first confession in 14 years.

The most notable means St. John Vianney’s used to draw people to the confessional, however, was through regularly preaching about the need for the sacrament in the pulpit. His customary style would be to speak about God’s mercy; when times warranted, however, he could also thunder with the fierceness of an Old Testament prophet.

He would generally begin with a focus on what a great gift the sacrament of confession is. “My children,” he preached once, “we cannot comprehend the goodness of God towards us in instituting this great Sacrament of Penance. If we had had a favor to ask of our Lord, we should never have thought of asking him that. But he foresaw our frailty and our inconstancy in well-doing, and his love led him to do what we should not have dared to ask.”

The essence of the sacrament, he

Guest Column FATHER ROGER LANDRY guest columnist

continued, is an encounter between God’s mercy and our misery, where the love of God “heals the wounds of our soul.” He labored to eradicate the popular Jansenist conception of an angry God, an image that would scare people away from the sacrament. “The good God will pardon a repentant sinner,” he countered, “faster than a mother will grab her child out of a fire.” In the sacrament, he said, “it’s not the sinner who comes back to God to ask for forgiveness, but God himself who runs after the sinner to make him return.”

The Father of the prodigal son “comes after you, he pursues you after you have abandoned him.” Basing himself on Jesus’ words about the great eruption of joy in heaven for one repentant sinner, St. John Vianney stressed, “God’s greatest pleasure is to forgive us.”

Anticipating almost verbatim some of what Christ himself said to St. Faustina a century later about his Divine Mercy, he continued, “How good God is! His good heart is an ocean of mercy.

Even though we can be great sinners, we should never despair of our salvation. It is so easy to be saved!” God’s mercy is much greater than our misery. “What are our sins,” he asked, “if we compare them to God’s mercy?” This mercy extends not just to the past but to the future: “The good God knows all things. He knows that after you confess, you will sin again, but he will pardon you. What love God has that he will even voluntarily forget the future to forgive us.”

In sum, St. John Vianney was not content to remain in the confessional waiting for people to come, but actively went in search of Christ’s lost sheep to bring them home to God. His courageous example of holy preaching and persistent personal invitation remain an imitable lesson for all priests and faithful today.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Bedford, Mass. and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.

Giving and receiving As we approach the end of another year we give thanks for the many gifts we have received and welcome the season of Advent when we prepare in joyful expectation for the birth of Christ.

We look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and make a special effort to celebrate with family and close friends.

Gift giving is a traditional part of this blessed season.

Many people in the diocese also include special gifts during this time to support their parish, Catholic school, Catholic agency, the diocese or the diocesan foundation. Charitable giving is rewarding in many ways, and can also reap financial benefits. Gifts to the church may bring you tax savings next spring if you itemize on your federal income tax return and complete your gifts by Dec. 31 of this year.

Gifts of property such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other appropriate assets that have increased in value since you have owned them can also result in extra tax savings. If you have held these assets for longer than a year, you can generally donate them and deduct their current value. Since you avoid paying the tax on capital gains that you would owe if you sold the securities, giving appreciated securities to the church creates additional tax advantages.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 allows those who are 70½ and older to make tax-free charitable gifts through IRAs. Congress is allowing these individuals with traditional or Roth IRAs to make tax-free gifts directly to the church and other qualified charities again this year. Donors may choose to make charitable distributions in any amount

Saving lives The Nov. 6 issue had an article (“2,000 babies saved from abortion”) describing the incredible efforts of the 40 Days for Life campaigns. In 282 worldwide communities, 678 campaigns have saved the lives of 2000 babies since 2004. 40 Days for Life is a last line of defense at abortion facilities, and a great and growing source of grace and conversion for the pro-life movement.

An objective of all pro-life activity is to save babies’ lives and to prevent pregnant women from committing a grievous act. Measured by this criterion only, showing pro-life ads on local television has proven very effective.

Since 2007, this modest effort has saved an estimated 2,300 babies in CharlotteMecklenburg alone!

Managed and funded by the Heart to Heart media campaign of North Carolina Right to Life, and endorsed by Bishop Peter J. Jugis and the Presbyteral Council, the pro-life ads are shown in local television channels likely to be viewed by pregnant and vulnerable women. Through a 24/7 toll-free number, women are referred to local pro-life pregnancy resources, including those of the Diocese of Charlotte.

40 Days for Life and the television ads are complimentary efforts. The ads,

Legacy notes JUDY SMITH guest columnist

up to $100,000 per year. A couple with separate IRAs could each give up to that amount. Specific guidelines apply to this new law, so be sure to talk with your financial advisor about the best way for you to take advantage of this new giving opportunity.

Gifts to your parish, Catholic school, agency or the diocese help continue Christ’s work on earth. If you would like to make a meaningful gift this holiday season – one to sustain your Catholic faith – make your plans today.

Every gift, regardless of size, is greatly appreciated during the holiday season and throughout the year.

For additional information about giving at year end, please feel free to contact me. The Planned Giving office is available to assist you throughout the year, in confidence and without obligation. You can also find additional information on planned giving on our website at www.charlottediocese.org Judy Smith is Director of Planned Giving for the Diocese of Charlotte.

Contact her at 704-370-3320 or jmsmith@charlottediocese.org.

Letter to the Editor when effective, prevent women from going to an abortion facility, while 40 Days for Life intervenes at the facility.

The media campaign which supports the television ads has shown that $25 is the amount historically proven to save a life in our community. Many thanks to Charlotte Catholic High School for their recent donation of over $1,300.

Jack Durkin Charlotte

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

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

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

Send letters to Letters to the Editor, The Catholic News & Herald, P.O. Box 37267, Charlotte, N.C. 28237, or e-mail catholicnews@charlottediocese.org.

November 20, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 15

A victory and a challenge On November 7, Congress gave many observers a big surprise. On a vote of 240 to 194, the House of Representatives approved an amendment to maintain longstanding policies against federal abortion funding in proposed health care reform legislation. What’s more, the House then passed an ambitious health care reform bill, and inclusion of the pro-life amendment was hailed as decisive in making its approval possible.

Two realities helped produce this result. First, there has long been a significant pro-life caucus in the Democratic party, and it has grown in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Pro-life Democrats, led by Rep. Bart Stupak (DMI), united to insist that House leaders allow a vote on an amendment to fix the abortion problem in this bill.

The second reality is that one of the strongest voices for health care reform, the Catholic Church, has consistently urged that authentic reform must respect the life of all, including immigrants, the poor, and the unborn. The Church has credibility because of its clear moral teaching, its decades-long support for reform, its experience in running the largest nonprofit health care system in the nation, and its preferential love for the poor and vulnerable. The bishops supported the pro-life Democrats’ effort so much-needed reform would not become a vehicle for forcing more Americans to pay for abortions. When

the effort succeeded, more members could support the bill.

Abortion advocates, stunned by this defeat, have put their “spin machine” into high gear. The legislative process was hijacked by the Catholic Church, they say, to pass an extreme amendment that goes far beyond current law and restricts private abortion coverage.

But what the Church did here, on a large scale, was what it always does: It raised facts and arguments to support an effort in Congress, led by members of the majority party, to improve legislation that directly impacts Catholic values — and it informed lay Catholics around the country so they could raise their voices as well.

Charges against the amendment itself are also misplaced. Exactly reflecting the Hyde amendment and other provisions that have long governed all other federal health programs, the Stupak amendment keeps federal funds from subsidizing elective abortions and health plans that include such abortions.

Health plans using only private funds are not affected; even people who use federal subsidies to purchase their overall health plan may use their own money to purchase a supplemental abortion policy if they want to.

So the Stupak amendment simply ensures that when federal funds are used, Americans will not be forced against their will to pay for other people’s

The Family: Seedbed of Vocations One of the greatest hopes of any Catholic family should be to have one, or more, of their children to be chosen in a special way by God for his service.

Traditionally, this has meant a vocation to the diocesan priesthood or one of the religious congregations. In a specific sense we are referring to the priesthood, the religious life, or one of the various movements and institutions for laypeople that enable them to dedicate themselves totally to God in the middle of the world.

What can parents to do to create an environment where one or some of their children will discern a specific call from God to follow him completely? They should want to foster a family life where it is natural to be generous, to make a sincere gift of oneself to others. Here are a few ideas: 1. You must show your trust for your children and respect for their freedom from an early age trusting that the Holy Spirit is already at work in their soul from Baptism. You may sometimes be disappointed but your children will realize that your love is unconditional.

Speak often positively about the Church and the greatness of being called to a life of dedication in it. Your children should know that you pray for them every day, that they be holy and happy and generous to whatever God calls them. They must know that while you are concerned with their education, health, achievements,

career prospects, these are all secondary to their being virtuous and happy in this life and saved in the next.

2. Foster a simple life of piety in the home adjusted to the condition and ages of the children. It should leave the children asking for more, not begging for less. The Curé of Ars was once asked by parents what they could best do for their children. He said simply to bring them frequently to Jesus in the Eucharist and in the Sacrament of Penance. Figure out how you can do this respecting their freedom yet making it attractive.

What is most important is their seeing you lead a more devout life than they. They will watch you pray, go to Mass, go to confession, read the Sacred Scripture, pray the Rosary, and so on.

They will see that the liturgical calendar is the most important one for their family and that you celebrate accordingly. They will also see you make sacrifices in order to do so. Pleasing God, not men, will thus become the priority in their life also.

3. Teach them to value poverty and detachment. Keep them short on money. Do not let them indiscriminately acquire things or to measure people by the amount of their possessions. Teach them to make things last and how to go without happily. Teach them how to share cheerfully. Make sure they spend their summers productively. That often times will mean they work and/or spend

Life issues forum RICHARD M. DOERFLINGER usccb columnist

abortions. In a nation where most Americans do not want public funding of abortion, and do not want abortion in their own health coverage, this is a fair and modest amendment that will let millions of Catholics and others support health care reform in good conscience.

Nevertheless, we are sure to see many false attacks on this provision and on the Church’s efforts as the Senate takes up this issue next. We need to arm ourselves with the truth, then let our voices be heard in Washington.

Authentic health care reform – reform that will help the poor, uphold the dignity of immigrants, and respect the life and conscience of everyone – may be in our grasp, unless we let it be taken away from us.

Please visit www.usccb.org/ healthcare to learn more, and www.usccb. org/action to let your voice be heard.

Mr. Doerflinger is Associate Director of the Secretariat of ProLife Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Go to www.usccb.org/ prolife to learn more about the bishops’ pro-life activities.

Guest Column FATHER JOHN MCCLOSKEY guest columnist

time in generously serving others less fortunate than themselves.

4. Instill an appreciation of beauty, whether it be in nature, literature, music, or art. The books, magazines, compact disks, videos, musical instruments, and art that you have in your house, the television shows that you watch together, and the family excursions that you take will prepare them to appreciate the goodness of the material world that God has created and redeemed. They will also understand and despise by contrast the culture of death, which kills both the body and the soul. Beware of leaving your children alone with the television or computer, particularly as regards games and the Internet.

These are just a few ideas. You yourselves will have others. Nobody knows your children better than you do or loves them more save God Himself.

Don’t forget the shortcut of entrusting them to Mary, the Mother of God. If our Lady takes a special liking to them, her Son will form them into the new evangelizers of the third millennium.

Father C. John McCloskey III is a fellow of the Faith and Research Institute in Washington, D.C.

Pope emphasizes inspirational power of art

The Pope Speaks POPE BENEDICT XVI

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Recalling the great European cathedrals of the Middle Ages, Pope Benedict XVI said that the contemplation of art and beauty offers a special way to commune with God. At his weekly general audience Nov. 18 in the Vatican’s audience hall, the pope gave a brief lesson in art history, explaining the religious significance of the Romanesque and Gothic styles of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries in Italy and France.

Pope Benedict’s emphasis on the relationship between spirituality and art came as he was preparing to meet Nov. 21 with more than 200 artists from around the world in the Sistine Chapel.

Looking at the cathedrals of the period is important for two reasons, he said. First, the examination of artistic movements of centuries past shows that “the masterpieces are incomprehensible if the religious spirit that inspired them is not taken into account.”

And second, he said, the wonder inspired by the cathedrals shows that even today, “beauty is the privileged and fascinating pathway to the mystery of God.” Here is the text of the pope’s audience remarks in English.

I have been speaking in recent weeks about medieval theology, and would now like to turn my attention to how the Christian faith of the Middle Ages inspired some of the greatest works of art of all time: the cathedrals of Europe.

Romanesque cathedrals are distinctive for their size and for introducing to churches beautiful sculpture, including the image of Christ as the Universal Judge and the Gate of Heaven. By entering through Him, as it were, the faithful enter a space and even a time different from everyday life, somewhere they can anticipate eternal life through their participation in the liturgy.

Gradually, Gothic architecture replaced the Romanesque, adding height and luminosity to the previous style.

The Gothic cathedral translates the aspirations of the soul into architectural lines, and is a synthesis between faith, art and beauty which still raises our hearts and minds to God today.

When faith encounters art, in particular in the liturgy, a profound synthesis is created, making visible the Invisible, and the two great architectural styles of the Middle Ages demonstrate how beauty is a powerful means to draw us closer to the Mystery of God. May the Lord help us to rediscover that “way of beauty,” surely one of the best ways to know and to love Almighty God.

November 20, 2009

The Catholic News & Herald 16

IN OUR SCHOOLS

50th Anniversary Commences Bishop McGuinness High School hosts celebrations Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School recently kicked-off a year-long list of activities and events to commemorate its first fifty years of history.

* the breathtaking countryside * the traditions of our Catholic faith * the legends of her people

Bishop McGuinness began as an all-girl school, the Villa Maria Anna Academy in Winston-Salem in 1954. In 1959, the Villa became a Diocesan school, and thanks to the contributions of hundreds of parishioners in the Winston-Salem area, a new building was erected at 1730 Link Road. This new school was dedicated to the memory of the Most Reverend Eugene J. McGuinness, who was consecrated Bishop of Raleigh in 1937. The school was named Bishop McGuinness Memorial High School and it officially opened its doors to students on September 8, 1959.

Consistent growth over the next forty years necessitated the move to a larger building that would eventually accommodate nearly 800 students. In August 2001, faculty and students moved into the school’s current campus located at 1725 NC 66 South in Kernersville. At this time, the name of the school changed to Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School.

The Bishop McGuinness 50th Birthday Extravaganza kicked off with Mass celebrated by the school’s chaplain, Father Joseph Kelleher Sept. 10. Other fall events included: a special induction of the Distinguished Alumni and Bishop Pride Athletic Halls of Fame, a Mass celebrated by Bishop Emeritus William Curlin and priests from area with Fr. Mo West, Chancellor and Vicar General parishes, an appreciation dinner for current and former faculty and staff, an alumni s of her people reception on Homecoming Weekend, alumni vs. current student basketball games, and a cocktail reception for alumni on the site of the former campus on Country Club Road in Winston-Salem.

More events are scheduled to commemorate the 50th anniversary during Catholic Schools Week in January, and a gala will be held on May 1 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro.

and Fr. Mo West, Vicar General and Chancellor, for the

ALASKA CRUISE and RETREAT with a day in Seattle!

August 17-25, 2007

courtesy photo

The Most Reverend William G. Curlin, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Charlotte concelebrates Mass with priests from area parishes at Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville Oct. 15.

Over half full!

Register today!

Bring friends and family for the Diocese of Charlotte’s cruise to

The Spectacular Capitals of Scandinavia

plus St. Petersburg - Russia, Berlin and London!

July 9 - 22, 2010

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

On Sep. 10, Bishop McGuinness High School students, faculty and guests celebrate the kick-off of the Bishop McGuinness 50th Birthday Extravaganza with cake and refreshments.

Your 13-day excursion includes: - Round-trip airfare from Charlotte to London - All meals while onboard the Norwegian Sun luxury ship - Port taxes paid for visits to all of the following: 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!