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News & Herald
Volume 7 Number 36
Serving Catholics in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
Lay Ministry Graduates Eager To Share By
— Carl and Leslie
and choir member at Christ the King Church in High Point, said she
echist
way to get Members
for a
re-educated about their
1998
hours of lay ministry training. Jane Ray, who has served as a cat-
Editor
CHARLOTTE
Brown were looking
22,
of Christ
l\/linistry
MIKE KROKOS
May
«
found the training
faith.
to be invaluable. "It
me
of Good Shepherd Church in King, they spent the past four years serving on the
was important
parish council and working in youth
deepen
my
continuing education as Catholics; thus they joined the Diocese of Charlotte's
understanding of the traditions of our church, where we come from, where we are, and where we might be going in the future," she said.
Lay Ministry Training Program.
"I also
wanted
ministry.
Still,
they
felt
they a need for
"Bringing Christ to people
is
Brown
to teach."
On May
16, the
Browns and 92
to
be a part of
to I
deepen
wanted
my own
to
per-
sonal prayer life. This was a good springboard for that." In his homily. Bishop William G. Curlin urged the graduates to bring people the love of Jesus Christ. "To-
very explained. "That's why we decided to be a part of this (class) and get energized
important to us," Carl
for
program because
the
day you are saying,
oth-
my
life
and
gifts
ers received certificates at St. Gabriel
are yours, Jesus," the bishop added.
Church acknowledging them as graduates of the Lay Ministry Training Program. The class is the fourth group to graduate, bringing the total number of individuals who have participated in the program to 406.
"Make Him
As one of the directives of the
ministry.
Jane Ray of Christ the King Church in High Point receives her degree upon completion of the diocesan lay ministry program from Bishop William G. Curlin. Also shown is Mercy Sister Mary Timothy Warren, Office of Lay Ministry director. and religion
grow in faith," Sisler Timothy added. Over the last two years, graduates
"The academic program was de-
87 Diocesan Synod, the lay ministry
certification as catechists
program was designed for men and women who desire to grow in compe-
teachers.
signed to help participants appreciate and understand more fully that they are
have given readily of their time, meeting on designated Saturdays each month. Courses offered included: In-
and the marketplace, said Mercy Sister Mary Timothy Warren, Office of Lay Ministry director. The program is also
called to and gifted for ministry by vir-
troduction to Ministry; Introduction to
tue of their baptism, be affirmed in their
present ministries (both in the church
Scripture; Christology; Church & Church History; Social Ministry;
a prerequisite for individuals entering
and marketplace), explore their giftedness and how their gifts may be used in response to their baptismal call, and
Vatican II Documents; Liturgy & Sacraments; Prayer; and Christian Morality. The classes totaled more than 100
to others in their families, the church,
permanent diaconate, and for individuals who want to be upgraded in their
the
promise
I
if
you have
will leave this
that
church and
take the light of Jesus into your par-
your community, and the world." class of 2000 begins training with classes offered at three
ish,
The
in the fall,
1986-
tence and confidence as they minister
you
faith,
the foundation of your
sites:
St.
Barnabas
in
Arden,
St.
Gabriel in Charlotte and Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro.
For more information, contact Mercy Sister Timothy Warren, Ojfice Ministry, 1123 S. Church St., Lay of Charlotte, N.C. 28209, or (704) 370-
3213.
See related photo, page
3.
Priest Officiates At Historic Disinterment By
MAUREEN McGUINNESS
ALBANY,
N.Y. (CNS)
— Neither
military rules nor church rituals gave
much guidance
to Father Leo Joseph O'Keeffe during the recent historic disinterment ceremony of the remains of the Vietnam Unknown. A priest of the Albany Dipcese, Father O'Keeffe is a colonel in the Army and command chaplain of the military district of Washington. He delivered the prayer at the brief ceremony held May 14 under sunny skies in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. While there were no precedents to guide him. Father O'Keeffe knew what he wanted to do. "I wanted a dignified, appropriate and brief prayer," he told The Evangelist, Albany diocesan newspaper in a
telephone interview.
45-second prayer he hoped to reach out to people of many faith traditions. "I wanted to be sensitive to Christians, Jews as well as (other) non-ChrisIn his
tians." the chaplain said. "I tried to
weave
the basic idea of the Lord's Prayer with the nation's motto."
The disinterment ceremony is the only one ever held, the chaplain said. "It's never been done before and it will never be done again," he said, adding that inall service personnel now have
DNA
formation listed in their medical records
remains can be identified. The remains of the Vietnam Unknown were removed so that they could be tested since recent evidence indicates the remains are of one of nine combatants killed in May 1972 at An Loc, 80 so that
all
child
is
come
to
of being a young man during the Vietnam War era. A native of Glens Falls, which is in the Albany Diocese, he remembers a number of childhood classmates as well as two college classries
who were killed in Vietnam. Had he not been in the seminary afgraduating from Fordham in 1965
mates
miles north of Saigon.
The
come back has
a place where their remembered," he said. "People pay honor to the people who put their lives on the line, who were willing to pay the ultimate price." Father O'Keeffe, who will complete 20 years in the Army in July, has memodid not
DNA tests have the potential to
allow one family to have certainty to the
ter
Unknowns is an many families, the
where he had been commissioned as a second lieutenant through Army ROTC, he too may have gone to Vietnam. "I would have gone by '67," he said. "Why the Lord called me to be a priest still is a mystery." The priest said there were many contrasts in the crowd assembled for the ceremony at Arlington. "As I looked out at people I saw congressional Medal of
"Every mother or father whose child
See Disinterment, page 2
fate of their
loved one, the priest said.
The chaplain foolproof
said
way of
dog tags
aren't a
identifying a soldier.
"Whether a submarine like the Thresher, or an airplane crew lost at sea, or on a battlefield where a person is literally blown apart, we carry dog tags but even steel disappears,"
The Tomb of
he
said.
the
important place for chaplain said.
The
coffin of
serviceman
is
an unidentified U.S. removed from the Tomb
Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery May 14. The remains were exhumed for high-tech identification tests. of the