May 22, 1998

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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


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